^ that was stupid... she had been gone from the american music scene since 2006...

as for ayumi, I just think she has a good solid fan base and she has kept them for years. There is a reason why most of her concerts are sold out and how she can travel to so many different concert halls.

^ it just goes to show that ayu DOES have a fan base. It isn't crashed dead burned like Nelly Furtado's.

I knew so many people waiting for that album...and the media too...sad that it crashed and burned.

^ but she didnt really DO anything for it...
nothing... did she even have a single??

idk. Maybe she still will. They usually do promotion during and after anyways...but I haven't heard anything since it was coming out, so.

^ yeah... i didnt even realize she was doing something until i saw it pop up on a torrent and looked it up myself...

I mean.. usually in america we get at least 1 single sometimes 2 before an album is released...

I don't know what to think. This is just crazy, and kinda makes me sad.

I agree with the story...:(

...no wonder why I'm continuing to lose faith on Ayu right now, and especially my preference of younger artists (miwa, Sayuri Sugawara, Leo Ieiri)...

...this is why Ayu's not my #1 anymore.

The reasons for not releasing singles is simple. CDs have become obsolete and the music industry has been failing to find a valid physical substitute and can only rely on digital sales. People use portable electronic devices to listen to music nowadays. I'm sure the sales of big stereo sound systems has dropped considerably over the years, though I haven't done research myself. People will barely buy a full cd album these days, what to say a large CD with 2 to 3 songs only. Local bands in my city are rarely releasing physical CDs nowadays, instead they've turned to live performances without physical releases. I don't even see physical CD piracy as much anymore - 8 years ago it was abusive:shrug A lot of record stores have closed in my city. You can only find CDs in department stores that sells other different things. Even on those, CD departments have shrunk progressively and considerably over the years, and in a couple department stores that had large CD sections, nowadays I see nothing or maybe just a small shelf hidden on the back with outdated releases that weren't sold or 1 or 2 massive hit recent albums. I often only find some recent released albums through online shopping. I don't think this reality is very different in Japan, and ayumi is not the only japanese singer who really hasn't been releasing physical singles recently. Artists like Madonna would attempt world tours every 10 years, and now you see her advertising world tours yearly. Clearly, the world businness for music is very different nowadays than waht it was in 2001. If people fail to realize some of this history, it might indeed sound like avex is conspiring to keep some number one streak, however the reason for ayu not having released singles recently most likely relies on the market itself rather than avex trying to pull some crazy trick, after all holding the streak doesn't really guarantee much of a possibility of it not getting broken if they decide to release a single 2 or 5 years later.

I still have faith in her though. I still think she can get a #1 single.

I think she can too. They just need to release strategically.

Her singles still sell really well for solo/lesser artists.

They just can't beat the males or the groups.

She's only been having problems with albums, but she would pull off good sales with a single I think.

If she sold between 80k and 100k for a single it would be amazing :shrug And they just need to find a date when it's easy to get #1, it's not that hard.

They seem to be choosing wacky dates for albums because she could easily get #1 in some weeks... yet they choose weeks where someone is going to be releasing something. (SMAP album, ACID BLACK CHERRY after like 5 months of promo)

^ I think it's to prove a point... look at ayumi... she can still go up against the current and be fine.

I think her albums did rather well for what they were
and how much effort went into them

And it's not like they sold HORRIBLY... isn't A SUMMER BEST still selling?

Also, I suppose they did it on purpose in a way. Only bad thing is that zero promo for the albums (at least compared to say Rock'n'Roll Circus or Love song) isn't too good imo.

yeah.. she would of sold more if they put more into it...
its like they just dont care anymore...

ayumi... off in her little ayu world... lol

I've felt that Avex was to blame for a while now...they are HORRIBLE at her promotion. I think her music is always amazing.

AVEX is just bad with promotion in general nowadays, have you seen their youtube account? They promote the crappiest **** there, and some really meh singers, they don't come up with great numbers like koda kumi, BoA and Ai Otsuka anymore, just plain boring generic forgettable looking singers.

And of course, many of these singers don't even make it into ORICON :shrug Just ridiculous.

It seems like they are relaying on their Kpop acts atm.

The music industry is very tricky... trust me... I know both sides to Japan and the U.S...

^^ And even the Korean acts they have aren't the most popular ones...lol.

I wonder if after the "get caught downloading music and you'll be charged with 2,000,000 Yen" rules comes into place (Oct. 1st) people will be more cautious, thus purchasing music?

But really, Tsutaya is the biggest problem right now. Renting music is way cheaper. And singles are rentable starting from the release date, only albums are delayed.