Joshua10red wrote:In the first week 『Sisters』 was 1st in Rock single chart
http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/rs/w/2015-09-21/

This is pretty significant. While there is a lot of good Japanese rock out there, that's not really the favorite music genre over there right now. The typical pop and idol stuff is far more popular, which is easy to see when looking at the top ten chart; at least half of them are idol groups (male and female).

saldiven wrote:I still have a sneaking suspicion that the digital sales are significantly higher than the physical CD sales (for all artists). I wish that data were available.

I doubt that. digital sales are higher than the physical one when you're talking about hit artists and we all love scandal but they are not the thing right now (and by judging digital charts like recochoku, mora and itunes jp they are not "digital monsters" in terms of sales).

more or less 6,000 copies less than stamp, i would not take that so tragically wish such strange promo. it really looks like they market this single as a cd for fans (tower record's events, the application card for documentary's screen in the cd, mv's extras and tv performances not during the release week but earlier). if the single ends up with a long chart life, I think it will get close to stamp! sales

joon wrote:CD sales in Japan has been decreasing overall for quite some time now. I do believe that digital is starting to take over there as well, but it's impossible to really know.

Well it's not really impossible to know - all of the overall sales figures are out there, you just need to look. For example, here's another article: http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/retail/5937605/digital-physical-music-revenue-decline-again-in-japan

Another that's a little more recent: http://rainnews.com/japans-music-industry-continued-trend-of-declining-sales-in-2014/

Digital sales were up by 3% and physical sales down by 6% in 2014, but physical sales still dwarf digital sales (according to the IFPI, CD's in Japan were 78% of the market in 2014). And that's including stuff like ringtones in digital sales.

Overall, digital sales are down about 60% from their peak 4 years ago. So I can't see how sales of "Sisters" would be affected by digital sales more than some of their past singles.

I like what @reilachii said about the promo; I didn't have realized until now that they probably could have focused on the regular fanbase for this release. I personally disagree, but it's a new and an interesting way of understand the situation. However, if this was the initial purpose, then I might say it didn't work haha Because I was seeing this "weird" promo as a new tentative/strategy of catching the japanese public's attention as a whole, and it ended up looking like a fan-exclusive release, with all these fan-based "gimmicks" (documentary on LE DVD, private shows and stuff). It may have confused some people previously interested on the song and, later, on the single. But I'm also getting the feeling that this single will be a long chart life; the appeal of "Sisters" is so universal and democratic... (?) It's almost a "DOLL" 2.0 (...no? anyone? I'm sorry; don't bash me)
And guys, I don't know about you, but I've been following the Oricon charts in a while (for almost a decade) and I must say the past week was kinda untypical... EXILE ATSUSHI is often known as a best-seller act on the first week charts (his past three singles charted #3 and his latest album #1 with 80k copies sold) and this collaboration single with AI just got only the seventh position and less than 30k copies sold. By the way, I had never seen before this Chou Tokkyuu band and they got #2 (almost 50k, outselling even the famous k-pop boyband U-KISS). I would not believe in these numbers haha just kidding

On 15 Sept 『Sisters』  in 37th place
On 16 Sept 『Sisters』  in 34th place

After all this time I like Sisters more than ever now, currently I prefer it to Stamp! (Stamp! is still the better song overall for me but currently I enjoy Sisters more due to it being more fresh). Being able to listen to the instrumental version had some part in it too, the music is super catchy. I like to listen to the regular song and then follow it up with the instrumental version. Life is a Journey is fun too but not as good as Sisters, however it it is now on the same level as Flashback No.5.

My updated rating then is as follows:
Stamp! >/= Sisters > Flashback No. 5 = Life is a Journey

Liokt wrote:And guys, I don't know about you, but I've been following the Oricon charts in a while (for almost a decade) and I must say the past week was kinda untypical... EXILE ATSUSHI is often known as a best-seller act on the first week charts (his past three singles charted #3 and his latest album #1 with 80k copies sold) and this collaboration single with AI just got only the seventh position and less than 30k copies sold.

Well, at some point you have to ask if there's something about the music itself. People don't buy music based solely on magazine covers or TV appearances or whatever; they buy it mostly based on the music. I haven't heard the singles from the other artists you're talking about but if they're significantly lower than past sales from those artists, then my guess is they just aren't their best or broadest appealing songs either.

I can think of a few reasons why "Sisters" might not be selling like some of their past singles, and most of them have to do with the song. It's very poppy and it's also very gender specific, both of which limit its appeal among their hardcore fans. It sounds like a song intended for a broad audience beyond their traditional fanbase, but that audience doesn't seem to have materialized. I think Scandal might be at kind of a crossroads in their career here, knowing they've maxed out their core fanbase and trying to grow beyond it without alienating that core that they still need to be profitable. It's a tightrope walk.

