Flying over the bubble era

Chapter 1229
Today's GENZO receives audition tapes from all over the country almost every day. There are both those who aspire to debut as singers, and those who look forward to joining GENZO as a man in black behind the scenes.

In addition to the audition tapes sent to the company, LIVEHOUSE, which has branches in several major cities, has also become a stronghold for GENZO scouts to discover newcomers, regularly sending performance videos of outstanding singers back to Tokyo.

Yanqiao Shinichi has never withdrawn from the selection of newcomers. Although he is no longer responsible for the production of newcomers, every newcomer who joins the company must go through his final decision.

At this moment, he is the one who chooses the one he likes from the selected newcomers, and then asks the staff to send out interview invitations. After passing the interview, he decides whether he will be the producer himself or hand it over to others to produce.

When the record company first started, every step was carefully calculated, because once it failed, it might be unbearable.But now, since we have accumulated, we allow more attempts and failures to explore the way for the future.

The cooperation with Tetsuya Komuro is the next focus. Discovering the band is an insurance card. As a record company that started as a band, it must reserve places for new bands to debut every year. Although solo singers are not very popular, but as long as they sell well and find out the selling point, it is not impossible to have a chance to become popular.In addition, one or two debut quotas should be set aside for singers who try the water every year, such as hip-hop, RNB, or new wave.In short, the pace of exploration cannot be stopped.

In addition to discovering newcomers, a group of musicians who aim to become composers, arrangers, and producers have also been recruited.Wanyumi Watanabe runs an actor training class, and GENZO also opened a music training class.

However, GENZO's music classroom is a school that aims to recruit composers, singer-songwriters, or people in black behind the scenes, and the item "teaching singing" is not included.

The matter of singing ability, basically, when you hear the first audition tape, it has already determined whether this person has the opportunity to become a singer.For newcomers recruited into the company with the goal of being a singer, their vocal music lessons are also outsourced, and they have long-term cooperation with the vocal music classroom that has signed a contract.

Since the beginning of the new year, Shinichi Iwahashi has selected four groups from the newcomers he personally interviewed.Half for the band and half for the solo singer.

The two target solo singers are girls, and one of the two bands is composed of male members, and the other is a form of female lead singers and male musicians that has become popular in recent years.

The Women's Rock Music Festival, which has been held for several years in a row, has set off a wave of team formation centered on female lead singers. In the school's light music club, female students spontaneously form bands, and such cases are also increasing.

But at present, the popularity of female lead singers forming teams is more reflected in the fact that when key figures in the underground music industry want to form a band, they subconsciously use "do some girl pop" as an option, and record companies see Seeing the commercial value of a band centered on a female lead singer, I am happy to select a band of this form.

However, the common practice of record companies is to find a few male musicians to act as teammates for female singers who were supposed to debut as solo singers but temporarily put them on hold because the solo market is not easy to mix, because this can quickly form a "band" ".

Perhaps only when women who are interested in forming a band can spontaneously meet on campus, or enter the underground music scene, and become famous with their own music-at that time, women's rock will truly have its own place.

However, it is interesting to say that men who are excellent in singing and writing often appear as the central figures of the band.But women who are good at singing and writing are basically debuting as solo singers.

A few years ago, the situation in the recording industry was that female solo singers were more likely to make their mark than male solo singers. In contrast to the band market's ups and downs, it was the solo market's ups and downs.But in recent years, "girl pop" with female lead singers has become popular. At the same time, there are not a few male solo singers who have achieved success.

The reason for this has an important relationship with the end of the era of idols and the beginning of the era of bands.

After the idol era came to an end, audiences who were tired of performing in the idol era began to pay more attention to the form of self-composition and self-singing, and many composers who were originally behind the scenes also appeared in front of the stage as singers.In addition, the era of the band has begun, and an important symbol of the band is self-creation, which makes the audience even more fond of singers with creative talents.

Correspondingly, because of the end of the idol era, it is difficult for new trends to be born, resulting in ordinary solo singers not having enough sparkle to attract the public.Beautiful, handsome, good singing skills, these have become characteristics that are not unique.

Under such circumstances, Iwahashi Shinichi believes that female solo singers without creative ability can still give it a try, but there is no need to promote male solo singers without creative ability.

And also without creative ability, the reason why female solo singers are more valuable than male solo singers is that there is another possibility for female solo singers: to become a certain fashion trend leader.

This is why the two solo singers chosen by Shinichi Iwahashi are both girls.

