I really don't want to be the top streamer anymore

Chapter 157 Business Genius Xu Kong
The songs for the so-called new album have almost been written, so of course they’re all crap.

In fact, Xu Kong was so busy that he completely forgot about producing a new album for Su Zhi.

Although the two met many times during this period, each time they met was either at Xu Kong's own home or at Su Zhi's home in the same community.

All the serious people in the house have already gone to the bedroom, and there is no need to talk about the album.

However, the problem with the song is definitely not a big problem for Xu Kong.

If it was just a single, Xu Kong could always come up with a new song for Su Zhi.

But this time it is a whole album after all. According to the size of most albums in the current Chinese music scene, at least eight to twelve new songs are needed.

Of course, it’s not that Xu Kong can’t come up with so many new songs.

It’s because there are too many of them and I’m having difficulty making choices.

What Xu Kong agreed to help Su Zhi produce was naturally a non-conceptual album.

Generally speaking, he is still responsible for the work of a songwriter. He certainly has some work as an album producer, but it is not actually that big.

If we only consider awards, concept albums definitely have a greater chance of winning Album of the Year.

But in that case, the workload would still be too much for Xu Kong at the moment, and he might not be able to do it well.

Why in the previous life and this life, the so-called concept albums have been praised by a large number of senior music fans and critics.

Because from the perspective of production difficulty alone, the difference between the two is quite large.

A true concept album is not just about building all the music on the album based on a theme.

Instead, it allows listeners to listen to the entire album from the first song to the last, as if they had experienced a complete musical journey or watched a wonderful movie.

Simply put, it is what is called using an entire album to tell a story.

Although it sounds simple, it is actually quite difficult to do.

The melody, lyrics and arrangement all require considerable consideration.

Even the MV of the song needs to be carefully designed to complement the album itself.

As for non-concept albums, there's not much to say. It's just a hodgepodge of songs that I think are okay.

The better ones might consider the style of music and set an album theme or something.

But in fact, for most singers, albums are actually a hodgepodge of singles.

There's nothing that can be done about it; concept albums are certainly more likely to win awards, but rarely are they hugely successful commercially.

More often than not, when a singer releases an album, there will be a so-called main promotional title song, or they will simply name the album after the song.

As long as there are one or two songs in the entire album that become popular, the actual commercial goal will be achieved.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, almost no singers make money by selling digital albums.

Therefore, there are even fewer singers who would specifically consider making a concept album.

Because there is a high probability that you will lose money.

Of course, this does not include those traffic idols who take advantage of their fans.

Someone will pay for the brothers.

Since he told Su Zhi that the song was almost finished, Xu Kong was also very efficient.

In less than three days, most of the songs had been finalized.

There is no uniformity in style and theme, the main consideration is the quality of the song and whether it is suitable for Su Zhi.

“Have you really finished writing it all?”

When Su Zhi got the lyrics and music scores of these songs, she was a little shocked.

Of course she could see that Xu Kong's expression at that time meant that he had most likely forgotten about producing an album for her.

She stared at Xu Kong deeply for a while, and said in a low voice:
"You didn't write it all at once in the past two days?"

But soon, before Xu Kong could answer, Su Zhi herself felt that such a guess was a bit too outrageous.

After all, the completion and quality of these ten songs, written within two days, is really incredible.

After carefully reading the lyrics and music score Xu Kong gave him again, Su Zhi became a little excited.

“When do we start recording?”

Xu Kong thought for a moment, then answered directly: "Today."

Su Zhi: “Ah?”

That’s right, in Xu Kong’s plan, since the song has been written, it’s better to start recording on the same day as sooner rather than later.

Su Zhi's studio does not have all the departments like Fengge's headquarters.

The scale is only slightly larger than Xu Kong's personal studio.

But the good thing is that the various music facilities are obviously no worse than Fengge’s.

Not only does it have a recording studio with top-notch equipment, but most of the mixing and arranging equipment is also very complete.

Xu Kong selected from the songs he prepared for Su Zhi this time and finally chose one of them.

"Let's record this song first. This time is just right."

Then he started to produce the accompaniment of the new song on the spot.

