[Editorial] Is avex Afraid Of Letting Ayumi Hamasaki Release Singles?
 

Ayumi Hamasaki is one of the
most prolific artists in Japan of all
time. After debuting in 1998 with
"Poker Face ", Ayu quickly became
a powerhouse in sales, topping
charts, breaking records and
slaying the competition. Times
have changed though, and Ayu no
longer sells the way she used to.
With the lack of singles she has
released in recent years, avex
seems to be afraid of letting the
singer lose her records, preferring
to preserve her pristine record on
paper rather than facing declining
sales head on.
During the start of Ayu's career,
there was always a constant flow of
new music from the singer. In
1999 and 2000, Ayu released 7
singles per year; however, the last
time Ayu has released a single was
2 years ago on September 29th
with "L ". During this span, Ayu has
released 2 albums, a compilation
album, a mini album and even
plans on releasing a new mini
album on November 8th.
Ayu currently holds the record for
most consecutive #1 hit singles (25
in a row). A new Ayu single means
risking breaking the streak,
something that avex seems
determined to prevent by breaking
tradition and releasing albums with
no prior single releases or sticking
new songs as part of a larger
package like they did with " You &
Me ". It's as though avex doesn't
believe Ayu can bring in sufficient
sales with her singles to be the
chart topping queen her image is
modeled to be.
"LOVE", the title of her new mini
album, has 12 tracks, but only 3 of
them are new. Ayu used to have
more new songs and total tracks
packed into 1 single than what is
being marketed as a mini album
today (remember the quadruple A-
side "A"?). After announcing her
new mini album yesterday, some
were left wondering why such a
release was being called a mini
album. The answer is simple: avex's
obsession with maintaining Ayu's
records.
Ayumi Hamasaki has had an album
top the Oricon charts every year
for the past 13 years; however,
both album releases this year
(" Party Queen" on March 21st and
"A Summer Best " on August 8th)
peaked at #2. In order for Ayu to
continue building upon her record,
a new album release had to be put
together before the end of the
year. And so "LOVE" became a mini
album rather than a return to the
hit-single producing machine Ayu
was formerly known as.
Maintaining long standing records
in and of itself isn't a bad thing. As
an Ayu fan for years and years, it
would be sad to see her unable to
build upon her records, further
cementing her place as the queen
of J-pop. But what's sadder than
seeing Ayu's sales streaks come to
an end is to see her company lose
faith in their most prolific artist.
In the upcoming months, Ayu has
committed herself to releasing 5
new releases over a 5 month
period. It is time for Ayu to go
back to her roots and deliver
stunning pop singles to listeners
once again. Fans will support her
efforts. Its time for avex to do the
same and let her be the artist we
all know she can be.


source: jpopasia

I don't know about everyone else, but I agree.

She said something about L being the last... something. It's likely she doesn't want to do singles anymore.

The same thing with awards...they figured she wasn't going to win anymore as her era was over so instead of losing face they totally ignore and refuse nominations.

^ thats not how it was... she no longer wanted to accept awards because she had won so many three years in a row

that is probably the most stupid article ever..

If they even bothered to look at whats being released around the same week as LOVE then they would know that ayumi doesnt have a change...
or the fact that ayumi has already stated this albums/releases are not meant for sales but for fans.

the single streak is the most ridiculous thing that fans have come up with. She doesnt want to release a single, it has nothing to do with selling power or not.
Also, the a-side was during a different time... the music industry in general has changed in the 10 years since ayumi's peak.

blah.. im tired of it.

Yeah, I agree also.

I don't think LOVE is going to achieve #1 though.
Basically a month and two weeks before release, and yet, still no promotion.

It's being called a mini-album for two reasons.

1) 50 is a nice even number and Ayu probably thinks it might be nice to stop there, at least for awhile.

2) Calling it a mini-album means they can charge ten bucks more for it.

Seems pretty simple to me.

It's not really THAT ridiculous :shrug

Singles are important in the Japanese industry.

I think it's perfectly logical for them not to want to release singles for her, because it sets her apart from other artists that have all gone the same way, and it keeps her relevant by being different from them and by trying things that not many other artists with her status have experimented with.

I think there's a lot of truth to the single streak idea, just because of that. imo it's not that they're scared she won't get number 1, it's just that, they know she won't. They know she won't bring in more sales. They know the route she will go on if she follows the traditional order of things.

