Ayu & Avex

[ThatBoyLuke]

I was just wondering how other Ayu fans feel about Ayu and her relationship with her label Avex? Personally I've been dissatisfied for a few years now, they seem to treat Ayu (and Koda Kumi) as cash cows releasing album after album with barely any time between releases which takes away anticipation people have for new material and results in a drop in sales as seen with Ayu and Kumi.
Also it's so annoying that Avex don't get with the times and embrace youtube by uploading full videos and Itunes like most other labels do these days, It's not helping Ayu it's harming her... I discovered J-Pop on youtube but younger people these days are probably missing out because Avex pulls every video as soon as it's posted and refuses to upload them in full on their own channels...
Anyway please let me know your thoughts and feelings, I'm interested to know.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Any company in their right mind is going to do what they can to get as much money as possible. That money goes to the artists, the people running the company, studio time, graphic designers, lawyers, accountants, rent on office space, TONS of unseen people making the business work. Whatever you have to do as a company to make sure everyone gets paid, do it.

I'd MUCH rather they release best-of after best-of than force artists to do shows all day every day and record 2-3 albums a year, that's for sure. The more money they can make without Ayu doing any actual work, the better for everyone involved.

As for the speed of new material being released... I see you're from the UK, how long have you been following Asian pop? It startled me quite a bit to see how fast-paced music careers are there compared to the west. Here, it's an album every 3-4 years and that's about average. And we're USED to that, is the difference. But in Japan, if you don't have an album each year, if you don't have a single or SOME new song a few times a year, that's strange and unexpected and fans wonder where you've been. the brilliant green took a hiatus for 3 years from 2002-2005 and people were REALLY excited when they came back. The pace is just different there.

Asian labels certainly aren't slave drivers. The approach is very different. In the west, an artist will write or even record up to 35 songs for one album, leaving 20+ songs completely unheard by the audience. That's REALLY unusual in Japan. When Ayu writes 35 songs, we hear most of them. It's just spread out over 3 years so we get a more constant feed of new material. In either case, it's three years worth of work in the West or in Japan, but in Japan, they all get released, and they get released gradually.

In the west, rock music and even pop music is considered more of an "art," where in Asia it's considered more "work." Their job is to entertain their audience and get paid for it. Here it's considered rather disrespectful to look at it that way. So in the west, the producers & writers hand-pick which songs are the highest quality, the most worth it for the audience to hear. In the east, every song gets finished to perfection, completed, and released. It's roughly the same amount of work on both sides of the world, but labels in Japan are, in my opinion, smarter for releasing more records, especially since their market share is much smaller. Japan spends more money per-capita on music each year than ANY other country. America gets its financial advantage by marketing to the whole world, though, so artists in the west for the most part don't need to release as many records to make the same amount of money. Japanese artists have a very hard time marketing outside of Asia, so they just make more material.

Part of their selling technique is, unfortunately, packaging the DVDs of Ayu's videos with her albums (as they do with most artists). People wouldn't pay extra for the CD+DVD version if the DVD product was available in its entirety on YouTube. What they put on YT is enough to sample a song or video to see if you'd be willing to pay for it (they put a big chunk of the videos on there, it's irritating that it's not the whole thing but it makes sense). I'd rather own a high-quality DVD of those videos than depend on YouTube for watching them, though, so if I have to pick one or the other, I'm fine with how they're doing things.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Any company in their right mind is going to do what they can to get as much money as possible. That money goes to the artists, the people running the company, studio time, graphic designers, lawyers, accountants, rent on office space, TONS of unseen people making the business work. Whatever you have to do as a company to make sure everyone gets paid, do it.

I'd MUCH rather they release best-of after best-of than force artists to do shows all day every day and record 2-3 albums a year, that's for sure. The more money they can make without Ayu doing any actual work, the better for everyone involved.