In fact, there are two male solo singers of GENZO.One is Takeshi Mikami, who has had no splashes since his debut, and the other is Masaharu Fukuyama commissioned by Yokichi Osato of AMUSE.These two male solo singers, the former is not a singer-songwriter, and the latter insists on taking the singer-songwriter route.

Mikami Ken, who is not a singer-songwriter, has been silent in the industry since he appeared and disappeared, and now he only waits for the contract to be terminated.As for the singer-songwriter Fukuyama Masaharu, since his debut, his records have never been sold well.

However, compared with the tragic situation when his first single couldn't even reach the edge of the charts when he debuted, his record sales could touch the edge of the charts, and the highest ranking was in the teens and twenties. Fame, at least has been steadily rising.

Even if the steps up are small.

But even such a small increase is due to the fact that he has accumulated popularity as a host of radio programs, and he has been arranged by the firm to participate in TV drama performances, which has opened up a little popularity.

From this point of view, the reason why Fukuyama Masaharu's record sales are slightly better than when he debuted is not because of the improvement in the quality of his music, but because his popularity and popularity have increased during this period.

But looking at it from another perspective, after gaining popularity and popularity, it can drive his record sales. It can also be seen that Masaharu Fukuyama's music is not completely unappetizing to the audience.After all, he is just a small artist with some fame, not a big star whose popularity is so high that people will support him at the slightest sign of trouble. If he really creates some music garbage, the audience will not buy it.

When Masaharu Fukuyama first debuted, Shinichi Iwahashi found out that his performance on the radio show was quite popular, so he proposed to Yokichi Osato to open a titled radio show for him, and discussed with the producer of the radio station , adding some music-related links in the program time period, so that the audience attracted by Masaharu Fukuyama's talk will notice that he is a singer.

On the other hand, AMUSE chose Fukuyama Masaharu at the beginning, and originally discovered him as an actor, and did not expect much from his debut as a singer.His grades were dismal when he debuted, but now he can make back his capital and make a small profit, which has made the firm very satisfied.During this period, he actively arranged for Fukuyama Masaharu to work as an actor.

In fact, for AMUSE, Masaharu Fukuyama, who is handsome and unrestrained in appearance, rather than becoming a singer, the agency hopes that he will focus on his career as an actor.Moreover, compared to the lack of outstanding creative talent, Masaharu Fukuyama's good conditions as an actor are obvious, and the agency does not believe that he can do anything as a singer.

Therefore, Masaharu Fukuyama has two identities as a singer and an actor, and neither of them steals the limelight from the other, but can add a little popularity to the other identity. There is a delicate balance in it.

Male solos are not easy to mix, and male solos without creative talent want to show their talents, let alone even think about it.However, it is even more difficult to find such a newcomer for a male solo who is excellent in singing and writing, full of talent, and has not formed a band.

Last year, such a talented newcomer was born.There is a male solo singer named Noriyuki Makihara, who wrote the song "どんなときも". "(at any time) swept the charts, and won the honors of the number one single and the million-dollar single.

But Noriyuki Makihara, who appeared on TV, has nothing to do with the word handsome guy, he looks like a warm and honest clerk in a small street shop. Just by looking at his face, he can be sure that he is full of talent.

AMUSE adopts a laissez-faire attitude towards Fukuyama Masaharu's singer work plan, and the producer Shinichi Iwahashi is not easy to point fingers at a singer-songwriter.

If I really want to say, if Fukuyama Masaharu gave up his creation, it would make him completely lose his characteristics.After all, in the solo market, which is not easy to mix, "handsome guy" is the least valuable label here.

……

The two female solo singers selected by Shinichi Iwahashi are not considered beauties in appearance, they can only be regarded as beauties among ordinary people.Neither of them knew how to compose music, but both were asked by Iwahashi Shinichi to learn to write lyrics.

In Yanqiao Shinichi's heart, the positioning of the two girls is for young women, and they can bring a certain popularity among young women.

He wanted to use the term "fashion guru", but felt that both girls were unworthy.

However, thinking of the word "fashion guru", the image of Ayumi Hamasaki inevitably emerged in Iwahashi Shinichi's mind.

However, at this moment, Ayumi Hamasaki is just a child, and he can only follow the fashion trends promoted in magazines.The time I met her in Fukuoka, she had no interest in becoming a singer either.

Perhaps, Ayumi Hamasaki will still be a singer in the future.

Perhaps, Ayumi Hamasaki changed his mind and chose another possibility of life.

(End of this chapter)