1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Tao Zhe has been in Los Angeles for many years and is very familiar with Zhou Yan's fame in Los Angeles.

It is no exaggeration to say that Zhou Yan should be the most famous Chinese musician in Los Angeles in recent years, and even the most famous Asian musician.

“It wasn’t actually written specifically for them.”

"Well, I know that the two songs sung by Mariah Carey are the soundtracks of the movie "Sense and Sensibility", and the ones sung by Backstreet Boys are advertising songs." Tao Zhe smiled.

Zhou Yan didn't expect that he was quite familiar with the songs written by Tao Zhe.

"Yes, mainly because they all sang very well."

"Of course they sang well, but the most important thing is the quality of the songs. Mariah Carey is already very popular, but "Young and Beautiful" and "Someo Like You" can be said to be her two most popular original songs. Before I left Los Angeles, "Someone Like You" was still at the top of the charts, and it might not come down for a while, maybe it could break the record she set before."

"And," Tao Zhe continued, "The same goes for the song I wrote for Backstreet Boys. Although the data for 'We Are Young' may be slightly worse than 'Someone Like You', it's actually just as popular. I can often hear this song outdoors."

Zhou Yan nodded. Tao Zhe was right. In comparison, "We Are Young" obviously has more application scenarios and is especially suitable for creating an atmosphere.

I heard that the Backstreet Boys are having a concert now. When they sing this song, the atmosphere is particularly good. It is also the song that sounds the loudest during the chorus.

Of course, the loudness of the chorus is limited to the chorus.

Many fans couldn't keep up with the speed of the verse part.

"Do you spend most of your time in Los Angeles now?" Zhou Yan asked.

Tao Zhe nodded, "Well, I still spend most of my time in Los Angeles, but starting next year, I might come back more often."

"Does that mean that after you sign with us, your album will be produced in the United States?"

"I think so. I have a recording studio in my home in Los Angeles, and I usually record things there. Many of the songs I wrote for other singers were recorded in that studio."

After hearing what Tao Zhe said, Zhou Yan was not prepared to interfere. He still adopted a laissez-faire approach towards Tao Zhe, and everything depended on Tao Zhe's own development.

All he can do is provide the platform and resources. As for how the album will turn out, it depends on Tao Zhe himself.

However, he still mentioned, "If you feel that the recording studio at home is not good enough, you can go back to Taiwan, or go back to the mainland, or go directly to the Tomson office in Los Angeles. The Tomson office in Los Angeles now has a pretty good recording studio. If you want to use it, you can use it anytime."

Tang Chen's music industry is basically developed around Zhou Yan, so if Zhou Entertainment wants to use their studio, there is naturally no problem.

In Tao Zhe's own studio, it would be no problem to record a demo when writing songs for other singers, but if it is to record an album, it would be a bit lacking.

In fact, Xu Feng had talked with Zhou Hong before, and Zhou Entertainment could cooperate with Tang Chen in music.

As for Huanyin, all film-related businesses can be outsourced to Tang Chen.

For example, if a movie wants an interlude, it can contact singers from Huanyin, such as Wu Bai, Wang Lihong or Mayday.

After the two sides were connected, all the handover work was handed over to Tang Chen. After all, Tang Chen had sufficient experience in the film industry, and Huanyin only had to be responsible for providing works that met the requirements.

And Tang Chen can also hand over part of their music department's business to Huanyin. For example, they signed Akina Nakamori, and when Akina Nakamori releases a new album, Huanyin can help with marketing and promotion, or even directly help her release it.

This time in Taiwan, the promotion of Akina Nakamori's new song was completely handed over to Huanyin.

Of course, these cooperation contents are not the main ones.

What Xu Feng wants is that Zhou can cooperate with Tomson and enter the European and American markets together. In the future, Tomson’s offices in Europe and the United States may be run jointly by Zhou and Tomson.

This would save Zhou the manpower and resources needed to expand the territory, and also help share the pressure and risk with Tomson. Otherwise, it would be a waste to open so many offices based on Tomson's own business.