As for the speed of new material being released... I see you're from the UK, how long have you been following Asian pop? It startled me quite a bit to see how fast-paced music careers are there compared to the west. Here, it's an album every 3-4 years and that's about average. And we're USED to that, is the difference. But in Japan, if you don't have an album each year, if you don't have a single or SOME new song a few times a year, that's strange and unexpected and fans wonder where you've been. the brilliant green took a hiatus for 3 years from 2002-2005 and people were REALLY excited when they came back. The pace is just different there.

Asian labels certainly aren't slave drivers. The approach is very different. In the west, an artist will write or even record up to 35 songs for one album, leaving 20+ songs completely unheard by the audience. That's REALLY unusual in Japan. When Ayu writes 35 songs, we hear most of them. It's just spread out over 3 years so we get a more constant feed of new material. In either case, it's three years worth of work in the West or in Japan, but in Japan, they all get released, and they get released gradually.

In the west, rock music and even pop music is considered more of an "art," where in Asia it's considered more "work." Their job is to entertain their audience and get paid for it. Here it's considered rather disrespectful to look at it that way. So in the west, the producers & writers hand-pick which songs are the highest quality, the most worth it for the audience to hear. In the east, every song gets finished to perfection, completed, and released. It's roughly the same amount of work on both sides of the world, but labels in Japan are, in my opinion, smarter for releasing more records, especially since their market share is much smaller. Japan spends more money per-capita on music each year than ANY other country. America gets its financial advantage by marketing to the whole world, though, so artists in the west for the most part don't need to release as many records to make the same amount of money. Japanese artists have a very hard time marketing outside of Asia, so they just make more material.

Part of their selling technique is, unfortunately, packaging the DVDs of Ayu's videos with her albums (as they do with most artists). People wouldn't pay extra for the CD+DVD version if the DVD product was available in its entirety on YouTube. What they put on YT is enough to sample a song or video to see if you'd be willing to pay for it (they put a big chunk of the videos on there, it's irritating that it's not the whole thing but it makes sense). I'd rather own a high-quality DVD of those videos than depend on YouTube for watching them, though, so if I have to pick one or the other, I'm fine with how they're doing things.

Now, THIS is an answer!^^

Also, Ayu sales these days aren't low (only) because of her recent marketing strategies... We can't forget Ayu peaked in 2001, more than 10 years ago and that her career is entering on the 15th year. There's no pop artist in the world able to go on for this long (considering success in Jpop tend to last between 3 and 5 years) without facing a big drop in sales sometime. New faces come, people grow out of fandom, people turn into adults and their priorities change (teenagers move music markets), and once you reach your top, the only way to go is down.

Even when a pop artist keeps relevant for a long time, Kylie Minogue for example as you are from the UK, they will face a period of low sales sometime during their careers, and there's nothing that can be really done about it...

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Any company in their right mind is going to do what they can to get as much money as possible. That money goes to the artists, the people running the company, studio time, graphic designers, lawyers, accountants, rent on office space, TONS of unseen people making the business work. Whatever you have to do as a company to make sure everyone gets paid, do it.

I'd MUCH rather they release best-of after best-of than force artists to do shows all day every day and record 2-3 albums a year, that's for sure. The more money they can make without Ayu doing any actual work, the better for everyone involved.

As for the speed of new material being released... I see you're from the UK, how long have you been following Asian pop? It startled me quite a bit to see how fast-paced music careers are there compared to the west. Here, it's an album every 3-4 years and that's about average. And we're USED to that, is the difference. But in Japan, if you don't have an album each year, if you don't have a single or SOME new song a few times a year, that's strange and unexpected and fans wonder where you've been. the brilliant green took a hiatus for 3 years from 2002-2005 and people were REALLY excited when they came back. The pace is just different there.

Asian labels certainly aren't slave drivers. The approach is very different. In the west, an artist will write or even record up to 35 songs for one album, leaving 20+ songs completely unheard by the audience. That's REALLY unusual in Japan. When Ayu writes 35 songs, we hear most of them. It's just spread out over 3 years so we get a more constant feed of new material. In either case, it's three years worth of work in the West or in Japan, but in Japan, they all get released, and they get released gradually.

