HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 130 [130] That man is going to release an album after writing fifty songs in a week.
In addition to the media digging into the revenue of Qi Yuan's first concert.

Jay Chou's performance of "Dong Feng Po" at her concert and Li Bingbing's appearance on stage at the end were both reported by many media outlets.

When the newspaper mentioned Li Bingbing, it used the headline "Most Beautiful Female Fan".

Li Bingbing is not famous in Taiwan, so the Taiwanese media probably really think of her as a fan.

When mentioning Jay Chou, the title used is 'Taiwanese musical prodigy Jay Chou'.

Liu Genghong kept his word; he took five or six newspapers that reported on Zhou Jielun and asked Zhou Jielun to go with him to find Wu Zhongxian.

"Brother Xian, Jielun sang 'Dong Feng Po' at Ayuan's concert last night, and the fans loved it. Jielun will be a great singer." Liu Genghong placed the newspaper he had bought on Wu Zhongxian's desk.

Then he and Chou Chieh-lun discovered that Wu Chung-hsien had also bought several of the same newspapers.

Wu Zhongxian was reading these newspapers before they came in.

Wu Zhongxian pondered for a long time, while Liu Genghong and Zhou Jielun waited in the office for a long time.

About ten minutes later, Wu Zhongxian came to his senses: "I'll give you one last test. Write me fifty songs within a week, and I'll pick ten to release an album for you. I'll not make my own album for now."

Currently, none of the popular singers in the Chinese music scene have unclear pronunciation.

He used to think that Jay Chou couldn't be a singer because she couldn't pronounce words clearly when she sang.

This concert in Taoyuan changed his perspective.

He didn't go to the concert, but his friends who did call him and say that Jay Chou sang well and that young people liked her.

He wondered if young people today liked this kind of music. Was he out of touch?

He hasn't achieved much in the music field either.

He has released many albums since 87 but has not become famous. He doesn't even have the courage to hold a concert, but he is doing very well in the hosting industry.

Since Jay Chou has shown potential, he will help Jay Chou release an album.

He needed a way to convince himself, so he set a requirement for Jay Chou to write fifty songs a week.

If Zhou Jielun can meet this requirement, he will have nothing more to say.

The conditions were very demanding, but Chou Chieh-lun was very happy. He excitedly thanked Wu Chung-hsien: "Brother Hsien, thank you for giving me the opportunity to release an album."

As soon as Liu Genghong came out of Wu Zhongxian's office, he congratulated her, saying, "Jielun, you must seize this opportunity."

Wen Lanfang also congratulated Zhou Jielun, noting that Alpha only has a handful of employees.

Chou Chieh-lun bought a case of instant noodles and a case of bottled water and returned to Liu Geng-hong's house. Before going into seclusion, she called Qi Yuan: "Qi Yuan, thank you. You gave me a chance to sing last night. Brother Xian just agreed to help me release an album right away."

I'm going to go into seclusion for a week to write all the songs for this album. While I'm very grateful to you, I won't hold back when it comes to the music.

Qi Yuan replied, "Congratulations! I hope your first album is great and catches up quickly, giving me some pressure."

"Most definitely."

After making that call, Zhou Jielun called his mother, Ye Ma, and then locked himself in his room to bury himself in writing songs.

……

At the same time, Warner...

Zhou Jianhui was beaming. He had the finance department calculate that a single concert in Taoyuan would generate a net profit of just over two million. If they could get Qi Yuan to hold fifty concerts a year, wouldn't that be a small goal?

Thinking of this, Zhou Jianhui's eyes lit up, and his gaze towards Qi Yuan became much more ardent.

Although he knew this idea was unrealistic, firstly because there wasn't a large enough market in China at the moment.

Hong Kong and Taiwan are wealthy; they can make a profit of two million dollars per concert by hosting 10,000 people. However, these two places have small populations and cannot host many concerts.

The mainland economy hadn't yet taken off, so concert tickets were much cheaper than in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The cheapest tickets in Hong Kong and Taiwan could be as low as 200 RMB, but people here had higher wages and could afford them.

In mainland China, a worker's monthly salary is only a few hundred yuan. Who would spend a month's salary to go to a concert? Are they crazy? Fanatical fans are ultimately a minority.

"Ah Yuan, who were you talking to on the phone just now?" Zhou Jian asked with a smile.

“Jay Chou from Alfa, the one who sang 'Dong Feng Po' at my concert last night. A lot of newspapers reported on him this morning. His boss, Wu Zhongxian, has agreed to help him release an album. Do you want to apply to headquarters to buy Alfa? Jay Chou and Fang Wenshan are both quite talented.”

Qi Yuan gave Zhou Jianhui a suggestion in a joking tone.

Zhou Jianhui laughed it off, not taking it to heart: "Alpha is a terrible company. To put it nicely, it's a record company; to put it bluntly, it's just a shell company. Their boss, Wu Zhongxian, hasn't even made a name for himself as a singer. He's not worth paying attention to at all."

He looked down on Alpha.

That's true. If it weren't for the later release of Jay Chou's image on Alpha, who would know what Alpha was?

Old Zhou is the general manager of Warner's China region. To put it bluntly, one of Warner's toilets is bigger than the entire Alpha company.

Qi Yuan smiled without saying a word. He had given Lao Zhou the opportunity for a promotion and a raise, but Lao Zhou himself failed to seize it.

Old Zhou put his arm around Qi Yuan's shoulder and said earnestly, "I discussed it with the company's senior management. After you finish your concert tour in Hong Kong and Taiwan, we'll go north to the mainland to continue our concert tour."

Tickets in mainland China are four or five times cheaper than in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but that doesn't matter, because venue rental and labor costs are much lower in mainland China.

We can do this: any student can buy a discounted ticket for 30 yuan with their student ID, and it will be for the worst seats.

We sell tickets for mid-range seats for 80 yuan, but you can get a 10 yuan discount if you buy an original cassette tape.

We sell the best seats closest to the stage for 180 yuan, but if you buy the original DVD, you can get a 60 yuan discount, so you can get the best seats for only 120 yuan.

We'll earn less in mainland China, but we'll maximize your influence.

"Your biggest profits will come when the mainland economy recovers, and your fans grow up and become wealthy."

Honestly, Qi Yuan thought Zhou Jianhui's suggestion was pretty good. It could both expand his influence in mainland China and stimulate sales of legitimate records.

The ticket price of 180 yuan might seem a bit expensive to mainland fans. However, for 180 yuan, you can not only get the best seats to watch Qi Yuan's concert, but also take home an original DVD worth 58 yuan as a souvenir. This means you only spend 120 yuan to see the concert, which is a great deal.

The person who came up with this idea is a genius.

It's definitely not going to lose money.

Qi Yuan is so popular. He's from mainland China. When he goes back to the mainland to hold concerts, the prices quoted by stadiums in various places may be lower than usual.

Because Qi Yuan is willing to hold a concert there, and the presence of tens of thousands of fans can boost local consumption.

The sales of shops around the stadium will definitely skyrocket, and the shop owners will be laughing in their sleep.

(End of this chapter)