The richest person in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 7: An Olive Branch from Warner (Please read on!)
"Hey, this is our little talented singer, right?"

Zhang Chen followed Sun Zhiping and just as he arrived at Baihua, he saw a middle-aged man smiling at him.

Originally, he planned to bring only his assistant Xiao Xue with him today, but Sun Zhiping insisted on coming along, saying that she wanted to introduce someone to him. Zhang Chen had no choice but to come with Sun Zhiping.

"Chenchen, this is Mr. Zhou Jianhui, representing Warner UFO. The previous album was also thanks to him."

Zhang Chen knew this person. According to the normal trajectory, he was originally the general manager of New Art Era and should have returned to Warner UFO in 98.

But now he could only suppress his doubts and greet Zhou Jianhui: "Mr. Zhou, thank you for the compliment."

"I'm not talking nonsense. Among all the new singers, who can be more popular than you? It's just that you usually stay at school and don't accept commercial performances or appear on TV shows. But your songs are now being played on loop in schools across the country."

Zhang Chen heard Zhou Jianhui's slightly flattering words and thought that he was indeed the one who could bring Warner UFO back to life. He could flatter a kid like him without changing his expression.

"My album is selling well, thanks to your help." Zhang Chen had no choice but to cooperate and perform the trick well. It takes everyone to carry the sedan chair.

"Now the mainland market is beginning to flourish. We need a representative singer like Zhang Chen to enter the mainland market. I wonder if Zhang Chen is willing to sign with Warner?"

Zhang Chen recalled the current predicament of Warner Feidie Records. In 91, Feidie Records, a famous local record company in Taiwan, was controlled by Warner Music Group. In 1996, it officially acquired Feidie Records, marking Warner's full entry into the Chinese music scene.

The record copyrights of former Feidie singers including Wang Jie, Tsai Chin, Aaron Kwok, Jiang Yuheng, Sally Yeh, Su Rui, Zhang Yusheng, Danny Chan, Alex To and Sandy Lam also belong to Warner.

Feidie Records was also renamed Warner Feidie, but due to the chaos of personnel changes, Warner Feidie's operating performance and market share fell into a slump in the middle of this year. After the expiration of their contracts, their singers jumped ship or did not renew their contracts. At one point, the label was in a dilemma with only two iconic and well-known singers, Sammi Cheng and Aaron Kwok.

Rolling Stone signed Richie Jen, who has completely established himself in the mainland market with the song "Heart Too Soft". If Warner wants to regain its glory, it needs to find a singer who can compete with Richie Jen.

After figuring this out, Zhang Chen also understood why Zhou Jianhui was so enthusiastic, but he still had his own ideas: "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou, I don't have any intention of signing a contract with a record company right now."

"That's a pity." Zhou Jianhui first expressed regret, then changed his mindset and continued, "Then I wonder if we can continue this long-term cooperation? I heard that you created several English songs this time, and I think Warner can help you."

In fact, Zhou Jianhui also knows that it is difficult to tie down singers like Zhang Chen who can rely on their own creations and do not rely on record companies to commission or collect songs. The only advantage is that he can help singers release albums globally.

"Mr. Zhou, we have already had a successful cooperation, right? How about we discuss the next cooperation in detail after the album recording is completed?"

Zhang Chen was not in a hurry to agree. Just as Zhou Jianhui thought, as a singer who could write his own songs, he could take any olive branch from any record company calmly.

His words can be summed up very simply, just one meaning: you have to pay more!
Zhou Jianhui knew that long-term cooperation could not be negotiated in one go, but he had enough patience.

So after chatting with Zhang Chen and his mother for a while, he found an excuse to leave.

After Zhou Jianhui left, Zhang Chen devoted all his attention to recording the new album.

This year's Chinese music scene is evenly divided between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong:
Since the end of last year, Richie Jen and A-Mei Zhang have made their names in the Chinese music scene with their two albums, "Heart Too Soft" and "Sisters", respectively. During this period, Wakin Chau's "Friends" and Chen-yue Chang's "First Experience of Love" were also very popular.

Apart from singers from Taiwan, the Hong Kong music scene in the 90s was basically monopolized by the Four Heavenly Kings. Although some changes have begun this year, the power of the Four Heavenly Kings will still be difficult to shake in the short term.

Andy Lau released two Mandarin albums in 1997, which included popular songs such as "Ice Rain", "The World's Number One" and "Tears of a Lonely Star", but the most important one was "Chinese", which fully demonstrated Andy Lau's passionate feelings for welcoming Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

On the first of next month, Andy Lau has confirmed that he will sing "Chinese" at the Hong Kong Handover Celebration Gala.

In addition to Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung has also created well-known songs such as "Legend of Immortality" and continues to shine in musicals.

Aaron Kwok also won the title of "Most Popular Male Singer" at the "Jade Solid Gold Awards Ceremony".

As for Leon Lai, he didn't have any particularly outstanding achievements this year.

In addition to the male singers from Hong Kong Island, Anita Mui also released "Woman Flower" this year in preparation for returning to the mainland market.

This year was also the year when Faye Wong washed off the label of "Hong Kong singer". This year she left Cinematheque, signed with EMI Records, and announced that she would no longer release Cantonese albums. She then released her first Mandarin album under her real name "Faye Wong".

In the mainland music scene, Tengger composed and sang the most representative song of his music career - "Paradise" this year; Fu Disheng and Ren Jing sang the most important song of their lives "Dear Lover" this year; Xu Wei released his first solo album "Elsewhere" this year. As a pure rock album, although it did not become popular in the music scene, it won high praise in the industry and is also a "god album" that is difficult to surpass in the hearts of countless fans.

It can be said that the scene of "a fight between gods" had already begun to appear in the late 90s.

In this situation, Zhang Chen was able to surpass many predecessors with many songs from his album "Boy". The song "Proud Boy" even topped the Central Broadcasting Station's pop music chart and won the weekly championship.

The Beijing Entertainment News even opened a page specifically for Zhang Chen, calling him "the youngest talent in the Chinese music scene."

Some people agree with this statement, while naturally some people disagree.

But it is undeniable that Zhang Chen was able to create many hit songs on his own at the age of 13, which is something most people cannot do.

Moreover, so far, with the help of many media, the sales of Zhang Chen's album "Youth" have exceeded 200 million copies. In the record era, nothing is more convincing than the good sales of an album.

So even if someone is dissatisfied, they have to keep it to themselves.

　Chapter 2 of today

　　Please read, collect, and recommend~
　　

(End of this chapter)