In the west, rock music and even pop music is considered more of an "art," where in Asia it's considered more "work." Their job is to entertain their audience and get paid for it. Here it's considered rather disrespectful to look at it that way. So in the west, the producers & writers hand-pick which songs are the highest quality, the most worth it for the audience to hear. In the east, every song gets finished to perfection, completed, and released. It's roughly the same amount of work on both sides of the world, but labels in Japan are, in my opinion, smarter for releasing more records, especially since their market share is much smaller. Japan spends more money per-capita on music each year than ANY other country. America gets its financial advantage by marketing to the whole world, though, so artists in the west for the most part don't need to release as many records to make the same amount of money. Japanese artists have a very hard time marketing outside of Asia, so they just make more material.

Part of their selling technique is, unfortunately, packaging the DVDs of Ayu's videos with her albums (as they do with most artists). People wouldn't pay extra for the CD+DVD version if the DVD product was available in its entirety on YouTube. What they put on YT is enough to sample a song or video to see if you'd be willing to pay for it (they put a big chunk of the videos on there, it's irritating that it's not the whole thing but it makes sense). I'd rather own a high-quality DVD of those videos than depend on YouTube for watching them, though, so if I have to pick one or the other, I'm fine with how they're doing things.

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Now, THIS is an answer!^^

Also, Ayu sales these days aren't low (only) because of her recent marketing strategies... We can't forget Ayu peaked in 2001, more than 10 years ago and that her career is entering on the 15th year. There's no pop artist in the world able to go on for this long (considering success in Jpop tend to last between 3 and 5 years) without facing a big drop in sales sometime. New faces come, people grow out of fandom, people turn into adults and their priorities change (teenagers move music markets), and once you reach your top, the only way to go is down.

Even when a pop artist keeps relevant for a long time, Kylie Minogue for example as you are from the UK, they will face a period of low sales sometime during their careers, and there's nothing that can be really done about it...

I agree on these terms. I think I get the point here...

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Now, THIS is an answer!^^

Also, Ayu sales these days aren't low (only) because of her recent marketing strategies... We can't forget Ayu peaked in 2001, more than 10 years ago and that her career is entering on the 15th year. There's no pop artist in the world able to go on for this long (considering success in Jpop tend to last between 3 and 5 years) without facing a big drop in sales sometime. New faces come, people grow out of fandom, people turn into adults and their priorities change (teenagers move music markets), and once you reach your top, the only way to go is down.

Even when a pop artist keeps relevant for a long time, Kylie Minogue for example as you are from the UK, they will face a period of low sales sometime during their careers, and there's nothing that can be really done about it...

I do think that Party Queen in particular was a marketing failure (the drop in sales between PQ and FIVE, or between PQ and Love songs, is FAR more pronounced than previous drops). I think Ayu had one idea for what the album was supposed to be, and the people around her had another.

Ayu put together what is quite possibly her most personal album since A Song for XX, bringing back old composers that the fans would know and like, and the album was very, very dark. This album really had the potential to bring Ayu back from the clutches of repetitive, commercial-friendly mediocrity. This album COULD have been touted as a return to form, a return to the optimistic melancholy and intimacy that really set ayu apart from the competition through "I am...".

But I think this album scared avex's marketing people. I think the album isn't in tune with today's music-buying crowd, and staying "safe" has kept Ayu's sales at a reasonable level since about "Secret." But nothing about this album was "Safe," aside from the few songs they did promote & play on MTV. But even those just barely got any attention.

The album was too risky to promote, and since it was Ayu ("the album will be profitable regardless so what's the point in spending extra money on marketing"), they didn't bother. If they really went out of their way to accurately represent the album, they'd have been out that marketing money, and it may very well have done even worse if they promoted songs that were, in my opinion, more representative of the album's overall tone and message. Songs like "Letter," for example.

