I don't think this was Uta's decision.... her mother being a former idol she knows what her daughter was getting into.... so I think this doesn't have anything to do with the "idol life"
Her mother probably disagreed with something that was on her contrate (money maybe??)
Her departure is really sudden and really sad. I just want Country Girls to become even stronger and hopefully become an even stronger performance group in H!P. Maybe someone from the H!P Hokkaido audition will be added to CG in the not so distant future?
If she is upset with the decision, then I feel really sorry for her. I am ok about her leaving, but leaving against her will ? No.
Anyway, this reminds me of the departure of Yuuka from S/mileage. She was the N°1 popular girl in the group, and by a large margin, and she left, and the group somewhat lost its momentum... Hope the same won't happen to CG.
UP-FRONT LINK wrote a new note: [EN] Concerning Uta Shimamura from Country Girls.
Thank you for your continued support towards Hello! Project.
It is a sudden announcement but the agreement with the Country Girls member Uta Shimamura came to a midway cancellation.
Country Musume。 changed their name to Country Girls and Uta Shimamura joined the group last year on November with their new start, then Country Girls had their CD debut on March of this year.
After that, although there had been repeatedly discussions with her family about the future, and during this process the group Country Girls continued their activities, a gap emerged between her family and our company that could not be filled. During this period, while from the family there had been discussion about "retiring", our company had to make a judgement because it exceeded the scope of our management's responsability and it came now to the point of midway cancellation.
As a result, except Country Girls Supervisor Mai Satoda, 5 members are still part of Country Girls. Those 5 members have to face this reality and so far they have to continue to do their best with all their might.
To all of the fans, we have to apologize for making you worry but we would like to ask you to continue to support Country Girls in the future.
6th June 2015
UP-FRONT PROMOTION
Ohama Minoru
---
It definitely sounds like it was a money issue. Makes sense. "My daughter is visual center, pay her more."
I don't think this was Uta's decision.... her mother being a former idol she knows what her daughter was getting into.... so I think this doesn't have anything to do with the "idol life"
Her mother probably disagreed with something that was on her contrate (money maybe??)
She did mention in an interview that it was her mom who signed her up though, and she only got into the concept as the training/selection progressed. So this may be her step-out, but it could also be a flip-flop from her mom.
If she is upset with the decision, then I feel really sorry for her. I am ok about her leaving, but leaving against her will ? No.
Anyway, this reminds me of the departure of Yuuka from S/mileage. She was the N°1 popular girl in the group, and by a large margin, and she left, and the group somewhat lost its momentum... Hope the same won't happen to CG.
Unfortunately unless she speaks up about the topic somewhere we have no idea if her leaving was completely against her will. She could have been happy being with Country Girls but unhappy with aspects of being an idol for instance. But again unless we hear something from her we cannot really know.
I think Yuuka's departure would not have hurt S/milage as much if it was not after they lost Saki as well and they both had been with the group for about a year at least. Losing both seemed to really drag the momentum of the group and it did not help that fans did not seem to want to accept the new girls brought in. With CG they at least have Momoko who came in already popular from Berryz and it is not like the other girls were not gaining attention in their own way. I think the group will be okay, yes losing Uta will hurt but it is happening so early on they have a better chance of keeping momentum than if it was a year from now.
hopefully it is her own decision to pull the plug, but sounds more like a family against it thing...as mean as it sounds...I hope she doesn't go into another idol group or some other agency that soon (or at all), because it does give off the element of "she is too good for country girls", be it from the family or from her....such a waste though, she's perfect to be an idol..: /
島舞美 鈴木 愛理 鞘師里保 中西香菜
Stan SF9. Stan Pentagon.
Stan Personality. Stan Talent. If you are offended by an idol for dating, you have no rights to say "I stan them for talent"
Quoting Angerme
"The people at the top of popularity ranking. We have no obligations to like them. We rely on our tastes. What's wrong with it?"
Hmm I'm not sure, but aside from the cuteness moment of Itooshikutte Gomen ne, I never had the feeling that Uta was insanely popular (popular of course, but not in the same level as Yuuka). Lately it looked like Chisaki and Manaka were somewhat more popular, judging from lightsticks and comments.
However, that doesn't mean that her departure isn't a shock.
To me, it sounds like her parents were the force behind that decision. I can actually believe that her mother was striving for Morning Musume, then Uta got into Country Girls. Despite the very successful debut and their girl becoming center they wanted to cancel the contract. I think the reason behind her not haven gotten a Greeting! DVD yet might have been the long discussions behind the scenes, too (usually UF* is very quick to get the popular girls release something).
