Huayu 1995

Chapter 91 Only Burdened with Debt (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Su Chao is now afraid that his neighbors will report him for disturbing the peace.

Because he was dirt poor.

Not counting the two songs Chen Jiantian gave him, and the one Xu Wei hasn't paid for yet, Su Chao collected eight songs, spending a total of 181500 RMB.

180,000!
That's right, his total creative expenditure reached 180,000.

As a result, he not only spent all the money he had recently earned, but also owed Lin Zhimeng 54,500, as well as Yan Siyuan 20,000 and Chen Jiantian 5,000.

With only 39,000 yuan left, and having to consider the daily expenses of the training course and the random shop in the middle of the month, it was simply not enough.

How will he pay off his debts?

The reason we stopped borrowing from others is because we've already borrowed from almost everyone we could.

No more oil can be extracted.

He also has to consider whether others will suspect he's planning to abscond.

Because Su Chao simply couldn't explain why he slept on a bamboo mat on the floor; he ate mostly meat buns, and even then, he couldn't afford to eat them every meal; he even borrowed a bicycle to get around...

Why does he need so much money?

The lie about being childhood sweethearts can no longer explain why he is so short of money.

If there were more childhood sweethearts...

Wouldn't he be too much of a jerk?

After leaving Chen Jiantian's office, Su Chao kept thinking about a question.

Is it worth spending 180,000 yuan to release an album with eight songs?

180,000 is enough to produce a high-quality album.

If you take it to Hong Kong and Taiwan, unless you find top music creators like Jonathan Lee, Lo Ta-yu, James Wong, or Lin Xi, very few people would need to spend 180,000 on songwriting fees for an album.

However, Su Chao did not regret it.

Because he felt it was worth it.

Definitely worth it!
Because he doesn't just have the right to perform these eight songs.

He owns the complete copyright.

Lyrics, composition, arrangement, and vocals!

From now on, whether it's licensing other people to sing, releasing albums, generating revenue from ringtones in the internet age, or licensing revenue from short video platforms, everything will belong to him.

However, we're still too poor right now.

If he had a million dollars right now, he would produce two albums.

A special concert of "love songs".

Represented by songs like "The Moon Caused the Trouble" and "Dark Fragrance," they all contain love songs.

The other one focuses on "youth".

Play songs like "Life Is More Than Just the Present," "Goodbye," and "Glory."

The style will be more consistent.

Or set up a record company and sign Xu Wei.

Then they gave Xu Wei all the youth-themed songs to sing, bought a few songs from him to mix and match, and directly made Xu Wei famous.

This is a money-making machine that can remain profitable for decades.

Su Chao doesn't need to worry about Xu Wei's career going wrong.

Aside from constantly encouraging everyone to travel the world with a sword, there's really nothing else worth translating.

However, Su Chao doesn't have a million now.

He was burdened with debt.

So he can only honestly release albums and hope to become a hit after they are released.

Then he can participate in various commercial performances.

If you earn 30,000 to 50,000 yuan per game, earning over 100,000 yuan a month is not a problem.

His pager kept ringing, shattering his sweet dream.

Su Chao turned back again.

Luckily, the voice reminded him that he had almost forgotten the boss's phone number.

"Why are you back again?"

Chen Jiantian was puzzled.

"It's possible that other record companies are trying to poach me. I'll make a few calls to find out what's going on."

Su Chao waved the pager in his hand.

"..."

This is absolutely a threat to myself.

Chen Jiantian was so angry that his hair was practically bald, but he still slunk out of his office, considerately closing the door behind him as he left.

This is kind of like a scene from a Japanese adult film.

is not it?
He was invited by Japan to star in a film, and he happily accepted.

When they arrived there, they discovered that they were indeed the lead actor.

But he slept the whole time, and wouldn't wake up no matter how his wife called him.

Red Star is no longer his Red Star.

Su Chao was not lying.

Indeed, other record companies have also approached him.

For example, Liu Zhuohui, the boss of Earth Records, Chen Jiantian's old rival.

The two have similar experiences.

Chan Kin-tim was once the manager of the band Beyond, and Lau Cheuk-fai also wrote lyrics for Beyond's songs.

They are all related to the band Beyond.

They all moved from Hong Kong to the mainland and established record companies there.

Liu Zhuohui's Earth Records has signed singers such as Ai Jing, Li Lingyu, Chen Jin, Jing Gangshan, and Lao Lang.

Ai Jing's first album, "My 1997," became an instant hit; the release of the compilation album "Campus Folk Songs 1" in 1994 further influenced an era.

To be fair, Gao Xiaosong does have a wide circle of friends.

He was both an employee of Earth Records and a collaborator with Red Star Production Company.

He has quite the air of Lü Bu.

Earth Records offered to create a super album for Su Chao.