I think since Ayu is a pop artist, and this album is more of a piece of art than a piece of merchandise, avex weren't really sure what to do with the album as far as selling it to anyone outside her established fanbase.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I do think that Party Queen in particular was a marketing failure (the drop in sales between PQ and FIVE, or between PQ and Love songs, is FAR more pronounced than previous drops). I think Ayu had one idea for what the album was supposed to be, and the people around her had another.

Ayu put together what is quite possibly her most personal album since A Song for XX, bringing back old composers that the fans would know and like, and the album was very, very dark. This album really had the potential to bring Ayu back from the clutches of repetitive, commercial-friendly mediocrity. This album COULD have been touted as a return to form, a return to the optimistic melancholy and intimacy that really set ayu apart from the competition through "I am...".

But I think this album scared avex's marketing people. I think the album isn't in tune with today's music-buying crowd, and staying "safe" has kept Ayu's sales at a reasonable level since about "Secret." But nothing about this album was "Safe," aside from the few songs they did promote & play on MTV. But even those just barely got any attention.

The album was too risky to promote, and since it was Ayu ("the album will be profitable regardless so what's the point in spending extra money on marketing"), they didn't bother. If they really went out of their way to accurately represent the album, they'd have been out that marketing money, and it may very well have done even worse if they promoted songs that were, in my opinion, more representative of the album's overall tone and message. Songs like "Letter," for example.

I think since Ayu is a pop artist, and this album is more of a piece of art than a piece of merchandise, avex weren't really sure what to do with the album as far as selling it to anyone outside her established fanbase.

I agree about the album most likelly being her most personal since A Song for XX, and it's not fitting the pop image 100%, and I also think the way it was promoted hurted it Oricon sales, as Oricon doesn't count 100% of event sales and this was the way the album was promoted the most.

During Love songs, Ayu broke her last big record. There's no big record last for her to break, either because she already broke it or because it's impossible for her to do so... In a way, Love songs is her last moviment as the Queen of Jpop from the 00s. When FIVE was out, while discussing it with isthisLOL we came with the theory that maybe the easy-listening album was announcing that Ayu was taking a different road on the future (as, on our opinion, the album lyrics listened in order can be a open letter telling someone, the fans we presumed, it was time to take a different approach to her career). After that she comes with a very alien album to her whole discography, I believe she never polarized her fanbase this much before.

And them, she promotes it though smaller reginal tv channels, internet interviews and live events, making herself as closer physically from her fans as she can... I don't know... I don't think Avex was lazy or scared to promote her because the album was way too risky... IMO it felt like she was re-introducing herself to her fanbase, something like "This is the new
Ayu, she puts what she likes and feels above what her fans expect, she is personal but is not filled with teenager angst, she has nothing to prove at this point of hr career". Starting on the Fukushima incident and her releases inspired by that, I feel like she is trying to be more human and less diva lately, even to her fanbase, and IMO her recent marketing choices are just reflecting the need to create a strong and durable base to this change.

[Delirium-Zer0]

I think listening that much into the lyrics of "FIVE" is a bit of a stretch (to me, for example, BRILLANTE just screams "last time I'm ever gonna write about Tomoya Nagase, I need to freaking get over it"), but I think your point stands - at this point she's hit 50 singles, she's broken records, broken THOSE records again, so there's really no point for ayu to go out of her way to please the general public anymore. I DO think she's decided to sorta just chill out, do her own thing, be a figurehead of support for fans who've always seen her that way, and just go with the flow of things. And more power to her - this may be the closest thing to a "break" that such a workaholic may ever get.

And I think doing this is Ayu actively taking a step towards addressing her insecurities - insecurities I had no idea she even had until reading the lyrics to Party Queen's songs. Clearly, she's been working hard running from the pains of her past and trying to keep her mind off self-criticisms and comparing herself to others. By slowing things down, writing as the muse moves her, touring on her own terms, and not focusing so much on the essential seasonal singles that avex needs for their bottom line each year, she's forcing herself to stop running, to stop escaping, and to just be comfortable with herself for awhile.