I will miss Uta. She wasn't my fav in Country Girls but she was one of the cutest members.
second Aina case,, i just hope she happy with this decision whatever the cause and whoever that make the decision and continue as common girl or idol at other agency etc,,
she is my first fave that i instantly like since her appearance at H!PSute, continuing to her debut and being center in the MV,,
goodbye Utachan, you are an inspiration,, hope you live a happy life,, hoping to see you again one day at any appearance,,
for a while i thought today was april 1st, but really is june 12th T_T
Spoiler
with her sudden rising in H!P and leave feel like :
One of the most controversial things a recording company or agency can put into a contract is a "work-for-hire" clause. This clause means that any musical recordings that, in this case, the idols make belong exclusively to the company. The idols are owed no compensation for royalties based on album sales or public performances and are paid a salary for all idol-related activities, including music, in place of sales-based compensation. In more typical contracts, recording artists are given a royalty based on sales that starts at about 10% of the wholesale price of recorded material and increases based on hitting certain sales milestones and contract renegotiations, and so they have the potential to continue earning income long after they finish their careers and don't have to keep working to get paid, as idols do.
I believe "work-for-hire" is the standard for H!P and 48G, because it allows the agency to continue to use music that they have produced for the same group or even sister groups without having to pay the original recording members for every sale or performance of a song with a graduated member. You can compare this to Stardust Agency idols, who re-record all of their singles for a new album if members present on the original single are no longer in the group by the time the album is released in order to avoid paying royalties for album sales to members who no longer belong to the group. H!P and 48G do not do this because they have not negotiated royalties for the idols in the first place and can release old recordings on new albums without fear of greater financial obligations.
H!P seems to use this clause now with virtually all of the idol groups it creates in order to protect itself from unforeseen circumstances, and because Uta's mother is experienced in her own right with idol contracts, there was likely much disagreement over the fact that the girls were not to receive any royalties for the high sales for their first single and the surprising amount of airplay the single received. This is likely the same issue that Aina encountered, since Juice=Juice also had remarkably high sales for an indie group that they were not going to be compensated for.
I mean I can't prove it, obviously, but that seems like it would be the biggest issue.
She had so much promise, too bad she had to leave Country Girls... I hope she left on good terms with the members and no bad blood was created with the rumors around the contract negotiations.
One of the most controversial things a recording company or agency can put into a contract is a "work-for-hire" clause. This clause means that any musical recordings that, in this case, the idols make belong exclusively to the company. The idols are owed no compensation for royalties based on album sales or public performances and are paid a salary for all idol-related activities, including music, in place of sales-based compensation. In more typical contracts, recording artists are given a royalty based on sales that starts at about 10% of the wholesale price of recorded material and increases based on hitting certain sales milestones and contract renegotiations, and so they have the potential to continue earning income long after they finish their careers and don't have to keep working to get paid, as idols do.
I believe "work-for-hire" is the standard for H!P and 48G, because it allows the agency to continue to use music that they have produced for the same group or even sister groups without having to pay the original recording members for every sale or performance of a song with a graduated member. You can compare this to Stardust Agency idols, who re-record all of their singles for a new album if members present on the original single are no longer in the group by the time the album is released in order to avoid paying royalties for album sales to members who no longer belong to the group. H!P and 48G do not do this because they have not negotiated royalties for the idols in the first place and can release old recordings on new albums without fear of greater financial obligations.
H!P seems to use this clause now with virtually all of the idol groups it creates in order to protect itself from unforeseen circumstances, and because Uta's mother is experienced in her own right with idol contracts, there was likely much disagreement over the fact that the girls were not to receive any royalties for the high sales for their first single and the surprising amount of airplay the single received. This is likely the same issue that Aina encountered, since Juice=Juice also had remarkably high sales for an indie group that they were not going to be compensated for.
I mean I can't prove it, obviously, but that seems like it would be the biggest issue.
Spoiler
I've been wondering about this for a while, Cha Cha SING belongs to Bird McIntyre, I've been wondering, after Berryz graduated does the song leave with them? I was wondering whether the rights were given to the group or the agency. GMM is a bigger company, so I assume they limited the song, like Pink Lady did for the Morning Musume songs. If it were given to the agency, couldn't a group like Kobushi still use it until it runs out?