What is the cure?

[love in music]

She just needs something catchy & hot and some good promotion and she's good to go imo. Lyrics don't matter, vocals & overall quality doesn't matter. It's just gotta be catchy and generic. Some sex appeal thrown in wouldn't hurt either, though I know ayu isn't so good at that sometimes.

Personally I don't care if she never has a hit again or sells 1,000 copies of an album, I just want new music from her.

[ccsharumun]

Let AHS be her management & creative team at Avex.

[primavera♥]

Originally Posted by ccsharumun

Let AHS be her management & creative team at Avex.

Lol never. Sometimes I see the stuff AHS edits her photos into or other photos AHS likes over others and I realize I can probably never empathize and understand some people's taste. I'm good with seeing where ayu goes.

I feel like there is no real and absolute "cure"

[jewelbox]

Originally Posted by ccsharumun

Let AHS be her management & creative team at Avex.

Mission impossible

[BlackSilence]

Originally Posted by ccsharumun

Let AHS be her management & creative team at Avex.

lol no please xD not a good idea xD

i think she's just been boiling in old juice for too long she needs some new fresh breaze, maybe new experiences or something inspiring. A new point of view?

[RayJason]

She should get stricter with her team, if she wasn't already that is. So even little mistakes like promoting the album Party Queen as "Prarty Queen" on YouTube and confusion about "Shake It ♥" and Shake It♥" won't happen again. GO BACK TO YOUR "evolution", "M", "SURREAL" / "Days", "Mirrorcle World", "Rule" days! I adored that 1090 times more of what you've released the past 2 years.

Let Timmy go for a few eras and see how you'll rise again! I have nothing big against Timmy, but the majority does; the people who don't absolutely love his contributions tho. And I hate to say it but letting go of Timmy will do her only good. (I think...). WOW everyone with your ToX song and You & Me song. AND PLEASE DON'T FLOP with this lousy effortless A BEST SUMMER compilation album which you are releasing past midway of summer (so basically almost fall). edit; BTW they still haven't started promoting (seriously) yet. I think they want to let her flop.

This is my personal view.

[LONJJONG]

Some million singers like Kuraki Mai and ELT have also been facing low sales after their peak.. so it is something like common issues... (I think)

[KarenPang]

Get an image overhaul . I'll be honest , I haven't been pleased with the magazine photospreads that she has done lately , she seemed somewhat plastic & not very relatable if not appealing to the general public

Wearing branded goods on yourself is 1 thing but don't let the clothes wear on you

[Ayuminaj]

Originally Posted by LONJJONG

Some million singers like Kuraki Mai and ELT have also been facing low sales after their peak.. so it is something like common issues... (I think)

You're right, ELT sales profile is quite common. Ayu is close to such profile. But how close ? And is Ayu a common artist ? Are her sales really so frustrating ? Here some facts. (in fact yes, her sales are frustrating)

Reading this thread, I wanted to create some charts that represent what we can call «Evolution of studio albums sales».
It doesn't count compilations, EPs, singles, remixes, live or accoustic albums. Half of the charts consists of virtual sales generated by simple average formula, in order to make lines continuous, and finally compare them.


1. Ayu and 90s big artists





2. Ayu and contemporary solo female singers

2.1. simplified chart



2.2. developped chart



I counted Kuu's Best 2nd Sessions as a studio album. Gaga's The Fame and The Fame Monster count as separated albums in Japan. I didn't count Utada's Precious album cause the curve was too weird and it lowered readability.


We see interesting things. Period is tough for female solo singers. Ayu does well compared to them overall. Yui, aiko and Kuu are expected to cross again Ayu's sales in a few years.
We also notice some unexpected (or not) random facts :
- Nana movies era saw Mika Nakashima lowest sales.
- Best sellers do r'n'b. But some r'n'b singers don't have such success : Kuu, Thelma Aoyama (not featured on the chart), ...

Compared to big 90s acts, Ayu does (a little) better than ELT and GLAY, (I took them for example but i could have taken a lot of other 90s acts). But she does worse than B'z and Namie. And far worse than Mr. Children who literally kill it.
We also see B'z and Namie clearly don't do as well as Mr.Children.

Next to acts above, we must mention the other acts who sell well today. They are Perfume, Kara and AKB48, but we don't now for how long. Artists we can guess they will still sell a lot next years are boys-bands/old-men-bands like Arashi and Exile, but they are the new SMAP or Kinki Kids. Nothing surprising or interesting in that. Greeeen sold well... but it's over while i'm writing.

Those charts don't give me clear explanations right now. I thought they could, but I also made them to see artists destinies. Those charts show something clear : artists have very different fates, some unique. And I know if there's an artist who can make history again, do something nobody ever did, it's Ayu.

Originally Posted by ayu_ready?

I want G-Dragon to compose her a ballad, a midtempo song and a rockish song

A BIG BANG collaboration could do her no harm.

EDIT: I added a more accurate chart for female singers, but let the first one for more clearness.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Ayuminaj

Reading this thread, I wanted to create some charts that represent what we can call «Evolution of studio albums sales».
It doesn't count compilations, EPs, singles, remixes, live or accoustic albums. Half of the charts consists of virtual sales generated by simple average formula, in order to make lines continuous, and finally compare them.