[Delicious n Bold]

Welp, we all know about that A BEST incident. That pretty much sums up Ayu back in the day with Avex. Even some music videos portray her feelings (ourselves, Don't look back)
EDIT: as for Koda Kumi, DEFINIETLY a cash cow. She is/will release 4 things even before she gives birth. Dang, that's just... milking like a cow. But it's terrible. She needs a break. She's PREGNANT! ugh... Both her and Ayu need to take a long break and just relax.

[Andrenekoi]

BRILLANTE doesn't really sound like a end of relationship song to me... And the PV also makes me believe it was more a take on fame than on love, and this wouldn't be the first time she addressed about it, on Do it again for example she sounds pretty tired of everything... But oh well...

The thing I like the most on Party Queen is the album being the first time she is actually taking some of the blame for everything that happens to her. Before, everything that hurt her was the cruel world's fault, the cruel people's fault, but this time she is open to the fact that she is inflicting much of this pain to herself, that some of her problems and insecurities are no one's but her problem... What makes it her most mature work to date IMO.

Also, something I forgot to post, but marketing-wise, after being superexposed for so long and releasing a lot yearly even to japanese standarts, having low-profile 13rd and14th years followed by a big 15th year is a good plan.^^

[Larien]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I think listening that much into the lyrics of "FIVE" is a bit of a stretch (to me, for example, BRILLANTE just screams "last time I'm ever gonna write about Tomoya Nagase, I need to freaking get over it"),

Slightly off-topic, but I thought BRILLANTE really was about Manny (and yes, her career)...(unless none of her songs actually were?) But I'm pretty sure she's still singing about Nagase. "You & Me" is still talking about "that summer day" that she's been singing about for a decade.

But anyway, back to marketing.

I don't think avex necessarily took a stance of, "it will sell anyway, so let's not try," because I don't think any business in its right mind would take such a lazy approach, especially with one of its top sellers. That said, we really have no idea of the complicated things going on back-stage, so to speak. A friend of mine in Japan did complain before Party queen came out that she never seemed to see Ayu performing on TV anymore - which is a valid point. Ayu performed at least ten numbers on top music stations and so forth for GUILTY. Zero for Party queen. Love songs and FIVE also had live promotion. I think that's an important part of promoting music in Japan.

[emi♡]

But it is kind of the reality of the situation.

Ayu has a stable fanbase buying her releases. She doesn't have to do anything, and neither does Avex. The releases will sell.

And even if they only sell a couple of ten thousands....they're still selling better than a LOAD of other female solos.


The lack of promotion is disappointing...but I agree with how risky an album PQ is...and well...I'm sure they had more reason than just "we're lazy" with not promoting it.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Also, something I forgot to post, but marketing-wise, after being superexposed for so long and releasing a lot yearly even to japanese standarts, having low-profile 13rd and14th years followed by a big 15th year is a good plan.^^

Never thought of it this way, but it's really a good plan.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Never thought of it this way, but it's really a good plan.

I don't really now if this is the case... But I believe it may be Still, if this really happens, by "big" I mean 10th anni like, with a bigger tour, maybe a special release and stuff like that.

I also think the release of A Summer Best may be the first step into the 15th anni celebration.

[ayu_ready?]

I think earlier Ayu used to be avex priority, but now she turned more into 'legacy' - that explains promo, sales and her producers/teams approach

the other problem with avex, to my mind, is its current state. I don't think it's anyhow evolving or developing - but more like remaining and using old principles and methods that don't work out that sucessfully now. to my mind, avex is very lazy and it really needs new teams & directors

I honestly don't understand what Max is doing now. from forging a company he got to bringing it to a state of dead-end

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Larien

Slightly off-topic, but I thought BRILLANTE really was about Manny (and yes, her career)

You're not the only one with those theories, but I just don't see that. I feel like those theories are coming from people knowing the "goodbye" part of the lyrics but not any more of the details.

