Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 978 Departure from Haikou
Although many data points still need more time to be compiled, the sheer scale of "The Big Band's" finale, which dominated six trending topics on entertainment search engines, prompted Chen Shuting to immediately post on the official Rock Records account the moment she received the WeChat message: "The national tour plan for 'The Big Band' has officially begun. If you want a band to come to your city, hurry up and vote!"

The "Summer of Bands" tour was mentioned before, but it was mostly just inquiries; no one actually made a decision. Unless Rock Records handles the event themselves, concert companies are generally hesitant to commit until they see concrete results; they usually won't make a decision until they see the final outcome.

Even if it might be cheaper to book in advance, few people are willing to take the gamble.

Now that The Big Band has gained widespread recognition and popularity, half of the singers in the music industry are sharing it, music fans are talking about it with great interest, and the villains are keeping an eye on Bian Lang's illegal performance tonight...

For better or worse, it's generated enough buzz and attention. If they capitalize on this momentum, the box office will definitely be strong; the only question is how to make money from it. Whether they rely on sponsorships, subsidies, or purely on box office revenue, there are many intricacies involved.

Now that the results are in, it's undoubtedly the Q3 variety show champion, with undeniable high ratings and positive reviews. Advertisers have also seen increased brand awareness thanks to the show. However, the unprepared Xibiqi fared rather poorly; during the collaboration with White Dog, Xibiqi's inventory was almost completely sold out.

Therefore, now is the perfect time to test the true thoughts of music fans when voting begins for the city where the tour is scheduled.

Soon after the poll was posted, Chen Shuting's phone was ringing off the hook.

As for Bian Lang and the other two, after eating and drinking at LAB for a while, they boarded a plane to Haikou in the early morning.

Meanwhile, at the Haikou Rolling Stone Music Festival, the bands had just finished their first day's rehearsal and were returning to their hotel to rest.

On the first day, the members of New Pants, who were second to last, felt completely exhausted. Because of their victory in The Big Band, when they were halfway through their rehearsal, the venue, which had previously been sparsely populated, suddenly saw a surge of fans outside shouting encouragement. So after their rehearsal, they spent over an hour signing autographs for fans at the venue.

Just as Goat sprawled out on the bed in a starfish shape, Ouyang Zhong, who was in the same room, suddenly spoke up: "Goat, have you ever heard Bian Lang sing 'Summer Finale'?"

"There's only a demo, and it's a cappella. I feel like he just recorded it casually. What's wrong?"

Ouyang Zhong thought for a moment and said, "I've sent you the link, go check it out yourself..."

Goat reluctantly got up, picked up his phone, and clicked on the link. The room fell silent for a few seconds, then Goat launched into a tirade: "Are these people crazy? Brother Lang was just giving back to his fans, risking further punishment by singing a little song. How could they come up with so many ridiculous things? What do they mean by saying he thinks I sang badly and is willing to break his vows to let the fans hear the original live…"

If it were the old him, he would have immediately logged on and started a counterattack. But after experiencing the ups and downs of The Big Band, especially after winning TOP1 with New Pants, Goat seemed to have matured overnight: "Brother Zhong, what do you think I should do about this?"

“If it were me, I would just pretend I didn’t see it! Who cares about the opinion of a guitarist like me anyway? But if I were you, I would ask Zhou Ketong’s opinion first.”

Only after being told that did Goat remember Zhou Ketong, his agent.

Zhou Ketong usually arranges everything for them, so they only need to focus on their music. Therefore, when something happens, their first thought is how to deal with it. Only after they have calmed down and come to their senses will they think of finding their manager to solve the problem.

Actually, when he called Zhou Ketong, she had already sorted things out: "Goat, if you want to go and confront them, go ahead, but be careful with your words. These people specialize in this kind of dirty work. They are more professional than you at defining the boundaries of language. You should be prepared!"

Upon hearing this, Goat knew that this was yet another attack, both overt and covert, aimed at Rolling Stones: "Hmm, I know what to do."

To be honest, even if Goat didn't say it, he had some unpleasant feelings before hearing Zhou Ketong's words, which is only natural. I believe that among the current rock singers who recorded Bian Lang's works, none of them want to be compared to Bian Lang by music fans.

