HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 108 [108] Second Album Release Date Set, Millions in Stock Prepared
1998 7 Month 25 Day.

Sony Music Taiwan has released information about Wang Lihong's latest album, "Revolution".

Having signed with Sony, Wang Lihong has gained control over half of the album's production. He's transitioning, no longer the young singer who imitated Zhang Xueyou.

Sony said: "Li Hong himself is the producer of half of the album, and because of this, he often lives in the recording studio and often sleeps less than two or three hours a day, which amazes many professional producers."

"Revolution and Rotation" embodies Li Hong's dedication to music, skillfully combining elements of pop, jazz, R&B, and pock...

While promoting his new album, Wang Lihong said, "Qi Yuan's music inspired my new album. His music showed me how perfectly R&B and Mandarin pop music can blend together. He's also a very nice person. I discussed music with him privately before, and his words gave me a lot of inspiration..."

Sony seized the opportunity to market Wang Lihong with the nickname "Little Qi Yuan," and began to ride on Qi Yuan's popularity.

Wang Lihong used to hang out with Zhang Xueyou at Linfair Records, and people nicknamed him "Little Zhang Xueyou".

Xiao Zhang has already been a snow enthusiast, so being Xiao Qi Yuan again shouldn't be a problem, right?

This was certainly not Wang Lihong's own wish. Nobody wanted to be Xiao Zhang Xueyou, and nobody wanted to be Xiao Qi Yuan.

This is a marketing strategy devised by Sony, and a singer like him can't resist it.

Not everyone is like Qi Yuan, who was already famous in mainland China before his record deal was transferred to Warner Music.

Sony's Chinese Music Division General Manager Yao Qian said, "Li Hong, no one is willing to be someone else's shadow, you are no exception, and neither am I. But riding on Qi Yuan's popularity is the best choice for you. If you wear the title of 'Little Qi Yuan,' you will definitely attract some of Qi Yuan's fans to buy your records. Once you become famous, you can get rid of the title of 'Little Qi Yuan' and be yourself again."

Wang Lihong nodded; he trusted Yao Qian completely.

Yao Qian is his mentor; the title track of his new album, "Revolution," was written by Yao Qian.

In the few years since Yao Qian came to Sony, he has single-handedly created two popular singers, Li Wen and Harlem Yu.

Harlem Yu is competing for the Best Mandarin Male Vocalist award at this year's Golden Melody Awards alongside Chi Yuan and Chang Hsueh-yu.

Li Wen, needless to say, is the most sought-after female singer in the Chinese music scene this year.

He was the third person Yao Qian had her eye on.

Yao Qian is very optimistic about Wang Lihong's future development, and he feels that Fu Mao Records is simply wasting talent.

Besides Qi Yuan, Guo Fucheng, and Li Ming, Wang Lihong is the most handsome singer in the music industry.

Wang Lihong also possesses strong creative abilities. He is handsome and talented in songwriting, so Guo Fucheng and Li Ming are out of the running. Only Wang Lihong and Qi Yuan meet this standard.

Why did Fumao decide to have a handsome, creative guy imitate Zhang Xueyou?

With proper packaging, a few popular hit songs, a talented songwriter persona, and a handsome long face, Wang Lihong could definitely become a fan magnet.

……

Rolling Stone.

The publicity department has started to step up its efforts, and Richie Jen's new solo album "Love Like the Pacific Ocean" and the TV series "The Condor Heroes" have begun to generate buzz.

In late August, "The Return of the Condor Heroes" will be released a few days ahead of the album. The combination of the drama and the album will surely push Ren Xianqi's popularity and career to a new peak.

Richie Jen's special effects will not be released until late August. The reason is simple: Rock Records' "King Killer" Wakin Chau will release his album "People with Stories" on August 5th.

If the timing isn't right, it could escalate into a Rolling Stone civil war.

Zhou Huajian and Ren Xianqi chose the beginning and end of August, while Sony and Wang Lihong chose August 14th, slightly different from the two superstars.

