A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 55 A Random Tear

The Hong Kong and Taiwan music scene likes to learn from Europe and America and loves to release EPs.

An EP is essentially a mini-album, typically consisting of three or four tracks. Some people like to include exploratory or experimental recordings, but these are generally not considered finished products.

Most people make EPs, essentially to test the market's reaction, prepare for song selection for their next album, or adjust their personal musical style.

Unfortunately, this approach isn't feasible for lengthy online novels; otherwise, 90% of unfinished online novels would be eliminated.

To put it bluntly, it's all about making money and eating. The market has to give us face and acknowledge our commitments for us to continue playing this game.

Speaking specifically from Rolling Stone Records, Su Huilun is the one who loves releasing EPs the most!

She releases two to three albums a year, plus about two EPs. She even has a pattern to releasing EPs, basically one Cantonese EP and one English EP a year.

Unfortunately, none of them worked.

But she kept trying. The cost wasn't too high, and some of her fans would actually buy them. An EP could sell around 8,000 to 10,000 copies, basically breaking even—EPs can't be priced too low, and with fewer tracks, the average fan isn't very willing to buy them. From a return-on-investment perspective, record companies are naturally unwilling to invest heavily in promotion, so she basically relied purely on her personal fame to drive sales.

Of course, many people will include well-received tracks from an EP in their next album. So, it's all about experimentation!

But Chen Shuhua made her meaning very clear. Lao Duan felt that an EP already contained three good songs of the main single level, and then there was "Gift", which was originally only included in "Cold to the End Million Celebration Edition", making it four songs in total. Of course, whichever song performed well in the market could be included in a subsequent album, but one song was acceptable, two songs were also tolerable, but you can't possibly cram three or four songs into a new album, can you?

If we don't release it, it's a waste of good songs; if we do release it, do you think the die-hard fans who bought the EP will feel disgusted?

So, there are two ideas. One is to simply release a new song plus best-of album, select two or three hit songs from Chen Shuhua's past works, and then select a few so-called "hidden gems," and that's enough for an album.

But it also somewhat overshadowed the songs that Lin Jianlu wrote for her.

"Summer Breeze" is considered by producers and singers within Rock Records to be the best-sounding and most outstanding Chinese R&B song to date, aside from a few tracks from Lin Jianlu's "Cold to the End".

It is widely believed that the song has the potential to become a huge hit.

"So Many People in This World" was highly praised by Lao Li and considered to be an absolute masterpiece. It may not be easy for it to become a huge hit on its own, but the essence of this song is enough to support the reputation of the entire album. It is even enough to elevate an album of average quality to a whole new level with just this one song.

Compared to the two songs above, "Nao Hong Hong" is not as flashy, but both the lyrics and music are warm and gentle. As a veteran in the music industry, I understand very well that songs like this are more likely to be accepted by the market and become popular. It is easy for it to become a song that people listen to and sing along to.

So, these three songs are awesome without even trying. Together, they're enough to fill a big album and guarantee a significant amount of popularity and sales.

Why waste them by making them into an EP or a compilation of new songs and best hits?
Let's put together a big album!
Lin Jianlu doesn't care, let's just go for it, whatever you guys do!
But Chen Shuhua looked surprised and tentatively asked, "Really? You have no objections?"

Lin Jianlu was even more surprised than her, "Why would I have a problem with that?"

She pursed her lips and smiled, her gaze fixed on Lin Jianlu's eyes, but before speaking, she hesitated for a few moments, "You are so different from other people! Normally speaking, with your achievements, whether as a singer or a producer, it's rare for anyone to interfere with your work."

"Oh……"

understood!

Up to now, Chen Shuhua's EP is basically entirely produced by Lin Jianlu.

All songwriting, arrangement, and production.

According to the royalty split negotiated between Sylvia Chang and Rock Records on behalf of Lin Chien-lu, Lin Chien-lu will personally receive 15% of the EP's royalties, the same as singer Chen Shu-hua—the production team's maximum share.

Just six months ago, when Lin Jianlu signed the producer contract for "Cold to the End," he was responsible for lyrics, composition, arrangement, and production all by himself, and he only received 5%. Now, if six to eight other songs are added, almost everyone assumes that other songwriters and producers have gotten a huge advantage from Lin Jianlu!
They benefited from the huge sales and profits of Lin Jianlu's works!
Of course, depending on the creators, producers, and quality of the other works, the profit-sharing ratio for the entire album is still negotiable. Unless it's someone like Lao Li or Lao Luo who's involved, other people, even big-name producers within Rock Records like Chen Sheng and Xiao Chong, wouldn't think that their songs should get the same price as Lin Jianlu's songs! However, as an artist, especially a rising star like Lin Jianlu, wouldn't he care about the integrity of the works he creates? Wouldn't he dislike Rock Records' purely commercial approach?

So... no wonder Old Duan, the boss, has been here for several days without saying a word. When the group went out to play, he deliberately left Chen Shuhua behind and even had to carefully discuss things with me. "That's not right! You can discuss things, it's just a few words, it doesn't have to interfere with your trip to Chengde, does it?"

Her face, already flushed, suddenly became even more alluring. "Mind your own business!"

"Hi……"

He sipped his tea a couple of times, then simply lay down on the recliner next to him. "Making money! I don't care how you decide to do it. If the profit sharing needs to be adjusted, just have Lao Duan talk to Zhang Aijia again."

Chen Shuhua remained silent for a long time.

It wasn't until Lin Jianlu looked up in surprise and stared at her that she said, her eyes sparkling, "Write me another song, one that we can sing together. I want to sing a duet with you."

Oh my...

That's really something. Being a few years older, she's quite mature; she actually held back until now to bring it up.

But it was brought up anyway.

To date, she is the fourth person to express a desire to sing a duet with him.

The first one is Liang Yongqi, the second one is Lao Wang, and the third one is Su Huilun.

Lin Jianlu hasn't agreed to any of them yet!

Anyway, he would laugh and say he would definitely do it if he had the chance in the future, but he didn't actually do anything about it.

If he really wanted to sing in a duet, he would have a whole bunch of suitable pieces in his head, so why would he hesitate?

It's not that he dislikes or even rejects the collaborative style of male-female duets; he's just lazy—making this EP for Chen Shuhua is already a real "pampering" for him.

Making money, how can it not be making money?
You have plenty of songs, but time and energy are limited. Wouldn't it be better to record another album and sell it instead? You're not short of money. Wouldn't it be more comfortable to just stay home, lounge in a recliner, and spit out tea leaves?

But things are stuck here...

"Oh dear, alright, alright, let me think about it!"

The main thing is selection.

A minute later, he got up and went into his bedroom. Chen Shuhua was stunned for a moment, followed him with her eyes, and turned to look at the bedroom door.

He came out quickly, holding a thick, large notebook in his hand.

He flipped through the pages with a rustling sound, and when he got to one of them, he casually tore off a page and handed it over.

"Just this one!"

Chen Shuhua was dumbfounded.

When I received it, I saw that the song was called "Rooftop".

(End of this chapter)