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

[Delirium-Zer0]

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.

[Delirium-Zer0]

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.

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

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.

[Delicious n Bold]

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.

[JackieRos]

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

[Zeke.]

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...

[TeamAyu2004]

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...

[Delicious n Bold]

^ 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.

[Yoake]

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.

[happiholic★]

Originally Posted by Yoake

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.

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?

[TeamAyu2004]

^ 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.

[Delicious n Bold]

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

[emi♡]

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

[TeamAyu2004]

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

[emi♡]

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.

[TeamAyu2004]

^ 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...

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

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

[Bigtop]

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.

[ImpactBreaker]

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 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.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

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