No Promotion for Secret?

[IYFreak]

WHy does it seem like Secret is getting barely any promotion or is it that I'm just not seeing it.if only Ayu released the cover than we would see some big posters.

It doesn't seem to have that much build up, does it? I'm not sure why, although I also don't remember there being much for (m)u or MS. I think it's just that we haven't had a single in so long, so things seem dead -- all we've really gotten is the news that an album is suddenly coming. I think, in this case, there just isn't much to use as promotion, other than the 1LOVE and JEWEL commercials (which have been out). I'm sure the 1LOVE PV will be rotating heavily in a few weeks, though, before the album.

[immel]

For the first I think that Ayu is well known enough, so that throwing money at excessive promotion would only give a minor increase in the sales and be a no gain procedure.

I don't think it'll get anything extra, just the normal stuff... PVs airing 24/7 on all music TV channels, posters all over town, morning news reports and talking about it on most famous music TV shows. Probably some CMs airing at best air time and a couple of songs performed. This will all most likely happen in two or three weeks, though.

Ayu doesn't need any extra hype, everyone who might be interested in her album will get to know about it, for sure.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

i wish she had creative CM for albums..like the I Am... CM is amazing, its like a minimovie, haha...the Duty CM is also really good, becuz its more than just a clip with PV's and stuff...but whatever, lol.

im sure that she will have tons of poster and billboards in shibuya and the like. usually its not so far in advance tho.

[IYFreak]

well I hope al of this happens soon. I well Ayu was in high postions on the preorder charts so that a good thing I just want this album to atleast break 800,000 I willb e satisfied if it does that. I just want her to also do more performances and news reports.

[Delirium-Zer0]

Well, since it's not done yet, she hasn't done any photo shoots for it yet, so there aren't any photos to show.

I'm guessing avex has finally gone "okay, do whatever" to ayu, and she's going "whoo!" and so.. yeah, they're not going crazy with promotion cuz there's no album yet. ~

Ayu and her team are more worried about the music, understandably. They do have a deadline to meet and that's more important to them than promoting. The only result will be that it sells alot over time, but the first week sales will stink. Probably it'll sell decently just before christmas.

My guess is we'll see CMs for it a week before it comes out... who knows, maybe they'll do something cool like the A BEST countdown. *shrug*. That'd be kinda neat.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by Delirium Zero

I'm guessing avex has finally gone "okay, do whatever" to ayu, and she's going "whoo!" and so.. yeah, they're not going crazy with promotion cuz there's no album yet.

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

Originally Posted by Delirium Zero

The only result will be that it sells alot over time, but the first week sales will stink. Probably it'll sell decently just before christmas.

Ouch. No entering the yearly Top 10 then?

[truehappiness]

The majority of Ayu sales come from the first 4 weeks anyway, so I think that she could make it into maybe the top 15 of the 2006 year..

[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'm not worried avex would drop her. Even if they did, she'd probably start her own indies label or something. That would rock.

Top 10, top 15, top 100... makes no difference to me, as long as it's something I enjoy. Standings don't make that much difference. It's the music that matters, and ayu REALLY believes in the songs she's adding to this album, so I'm sure we'll all love them.

[SunshineSlayer]

Also don't forget that Ayu is going to be on several magazine covers throughout Nov./Dec. and that's quite a bit of promotion right there.

[truehappiness]

Yeah.. in like 10 days[?] or less she's gonna be on Bea's up! And like Cawaii/Scawaii soon too.

[bondingo]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

I'm not worried avex would drop her. Even if they did, she'd probably start her own indies label or something. That would rock.

I never even thought about it like that. You're probably right. Besides the fact that I'm sure she'll always sell enough that she (at the very least) won't get dropped, but she could start her own label. That would be pretty amazing because she'd have complete creative control (although she does have quite a lot as it is).

[*Petit*]

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'm not worried avex would drop her. Even if they did, she'd probably start her own indies label or something. That would rock.

Top 10, top 15, top 100... makes no difference to me, as long as it's something I enjoy. Standings don't make that much difference. It's the music that matters, and ayu REALLY believes in the songs she's adding to this album, so I'm sure we'll all love them.

It would all be good except:

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

She doesen't owe much of her music to herself, and she also owns part of avex, so that is "her" label. Why would she have one of her own? She could probably get a sub label though, but I think if it would be cooler if she did like tsunku after her career is "done", promoting, writing etc for other artists.

[Aisha_Angel]

I dunno; I LOVE Ayu so much so naturally I feel that she should have MORE promotion than she's received so far for this album. BUT let's keep in mind that SECRET is still a work in progress. We aren't even sure if this album will go onsale according to the original deadline. She's also got another supposed-countdown live coming up as well so the stress has got to be pretty bad on her part. And to avex; the constant "changing-of-mind" thing might be bad for them financially...overall who knows; we can only make predictions:

Aisha's Prediction:
SECRET will be postponed until after the release & sales run of Mika Nakashima's new NANA album and Koda's cherry thingy. Which puts it at hmm; January-February? Unless Ayu pulls a miracle out of her pocket She's only got about two weeks to finish this album and the last week will probably be packaging and pressing week. [if she sticks to the deadline].

The next big tour will be an ASIAN TOUR and will take place probably in the 2007-2008 year.

After retirement in ehh; 2010 Ayu will probably coax Tomoya into doing the same because there is no-way in hell I could see her retiring without him on her leash for sure. They'll get married; it'll be a big multimedia success; she'll release a final single ~coinsidentaly~ her 50th and then well, it's over.

[truehappiness]

Well, she's pretty intent on releasing it on 11.29..

[Delirium-Zer0]

And she did say that only recording needed to be done (then mixing which would be the final step). Once you know the lyrics & melody, and a basic arrangement, the rest isn't too hard. GOOD songs can even be made up as you go along (I could name a few popular ones where this was the case), then instruments layered on top afterwards. Mixing on a song might only take a few hours.

As for Petit's comment, DAI most likely wouldn't follow, but i'm sure ayu could "buy" collaborators like Tetsuya Yukumi (who ayu discovered anyway) and CMJK from Avex if she left the label or they dropped her for whatever reason. If Tomoya Nagase decided to go solo, she'd probably bring him along too, as well as perhaps other long-time musical collaborators; her band (Yo-chan, ENRIQUE, etc) would almost certainly follow, MAYBE kazuhito kikuchi as well, and ayu could give the BREATH duo another shot since they got dropped.

And at the risk of going off-topic, I have to comment... Please, no more talk of ayu ever retiring. It's so pessimistic, depressing, and horribly unlikely. At this point, i doubt it'll happen. Ever. Seriously. All the jpop legends of the past are still going (not strong, to be honest their few-and-far-between releases go under the radar except to big fans, but I'd be fine with that as long as ayu was still releasing, which I'm certain she will). And if she & nagase get married & have kids, guess what? She can still work. Last I checked Aikawa Nanase & Namie Amuro were still singers, but correct me if i'm wrong on that one *rolls*

[IYFreak]

I really would hope people wil stop talking about Ayu retiring. It makes me annoyed ,mad, and sad.

[~X2RADialbomber~]

Well I personally thought that Ayu should of at least brought out the covers by now to show people what they want to get. People can't just make last minute decisions like that and buy the album if the don't know anything about it. You need promotion... That's the only way things will ever sell.

[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..

[truehappiness]

I think that the anticipation is keeping Secret no.1 on daily-purchase rankings all over Japan..

I mean on most rankings, it's each day's top seller..