I'm sure Ayu is aware of all of these things. Personally, I think it just works out best for everyone.

But who knows...they might just let her do whatever, and maybe she'll release singles again when she wants to hype another album. And most likely, they'll each be less successful than their predecessors. And that's just how it'll go.


And yeah, that article is stupid and was written by...someone who doesn't really understand what they're talking about.

Of course not releasing physical singles is mostly, if not all Ayu's, decision, but I wouldn't be surprised if Avex actually supported her on that. Perhaps their thinking on that is, "Yeah... Don't release any singles! Then your streak won't break!" It's a win/win for both Ayu and Avex, really. (Maybe not money-wise, but Ayu doesn't care about sales and she's brought in a ton of sales, stock, etc to Avex over the past 14.5 years)

Of course I still think the tracklisting for mini-album is a bit odd, but oh well. It's Ayu's decision in the end, and I just gotta support it lol

And they still get another chance to hit #1 on ORICON, so yeah.

Chart placement doesn't matter NEARLY as much to avex as it does to Ayu, and if Ayu doesn't care, then neither will avex. And the fans put WAY too much stock in chart placement. It's not like anyone gets extra money for chart placement. That's just an achievement, bragging rights, things fans can say to fans of rival acts to prove their artist is the best. A trophy for Ayu to put on her wall. That's it.

Charts. Don't. Matter.

Avex wants the money. If ayu's not moving as many units, they have to charge more. If they wanna charge more, they have to call it a mini-album.

^ thank you.
charts dont matter.
its a fan obsession really.

and emi, I was talking about fans saying she is scared to release a single because it wil ruin her streak..

It wont... she will still have it, she will just no longer be able to extend it... chances are she will keep that record for a very very long time.

I think it's also important to remember that fifty singles really is no easy feat.
Maybe she always planned to stop there?
She's proven herself.

Also, maybe everybody is getting their knickers in a knot for no reason, and Ayu has just been having a 2 year break from singles?
I mean, I see a lot of fans complaining about her needing a break.
She might want to focus more on touring.
Considering that singles take a lot of time in a way; photoshoots, promotion (TV Lives/magazines), remixes, etc.

TeamAyu2004 gets high-fives from me!

It is quite a record. She's in the history books forever now regardless - even though she beat other artists, those artists are legends forever too, just as Ayu will be. All Charts do, the only thing they do that matters, is help cement a place in history for the most popular artists. Well, done and done!. Extension of the streak would NOT help that at this point. At this point, Avex's only priority vis a vis CD sales is to keep her profitable. That means charging more. And people these days are NOT used to singles being this long, so not many fans will complain about the mini-album status (and by complain I mean "not buy," which is the only complaining avex will notice. I don't mean whining on the internet about it.)

I mean how many of you can honestly say they won't buy this album SOLELY because it's called a mini-album and not a single? Really? Probably not a single one of you. Your non-purchase would have more to do with the covers, extras or lack thereof, inclusion of You & Me... not because it's $10 more to buy it.

Avex knows they CAN charge more, so they do. It's a business.

And Avex gets their money from the CD releases. If you wanna support Ayu and not Avex, buy merchandise, buy the nail book, fly to Japan for concerts. That's where Ayu's money comes from.

Avex aren't greedy unreasonable money-grubbers as long as you guys keep buying what appeals to you. They're doing the sensible business move - keeping ayu profitable by marketing the mini-album a certain way. And unless this marketing move STOPS YOU from buying it, then they're doing the right thing to keep their business operating smoothly.

That's all true. But still, being in the charts means that you are relevant and actually selling, it puts you out there for people to know that you are doing well and might get them to buy your album, single, etc.

And I wish it was just a fan obsession, but it seems to be an AVEX obsession too.


Personally I'm not worried about chart positions btw.

I will agree that avex manipulated Ayu's release dates for awhile to ensure that she had little competition. This went on for several years. But I also think, after seeing Party Queen's sales, that they know that trick isn't gonna work anymore and it's probably time to give up.

Ayu ISN'T relevant enough anymore and that's the reality of the situation. A mini-album marketed specifically to fans would move more units than a single marketed to the general public at this point.

The other thing is that those streaks are only useful to avex because they put Ayu in the news headlines. No newspaper is gonna say "oh, ayu broke her own record again" at this point because of her relative irrelevance at this stage, and the fact that it's not exactly news because it's happened so many times already.

