No Promotion for Secret?

[~X2RADialbomber~]

^ Prove it!

[truehappiness]

HMV?

The lower rankings keep switching, but Secret seems to stay on top o_o
http://www.hmv.co.jp

[~X2RADialbomber~]

Well that's just 1... You said many

[truehappiness]

I'm not going to go searching around. ._.

[~X2RADialbomber~]

Oh well.

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

^ should'nt have to prove it, it's pretty obvious. Common knowledge for Ayu to be at No.1 everywhere she releases, especially Japan.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by *Petit*

No DAI, no big composers, no stellar arrangers, not ever any spectacular PVs etc etc.

That's exactly what I'm afraid. I NEED PVs. I NEED THEM. SO BADLY.

[~X2RADialbomber~]

Originally Posted by Kingofpop

^ should'nt have to prove it, it's pretty obvious. Common knowledge for Ayu to be at No.1 everywhere she releases, especially Japan.

No I said that because it's stupid for people to make accusations without some underlying factual references

[Keishi]

She's an All-my-release-will-sold-1-mil-whether-it's-good-or-not artist. So I doubt she need any promotion at all. She can release anything and fans will surely buy it. :>

[criminal]

Originally Posted by Keishi

She's an All-my-release-will-sold-1-mil-whether-it's-good-or-not artist. So I doubt she need any promotion at all. She can release anything and fans will surely buy it. :>

All-my-releases-will-sell-1-mil-with-good-promotion-whether-it's-good-or-not, I think. She does have a lot of fans, but she does need promotion.

[Keishi]

That would make a good publicity stunt. Release a single/album with no promotion at all. And see if it can break 500k (for a single) or 1 mil (for an album).

Fans will keep on searching. BBS will keep on talking. Signatures & minibars with the album / single title on it will be made. I doubt if they really even need any promotion at all.

[immel]

Originally Posted by Mad_Cactuar

If that's true, AWESOME! We'll get the most Ayu-ish album ever.

Ayu, following her personality, always puts off everything until the last day... so yeah, this one will be Ayu-ish .

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

Am I the only one not disappointed if ayu doesn't sell well? I mean, as long as I still like the music, I'm cool with it. The album could sell no more than 100 copies, I wouldn't care. Long as it was good.

I couldn't care less about the sales, it's all about the music. There's a few things to consider though. Without massive album sales her tours wouldn't be able to be as expensive, maybe their quality would be reduced, maybe she wouldn't be able to afford the best mixers or arrangers and in front of all, after a while, she might not be able to afford idling through an entire year to release an album, she'll have to do other things to and can take less time to actually write the material for the next album. She'd also stop appearing on TV live shows as often, which to me is negative because I love her singing live. She'd also be featured in less magazines, because with low album sales too few people might be interested in buying the mags.

Oh well, the music is what really matters, but I love seeing as much of her as you do thanks to her incredible fame. Dropping sales would mean that we'd see less and less of her.

[Ayumiko]

I agree...its the music that counts more than sales and rankings. I'm already lovin JEWEL...and if the other songs are just as good then I'll be very happy Even if it doesn't sell more than a million or as much as (m)u...whatever amount it sold at the end, is will still be better than a lot of ppl...some ppl's albums sold as low as a single. I'm just happy she's still making music after all these years and I can't wait for the countdown live and tour next year.

[Ryoko]

It's a secret - the entire album I'm guessing. They'll have us wondering what the covers look like and what the tracklisting is up until two weeks or so before its release. She's doing magazine promotion, however.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Okay, guys, seriously, cut it out with the whole "Secret is full of SECRETS omg!!11!" thing. The title "Secret" has nothing to do with ANYTHING but the content of the album. Just like how "Memorial address" had nothing to do with ayu ending her career like you all suspected. Stop talking about the secrecy of the album like it's deliberate on ayu's part. She's been nothing but open with us about the album's progress. Typically, ayu does promo photo shoots & the album design AFTER the music has all come together. She designs it based on that, she doesn't just pick some arbitrary theme.

