Quote:
Originally Posted by oaristos
I have to disagree, I don't think they've had any real impact in the Japanese music industry apart from their huge sales.
AKB48 is marketed mostly as a fetish for older men who are interested in really young-looking girls whose record label swears are all virgins. That's why having a boyfriend, drinking, and partying is completely forbidden for them). There's something lacking in the life of those old men and they fill the gap inside them with an obsession for a girl band that lacks any real talent or skill (at least for music).
I don't care that someone outsold Ayumi, it just bothers me that even though AKB48 is very popular, their sales are only huge because each fan spends 1/3 of their house income purchasing 200 copies of each single. They're not ashamed of that and even post the pictures online. Those are not real sales, that's not real popularity and finally, that's not a real impact. 
And last but not least, I am not by any means trying to offend any of the girls personally or any of their fans. You should listen to whatever you want and buy as many CDs as you want, but I also believe it's extremely important to be realistic. |
Just wondering - so those sales are less creditable, ause less people bought more copies compared to more people buying single copies? Why?
I mean, nobody is forcing anybody to buy anything, looking at it objectively.
You can dislike them as much as you want (not a fan either), but they had quite a big impact the last ten years.
So I agree with Voltron. Even if they fade away within a year now, they will be remembered.
Also compared to Ayu, who made a huge part of her sales in a time, where physical sales were much higher than they are in the last years, AKB48 was popular in a time with steadily and heavily declining physical sales ( and no, digital isn't that big, it"s just about 20% of the whole Japanese market).
Though Oricon should separate groups and solos in their ranking for sure. That's strange.