The likelihood of anyone - avex, ayu, newspapers & magazines, news sites, whoever - benefiting financially from Ayu getting another #1 is very, very low, and to avex, it's just not worth the sacrifice of $10 per unit to try and make happen.

Yeah I totally agree.

Although I'm not too sure how this mini will turn out. I think this new mini will sell as much as a regular single, which is low for a mini. The content is just not that worth it so far, keeping in mind just the quantity and not the quality of it all. Gotta wait and see if both pvs are amazing, and if the 3 new songs are mind-blowing.

The whole article is a tl:dr DUH; All I care about is song quality. A no1 would be nice, but you know.
But that ballad on the mini album better slay. Otherwise I'll melt.

If anything, I think party queen shows just how well ayumi still sells.

I mean look at party queen.
No singles, very little promotional stuff, (did it even get a CM?), and no lives...
and yet it still broke over 100K just because of who the artist is.

same with A Summer Best...
that had even less going for it, and yet still sold over 100K..

it shows that avex doesnt care about it or they would of moved party queen away from another one of their proprieties and A Summer best to a different week.

And I think with ayumi's 5 month of releases on the 8th also shows just how much she doesnt care about sales...

^ nelly furtado thought her new album would sell with her name only/no promotion. She flopped with less than 7K sales in the USA.
But that's a different story.
Ayu can still rake in the cash... For now.

^ 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.

Tsutaya is doing what it needs to survive and not end up like that big store that closed years ago in Shibuya, which is yeah, pretty annoying.

I wonder if they have to change their policies due to this new copyright law as well? Releasing the mini a month after this new law will give AVEX some feedback on sales I guess, if it's actually better for them or not.

I just hope that one of these five releases is a single. If her record fails, then it fails. Nothing lasts forever. I think them acting scared to release it is worse.

If they aren't all singles, what's the point of having one single in the midlle of a couple mini albums? just to have the next mini album with that single added? unless she releases 4 singles and in the end an album, otherwise it would seem sort of pointless.

Yup, I saw more people in tsutaya then tower records when I was there. Wanted to rent some CDs, to rip to my laptop then return them, but they do not seem to allow tourists to rent

You went to the wrong Tsutaya, I talked to a clerk and even with very little understanding of what each other was saying, he signed me up at Tsutaya and I was renting the whole time I was there.

I don't like the article

People should just stop to be obsessed by the chart. Ayu doesn't care about oricon. She only want to sing & Avex only want to earn money. Moreover oricon become more & more obsolete. We're in the digital era now.

Although I agree with many points made in the thread, I still do not agree with the idea that Ayu makes the decisions. In fact she's had a number of TA entries where she has mentioned being asked to do things that not only were not her decision, but made her uncomfortable to be doing those things. So when I see posts saying how she tells TA everything & they believe everything she says, my question becomes "Why do you ignore the many times she's mentioned not being in control?"

In regards to the posts about PQ not having a CM and sales doing ok.
Party Queen had alot of LIVE, Radio & Internet interviews asking very personal questions and very personal answers, including what she sleeps in. An answer that was lied about for a question that was likely planned by her management, since she always shops for pajamas but was claiming to sleep in nothing but a shirt. Also had the giant Billboards & Trucks everywhere & many tweets about it. With all that it didn't need a CM to sell to the 100k+ fans that buy every release she has.

agreed...

I buy lots of pajamas to wear around the house, but I sleep naked :shrug

It's a possibility.

This is why people think your conclusions are fallacious. And she might have had more interviews than normal....but it's not like she had like 20 or something. Which would actually be good promo.

Trying to stay on the discussion, but in reply to the one quoting me just to disagree with everything.

Buying some pajamas for around the house is possible, just not likely. Especially when she buys every color of every brand she likes & it's noticable from nearly every behind the scenes pic we get to see that her choice of clothes for just relaxing is her many pairs of sweats & the only pics I've seen her in pajamas for outside of Peach John ads are those she snaps in the mirror saying she's off to bed.

I don't really care if a few of you want to tear apart every post I make. Because I've noticed since I got over the jealousy thing with Mannie & actually started basing my conclusions on what has been heard, seen & read, that I've had more people agreeing with those conclusions than the few of you who band together and attack everyone with a different view.

You know, I have a NAME. It's right....
<--------------------- OVER THERE.