1. Ayu and 90s legends or cult acts





2. Ayu and contemporary solo female singers



Those charts don't give me clear explanations right now. I thought they could, but I also made them to see artists destinies. Those charts show something clear : artists have very different fates, some unique. And I know if there's an artist who can make history again, do something nobody ever did, it's Ayu.

Given Japan's status as a single-based market for such a long time during these particular artists' careers, do you think you could do a version that displays data on singles as well, just for comparison's sake?

[Ayuminaj]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Given Japan's status as a single-based market for such a long time during these particular artists' careers, do you think you could do a version that displays data on singles as well, just for comparison's sake?

I'll try. I didn't do this cause task seemed too big, but you asked kindly and the question is relevant. I wondered about the link singles-albums while making those charts so I searched some kinda proportional correlation. For what i've found, it doesn't seem fairly related.

Not that it isn't related. I mean you're right : all successful 90s artists i checked had huge singles in the bedrock of their album success. But it doesn't seem so unavoidable in the 2000s.
Well, we'll figure it out by making something with the singles. I think there's some interesting things to do and find out. I've got some idea that could work. If i die at the task, i'll warn you

Anyway meanwhile I made a more accurate charts for female singers in 2000s, with all the most important singers. I've edited my post to add it.

Spoiler:

It confirms period is tough for female singers.
And we catch some random infos, some unexpected, some not :

Originally Posted by Ayuminaj

- Nana movies era saw Mika Nakashima lowest sales.
- Kana Nishino so called "success" may not be so obvious, and may even become a damp squib
- Best sellers do r'n'b. But some r'n'b singers don't have such success : Kuu, Thelma Aoyama (not featured on the chart), ...

It still lacks 90s female singers. I want to add some to show a drop à-la-Namie was already common in the late 90s.

[Ayuminaj]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

What are cult acts?

For me ELT is more like cult than legend because legend last while artist i call "cult" are those we know they had success for only some short period of time, but still were representative of that period and still respected for that. I only made such difference cause it seemed weird for me to call ELT a legendary band. But it's not important, I simply should write "big artists" for all.

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Given Japan's status as a single-based market for such a long time during these particular artists' careers, do you think you could do a version that displays data on singles as well, just for comparison's sake?

it doesn't work. I can't get a readable chart.

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by Ayuminaj

1. Ayu and 90s legends or cult acts

What are cult acts?

[ayu_ready?]

I want G-Dragon to compose her a ballad, a midtempo song and a rockish song

[Delicious n Bold]

Originally Posted by ayu_ready?

I want G-Dragon to compose her a ballad, a midtempo song and a rockish song

Fixed: I want Crea to compose a ballad, a midtempo song and a rockish song.
Don't you agree?

[ayu_ready?]

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

Fixed: I want Crea to compose a ballad, a midtempo song and a rockish song.
Don't you agree?

I do, but now I'm only speaking of GD. because CREA won't come back, but GD is here & now

[jessicar]

For the longest time I thought she needed a break, before it wasn't really because of her music but because of her ear and just how she overworks herself but now I feel she really needs it because of the loss of inspiration and lack of creativity, also I think maybe the divorce with Mannie didn't do her so well for her music, I just have hopes that her next album will be much better because though I do quite like PQ and actually listen to it, I still feel like there was something missing, I feel like after Tell me why it was like ok.

[panda87]

its been awhile since i felt any closeness to Ayu. her music has seemed so superficial with redundant sounds... and her image now... just so dolled and perfected i can't bring myself to have some kind of relation to feel drawn to her anymore... but i'll still keep up with her and her creations just because she's still my number 1. but i think i'm no longer her target market. but i mean, its not like she's serving me. she can do what makes her happy and supposedly what she thinks makes her current fans happy. but she no longer has that spark anymore. it's fading for me.

[tinka69]

In all honesty, sales and popularity ranks don't mean **** anymore (have you seen the US music charts? And I don't think the Japanese charts are any different). Quality music and popularity rarely seem to go hand in hand these days. It doesn't matter how many interviews, billboards or magazine covers she is put onto, all that means nothing if she can't produce quality music, because in the end that's all that matters.

I also don't believe that the internet is killing the music industry (pop music maybe?) but the sales of Radiohead's In Rainbows and Nine Inch Nail's Ghosts I-IV albums in 2008 proves that wrong. Both artists made over $1million in profit in their first week of release despite both albums being available for free download on their sites weeks prior to official release. And you don't see their overtly fake photoshopped faces plastered on every magazine or billboard.

This may sound very generic and shallow but maybe if musicians decided to actually concentrate on producing some decent music they wouldn't have this problem?

[isthisLOL?]

Originally Posted by tinka69

This may sound very generic and shallow but maybe if musicians decided to actually concentrate on producing some decent music they wouldn't have this problem?

Not generic and shallow, just unrealistic. Musical quality and success have never gone hand in hand as a whole in an industry, so producing "decent music" won't solve anyone's problem. The music business is a business, promotion and marketing are more important than the product itself for it's success, just like the food business(McDonalds is neither quality nor cheap, hell the crap kills your health, yet people buy it en masse, why? Marketing) or the clothing business or the film business(The Transformers movies and Twilight movies were big successes...) or any other business. The succesful products can be the good ones, but the important aspect is always how it is marketed and if it can be marketed well. It was the same in the 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s...the stuff with the most success was anything from awful to good(rarely great), but always marketable.