I think "Sisters" and "Stamp!" are very similar in that they both show a band trying to expand their sound. I don't know how high the sales were for "Stamp!" but I don't see how it would sell significantly more or less than "Sisters" based on anything other than non-music-related aspects. Both songs are poppy, and I actually think that "Sisters" is even more catchy and has an even broader appeal than "Stamp!".

On a more personal level, I think I might like it even more than "Stamp!".

I don't know, I actually think it could be all of the above that you guys theorized..nerd.
-fan reserved like promotion
- gender specific style
- musical interest
- digital sales is taking over

Its funny how a single with a heck a lot of promotion, not doing very well in sales, compared to the previous single with little to no promotion, that did very well in sales. .deli.

but musical purposes wise, both Stamp and Sisters are (IMO) generic but experimental songs, but  Stamp has a more exotic and new sound (not to mention it is more rock) to the Japanese audience while Sisters is your average girlie jpop dance song that they are use to. I know it may sound harsh, but I think @Spacecadet is on to something.

I really don't think "Sisters" sounds like a typical girly j-pop dance song at all, regardless of what I think about its quality. It sounds way more like a catchy Western pop-rock song to those ears.

I don't know if it's just me, but, I feel like Scandal uses the A-side to try and capture more people and show their true style with the B-side. Not sure if I'm just stating the obvious or something. But still, maybe it's just because of all the big names came out on the same week as Scandal did?

I think SCANDAL has been in this industry for a "decent" time, and they reached a lot of popularity not just in japan, also worldwide, and I honestly think, that this is not a moment to "experiment" because fans already know their style, and like "LIFE IS A JOURNEY" it's just an experiment, I don't feel that the song has a good structure like another songs

The first time I listened to Life is a Journey, it was 2am and I freaked out when I heard the screech sound.

On  17 Sept 『Sisters』  in 33rd place
On 18 Sept 『Sisters』  in 38th place

Sisters is available on the US iTunes store as of yesterday (at least that's when I noticed it and DLed it). .happy.

On 19 Sept 『Sisters』  in 34th place

Guys! We're forgetting something! "Sisters" is the first single that came right after the previous one. I mean, between "Stamp!" and "Sisters", there is a very short slot of time, the shortest of all so far when we're talking about SCANDAL releases. It never happened before between their singles. Like someone here said before, this amount of sales of "Sisters" matches with the amount of sales of their pre-album singles. Maybe they predicted that their regular sales would be affected by an unusual slot of time between two consecutive single releases and because of it they invested in a mass promotion never seen before too. I don't know, maybe the fanbase don't have money regularly enough to buy two singles in a row. At least "Sisters" mantained the low but early predicted and then regular sales of a pre-album single. It wasn't a complete disaster. But it seems that the sales are finally stabilizing, right? They're stuck at the top 30 this week, which isn't a bad thing at all. It means the sales aren't decreasing that much, I think... Maybe it's because the regular fanbase are receiving their salaries or wages and finally buying the singles shortly after it (that very special moment when the workday ends and he/she imediately runs to the nearest record store and spend on it all the money recently acquired).

Liokt wrote:Guys! We're forgetting something! "Sisters" is the first single that came right after the previous one. I mean, between "Stamp!" and "Sisters", there is a very short slot of time, the shortest of all so far when we're talking about SCANDAL releases. It never happened before between their singles. Like someone here said before, this amount of sales of "Sisters" matches with the amount of sales of their pre-album singles. Maybe they predicted that their regular sales would be affected by an unusual slot of time between two consecutive single releases and because of it they invested in a mass promotion never seen before too. I don't know, maybe the fanbase don't have money regularly enough to buy two singles in a row. At least "Sisters" mantained the low but early predicted and then regular sales of a pre-album single. It wasn't a complete disaster. But it seems that the sales are finally stabilizing, right? They're stuck at the top 30 this week, which isn't a bad thing at all. It means the sales aren't decreasing that much, I think... Maybe it's because the regular fanbase are receiving their salaries or wages and finally buying the singles shortly after it (that very special moment when the workday ends and he/she imediately runs to the nearest record store and spend on it all the money recently acquired).

I for one don't think we should worry about sales though. I agree with your statement too. Everyone was like "Whaaa? Another single? I just bought Stamp!". It does seem like business as usual. If you check generasia. Lots of the sales differ because of promotion. Let's take Shoujo S and Yumemiru Tsubasa. Shoujo S had 17k first week, and Yumemiru...about 9k. Shoujo S was used for Bleach.

