^ in that case the promotion didn't do wonders for them? (means it wasn't that good...) It doesn't matter if people know that someone's releasing if they don't care enough to buy the stuff :)

We do have to remember this is a single, if it was an album, they'd promo her to more then just her fans, but this was a fan based single what with RED LINE~for TA~ being on it...

Not true. Even though it wasn't a lot, You were... had more promotion than NEXT LEVEL.

Noone really knows what's Avex's marketing tactics for Ayu's releases anymore but clearly promotion for her music has not been even close to what it was in the past.

^ which is expected considering her popularity isn't on the same level. Avex is just trying to maximize the profit and not waste much money on promotion that could have no effect. There is no point in marketing something if people are simply not interested - a good example would be the previously mentioned flumpool ^^

i don't understand LOL i hope people aren't giving excuses for her, because whenever something new comes out it's "there's so much promotion!" then it's "well it's not much promotion" instead, why not compare the promo to other acts? and how do we even know if there isn't more promo then what we can see? i don't think it's possible for anyone to gauge the amount of promo done based on the few pictures we have, especially, compared to other released, these are the fewest amount of promo pictures from japan i've seen so there can't possibly be a good judgement of the amount of the scale of promo done for this single.

drop to #4

*1　4,409　9mm Parabellum Bullet
*2　3,142　C-ute
*3　2,828　福山雅治

-- -- -- -- -- *2／*1　9mm Parabellum Bullet 「命ノゼンマイ」
-- -- -- -- -- *1＼*2　℃-ute 「SHOCK!」
*3 *3 *1 *1 *1 *4／*3　福山雅治 「はつ恋」
*1 *1 *2 *2 *2 *3＼*4　浜崎あゆみ 「You were.../BALLAD」
*2 *2 *3 *3 *3 *5→*5　GACKT 「Stay the Ride Alive」
*4 *4 *5 *5 *5 *7／*6　関ジャニ∞ 「GIFT ～緑～」
*6 *7 *7 *7 *7 *9／*7　関ジャニ∞ 「GIFT ～赤～」
*7 *8 *6 *8 *6 10／*8　関ジャニ∞ 「GIFT ～白～」
-- -- -- -- -- *8＼*9　長保有紀 「木曽路の雨」
11 15 27 28 *9 12／10　北島三郎 「夫婦一生」

This and the fact that is good for her not superexposing (much, cuz she still does) considering a lot of peaple are tired of her :B

The thing is - we who do no live in Japan, can hardly say for sure how much has been done to promote her, at times her singles have as much TV performances or more than the old ones did, her albums now have more PVs than her older ones did. Sure here and there we'll see pics of trucks and billboards and the only thing that has basically changed a lot is the number of CM contracts that Ayu has and I am guessing the number of magazine shoots and variety shows she is attending (as she hasn't done that in years...). So from our point of view everything has remained pretty much the same (more or less).

Are these positions for 1/6?

Anyway, Ayu is really close to 100k--I think she'll close this week after just passing 100k.

^ she was on 96k yesterday, if she sold around 2k today that's nearly 98k. And she still has 4 days left, the sales will most likely be around 105k.

^^yup for 1/6...anyway i guess the diff between her masaharu shouldnt be a big gap

^ Awesome. :D Ayu's fanbase is amazing.

That's not the point, I was thinking more in terms of the difference in promotion from 2009 onwards. Ayu's sales have been steadily declining over the past few years, which is normal for a veteran singer but there is a marked difference in marketing strategy between what Avex did prior to NEXT LEVEL and then after. Previously they never released their A list artists' albums in the same week but in 2009, Ayu, Koda Kumi and Tohoshinki all had albums released in the same week.

i saw the Limited Edition Box at jpopstop that was only limited sold at her CDL ~Future Classics~ stands...
do you guys think it makes the sales lower?

can anyone post the asian sales ?

how about charts from hongkong, taiwan, korea ?
i used to see those charts for her previous releases but not anymore
there are still links in the guilty and next level threads i think

Her single sales only declined in the end of 2005, since then her singles have been quite stellar sellers.

The whole 10th Anniversary thing is to blame she couldn't do a December album as usual. TRICK was released almost a month before NEXT LEVEL as far as I recall and only THE SECRET CODE was released in the same week and that's only because it was the end of fiscal 2009, so that's the only reason they packed many of their A list artists albums/singles in Feb/March 2009.

Maybe avex decided to put more budget into promoting Namie's PAST < FUTURE for the Winter/December period? You never know what they're thinking anyway.

As what njanjayrp mention, what avex is trying to do is to maximise profits. Whatever things they do will certainly be along the line of maximising profits. Yes ayu is still popular but it's a fact that her sales are falling. I'm sure avex had done a few market study and realise that appealling to fans directly would maximise profits for some of their artist. Ayu's 2005 single sales are impressive but did avex earn alot from it? That's a period when ayu was still everywhere. Not to forget about the cost of her pv especially my name's WOMEN and fairyland. It's all about their returns. They put in millions but the profit does not justify it. Ayu's sales maybe dropping but i'm sure avex is still earning alot. Yes promotion is down, Pv budget is down. But i'm sure now they are having much more return in proportion to the money they put in.

For example: (the number are made up, but they bring my point forward)

Last Time
Budget: 400M
Profits: 20M
Returns: 5%

Now
Budget: 150M
Profits: 15M
Returns: 10%

Don't forget, AVEX is only handling the distribution of her releases (Namie's) and maybe some promo, she has her own management (as shown here -> http://www.avex.co.jp/e_site/stock/pdf/report_h21.pdf) that most likely handles the promotion.

whoa I didn't know that... does this mean Ayu probably has her own management too?