Just so everyone else here understands where I'm coming from...

"I'm writing this with you in my heart...
For the last time, I've decided."

"For just a little too long, I've remained in the darkness, but
now it's time to go."

"What had been two became one.
And then became two again. That's all there is to it.
All we've done is return to where we started, right?"

"The road that continues from here is too narrow,
so I can't walk down it aligned with you anymore."

The protagonist here is an insecure, introspective woman trying to stop herself from overanalyzing what could have possibly gone wrong in a past long-term relationship that ended. She's been at it for years, writing and thinking and trying to sort out her feelings and figure it all out in the hopes that it would be cathartic or therapeutic and would stop the pain. But it never did. So in this song, she's saying "fine, I'm done thinking about it." Whether or not her resolution holds remains to be seen.

For the record, I don't think "You & Me" is about anyone we know of. It sounds like it was a fling, one of the "night of fun, morning of loneliness" situations she was probably referring to in "Last angel," albeit a particularly affecting one that's really stuck with her. That's if it's even about HER, and not about an experience of one of her friends. I don't think the "far off summer" in "You & Me" is the same one talked about in past songs like "fairyland."

ANYWAY back on topic! So sorry for the long post.

As for avex and how it's run. I don't know how many of you guys remember the leadership shift & scandal in 2004. Former CEO Tom Yoda was trying to branch avex out into movies, anime, and games to a greater degree. Well Max Matsuura said "screw that" and quit Avex - he'd founded a company that existed to market MUSIC, and he was concerned the company under Yoda's leadership wasn't focused enough on the love of music. He didn't LIKE the blind pursuit of profit. Ayu and several other artists said they were following Max wherever he went, and effectively left avex as well. Avex's stock plummeted as a result, Tom Yoda was fired (he works for Rakuten now), and Max Matsuura came back to the company so none of the artists had to find new labels. So now Max is CEO, president, and chief shareholder.

In any case, a man who fought for the label's love of music can't really be blamed for the business procedures. He wants what's best for the company too (he DOES own 4.8% of the company too, so yeah of course he wants it to be profitable). That said, this is a 20 year old company. When you work for the same place for 20 years, and that place is your life, it's VERY easy to lose touch with the outside world. Older tech companies of all types have died out due to age, because when you're inside a company like that, you don't realize how fast things are going for other, newer companies, or companies where the leadership constantly changes. At other labels, new businesspeople & marketing people are cycled in & out all the time. Avex feels like a gigantic mom & pop operation, where the people working there are a family & all know each other. There isn't much outside influence coming in, which means avex takes longer embracing new trends (like blu-ray and youtube) compared to other labels. The VAST majority of the other labels are also owned by one of the US Big 4 labels (Sony, Warner, Universal, EMI... big 3 if Universal is allowed to acquire EMI, dunno what the status is on that), which means a ton of west-to-east conversation, trading, and business travel. Not so with Avex. They're, by the traditional definition, an independent label (which is to say, not owned by any of the big three/four).

Anyway, Max, right now, is probably doing more A&R and oversight as CEO of the company. One of the first things he did was sign Ami Suzuki, giving her a second chance when no one else did for nearly five years after her blacklisting. Lately he's probably focused more on working with SM and YG to bring Kpop acts to Japan, since they're extremely profitable right now. Max has a business life outside of Ayu, and he trusts her to do her own thing after knowing her as long as he has. I wouldn't be shocked to find out he's VERY hands-off with her and in fact speaks to her relatively rarely. (I have my theory that the song "Letter," which seems to be a letter to Ayu, may be a summary of things he's said to her in letters recently.)