Especially the music section, for example, the recording studio in the Los Angeles office is rarely used, which is really a bit wasteful.

The cooperation between the two sides is more like a resource integration.

Because of Zhou Yan's existence, it is much easier for both parties to integrate resources, because whether it is Xu Feng or Zhou Hong, their investment in Zhou Yan's development is regardless of cost.

There is no need to talk about Zhou Hong, after all, he is our brother.

As for Xu Feng, first of all, she is not short of money. Secondly, Zhou Yan's movies have made her a lot of money, so she is willing to spend some "unnecessary money" on Zhou Yan's music.

Of course, even though Xu Feng was willing to spend money in vain, Tangchen Music was not very successful, but still relying on Zhou Yan's strong personal ability, they made a lot of money in the music sector.

Tao Zhe was also very happy to hear that there was a recording studio available in Los Angeles. "I was struggling with this issue before. Although I have a recording studio at home, the conditions are not very good, especially in the summer, it is very hot and stuffy. I often stay in it wearing only a pair of underwear. It would be great if there was a professional recording studio."

"The conditions in Tomson's recording studio in Los Angeles aren't particularly good, but they're definitely better than the one at home. At least it has air conditioning, and you don't have to wear just your underwear." Zhou Yan said with a smile.

"I'm kind of looking forward to it."

"I'll contact them tonight and give you the address and phone number. After you get to Los Angeles, you can contact them directly. But before that, you'd better sign the contract with Huanyin first."

"No problem. Once the contract is drafted, I can sign it if there is no problem." Tao Zhe said readily.

Today's meeting with Zhou Yan exceeded Tao Zhe's expectations in every aspect.

Thinking of this, Tao Zhe was secretly glad that he had rejected big record companies such as Rolling Stone and Sony before, otherwise he would have missed the opportunity to work with Fantasy Music.

Not only can Huanyin meet his requirements, but their own strength is also not weak.

Although Huanyin was established not long ago and has signed few singers, it has achieved considerable results.

Wu Bai, who became very popular this year, proved that Huanyin has sufficient packaging and marketing capabilities.

Helped Akina Nakamori release her new song "Snow Flower" in Taiwan, and also made Huanyin active in front of the public.

At least compared to the makeshift teams that are everywhere on Taiwan Island, Huanyin's strength is much stronger.

……

The three of them chatted until noon, had lunch together, and then Zhou Yan left.

Tao Zhe did not leave, but stayed in the company, waiting to sign the contract in the afternoon.

When Zhou Yan returned home, Wang Zuxian was sitting on the sofa reading a book. Seeing Zhou Yan coming back, she smiled and asked, "How is it going? Did you get that new guy?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Did he put forward any harsh conditions?"

Joey Wong was also quite curious about what kind of conditions David Tao would put forward, after all, Xu Xiangjie said that David Tao rejected big record companies like Rolling Stone and Sony.

"No, his conditions are nothing to us. There are only two conditions in total. One is that we don't interfere with his creation, and the second is that we don't have to rush him to release an album."

Upon hearing these two conditions, Joey Wong laughed and said, "These are really not any conditions for you." Although Joey Wong didn't know much about Zhou Entertainment and Fantasy Sound, she knew Zhou Yan and knew that Zhou Yan generally would not interfere with the creation of his singers, nor would he urge them to release albums. No. 43 Bao Street is a vivid example.

However, these two conditions are indeed difficult for major record companies to agree to.

Zhou Yan walked over to Wang Zuxian and sat down. "I'm going back to Yanjing tomorrow morning. Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

"I want to go with you, but I have an event in two days. I have to attend that event first, and then I can go." Wang Zuxian put down the book in her hand, leaned her head on Zhou Yan's arms, and murmured, "You go back first, I will go there by myself in a few days."

"The post-production of the film cannot be delayed, otherwise I can stay here for a while longer."

"It doesn't matter. Work is more important."

"Well, I'll wait for you..."

As Zhou Yan opened his mouth, the mobile phone in his bag started ringing.

It was Xu Xiangjie calling.