After all, forcing a comparison when there's no basis for it is bound to make anyone unhappy. Liang Zi and Jin Ma are exceptions; even die-hard fans of Bian Lang wouldn't honestly say that Bian Lang's version is better than theirs. But after understanding their true intentions, Goat realized how naive she had been: "They probably didn't care how well I sang; they just wanted to create conflict between us..."

After making a self-deprecating remark, Goat went on Weibo to find the source of the message, took a screenshot and saved it, and then began his performance: "If you are a professional music critic, then please point out the problems with my performance, instead of just being ambiguous and starting to create confrontation."

Isn't it normal for Lang Ge to perform his own compositions better than me? Besides, Lang Ge has already lost the chance to win TOP1 in the first season of "The Big Band". This isn't a commercial performance, so please don't try to change the subject! Without Lang Ge, there would be no Rolling Stone today, and there would be no TOP1 for New Pants. At least half of this honor should go to Lang Ge.

So, if I've accidentally offended you somewhere, and you're looking to mess with me, please come at me, Goat, alone..."

After reading this passage, Ouyang Zhong finally managed to utter a single word after a long pause: "Awesome!"

Following Goat's lead, all the bands that participated in The Big Band, regardless of which stage they reached or whether they were under Rolling Stone Records, started to imitate him and add value to Bianlang.

As the hype grew, Liang Kuan, who was busy dealing with inquiries about the "Summer of Bands" tour at the hotel, couldn't help but laugh: "These rock musicians are just adorable. They couldn't even see through such an obvious attempt to flatter you. It's a good thing that Bian Lang has such a persona. If it were anyone else, they would have been screwed over by these incompetent teammates!"

But regardless, these bands' responses were far better than Justin Timberlake's. Justin Timberlake's suicidal marketing is truly a masterstroke in the industry, and will undoubtedly become a classic case study in business textbooks.

As for Bian Lang, he was picked up directly by Guo Sichu after getting off the plane. Don't overthink it; they went to visit the set, because Panama, who made their debut at the Huaxia Music Festival, was still rehearsing.

As soon as the car stopped outside the venue, a Toyota Coaster stopped at the same time as them. Pan Jianhu was the first to get out, followed by Wenlong from the Magic City Band.

Seeing Bian Lang get out of Guo Sichu's nanny car, Wenlong first made an envious and jealous expression, and then took the initiative to come up and greet him.

Bian Lang knew that Mocheng was interested in signing him, but he didn't know the specifics: "Will Rolling Stone be able to do it this time?" "No, we just came to take a look. We just finished performing in Zhangjiajie..." At this point, Wenlong started complaining: "You have no idea how amazing that place is! We arrived on the night of the 29th, and the truss was only just being put together. I estimate that the sound equipment is about my age..."

"Later I heard Zhu Wen cursing the local organizers, saying that even in a rural market, the stage and equipment would sound terrible..."

After listening for a while, Bian Lang finally understood what was going on. It was similar to what they had encountered at the Yun Village awards ceremony: the local organizers insisted on using a local stage equipment team. However, the local team was clearly inadequate and couldn't meet the requirements for the magic disc, but…

After listening, Bian Lang asked with a smile, "Your CEO Zhu can tolerate this? Could it be that he wants to use this opportunity to completely ruin Magic Disc's reputation and then get rid of it as soon as possible?"

Upon hearing this, Wenlong immediately gave Bian Lang a thumbs up: "Brilliant! Bian Lang! How come I never thought that guy had such a hidden trick up his sleeve? I think it's really possible..."

Hearing that they were still doing sound checks inside, Bian Lang wasn't in a hurry to go in. The three of them lit cigarettes and continued chatting: "Is this the end of it?"

"How could that be? The stage during the performance didn't even seem as big as the Rolling Stones' LAB stage. And the funniest thing, you know what? For a venue with 10,000 people, the screen they provided for the stage was a scrolling text display!"

"A scrolling text screen?" Bian Lang wasn't unaware of what that was; he was just astonished at how these guys dared to do it!