I, like many of you, am hoping for a very, very big 15th Anniversary. Ayu's 10th Anniversary was FUN. A COMPLETE, ayu-mi-x 6, the long-box singles, the limited edition postage stamps, the TeamAyu stuff, and oh man Ayu10th.com. That site was fun. At least in its first version. But yeah that whole year was great. I'm really hoping for the 15th anniversary to be a real event. And after the last few years, a big 15th Anniversary would definitely do her some good. I don't really think it was the plan from the beginning for that to happen (it would be WAY too huge a risk to lower her sales on purpose beforehand, the market is extremely momentum-based), but it would be nice if things went on an upswing next year.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

You're not the only one with those theories, but I just don't see that. I feel like those theories are coming from people knowing the "goodbye" part of the lyrics but not any more of the details.

Just so everyone else here understands where I'm coming from...

"I'm writing this with you in my heart...
For the last time, I've decided."

"For just a little too long, I've remained in the darkness, but
now it's time to go."

"What had been two became one.
And then became two again. That's all there is to it.
All we've done is return to where we started, right?"

"The road that continues from here is too narrow,
so I can't walk down it aligned with you anymore."

The protagonist here is an insecure, introspective woman trying to stop herself from overanalyzing what could have possibly gone wrong in a past long-term relationship that ended. She's been at it for years, writing and thinking and trying to sort out her feelings and figure it all out in the hopes that it would be cathartic or therapeutic and would stop the pain. But it never did. So in this song, she's saying "fine, I'm done thinking about it." Whether or not her resolution holds remains to be seen.

Her relationship with her fandom is far longer than her relationship with Nagase, it also lasted longer (when BRILLANTE was composed she was already married and had broken up with Nagase for 4 years already) and 2010 and 2011 were years filled with what she wants/what her fandom wants kind of shock, also, all the twitter related problems...

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I, like many of you, am hoping for a very, very big 15th Anniversary. Ayu's 10th Anniversary was FUN. A COMPLETE, ayu-mi-x 6, the long-box singles, the limited edition postage stamps, the TeamAyu stuff, and oh man Ayu10th.com. That site was fun. At least in its first version. But yeah that whole year was great. I'm really hoping for the 15th anniversary to be a real event. And after the last few years, a big 15th Anniversary would definitely do her some good. I don't really think it was the plan from the beginning for that to happen (it would be WAY too huge a risk to lower her sales on purpose beforehand, the market is extremely momentum-based), but it would be nice if things went on an upswing next year.

I don't think she was expecting sales drops, only to be a little more low-profile... FIVE sold well and she barely appeared on TV last year, for example... While PQ had low sales even with a good tie-in for example... Appearing less IMO was a plan, lowering sales a consequence of a risky creative choice (the whole PQ project)

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Her relationship with her fandom is far longer than her relationship with Nagase, it also lasted longer (when BRILLANTE was composed she was already married and had broken up with Nagase for 4 years already)

And sure, that could fit for MOST of the song, but not for the third lyric I quoted above. This is someone she has absolutely, no screwing around, broken up with. Two became one and became two again. Ayu single, ayu in relationship, ayu single again. She has in no way shape or form broken up with her fans, the way she tweets, updates TA, and used everyone's photos during Power of Music. And the "but she broke up with him 4 years ago" is the EXACT problem addressed in the song, which has a very "Enough is enough, I have to stop thinking about this tragedy already" message.

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Any company in their right mind is going to do what they can to get as much money as possible. That money goes to the artists, the people running the company, studio time, graphic designers, lawyers, accountants, rent on office space, TONS of unseen people making the business work. Whatever you have to do as a company to make sure everyone gets paid, do it.

I'd MUCH rather they release best-of after best-of than force artists to do shows all day every day and record 2-3 albums a year, that's for sure. The more money they can make without Ayu doing any actual work, the better for everyone involved.

Labels don't have much control over their artists' touring schedule. In all actuality, the artist makes a very tiny fraction of the money generated from an album sale.