And yeah, I disagree, cause it's so easy to. Your conclusions are flimsy and transparent. That's all.

More people would believe you if you just had more concrete evidence. And I'll tell you something else, if there is anyone on this forum you should actually want to convince, it's me.

muahahaha

I must say, I do totally agree agree about Oricon. How many physical units a singer sells is no longer a very good indicator of how well they are actually doing, when their entire fanbase are youngsters who download on their cell phones.

Does Oricon still release who raked in the most cash for the year?

This editorial is rather...unrealistic. As I don't want to call it plain stupid.
Releasing A as a "maxi single" was controversial, especially as it was counted as a full album by EVERY chart system. avex doesn't like controversy - at least inside Japan, they couldn't care less what we think.
LOVE IS technically an album, not even a mini album, a full album. Albums can include remixes, alternate versions and instrumental versions of tracks. The LENGHT of a release determines what it is, not the number of songs or the number of new songs.
X Japan's "ART of LIFE" has one song. But it lasts 30 minutes and is therefore either an album or a mini album.
So, the way it is being released, LOVE had to be released as an album, because it will chart as an album. Some people may say they added all these tracks to turn it into an album, but I doubt that. Ayumi has been increasingly aware of her fans asking for remixes and long singles. So that's just what she and avex prepared, especially since this is to be a big deal. And a long single IS an album.
For the 2 years without singles stuff...Party Queen was concepted and perceived as one in a short period of time, so not releasing singles for it was just natural. While FIVE was an ep, again -> no singles. Ayumi has also moved forward to the digital age more than some other Japanese artists. She is still releasing singles, she is still releasing singles that chart, they are just not physical singles and they don't chart on Oricon because Oricon is outdated. avex couldn't care less for the record because Ayumi has it now and nobody will break it anytime soon. It doesn't matter if she adds one or two singles to the streak or ends it, it's still the biggest streak anyone ever had and that's the only aspect that mattered.
Not releasing singles is most likely Ayumi's decision, she even said it when she released L. avex is a company, a company that makes TONS of money when a single is released, no matter if it's #1, #2 or #3 on the charts, so they will want to release a single every chance they get. They will most certainly take earning much money even if it may breaking a streak that has become irrelevant once L was released.

These articles appear from time to time saying something really stupid stuff about Ayu. I don't really give a damn about what they say because I don't care about Ayu's chart positions at all. I just wish she would release a single again at some point, but if it's her decision not to do so, then I'm ok with it.

But the fact that I don't care about Ayu's chart positions or sales doesn't mean that I don't believe she wouldn't get another #1 because I'm sure she would. Her fanbase isn't really that small anyway. :)

+1

Well..

1. She won't lose her record if her next single fails... To lose her record someone else needs to break it and take it for her, it's not like it matters if she has 1 or 20 #1 consecutive singles more than Seiko Matsuda, she won't break B'z single record cuz she doesn't sell well enough anymore and no solo artist or female artist has a long #1 singles streak. They could be waiting to see if her sales will go up, but her sales rising on the album department doesn't mean she will sell physical singles like crazy either.

2. With it's current tracklist LOVE wouldn't chart as a single, even if it was named that way... There's no point in calling it a single if it will chart as an album.

@isthisLOL?
We posted the same thing together xD

Just my thoughts, If Ayumi releases another single or if she doesn't, if she loses her #1 streak or if she keeps it. Does it really matter?

Look at the changing CD sales, even if she released 50 more singles over the next 10~15 years and they all peaked at #1 the sales will become less and less on the first week. Avex will just strategically release them on a week against weaker artists. I don't want Ayumi to keep her #1 streak by attacking artists weaker than her. I want an authentic number one against fair competition. Which may not happen anymore sadly. :(

Chances of another artist coming along and gaining 25+ #1's by physical CD sales are very unlikely as it's a good possibility the physical CD will be almost irrelevant in the next 10~15 years. Look at it's decline over the past 10~15 years as it is. Let's face it groups/artists like AKB48 are hyped up to be awesome and even they are starting to fall back some in sales/power. Ayumi has nothing to worry about for the overall of the situation.

If avex really cares about ranking and streaks, they would have chosen a better timing to release her recent albums and promote much more for these albums. But nope, nothing much was done for promotion. So I don't think they really care much about it.

So it's a bit of contradicting in your jpopasia's point. as to say avex were more protective in the singles record than the albums record.

