| Forum Index » Ai's Chat Room » Kurage, Nagareboshi's Sales: Is Ai Done for? |
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| HilaryDuffFanboy |
 Posted: Sep 11, 2008 12:29 am |
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PEACH
Joined: 10 Oct 2005
Posts: 1966
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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I'm a real big fan of Ai, but avex expected Kurage, Nagareboshi to sell. And it doesn't look like it's delivering.
Ai's sales have been dropping ever since PEACH/HEART, and Kurage, Nagareboshi was such an obvious tool to milk out Ai's 5th anniversary and cash in. Yet it does average on its first day, it looks like it will end up the same as Rocket Sneaker in terms of sales.
avex pushed this single release back (you'll have to believe me on this one) so that it could fit her 5th anniversary, allowing them to make 4 versions, 2 of which are limited, extravagently given alternative covers, stickers and handwritten comment cards, all this in hope to reignite interest in Ai. Their plan failed, it obviously hasn't worked out.
After this single I reckon avex will pull funding on her or something. Kurage, Nagareboshi was meant to pick her up from her slump. But the slump looks like it'll be Ai's norm from now on.
Who's fault is it? Well I must admit I am annoyed that Kurage, Nagareboshi has NO significant tie-ins. It has a music.jp tie-in but that means nothing nowadays. Ai will perform it on TV this Friday at Music Station, and while that'll be nice, I don't think it's gonna help her much in sales at all.
avex is pretty biased with all their tie-in handouts and advertising. They are responsible for the not only Ai's, but also Shimatani Hitomi, Ami Suzuki and I'm sure other avex artists, downfall in sales. Those two barely make it on to television anymore.
I'd love to eat my words and admit that I am wrong. I know I'm judging all this on a first day index, but personally I think Kurage, Nagareboshi, which was meant to be a sure-fire hit, is and will be a disappointment for avex commercially.
This topic was split from the Kurage, Nagareboshi News Thread on Sept. 11, 2008. - zyzzyva |
Last edited by HilaryDuffFanboy on Sep 11, 2008 6:47 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| sakuraangel |
| Posted: Sep 11, 2008 2:03 am |
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クラゲ, 流れ星
Joined: 10 Feb 2007
Posts: 8011
Location: Canada
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^ I can see where you're coming from, you do make good points and I can't say I disagree with you.
However, I'm seeing a lot of people flip about these figures and it irritates me a tad. Don't forget these figures are strictly sales figures of the physical copy sold. And some may argue that that figure should be higher due to the first press. But IMO I think sales figures for physical sales aren't the one and only factor to determine whether a single is selling well or not.
We live in an age where mp3s players and mobile phones are the norm for a wide age group. So I personally think that digital sales (iTunes, retail music download sites, mobile phone downloads, ect.) should not be forgotten. Remember Chu Lip was one of the most popular digital (mobile?) downloads last year (at least that's what I recall from one of the threads, please correct me if I'm wrong).
Single (physical) sales have decreased (for all kinds of artists and bands) because of this over the last couple of years. And I think digital retail being easily available plays a role in this.
Me personally, I think singles are for hardcore fans with money to spare (or really giving friends and family members) and probably hardcore fans who work like crazy so they can buy their favorite artist(s) single. Regular fans or fans whom don't have that kind of money to spare (because they're students or they have money that needs to be spent elsewhere) usually aim at getting the album.
This is just what I think though, so I could be wrong.
Remblue - thanks for the pictures from the excite interview, saves me from having to open up PS to grab them. |
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| vaah |
| Posted: Sep 11, 2008 11:00 pm |
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Happy Days
Joined: 03 Jul 2008
Posts: 104
Location: Sydney AU
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where did you get this info? I'd like to see hard fact & sales figure. 
I wanted to buy kurage nagareboshi anniversary ed. but was too late and it's out of print.(yesasia)  so i end up purchasing regular cd+dvd ed. instead. doesn't this indicate many buy her single? |
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| kawai-no |
| Posted: Sep 12, 2008 4:32 am |
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Planetarium
Joined: 11 Nov 2005
Posts: 655
Location: Finrando
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Not always if never..even if it has ran out of stock
or in their case out of print it does mean simply that
their stock has
just ran out, and they arent getting any more of the item, even it it would be obtainable.
Places like HMV Japan, etc keep larger stocks so thats why. they have limited edition
more longer listed.
Places like yesasia, keep smaller inventorys so they ran out stocks faster...
so it doesnt mean that it's been selling good in general. But I think it's been selling good neverthless. |
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| vaah |
| Posted: Sep 12, 2008 6:41 am |
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Happy Days
Joined: 03 Jul 2008
Posts: 104
Location: Sydney AU
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perhaps that's true yesasia only had small number in their inventory. however this is only wild guess, I can only wonder how many they really did have.
Oh well i thought it was a hassle to order directly to japan. so i went ahead for it. |
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| 1337rice |
| Posted: Sep 12, 2008 7:09 am |
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クムリウタ
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 874
Location: Toronto
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vaah wrote: where did you get this info? I'd like to see hard fact & sales figure.
I wanted to buy kurage nagareboshi anniversary ed. but was too late and it's out of print.(yesasia) so i end up purchasing regular cd+dvd ed. instead. doesn't this indicate many buy her single?
if you mass produce anniversary editions...that defeats the whole purpose of having 2 different versions. They would have to make both CD and CD+DVD anni. ed. at a certain amount hence where the "limited" comes from. CDJapan probably had like 200-300 copies of each anni. ed. thats why it's sold out.