Say Ayumi Hamasaki sells 100,000 copies of a new album at $34.00 USD each. That's a total profit of 3.4 million USD. Now, we have to break down where that money goes:

$3,400,000 (Total Market Revenue for 100,000 in sales of an album)
- $510,000 (Subtract Retail Markup of 20% per album)
-----------
$2,890,000 (Actualized Revenue Record Label Earns)
- $578,000 (Subtract Ayumi's Royalties Per Album - 20% of Label's Revenues)
+ $250,000 (Add Back Ayumi's Advance from Label)
-----------
- $328,000 (Ayumi's Actualized Royalties After Advances)
-----------
$2,312,000 (AVEX's Actual Revenues)

$328,000 (Ayumi's Income from 100,000 Sales of a New Album)
- $65,600 (Subtract Manager's 20% Cut)
- $49,200 (Subtract Agent's 15% Cut)
---------
$213,200 (Ayumi's Actualized Income from 100,000 in Sales.)


At the end of the day, Ayumi makes extremely little from the recording and sale of a new album. However, in order to maintain her contract, she has to be generating profit for Avex, and this is partially why album releases from her and Koda are more common than from artists like Namie right now.

My calculations are extremely lenient though.

Now, compare this to touring where the label is only granted a limited gift of tickets and measly 10% of touring profits:

$3,460,000 (20,000 People Attend Concerts at an average price of $173)
- $500,000 (Subtract Touring Costs)
- $250,000 (Subtract All Musicians' and Dancers' Salaries)
- $346,000 (Subtract Label's ~10% Royalties)
-----------
$2,364,000 (Ayumi's Income from the tour)
- $472,800 (Subtract Touring Agent's 20% Cut)
-----------
$1,891,200 (Ayumi's Actualized Income from 20,000 people attending a tour.)

Generally, artists release material through a label to promote tours, not really the other way around. If people like the songs, they end up selling more tickets and this is how the artists will make their money.

BTW, I may be WAAAY off on some of these figures, but it's just meant to show how much of a difference there is to Ayumi's pocket from an album release and a tour. So, the gist of this is: Avex does a lot of things that aren't profitable for Ayumi because they are clearly profitable for the label.

[saigodansu]

atleast Delirium Zero remembers not every song is about her personally. the few times she was actually seen with Nagase and Mannie, they are probably both more for publicity than even a real friendship of any kind. I don't think her real personal relationships have ever been made known (although 1 of them is very obvious is you look through all the photos she's posted and read an old interview or 2 when she couldn't stop talking about someone new in her life for 6 months straight) I did it myself for a long while too, but believing the relationships that were nothing more than a few photo shoots and hanging out a few times is just buying into what Avex is trying to sell. She seems to have a real relationship going back farther than the believed one of Nagase and still going currently, just takes some reading and looking through photos to notice because Avex has had her do so much to cover it up.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

And sure, that could fit for MOST of the song, but not for the third lyric I quoted above. This is someone she has absolutely, no screwing around, broken up with. Two became one and became two again. Ayu single, ayu in relationship, ayu single again. She has in no way shape or form broken up with her fans, the way she tweets, updates TA, and used everyone's photos during Power of Music. And the "but she broke up with him 4 years ago" is the EXACT problem addressed in the song, which has a very "Enough is enough, I have to stop thinking about this tragedy already" message.

Ayu is alone in the world -> Ayu finds herself on her fans -> Ayu decides she can't live according to her fans expectations.

When she sings something to her fandom, she always address to them as individuals instead as addressing as a group, so, her fan lyrics always are kinda like a one x one talking. On a sense, avoiding some formulaic decisions she made all over her career since her peak to please her fans and keep sales steady is a break up, is walking the road by herself again, pretty much like she did before she was so aware of her work personal impact on part of her fandom. When she sings something to her fandom, she always address to them as individuals instead as addressing as a group, so, her fan lyrics always are kinda like a one x one talking.

I also don't believe all of her love songs are about her, as that would mean she and Nagase were breaking up in almost every winter since Dearest