She stopped accepting awards because she wanted to pave away for other artists to win. Ayu was taking awards left and right.

Of course that's what they said mmhmm

All avex. I don't think ayumi agrees releasing these "minis"

^and yet pathetically now theres a article in another thread that Avex is doing this while losing money to give back to Ayu whos given so much to them over 15 years. BULL, it's going to be 5 releases that were on schedule to release anyway with this whole thing of it being for the fans and now for Ayu too & no concern for sales. Theyre so full of it, I hope their printing presses stop working. Better yet I hope she gets enough of having to change her image for each album and just walks out on Avex, then we'll see how much they care about sales.

^ well, I for believe what ayumi is saying that it is for the fans...

not caring about release dates and just celebrating the 8th of every month is a pretty good way of showing that.

Agree!!!

^I don't mind having a difference of opinion. I think though that their track record with press releases show that it's all marketing by Avex, I doubt she even gets so much as consulted on what will be next. She's lost most of her fanbase already and the majority of those still purchasing her products are those who believe every word written or spoken by Avex or Ayu even when they contradict the previous interview. And the only thing saying Ayu even said this about these releases is an Avex press release that could have been written by anyone at Avex.

Sorry to disagree to such an extent, I just don't buy anything they say about anything anymore.

These months would have had the releases anyway and theyre trying to make it sound like they are doing something special for Ayu and the fans at great expense, knowing the statement is just to boost sales on products that will already profit them greatly, not losing money at all.

^
1. you cant say for a fact that these months would have had releases for her anniy or not.
2. I think by making remarks about not caring about sales, proves enough.
3. If you dont think anything being said is true, which would include her lyrics... because according to you, she cant do anything for herself, why are you here? If she is just being used by avex and having everything handed to her by avex... why even call yourself an ayumi fan... why not just like avex, because according to you, they have put everything she has ever said into her mouth.

'sorry to disagree to such an extend', I just never bought anything you have ever said.

sorry if I sound rude.
(really, I am. :))

Well I don't believe any company that says they don't care about sales. Avex is a business not a charity after all. If they really didn't care about sales, they would put their money where their mouth is and release everything for free on digital download. It's business. It's marketing. Nothing more, nothing less.

Agreed :yes

^ I think you are asking for way to much with free downloads.

You can still release music, but not care if it doesnt break any records or anything.
It's her 15th year.
Not doubt they want to celebrate all the cash she has brought in since they signed her.

And further more there have been plenty of examples where companies have done things, not for the sales, but because they wanted to release something.

How dare you! She is doing it because she love us! Damn hater! :P

I believe she doesn't care about charts... About sales, totally different story.

^Lol. I'm speaking about Avex not ayu really. Haha.
I'm not asking them to, nor would I ever expect them to. I'm just making the point that yes, record companies do care about sales because they are in the business of making money. It's just part of marketing to say that this isn't about sales, it's about the fans. For ayu it might be different of course.

I think ayu has quite a bit of creative control but I think the what, when, and how of what is released is decided by Avex.

^^ I can say some were on there way to be released as fact & we all know it. It's approaching the time of year the calendar is always released(thats 1/5), Songs were recorded, so a CD was on the way wether it was single/mini or album(thats 2/5), They are now splitting the Lifestyle Book into chapters for more money, so I have no doubt VOL. 2 was on its way already(thats 3/5), that many months passing also was to include the next concert release to dvd/bluray(thats 4/5). The only one that could not have been predicted by anyone on AHS with 100% accuracy is the 5th release.

I only call everyone on AHS idiots when someone makes me so mad I'm not careful with what I say or like last time, catch me during a week long fever. So I'd say everyone on this site has the intelligence to know 4 out of 5 releases were already planned regardless of 15th anniversary or fans having anything to do with it.

I would love to believe Ayu with every word she says, Avex I don't care. But I can't believe either when her own answers in her own interviews disagree with each other. Plus talking with a few people with contracts in companies that make them famous in Japan, they've mentioned this being common & that by info released to press and fans you will never know anything about the celebrity, their private lives are kept private.

In general I can and will agree... Avex is in the business to make money.
But at the same time, I also thing a company can celebrate their most profitable artist in a five month span and not care about the out come. Also I think it helps in the fact that she owns, like 10% of the company...