You can see the sales figure in ORICON and at the Kurage Nagareboshi news section where i posted up first day figures
Right now, her single is still at 4th place, while Mr.Children - HANABI boosted up to #1, GLAY and UVERworld went #2 and #3
And no, Ai is not done for...come on....you're facing Mr.Children and GLAY here...getting #3 on the first day would be good. I still don't know how UVERworld came out like that though...thought everyone thinks they suck after the Timeless album.... |
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| HilaryDuffFanboy |
| Posted: Sep 12, 2008 8:03 am |
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PEACH
Joined: 10 Oct 2005
Posts: 1966
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| ^I'm not talking about chart positions at all, but rather the actual sales of her singles of late. |
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| vaah |
| Posted: Sep 12, 2008 8:21 pm |
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Happy Days
Joined: 03 Jul 2008
Posts: 104
Location: Sydney AU
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Doesn't chart position represent sales?or does it not? I looked on wikipedia (I know it's not accurate) it seems true that her sales since peach has fallen.
Is Mr.Children really that great?  I never listened to their music.  |
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| AiiR |
| Posted: Sep 12, 2008 8:38 pm |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 287
Location: Canada & Taiwan
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I think we should also keep in mind of the overseas version been a factor of the dropping sales.
The overseas versions are much cheaper than the original Japanese editions so obviously most people would rather wait for a couple days for the release of the overseas edition. Besides, I think Avex had raised up the price of the singles lately. For people who couldn't afford or get access to the Japanese editions would definitly buy the overseas edition to show that they still support ai-chin.
I thought Kurage, Nagareboshi wouldn't have the special 5th Anniversary edition released in the overseas versions but they decided to have it...and it's so much cheaper...so I think it's not that special any more, since they both have the same contents even the bonuses. |
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| 1337rice |
| Posted: Sep 12, 2008 9:04 pm |
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クムリウタ
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 874
Location: Toronto
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vaah wrote: Doesn't chart position represent sales?or does it not? I looked on wikipedia (I know it's not accurate) it seems true that her sales since peach has fallen.
Is Mr.Children really that great? I never listened to their music.
yes..here are Ai's single rankings
it's either ppl like her really hyper songs...or songs based off real dam popular dramas
1. Sakuranbo
2. SMILY/Bidama
3. Planetarium
4. Happy Days
5. Daisukidayo
6. PEACH/HEART
7. kuroge wagyu joshio tanyaki 680 yen
8. Kingyo Hanabi
9. Yumekui
10. Renai Shashin
11.Neko ni Fuusen
12. CHU-LIP
13. Amaenbo
14. Frienger
15. Sakuranbo -Encore Press-
16. Pocket
17. Rocket Sneaker
18. Momo no Hanibara
and if you really want to know if Mr.Children is really that great...search HANABI on youtube |
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| Essie |
| Posted: Sep 13, 2008 1:00 am |
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甘えんぼ
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 55
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It's weird how her sales suddenly plummeted after PEACH/HEART, because it doesn't seem like her songs are worse or that she's getting less promotion. And it can't be that Japan suddenly had a spike in people using mp3s or that Ai fans all disappeared - so it's puzzling why those consistent 50,000 or so people who buy a physical copy before are suddenly not doing so anymore.  |
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| ChocolateMesher |
| Posted: Sep 13, 2008 1:01 am |
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金魚花火
Joined: 31 Dec 2006
Posts: 140
Location: Makakilo, HI
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Shirushi and Sign are really good ones by Mr. Children too.
sorry for the irrelevance to the topic >_> |
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| vaah |
| Posted: Sep 13, 2008 1:16 am |
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Happy Days
Joined: 03 Jul 2008
Posts: 104
Location: Sydney AU
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1337rice wrote:
and if you really want to know if Mr.Children is really that great...search HANABI on youtube
Omg I know that song. Isn't that the Ending song of Code blue. I watch that drama. Your theory may be correct since code blue is a quite popular drama.. I prefer ballad to hyper songs.
back to topic, hopefully she will rank better in the coming days.  |
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| AiiR |
| Posted: Sep 13, 2008 11:47 am |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 04 Sep 2007
Posts: 287
Location: Canada & Taiwan
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| I think the Taiwanese edition so far they are only pressing the 5th Anniversary ones, and they did not state whether or not it's limited at all. I hate this decision, letting the overseas editions pressing the special one... |
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| remblue |
| Posted: Sep 14, 2008 12:57 am |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
Posts: 999
Location: united states
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There's many good artists out there and sometimes it's sad to see their sales. They deserve better. Some don't even chart
But I agree that nowadays people really prefer to download and I'm not talking about just downloading i mean buying the songs digitally instead of the hard copy. Myself personally I guess I'm old school. I'd rather have the physical Cd 
I'd like to say that I don't care about sales and charts but a part of me wants Ai to succeed in these areas. But Mr. Children and Glay are no push overs. Part of me is sad to see that the single isn't sky rocketing with sales I really thought this was a gorgeous single. (Though I still dont got my copy  Ships beginning of October ; ; ) but I love the single and have bought my copy. I did my small little part in supporting Ai. I don't think Ai is done for. Not by a long shot. But it is disheartening to know the single isnt doing better.  I think they should of gave this song a tie in.
I dont' think her music has declined. Personally I loved all the singles on LovePiece. Just as much as her earlier ones. Maybe I'm more of a newer fan of Ai' I don't know but I haven't felt that her music has changed or that her earlier career was better
I'll continue to support AI even if her sales become close to nothing. As long as Ai remains who she is, & what she stands for. I'm okay. As long as the music she brings out is good. I'm still a fan. I havne't been disappointed in her or her music. She is one of the few that I always come back to. No matter what mood I'm in I'm always in the mood for Ai-chan She is one of the few artists that are on the top of my playlists, and the only artist that I have all her PVs in my ipod She is also one of the few that I buy the singles of. Expensive as these Cds are I always buy my Ai-chin Cds  |
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