And if we would take something more recent, Yoake no Ryuuseigun had Pokemon to back it up. So I think it all relies on promotion as well as the time slot you discussed.

fishmcdippers wrote:Sisters is available on the US iTunes store as of yesterday (at least that's when I noticed it and DLed it). .happy.

THANK YOU FINALLY !!!!! AHHHH They Can't Do That To Us Again, I Can Finally Get My Life Back Lol

On 20 Sept 『Sisters』 in 40th place

Unfortunately, I didn't purchase a copy of Sisters CD because I am not a big fan of dance rock and gender-specific lyrics. Although I consider Sisters as one of their strongest and most heartfelt songs in their entire career.

Liokt wrote:Guys! We're forgetting something! "Sisters" is the first single that came right after the previous one. I mean, between "Stamp!" and "Sisters", there is a very short slot of time, the shortest of all so far when we're talking about SCANDAL releases.

Well, that might technically be true, but if it is, it's not by much. For example, the time between "Taiyo to Kimi ga Egaku STORY" and "Namida no Regret" was 8 weeks, vs. 7 weeks for "Stamp!" and "Sisters". Granted, those were a couple of slow-selling singles too, but I doubt it was because they were spaced closely together. "Scandal Nanka Buttobase" was actually then released only 10 weeks after "Namida no Regret", which isn't that big of a difference and meant 3 singles in the span of 18 weeks, and it still tripled the previous single's sales and became one of their top sellers.

I think it's pretty common for Scandal to release singles in quick succession leading up to an album. Their fans know and expect it.

Let's face it - if you compare anything about the Scandal of "Sisters" with the Scandal of "Scandal Nanka Buttobase" (which sold 35,000 copies), they are quite different. The music is different, the image is different. I'm not saying that's permanent or it's a reason to stop listening to them (because the next single could be a total 180), but just that this is probably a single a lot of their fans just felt safe in skipping. When a band releases something that's so much different from most of the singles that have been successful with their fans in the past - and without any real promotional tie-in to help sell it - it shouldn't be unexpected that its sales would be lower.

But what tangible effect, if any, could lower sales have on the band anyway? I mean, they are ten years into their career and almost in full control of their music, could they ever be willing or even forced to go backwards? I know it's all business but still...

Well, if it's all a taste issue, then I'm more with the +14k first buyers of "Sisters" than the 35k first buyers of "Scandal Nanka Buttobase", by a lot of reasons we all have discussed here before.

Furthermore, @spacecadet, I do really know that the regular fanbase expect a single released few weeks before the upcoming album, and if you read my reply with some attention, you'll find out that I said almost the same as you; so, there's no surprise. I was talking about single releases, I was making a comparison between singles only, and not between albums and singles; if I may say, this actually is a completely different situation. I can definitely buy an album after a single I didn't buy because it'll be on the forthcoming album's tracklist, but I'll think twice if it's a single that is being released shortly after the previous one, because 1) I may not have money enough to buy it yet, and/or 2) I'm not sure if I would patiently wait for the next album release to have this song in my collection, since the next album hasn't been announced yet.

But meh, there's a very important detail: I actually love this single. Both songs are great and help me a lot while I'm trying to focus on my personal goals. And I can easily say that, if we are comparing these two singles before mentioned, I prefer "Sisters" a lot more. It sounds as mature as they're now. I barely listen to "Scandal Nanka Buttobase", it's one of my least favourite singles of them. But the impressive first week sales of it could have been a reverberation of the "TEMPTATION BOX" successful promotion. The girls were on the hype at that time, if I remember well. To me, it's the only way possible I can understand these high sales of SNB (and the fact that four different versions of it were released - in their whole discography so far, it was the first time it happened and only happened again with "Yoake no Ryuuseigun", four years later; and in the specific case of SNB, three of its four editions were limited ones), because the song itself sounds bland and incredibly superficial to me. I can't feel the girls: they aren't "there" on it.

You guys may say I have a bad musical taste, and I may completely agree with you. But there's nothing we can do about it, right? Musically and artistically, SCANDAL is becoming a multifaced trademark now; cases like this one will happen with more frequency. The fanbase is getting bigger (I think, at least; because of the world tour and etc) and more diverse/heterogeneous, and this can be interesting (less previous music tastes among the same fanbase or different points of view converging to the same common interest). We can share opposite thoughts in a good and constructive way, like I hope we're doing now.

Guys you forgot something very imortant about SNB... the price point! SNB's price was 525 yen for the regular edition and 1,020 yen for the limited edition, while Sisters' regular edition costs 1,050 yen and the limited edition costs 1,650 yen!