Hamasaki Ayumi

Found this at at jpopforum. Thought it was an interesting read (not H!P though, it's Hamasaki Ayumi): It's quite a depressing article but it does show the state of the music industry right now. Not many solo artists are doing well at all and it emphasizes the impending "end of an era" for Ayumi. So I just read an article on Livedoor about the state of Ayumi's career and what options/outcomes are left or predicted because of the deterioration of her sales/vocals. It was interesting because I don't think I've seen an open acknowledgement of this in Japanese news until now. It says "A SUMMER BEST" is a crucial point in her career as it marks her descent from her seat on the "Avex throne" because the money being spent on her promotion is not being made back through music sales anymore, and they give "Party Queen"s performance as an example.  They interview an anonymous Avex staff member and while they say that Ayumi is crucial for CD/concert ticket sales, she's not making back the promotional expenses like she used to, thus they predict that after the promotional blitz for "A BEST SUMMER" she's going to live out the rest of her career in a quieter manner like hitomi and globe. One of the major reasons for this is that Avex artists have been excessive when spending in the music department and now the costs are more than what is being returned, which is why a-nation has been scaled back recently and many artists' budgets are being reviewed. Ayumi is unfortunately not an exception anymore and her budget is being reviewed/cut too. Another person from management also said that Ayumi is trying very much to still make an impact in J-pop and that's probably why we're seeing the sexy image portrayed in "Party Queen" and the covers of "A BEST SUMMER". This person brings up how a lot of artists like Sowelu (who is also under Avex) are revamping their images and doing steamy on screen kisses to garner sales. However, it's not really working and Sowelu is now on hiatus for many reasons, one being due to sluggish sales. There's a comment about how many fans are worried about Ayumi because of the damage to her vocal cords and there are comments about the quality/strength of her vocals being half of what it was back in her heyday (comment from record label employee). There's also something about her not looking like herself on the covers for "A BEST SUMMER" and how it's basically over-photoshopped/too much image correction. Then the article ends with the thought that she can't continue as she is because it doesn't look good (in terms of popularity/sales I think) and the management person would like to see her rest thoroughly because she's been working relentlessly for a long time and has suffered physically with her throat/other injuries. The last sentence says something like the "diva" who has built up her career until now has a tough choice to retreat with honour or move forward as she is which may be very detrimental after this point.