"Yeah, the internet is full of people demanding refunds! It seems Zhu Wen is prepared to go all out and expose the client completely. These clients are really ridiculous. If they think their scenery is the best in the world and people absolutely have to come, then they should raise the ticket price to 1000 yuan per ticket. They should use the music festival to attract visitors. Rock music fans prioritize the music festival lineup; tourism is secondary!"

Wenlong's words are the absolute truth, but Zhu Wen certainly couldn't say that to others, right?
Zhangjiajie Culture and Tourism naturally thinks that as long as people come, eating, drinking, and using the facilities will boost the tourism economy. As for the fate of your Magic Disc brand, what does that have to do with Zhangjiajie?
There were many twists and turns in the story, but Bian Lang thought of this and went to Weibo to check the poll. Although the ranking was very low, Bian Lang still sent a message to Chen Shuting: "Make Zhangjiajie's name gray out!"

Chen Shuting clearly didn't know what had happened, but she didn't ask and just made the arrangements.

When the matter was exposed by music fans, who began attacking Magic Disc with terms like "fraud," Zhu Wen predictably started shifting the blame! Moreover, this time he joined forces with popular singers and crossover idols to expose the various egregious actions of the client.

This included using violence to force Liu Xingwu to have dinner with a certain boss, etc... Suddenly, this precious place that Bian Lang had never visited in either of his two lives was once again excluded from his life options. Let alone performing there, he might not even go there for tourism.

But at this very moment, some sharp-eyed music fans discovered the bug in the voting for the "The Big Band" tour.

"Holy crap, does 'The Big Band' not even want to participate? They're so disrespectful, just blocking us like that?"

"The Rolling Stones and Magic Disc are mortal enemies, right? Even they're on Magic Disc's side, so there's no doubt it's a local problem!"

"Let's not go to those tourist cities. They'll just raise prices again, and who can afford that? We're not going there for tourism!"

"To be honest, Haikou really put in a good show this time! I admire Coconut Tree and Rolling Stones. The music festival tickets and hotel discounts... It takes a lot of sincerity and influence to get the higher-ups to cooperate on something like this!"

"Damn it, really? I really regret going to Zhangjiajie. The scene was like a huge sales event at a building materials market. If my wife and kids hadn't insisted on going to Zhangjiajie, I would have been out of my mind and gone for the Magic Disc!"

"That's enough! Don't ask me how it was; I just felt like I was experiencing the realities of society in the last century. A taxi ride that normally costs 20 yuan was charged 100 yuan per person. It really ruined my impression..."

"Really? I'm flying to Haikou now and looking for a local to take me in. Are there any high-rise buildings near the music festival venue?"

Haikou never expected that the rule of offering discounted hotels to music fans based on their tickets, which they had hesitated and considered repeatedly, would be overshadowed by their competitors and instantly gain a great reputation.

As for these hotels, although they verbally expressed their reluctance, they actually made more money than usual by offering a 50% discount on top of prices that had already increased several times over. In terms of tourism, Haikou's status has lagged far behind that of Luji Island in recent years, so the Rolling Stone Music Festival is exactly what they need to attract visitors.

As the three walked into the venue, local cultural and tourism staff and Coconut Tree staff came out together. When they saw Bian Lang, both of them couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

"Teacher Bian? You're here so late... I saw you were still in Chuncheng last night?"

Bian Lang could tell what the person opposite him was thinking from his eyes and the way he was speaking somewhat incoherently. So when he replied, he joked, "Don't panic, I won't go on stage, no one will come to watch me and try to stop me."

The two staff members, whose thoughts had been laid bare, were a little embarrassed, but it was because their superiors had reminded them countless times to be wary whenever they saw Bian Lang in person. If he wanted to go on stage, they would try to dissuade him, and if they couldn't, they would immediately report it.

"Teacher Bian, that's not what we meant. We'd be delighted if you could come... Could we take a picture together?" After taking a picture with someone, Bian Lang knew he should explain the situation to the people in charge on both sides.

I was planning to have Liang Kuan and Lao Pan make the arrangements tomorrow, but who would have thought that the person in charge of the coconut trees here would actually be here.

After Pan Jianhu introduced the two, Bian Lang went straight to the point and said, "Don't worry, I promise I'll stay in the audience this time, and no one can pull me up!"

(End of this chapter)