[analysis] Frantic releases and general instability

Somehow, as I was coming home today, my mind drifted to thinking about HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, and how they've been around for a bit over a year now. I remember falling in love with their first single, PRIDE, while being disappointed at the same time, knowing an album release would be far away.

September came and went, leaving HandMC's first album GooVER in its wake. It was a solid release, and I was satisfied with that. However, 6 months after that, they've already got another full-length album due out this month.

I've noticed it a bit too often lately, and I've already touched on it a bit. Artists gain a bit of popularity, and suddenly we're mech-assaulted with releases almost faster than we can buy them. (Ahem, Koda Kumi.)

To release two full-length albums just half a year apart is almost unheard of. Even as far as indies J-Rock goes, to put out two mini-albums within 6 months of each other isn't very common. The general mainstream trend is an album per year with 3 or 4 singles in between (for typical popular artists, at least). Though these artists are only on their first albums so far, both UVERworld and Daichi Miura have fit this pattern, releasing 3 and 4 singles (respectively) followed by an album within the past year or so.

It's too soon to see if it will be a new trend with HandMC, but older or more well-informed J-Pop fans will surely be familiar with Ayumi Hamasaki's release extravaganza around the release of her I am... album. Of course, most of us have our opinions about Koda's "best-album / 12-singles / second-best-album" spree. And again, it's not uncommon for J-Pop fans to admit that Ayumi began to decline after that swarm of releases. I've already speculated about Koda, who's reaching a similar peak. HandMC, I suppose, is beginning to take off, thanks in part to a lot of anime exposure.

Will they, too, face potential overexposure? At what point can you start to predict these sorts of things? Am I just jumping the gun, trying too hard to be some sort of a J-Pop watchdog and keep a barrage of releases, facts, and artist statuses in check?

The Japanese music biz is just as frantic as, if not more frantic than, any other, the US included. It's a constant chart-watching and sample-fishing game. "Did you see the preview of that new Morning Musume PV?" "Did you catch the sample clip of Koda Kumi's new single on her official site?" "Did you see this week's Oricon album charts? Isn't it ridiculous that EXILE sold so little?"

No matter how badly I want to, there's just no way I can predict things. I can overanalyze them, I can make some lucky guesses, but I can't predict things, nor can I change them or have any sort of significant impact. Do I wish things were like how they were just a couple of years ago, with good singles and albums breaking the 1 million mark more easily? Do I wish the benchmark sales number didn't fall to a rather sad 300k? Do I think things were just a bit better in general a couple of years ago, as far as the J-Pop world goes? Sure I do. But with changing economies, the ever-present illegal downloading, changing music distribution methods (digital sales are on the rise, and Oricon doesn't take those into account yet), as well as changing musical styles and changing faces to go along with them, of course things aren't going to stay the same.

But then again, we all wouldn't have much to write about if it was more predictable. As worrisome as it can sometimes get, doesn't that instability make it all the more fun and interesting to try to keep up with? That, I can say "yes" to.