In August, male singers in the Chinese music scene started to make a strong showing, making the music scene even more exciting.

……

Warner. Zhou Jianhui publicly berated Yao Qian for being inhuman in front of Qi Yuan.

What "Little Qi Yuan"? Isn't it just Wang Lihong trying to piggyback on Qi Yuan's fame?
Qi Yuan himself reacted calmly; this kind of behavior is common in the music industry.

In her previous life, Jay Chou also debuted with the label "Little Tao Ze," as early Taiwanese media called her "Little Tao Ze."

Using internet celebrities to stage accidents is a low-cost marketing method with good results, allowing users to gain a lot of attention in a short period of time.

If paired with a high-quality album, this marketing strategy could lead to phenomenal success.

Conversely, a terrible album will become a laughing stock.

Half of the songs on Wang Lihong's album were produced by Yao Qian, the ace producer who made Li Wen and Yu Chengqing famous. If he dared to let Wang Lihong compete with Qi Yuan, the quality of the album must not be low.

"Your new album 'Wish' will be released around September, right? After you finish your autograph sessions, roadshows, and other events, November will be the perfect time to connect with your first solo concert," Zhou Jianhui asked Qi Yuan for her opinion.

Actually, Qi Yuan's new album could have been released in August, but Chen Kaige was too enthusiastic.

Chen Kaige is a meticulous person, and he personally helped Qi Yuan shoot two music videos, "Dong Feng Po" and "Jiangnan".

After filming, Chen Kaige ran away with the film, saying that he would have his personal editor help with the editing and that he would personally supervise the process.

Chen Kaige is an editor at WarnerMedia whom you don't trust.

What kind of company is Warner Bros.? Your third-rate editors dare to edit a film directed by me, Chen? Do you even know what color grading is? Do you understand anything about artistic conception? If I gave it to you, you'd just ruin it.

Chen Kaige replied that the finished product would probably be delivered to Qi Yuan around mid-August.

In late August, Richie Jen's TV series and album were released simultaneously.

It would be more appropriate for Qi Yuan's new album to be released in early or mid-September.

"Mid-September, I think that's about right," Qi Yuan replied after a moment's thought.

Zhou Jianhui added, "This time we have prepared 100 million copies in mainland China, 50 copies in Taiwan, and 20 copies in Hong Kong. We are determined to sell more than 250 million copies of this album."

This initial stock preparation is truly extravagant; even PolyGram wouldn't dare to prepare this much stock for Zhang Xueyou.

Zhang Xueyou's records don't sell as well as they did a few years ago.

Zhou Jianhui prepared so much stock for Qi Yuan's second album, which was obviously because he suffered from the lack of stock for the first album.

Especially in mainland China, Qi Yuan's first album was originally expected to sell over 100 million copies.

At the time, Wheatfield was just a small company with limited vision and timidity. By the time they realized what was happening and increased production, pirated copies had already taken over the market.

In mainland China, audio-visual stores don't care whether it's pirated or genuine; they'll sell anything that can make money.

Most people in mainland China don't have a high awareness of copyright. Most people think, "What? Piracy? Isn't this a genuine copy? How could there be fakes in bookstores and music stores? Impossible, absolutely impossible."

To boost sales, you need to stock up on goods in advance. Before pirated copies enter the market, all stores sell genuine products, and people buy genuine products.

Zhou Jianhui dared to stock so much stock not only because Qi Yuan's first album sold well and Qi Yuan was very popular, but also because the quality of Qi Yuan's second album was excellent.

"Unavoidable Love," "The One I Love," "Romantic Romance," "Writing Poems for You," "Serious Snow," "Love Me or Him?" "Twilight," "Chasing the Light," "Yellow Race," "Love Transfer," "Jiangnan," and "East Wind Breaks"

The music video was directed by Chen Kaige.

Zhou Jianhui wanted to roar, "Who else?!"

(End of this chapter)