Well, it's not like we have a lot of material for her to contradict herself... Most of what she talks for years now is either about her work (releases date and stuff) or something stupid such as "the best nail to use during the summer" or "what does her hair mean to her"... Most of the time, every question about something more personal or deep than that receives some random vague kawaii answer.

I often think people idolize ayumi too much and demonize avex as much. I mean, I don't believe in ayumi releasing albums as a charity for fans. Both avex and ayu are interested in sales in my opinion. Maybe ayu just isn't hardcore about wanting to make smashing hits but she definitely wants the stuff she produced to sell, and that's not just because she want her work to reach as much people as possible only.

^ I agree too, about the idolize and demonizeing thing...

but I also think people take "we dont care about sales" to literal.

They do care about the sales, because they are business, but they dont care how much it sales:

ie it doesnt need to sell a million for us to be happy. It could break even and we will be happy.

You know I do agree that Ayu is a charming, honest, and heartfelt human being... but honestly, I hate when everyone assumes that avex is tying up her hands and her say in things and holding her hostage to what they have planned for her career... :rolleyes

It's Ayu's job. A job brings in money. She needs money to live.

Of course Ayu cares about sales... We don't live in some J-pop utopia. She's not some J-pop goddess that can live on eating air and moonbeams.

ayu is one of the richest *****es in japan. Thh airplay and downloads of her backcatalouge and the millions she made is enough for her to open 5 own musiccompanies if she wanted to.

ayumi has, like many other artist (namie, kumi) and so on surely a lot of creative input. The record label just gives prediction, sometimes sets dates are decides on the promo songs. (I don'T think the latter is the case for ayu anymore)

most of the release patterns is made by her own staff. they make sure the communication between the artist and the company works, and they want both to be happy. so they come up with something cool when ayu is all "I wanna do something for my fans" but they are also looking out to make the things happen that her contracts sets (so and so many new songs a year and blaa)

@saigodansu

All of your posts here at ahs in summary:
Ayu is just a puppet and controlled by Avex. Everything she says about her releases, personal life and her feelings is a flat-out lie to her fans.

What the hell are you doing here? You don't believe a single word Ayu says and can't appreciate her as a person, why being a member of a FAN forum? If you just like to listen to her music but nothing more I don't get why you're coming here. Only to let us know your conspiracy theories which you claim to be the truth?

The music business is of course a BUSINESS and therefore Avex cares about money. But there is no reason to speak in such disrespect about Ayu.
If you don't like her as a person: fine
If you think everything that is known about her is only a fake image and also a lie: fine
If you don't like everything she does: fine
If you want to criticize her releases: fine
But why are you here when you NEVER say a single nice word about Ayu or her work. And to bring up your same old story in EVERY ****ing thread and label Ayu as a liar and a puppet is disrespectful and annoying.
Personally I hate Gaga with a passion, still I don't feel the need to go to her thread and tell her fans again and again what I think about her. But for some reason you can't stop coming here to ahs just to have a ***** about Ayu.

The discussion about people should express themselves more appropriate comes up often here. People discuss Ayu's releases, performances, photoshoots, the way she is promoted (by Avex) or something else related to her. A great number of people critizes her a lot and doesn't like everything she does. Those people critizising her for one thing still like her for another thing. But you are just disrespectful.

1st thing:

PQ had a tv cm!


2nd thing:
i agree with the most posts here...
ayu can do what she likes to...
one thing that matters is, we love her, right?
i'm one of the fans would love to get a new single...
but if we don't get a new one... okay...
sooo... i'm really happy about the new releases...
we get a full album step by step...

sooo... let it be her decision ^^


PS: for the nelly furtado thing...
in germany she released Big Hoops or something like this...
but it failed too...

^ i forgot that CM, but wasnt it released after the album came out??
or at least right before it came out.

idk... but it exists xD

I agree. And though I don't think that Ayu cares about chart positions (I think Avex does), I think she does care in part about sales. She needs to make money to keep up her lifestyle. If she was really in it for the music she could just go indie. I'm sure she at least chooses end products that will sell from the many things she creates.

Wow. That PQ CM had some of the worst editing I've ever seen...

Well, she certainly tours enough to keep her lavish lifestyle imo.

about 80-90% of her money comes from touring.

^Still, she needs to release songs that her fans are going to like and want to see live. Keep the fans interested. She would need to release music that sells decently to do that. And to tour the way she does and make that kind of money from it she would need to stick with Avex and keep them happy, which means selling well.