Yuan Yinan finally chose not to intervene in this matter.

First of all, Su Zhi may not listen to me.

Secondly, Xu Kong’s help to Su Zhi in her career was indeed enormous.

With Xu Kong's help in writing songs, Su Zhi could almost completely abandon the music resources of her original agency and become completely independent.

Su Zhi's original agency had quite a number of songwriters and composers, including some big names in the circle.

But the only problem is that Su Zhi’s album last year was a complete failure.

The entire album, even combined, is not as good as the single that Xu Kong wrote for Su Zhi on the "Singer" program.

It's really too ironic.

After all, the investment in that album was not low. The production alone cost more than five million.

Su Zhi paid for this money herself.

Sometimes, the songs written by some songwriters may be good songs, but they may not be suitable for a certain singer.

There are probably not many songwriters in the entire music industry who can customize songs specifically for singers.

But if we were to say who is the most suitable person to write a song for Su Zhi, it would probably be Xu Kong.

After all, there are so many successful cases out there.

Although it didn’t take much effort to write the lyrics and music.

But composing music is still quite time-consuming.

Xu Kong spent a whole day and just finished the accompaniment of the first song.

When the official recording started the next day, Xu Kong's words made Su Zhi stunned.

“Will it be sent next month?”

In Su Zhi's impression, at least 80% of the album production has to be completed before they start considering early promotion or releasing pre-release songs.

But for Xu Kong, isn’t his efficiency a little too exaggerated?
She suddenly mentioned her new album two days ago, and then she took out all the music scores and lyrics yesterday, and then she finished arranging the music on the same day.

She hasn't even officially started recording today, but Xu Kong has already set the date for releasing the song.

Even though it's just a prelude, isn't it a bit too rushed?
“Why don’t you post it after recording it?”

Xu Kong said indifferently.

This is no longer the era of physical albums.

Anyway, they are all digital albums. Just negotiate the copyright price with the platform and upload it directly.

For the sake of the album's popularity, it is normal for many singers to release an album in several parts.

The most crucial thing is that Xu Kong himself doesn’t know whether he will have enough concentrated time to help Su Zhi produce music and record songs.

Rather than waiting for the song to be released after recording, and not knowing when it will be released, it is better to release it early. The recording process went smoothly, and this song was not too difficult for Su Zhi.

In fact, by the third time, Xu Kong already felt that it was good enough, and he was quite satisfied with the result.

However, with Su Zhi's personality, Xu Kong got used to it and continued recording for nearly two hours before he was finally satisfied.

Of course, as the album producer, Xu Kong finally chose the third recorded version.

Su Zhi was a little confused about this.

"why?"

In her opinion, whether it is her own condition or her performance during recording, many of the subsequent times should be the most perfect versions.

Even the version that Xu Kong chose was just a trial version for her to find her form.

Xu Kong smiled and said:

"Trust me, this song is about your more casual state."

Although she was a little confused, Su Zhi still chose to believe Xu Kong's words unconditionally.

Of course Xu Kong would not say that he made the decision after seeing the market feedback.

After all, although he was aiming to win the award, Xu Kong always felt that there was no necessary connection between winning awards and business.

In addition to winning awards, commercial factors are also something that Su Zhi needs to consider.

“Will it be released on June 1st?”

"Will it be too late in time?"

Although he didn't disturb him, Yuan Yinan had been staring at Xu Kong when he was in Su Zhi's studio these days.

When I heard that Xu Kong planned to release the pre-release song of Su Zhi's new album directly in June, I couldn't help but ask.

There is less than a week left until June.

The finished product of the song can definitely be produced, after all, Su Zhi has already finished recording it.

The workload of mixing later on is not that big.

But apart from that, the promotion and publicity of the new album, and most importantly, discussions on cooperation with the two major music platforms, are not enough in just one week.

Xu Kong had completely expected Yuan Yinan to have such doubts.

In other words, if the other party did not question it, he would instead doubt Yuan Yinan's professionalism as Su Zhi's agent and studio manager.

"Sister Yinan, what do you think is the problem?"

Xu Kong did not explain directly, but asked.

