17:46
Dran
Tsunku has set forth a rather interesting challange for S/mileage. If they can prove that they have a fanbase worthy of it, they will get their major debut.
Perhaps the most famous instance of such a challenge among wota is when Tsunku offered to give the five runners up of the ASAYAN contest to find a new singer for SharanQ a debut as a group, but under the condition that they sell 50,000 copies of their demo single in only 5 days. The group became Morning Musume after achieving the amazing feat in 4 days, and went on to become the highest selling all-female Japanese pop group of all time.
But this time, we are treated to an ultimatum of a totally new kind.
Tsunku says that if they can get 10,000 photos of fans smiling from around the world in the next month, they will get their first single. This means that you, the fans, can once again have an incredible influence over the fate of these four eggs that you wouldn't otherwise have. Your inaction could, in theory, result in Maeda Yuuka, Fukuda Kanon, Wada Ayaka and Ogawa Saki being refused that debut that we all know they deserve.
On the other hand, all it takes is to fill in a short form, stating your email address, age and sex, and uploading a photo of you to be part of the campaign that will allow these eggs to hatch.
No risk, high return.
At least for the fans.
The one thing that interests me about it is that, from the perspective of the Agency, there is no real benefit to this kind of challenge. At least not in terms of money. They may get 10,000 photos, but it's not a guarentee that those people will actually buy the single. With Morning Musume's challenge 13 years ago, there was an exchange of money. UFA were making profits - although with 50k copies printed it would have been a huge loss if they only managed to sell a few. Low risk, high return. But here, there is no risk but no guarenteed return.
So, if it's not money UFA are after.... What is it?