The budget was 200,000.

He's quite resourceful; he got Su Chao's pager number so quickly. Unfortunately, he's unaware that Chen Jiantian has already budgeted Su Chao's album production at 300,000.

It's not unreasonable for Gao Xiaosong to say that Chen Jiantian has gone mad.

There's also Star Disc Culture; they openly admit they got their contact information from Jiang Shan.

The company not only has Jiang Shan under its wing, but also Luo Qi, the Compass Band, and Chen Lin, who sang "Your Tenderness I Will Never Understand".

If he comes, he'll be Jiang Shan's junior brother.

Go to hell.

Su Chao has no intention of leaving the Red Star Production Company.

He decided.

First, conserve your energy and build up your strength to become the top star.

When the time is right, he will kick Chen Jiantian out of his position as the boss of a rising star.

He made Chen Jiantian work for him.

Artists under its umbrella include Xiao Ke, Xu Wei, Tian Zhen, Zhang Yadong, etc.

Singers who have a promising future can be recruited to our company.

Isn't it more satisfying than changing jobs?

Not all of them were calls trying to poach employees.

There was also a notification from the production team of "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" to Su Chao to hold a meeting to discuss the singing of the theme song.

Su Chao naturally wouldn't refuse to go.

Zhang Zien has a good network of connections, so if Su Chao wants to make something in the future, he can also go through the Xi'an Film Studio.

For example, shooting a music video.

He could easily borrow people and equipment from Zhang Zien and assemble the film crew without spending much money.

Then the trainees are sent to "practice".

Progress can only be made by combining theory with practice.

Principal Su Chao is very kind; he doesn't accept their money!

Su Chao is kind, but Xu Wei is even kinder.

"No need, you can take it and sing it, I won't charge you."

Upon hearing Su Chao say he wanted to sing his song "Like a Free Spirit," this free-spirited young man revealed a delighted expression.

"Brother, you're so poor!"

Su Chao felt that Xu Wei was his control group, which made him feel gratified.

I'm definitely not a good person.

"If your songs become popular, it will benefit me too, because it means my music is recognized."

Money was a major reason for Xu Wei's depression.

He said they performed in the same place again, but still no pay, so the guys had no money for food; it was a recurring problem. I arranged to meet two other singers at the train station that night, and then we'd continue our escape…

Years later, Xu Wei recalled this hippie-style life and wrote the song "Like the Wind," which Su Chao had taken a liking to.

However, the money problem is not difficult to solve.

If Xu Wei didn't lend money to his friends so often, he wouldn't have had a hard time supporting himself.

He suffers from depression, mainly because his music is not recognized by the mainstream market, and the labels of "mediocre" and "niche singer" constantly plague him.

In contrast, the industry highly praises his music.

Su Chao is not the first musician to say that he is his favorite.

The lyrics of "Two Days" were also selected for "Anthology of Contemporary Poetry". Before that, the last rock musician to be selected was Cui Jian.

But if you all say my music is good, then why doesn't everyone else like it?
This feeling is probably why I'm losing hair even though I'm so handsome.

Same as above.

"Taking the payment won't stop me from helping you make this song a hit... Bro, be a vulgar person, take this money and have some fun, like getting a haircut, whether it's a big head or a small head..."

Su Chao stuffed a stack of money into his hand.

Ten thousand yuan isn't too outrageous, but in the mainland music scene, it's considered a top-tier creation fee.

"I have a girlfriend, and she's a very nice person."

Xu Wei shook his head, but he still took the money.

I want to buy my girlfriend a gift for Qixi Festival.

shy.

He sat by the river, looking melancholy, for a long time.

Now he wants to use the money to give his girlfriend a decent birthday present.

Su Chao gave him 10,000 yuan.

He could tell that Su Chao wasn't just being polite, but was genuinely sincere.

This guy...

He really cares about himself.

He not only took me to karaoke bars, but also introduced me to a job there.

The atmosphere in Casablanca was better than the nightclubs where he used to perform, and they never delayed paying his wages.

It's really rare to find a company that doesn't default on payments.

Over the years, he's been owed at least tens of thousands of yuan in back wages.

“I recently wrote a song that I think is quite suitable for you, but I need to put together an album, so I might sing it first. When you release the album later, you can include it.”

Su Chao was referring to "Life is more than just the present hardships".

This song was written by Gao Xiaosong.

But the person who truly made his songs a hit was Xu Wei.

"Okay, thanks a lot, bro~"

Xu Wei accepted the song without even checking its quality.

"Oh right, I'm recording an album in a few days, can you help me out by singing some harmonies or something?"

Su Chao believes that depression stems from a lack of acceptance or recognition.

Nobody praised him.

When he came to help record the album, I praised him all the way, and I guess I wasn't so depressed anymore.

(End of this chapter)