Yuan Yinan said it directly without any hesitation.

To sum up, it’s still about not having enough time to promote the album, and negotiating copyright issues with the two major music platforms.

Xu Kong organized his words and then said:
“As for promotion, don’t worry.”

"At this time, someone will naturally help us promote it."

Yuan Yinnan was confused by what he said and didn't know who Xu Kong was talking about.

Xu Kong had no way to explain it, he could only say that he would know the answer when the time came.

It is obvious that agents like Yuan Yinan pay too much attention to so-called marketing and promotion.

There is no way around it, after all, this is almost the unified understanding of the entire industry.

But in fact, the best promotion is no promotion at all.
“As for the copyright issue”

"My advice is not to discuss copyright in the short term."

This was Xu Kong’s plan from the very beginning.

“Not going to discuss copyright?”

"free?"

Yuan Yinan was even more confused.

The key is that it doesn’t work this way.

For a singer of Su Zhi's status, the copyright fees for her songs must be high.

For example, even though the previous album received very poor responses, it still received more than 2 million in exclusive copyright fees from QQ Music.

“It’s free for now.”

Xu Kong replied.

Yuan Yinan asked: "Then which platform should we release it on, still Cloud Music?"

Because many of Su Zhi's previous songs were exclusively owned by Cloud Music, Yuan Yinan subconsciously thought of cooperating with Cloud Music.

Xu Kong shook his head.

He asked back: “Can’t we post on both platforms?”

When Yuan Yinan heard this question, he was stunned.

The song was written by Xu Kong, so the copyright naturally remained in Xu Kong's own hands, but as for the copyright fee, he chose to give it directly to Su Zhi.

The main reason was that after he came to Su Zhi's studio, he discovered one thing, that is, Su Zhi's studio is currently operated completely independently, and he needs to pay for all kinds of expenses himself.

However, the income from related commercial performances needs to be shared by the original agency.

Although Su Zhi didn't say it, Xu Kong guessed that this was probably the condition he negotiated with the company in order to operate his own personal studio independently.

To put it more clearly, Su Zhi is currently quite short of money.

That's why I have been accepting so many commercial performances and activities recently.

Although Su Zhi is also a workaholic, she couldn't help but feel a little distressed when she saw the other person sleeping in the closet that day.

Su Zhi will most likely not accept the money directly, it is better to pay her in the form of song copyright fees.

So, Xu Kong had already had his own considerations in terms of copyright fees.

From the very beginning, he planned to use the copyright fees from this album to give Su Zhi's studio some additional capital for independent operation.

Of course, in Yuan Yinan's opinion, it is likely that the copyright fee for an album would be at most a few million.

The current market is indeed like this. Even for a singer as popular as Su Zhi, the copyright fee for an entire album is too expensive.

But it doesn’t mean that you can only get that much.

"You mean, we release it on both platforms and don't negotiate copyright issues with the two major music platforms?"

After listening to Xu Kong's explanation, Yuan Yinan finally understood.

Are you preparing to wait until the song becomes popular and then sell it at a high price?

But why does Xu Kong have such full confidence that the song will really become a hit?

"It's not that we won't talk about it, but we won't talk about it for a short period of time."

"I plan to release all the songs from Su Zhi's album in three batches."

"This time we're releasing this pre-release song that has just been recorded. We'll release three new songs the second time, and the remaining six will be released at the end."

“The best time to negotiate copyright fees with the platform is after the second three songs are released.”

"As for whether to give the copyright to both platforms or sell exclusive copyright, that is something you need to consider, Sister Yinan."

Xu Kong definitely doesn't have the time to even discuss copyright fees.

So he gave his own ideas, and as for the specific price and so on, it was up to Yuan Yinan to negotiate it himself.

"You are such a business genius."

Yuan Yinan couldn't help but say something, including complaints and feelings.

Such an operation, if successful, would indeed be able to greatly increase the copyright revenue of this album.

But at the same time, it is estimated that no one except Xu Kong could think of this method.

The main thing is, who can ensure that their new album will be a hit?
Especially in the current market, it is very common for singing kings and queens to release songs without making any splash.

(End of this chapter)