Dip in popularity? - Fans’ perspective
Filed Under (Editorial) by Akagi on 02-02-2006
In the recent weeks, other than the news reports about Yanzi’s series of successful concerts in Singapore and Hong Kong, ironically, the other main headline is Yanzi’s dip in popularity. News about Yanzi’s poor record sales in Taiwan and Singapore are being widely reported in various media. And during the recent yearly report for the total album sales of the top singers/bands, Yanzi was ranked 11th. A record-low by her standards. Many theories and speculations were derived from this report and the media strongly view this as the best evidence for Yanzi’s “dip-in-popularity” theory.
The media is a powerful tool and it’s easy for the majority of the reader to assume the assumptions as facts.
It may be argued that the fans’ perspective are often biased. On the other hand, their views might well be a better reflection of the actual situation as they are the keen followers of Yanzi news and happenings.
Record-low in album sales
Rampant internet music piracy is one of the key factors why Yanzi’s album sales are dropping with every album.
Poor marketing strategies employed by Warner Music are not aiding the situation. Delayed dates are becoming the “norm” for Yanzi’s recent releases. Warner isn’t very good at handling their artiste. Case in point would be Elva and A*Mei. Both of their albums were shelved aside for an indefinite period of time.
Although the latest album is not selling as well as her previous albums, many music critics are showering heaps of praise on the album.
Enough on my part, now let your views be heard. Share with us how do you feel about this whole issue. If we can gather enough comments and point of views, I would try to submit these to a local media (maybe U-magazine?) so that our views can be made known…
As said earlier on, its because yanzi’s music company is not doing enough for her. The advertisements are little, n little autograph sessions as well. Very little publicity.
N wat abt the parallel imports n piracy?
Dun think its yanzi’s popularity dropping ba.
If they wan compare the music standards of the albums, i guess WanMeiDeYiTian will win many, including Cyndi’s.
Jus 2 cents of my tots.
yup, compared to many other singer, the advertisment for yanzi album is really very little from what i see. Her album advertisment usually only broadcast on week ends during certain time..
No doubt there were publicity for Yanzi in events such as her concert in SG, her part I HK concert DVD sale and SK jewellery. All these were taken place in an uncoordinated fashion. I did not see much advertisement about her latest album “A perfect day” on TV and the sales of her DVD for HK concert Part 1. Perhaps the issue whether or not she is leaving Warner have effected their effort in paying attention to her publicity. i think all of these interrelated issues do count for her “dip in popularity” and not just the record low in album sales alone.
-poor marketing strategies by warnermusic: ESP S’pore and Taiwan
e.g. sub-standard MVs, shorter period of album promotion, low frequency of airing of ads/ MVS, slip-shod promotional events, etc..
-chinese music industry’s trend of moving to ‘(act)cute’ music
i don think that sun yan zi’s popularity had dropped .I think that it was due to the company not being able to promote her album well . I think that company must have learnt her lesson.And will buck up for the next album .
I agree man!
I would like to add on some points.
Warner didn’t put in a lot of efforts on Yanzi’s MV. In those KTV VCDs, about half of the MVs inside are “cut & paste” from events like concerts. And even those which are filmed by an MV director, they aren’t very well done. I hope Warner (or maybe Yanzi’s next company?) will put more efforts onto this area…
I dont think sales reflects her popularity. What about those people who go to her concerts and download her songs illegally from the net?
I think WARNER is not doing a fantastic job in publicising her album. In taiwan, WARNER did not organise a ‘New Songs Concert’ for A Perfect Day unlike her previous albums like Stefanie and The Moment. In Singapore, WARNER spent more efforts in promoting english albums like Enya’s Amarantine and Madonna’s Confessions of A Dance Floor. A perfect Ay’s advertisments came only 2-3 weeks after release.
for info, sk jellwery nsg concert publicity were fantastic in my humble opinion.. however they have nothing to de with warner… warner cant achieve such good standard one..its all credit to mediacorp n sk … not warner as for hk dvd , publicity is lacklustre… poor effort … dun see the ad very often n doesnt seem to see posters everywhere in cd stores..
in short warner isnt effiecientat publicity n arent payin attention to her .. they r oso spending less on her mvs… time for her to leave..
A perfect day album has many surprises when I watched “entertainment Big Brother” on SCV - there was a Hokkien pc which was inside this album. The tempo and lyrics was surprising very soothing when it was sang by stefanie who does not speak Taiwanese hokkien fluently.
In taiwan - when the company and singer discontinued in their contract with one another. The singer’s last album activities are halted and very limited publicity are given to the album and singer. Very surprisely to learn that Warner as International Music Company also succumbed to such act ~ it’s very depressing to see such attitude issue can happen in such a Big Music company. Taiwanese believe very much that it is better to part as good friends as who knows down the road; either the music company or singer may bounce back together for other works. Now that IP - Intellect Properties become legalised; other singers’ sales of album will be protected from now onwards. To label that Stefanie is no longer popular is written so many times by reporters in Singapore. In taiwan; it’s understood bec’s noone really trust their newspapers. If Stefanie is not popular, then why is all her concerts sold out in HK, Singapore, Shanghai? And our neighbour Malaysia is urging her to stage a concert there soon. So dont read too much in the news.
To able to clinch the best singer in Taiwan Golden Medley is every singers’ dream even Andy Lau is hoping for one. Our Singapore Stefanie Sun make it the five years she spent working to achieve thus far. To write is easy but to achieve such feat is all heart, mind and soul.