It's this simple... ayu has NO ALBUM YET. There's nothing to promote! How can she reveal a cover she hasn't shot yet?? Jeez.

Besides, we do know almost enough about the album to determine whether or not we'd buy it; we know how a good number of the tracks sound. With most US albums, we get ONE track to judge before the CD comes out. The cover MIGHT POSSIBLY get released/announced a week or so before release when the CD goes up for preorder, but that's really it. Jpop fans, you are spoiled by a record industry that knows what they're actually doing. I'll admit, the US record industry consists mostly of lawyers & idiots, but the jpop industry is NOT the standard worldwide. You should consider yourselves blessed that you hear as much of the album as you do before it's released.

The packaging should not be a determining factor on whether or not you buy an album. The music should.

immel mentioned that ayu would do less & less if her albums sold less. Again, I wouldn't care. If her concert budget went down drastically, I don't think I'd mind. Tori Amos concerts are a religious experience and there are no sets, no wardrobe changes, no dancing. Just a woman playing really incredible music on a piano (or several keyed instruments ) really well. And that makes it amazing.

Ayumi Hamasaki's pop star image of a multi seller is tainting our view of her. We see her as this goddess of the stage, all sparkles and, I'll be honest, few of us see the substance that's really there. Alot of pop princesses all around the world, who ARE all sparkles and very little substance, would never come out with a PV like "alterna", songs with messages like "Endless sorrow", or album covers like "RAINBOW". Ayu has depth and thought and poetry to her pictures & words that many of even the biggest fans seem to entirely fail to see.

Should ayu not sell as well, she will make beautiful music and yes, she'll still make videos with great effects & stories if she feels the song has that sort of message that it needs one. Bjork, Massive attack, and Sneaker Pimps are very underground, and don't sell nearly as well as the huge pop stars out there, but their videos are awesome, because they are musicians with messages who are doing things their way. Someone with Bjork's album sales should not be able to afford a PV like "All Is Full Of Love", but she & director Chris Cunningham did it, didn't they?

As for ayu not performing as much on TV, I think she'd perform more but in different areas; she wouldn't cost as much to hire for performances if her value went down. I also think finding talented mixers & musicians wouldn't be a problem; she'd find MORE talented people, which is to say those who do it out of a love for music and not for a paying job. On top of it, she does have quite a few loyal collaborators who I think would stick with her no matter how much she paid them.

[LacusClyne]

Originally Posted by bluegie

well... RAINBOW's cover didn't pop out until probly a week before the album released. So I guess it doesn't matter when... as long as it's so pretty and so "wow", people will buy it.

I kinda guess avex's doing some tricks rite now. Since her album is called "Secret", wouldn't it be fun to make it as a mystery? I'm pretty sure every person who listen JPops in Japan would have already known the release of Secret (otherwise it won't be in the top 3 in most pre-order charts). People may be attracted by the fact that they dunno anything about the album (except again 14 tracks + 7 pvs + 7 makings). I know this move could be dangerous, but I assume hiding album info could be a good tactic afterall..

that could be just like JEWEL, we knew about it but there's no further news still MS.

Originally Posted by Ryoko

It's a secret - the entire album I'm guessing. They'll have us wondering what the covers look like and what the tracklisting is up until two weeks or so before its release. She's doing magazine promotion, however.

it's good in a way. Since people had been waiting for news, they will be anticipating the album even more

[Axel_Grease]

#16 on Neowing. :/

http://www.neowing.co.jp/dailytop.html#cd

[truehappiness]

So? XD It's still no.2 in HMV.

The reason why it's so low is because like 7 new versions of some KANJANI8 CD came out and are in the top 15. D:

[~X2RADialbomber~]

It kind of does annoy me that Black Cherry's covers + tracklist are already out, But that does kind of suck after a while, because there is absolutely no suspense for the album, just the music. x.X So I'll be willing to wait, as long as it isn't too long xD

[truehappiness]

How is that no excuse? It's Johnny's stuff with like 10 covers as usual.