It very disappointing to read about TiTo?s sales figures, if correct and since release in 2009 TiTo has not surpassed 17000 units then Hikki is going to have a uphill struggle to persuade IDJ or any other record company to negotiate either an extension to her existing contract or a contract with another label?.

And that?s assuming Hikki still has the ambition to succeed in an industry in the throws of huge and rapid change?
Utada certainly has the song writing talent, and there is little doubt that her huge success in Japan has kept IDJ focused trying to emulate that commercial success in America.

There is a underlining factor that changed the opportunities for new artists, where Japanese record companies have embraced the digital revolution with proven year on year growth in the sector, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has published a steady decline in music sales since 2002, which is blamed on P2P clients and Bit torrent?

There is little doubt that the RIAA has been the arbiter and subsequent victim of its own unpopular policies, the witch hunting that has prompted more than sixty thousand lawsuits in the last 3 years alone, the RIAA constantly returns to the same strategy that P2P is principally responsible for the underlining decline in CD sales so here we have the RIAA now at the center of a rabid pro-DRM lobby, which has contributed to a consumers backlash that sees DRM limits considerably the use and enjoyment of digital songs and media, research undertaken by the Harvard Business School points to consumers in huge numbers boycotting music that contains DRM for this precise reason plus the perverse attitude the RIAA adopts that see all online web activity as potential copyright infringement?..

With this in mind record companies want short term commercial success over medium term nurturing and supporting Hikki unique brand of ?world music? ??..

I hope that Hikki rises above all this, and as Ultra_Red suggested looks to the future with an independent label ?..

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