"Teacher Zhou, have you arrived at your residence?"

Zhou Yan asked in confusion, "We're here. Why did you call me suddenly? Is there something wrong with David Tao?"

"No, I'm calling to tell you a good news. I just received a call from Shanghai. The results of the first national film music selection have been announced, and The Chorus won the gold medal."

“Oh, it’s the gold medal.”

Zhou Yan was a little surprised. He knew that "The Chorus" would definitely win an award, but he didn't expect that the jury would give the gold award directly to this movie. After all, he didn't go to the scene in person.

In fact, there is absolutely no problem for the jury to give the film an excellence award.

However, Zhou Yan didn't feel anything when he received the award, because it had no real value at all.

Although this selection has a big name, it is a national and first-ever selection, but the organizer is the Shanghai Film Association, and the pre-promotion was not strong enough, so many people didn't even know about this selection.

The popularity of this selection is not as high as some local film festivals, it just sounds well-known.

"Thomson wants us to help promote this selection," said Xu Xiangjie.

Zhou Yan nodded. He could understand Tomson's idea.

Although the value of this selection is not very high, the name is quite impressive and it is easy to promote.

Especially in Taiwan, people have no idea what the level of this selection is. As long as they see the word "national" in it, they think it is very impressive.

Perhaps this is why the organizer insisted on giving the award to Zhou Yan even though he was not present.

They can use Zhou Yan and "The Chorus" to increase the popularity and value of their selection.

Just because this year’s selection has no value or popularity doesn’t mean there won’t be any next year.

Maybe if we do well this year, it will become popular next year.

"You don't need to ask me about this matter. Just report it to Xu Junrong."

"Understood. I'll contact Mr. Xu right away. Mr. Zhou, congratulations on winning the gold medal."

"Thank you."

Joey Wong had been craning her neck to listen, but she only heard the word "gold award".

"What gold medal?"

"It's the national film music competition I told you about a few days ago. The Chorus won the gold medal."

"Wow, that's amazing. The gold medal should be the highest award, right?"

"Well, in this selection, the best awards are the gold, silver and bronze awards. There are also awards for excellence, special judges awards, etc."

"The judges have good taste, and The Chorus is totally worthy of this award. It's a pity that you don't have time to accept the award."

"It's nothing to regret. There will be more and more awards like this in the future, and I can't possibly receive every one of them."

Wang Zuxian smiled and curled her lips, "If others heard this, they would definitely want to beat you up."

……

The news that The Chorus won the first national film music award quickly spread across both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, faster than Zhou Yan expected.

Although Xu Xiangjie told him that he would publicize this matter, Zhou Yan did not expect that the publicity effect would be so good.

When he returned to Yanjing, he heard from Liu Qing and others that they had often seen this news on TV and in newspapers in recent days.

Two days later, Joey Wong called him again and said that she also saw the news on TV.

Joey Wong also saw a newspaper that gave this news a large space. It not only mentioned that "The Chorus" won the gold medal in the first national film music selection, but also mentioned that "Sense and Sensibility" had previously won the Oscar for Best Original Score.

This news is obviously a marketing copy, probably written by Huanyin and Tang Chen.

They also knew that just saying a national film music selection was not strong enough, so they also brought up the fact that Zhou Yan won the Oscar for Best Original Score, sort of tying the two awards together.

When ordinary readers see such news, they will immediately associate the National Film Music Awards with the Oscar for Best Original Score.

Anyone who wins the Oscar for Best Original Score will naturally win good awards in other categories.

This logic doesn't make sense, but readers will think this way. This is the charm of journalism.

In other words, it was Zhou Yan who elevated the status of this selection.

The Shanghai Film Association originally wanted this effect, and now it has achieved its goal.

After the first national film music awards ceremony, organizers thought that this was the first and most likely the last.

Because the first session was not very successful, the popularity was not high and the award ceremony was very quiet with hardly anyone attending.

But now, because of Zhou Yan, the popularity has suddenly risen, causing the organizers to have confidence in the second session.

At this rate, we can hold the next session again next year. (End of this chapter)