As with any artist or band. The margins from concerts are far greater than through CD sales, where royalties are paid to avex and each producer or arranger she uses. I wouldn't be surprised if she only for a couple hundred yen
from each CD sale.

This article seems to imply avex is in control of her release schedule, like she didn't choose to do 5 releases in 5 months. Very uninformed view. Avex is in charge of marketing Ayu's releases, and if they want to call it a mini-album, they can. Ayu probably won't get a say on that front. But in terms of what she releases and when, how frequently, that is all Ayu. She writes her music and is mostly in control of when she puts pen to paper (I say mostly because Ayu has posted of stresses to complete albums in time)

I was just commenting on your last post. This post has nothing to do with what you said before.

You mentioned she needed to care about sells to keep her lifestyle.
I think at this point in her career, with over 200+ songs to choose from, she could continue to have concerts for the rest of her life, and they (the concerts) would never get old, and she would never need to make a new song.

Or, she could just make new songs and sing them at her concerts only. It would actually be a draw for people.

if you want to hear the latest stuff, you gotta go to her concert.

either way, you are talking about two totally different points.

At first I stated that Ayu probably cares about sales, at least because the profits would go towards her personal bank account. You said that most of her money comes from concerts, so sales shouldn't matter to her. Since you were right about the concerts, I changed my reason for why she would care about sales. I then said that in order to have such profitable concerts she would still need to make profitable music. For one, because she would need new material to tour on, because in my opinion fans would lose interest. Also, I don't think that Avex would care much to keep around a singer that wanted to only tour. I feel like they would like to milk Ayu for all she's worth. Not that its wrong for them to do that, they are a business and want to have as much profit as possible.

Regarding this article, it's as if someone here decided to post some rant about how they felt about her lack of singles onto a blog imo. It's more speculation that's unfounded than anything concrete... there's not even anything from officials (usually the Japanese tabloids at least have 'inside accounts') that hints at whatever they're talking about.

Kind of bad form imo for Jpopasia to let staffers post blogs like this as 'news'.

As for 'new songs' for touring with... I think Ayu is one of a few acts who could probably tour with mostly old tracks and still rake in TONS of dough.

^ yeah...
I think her concerts are about 80 % old material and 20 % new stuff.

also, jpopasia is a pretty bad place to get 'news'
its not really news, but what staffers of the website talk about...
and I think, anyone can post 'news' articles.

I for one would go to a concert of hers just to hear the stuff she has already released. wouldn't need to hear anything new ever again.
Like I said... she's got so many songs to work with and sooooo many different ways to share what she is feeling with those songs, she could tour till the day she died and her concerts would still seem fresh.

The music industry world wide has changed since iTunes and MP3's/digital music became commercial in the early/mid 2000's and ending up replacing CDs (not completely of course, but is seen as preferred these days to physical releases. oddly enough, boxsets sell very very well). some bands and artists have decided to release their music on their own and their own way since the industry has changed so much. so it makes sense that avex is worrisome about releasing future singles and releases, in that breaking Ayu's record single streak. but on the other hand, she would be selling more units if she was promoted a little more before her releases are released/hits shelves and stores. but also, I'm not quite sure if she cares that much about her sales and/or charting position. one reason being her working with Leslie Kee on other projects a lot of the time and her contributions to other things not related to music like the nail book. she cares about her music and sales, but probably not as much as she used to say a few years back.

i read somewhere that she wishes to see a million selling album again in a magazine interview...

Actually they wait for her 15 Anniversary so they can release; A BEST 3, A BALLADS 2, A COMPLETE 2 ~50 Singles~, A WINTER BEST, A SPRING BEST, A AUTUMN BEST, A ULTIMATE SUPER DELUXE SPECIAL MOTHER FATHER ANNIVERSARY. So after that she will release single. LOL

I wonder if she will do two full length album to hae her 15th one out in april?!

It's a long time ago ! But I think it's normal when you have knew the real success and has been able to sell 4 million for an album and several million singles and your current sales fall under 150 K You wish to sold like before =)

just normal :thumbsup



offtopic: alternafan000 i fall in love with your sig... ♥_♥

I feel like only hardcore fans are the ones who would go to concerts to see old material. Casual listeners, not so much. I think new music would help draw the casual listeners. But, that's just me.