HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 24 [024] First album released, does the boss sell Qi Yuan's records?

After Qi Yuan's episode of "Starlight Accompanies My Heart" aired on Beijing TV, fans in the Beijing area realized that Qi Yuan was actually very handsome.

Many girls who didn't like listening to music before became fans of Qi Yuan's looks and started listening to his songs.

Ultimately, it begins with looks, but ends with talent.

Wheatfield Music.

Song Ke and Gao Xiaosong really didn't expect Qi Yuan's R&B songs to be so popular among young people.

Young people naturally embraced the new music style.

“There are only four days left until A-Yuan’s debut album is released. The first batch of 30,000 copies is ready: 28,000 cassette tapes and 2,000 CDs. A-Yuan’s songs are so popular now, are 30,000 copies really enough to sell?” Gao Xiaosong muttered.

"Damn it!" Song Ke wanted to slap herself.

He miscalculated.

He greatly underestimated the radio chart performance of "Small Town Girl" and "Starry Sky," and he never expected that Qi Yuan would gain a large number of female fans after appearing on Beijing TV.

"Contact the factory immediately and have them operate at full capacity for the last four days, working two shifts. Record as many copies as possible," Song Ke decided.

It's all pure cash! He, as the head of the record company, knows better than anyone how much money he'll lose if there's insufficient stock in the early stages.

Song Ke himself felt a bit wronged, as he had expected Qi Yuan's first album to sell 200,000 copies.

Is it reasonable to prepare 30,000 sheets for the first batch?

Who the hell would have thought that Qi Yuan's song would become this popular?

Can we blame him? For a newcomer, setting a sales target of 200,000 copies is pretty impressive, okay?

For the next four days, the record-recording machines in the factory ran around the clock, almost smoking, and finally produced 100,000 records before the release of the first album.

These 12 records were delivered to record stores in cities across the country on the morning of December 10th.

The crucial moment that will determine a singer's life or death has arrived.

In the era of records, a singer's fate depended on how many records they sold.

No matter how much you boast or how many fans you have, if your record doesn't sell well, you're doomed.

Conversely, even if someone doesn't sing well, as long as their record sales are good, they're still a treasure in the hands of the record company.

……

Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou.

Old Liu is from Fenghua. In his middle age, he moved to Hangzhou with his family and opened a video store.

The shop is small, but it's enough to feed and clothe his family of three.

This morning, as soon as he opened the door, a small truck delivered new goods to the store.

Old Liu took a cassette tape out of the box.

To be honest, even as a man, he had to admit that the young man named Qi Yuan on the cover was handsome.

But what's the use of being handsome? All show and no substance, good for nothing.

As a record store owner, he was at the forefront of music trends, so of course he had heard Qi Yuan's songs.

That song, "Small Town Girl," is only a few minutes long, and it includes over ten repetitions of "oh," "baby," "no," and "yeah."

If you removed the other lyrics and accompaniment, he would think this kid was making an adult film.

The record company owner is blind; he actually helped such a newcomer release an album. Isn't he just waiting to go bankrupt?
Sometimes Lao Liu felt that the big shots in those record companies were only so-so, and their vision was not as good as his, the owner of a small music and video store.

"There are 280 cassette tapes and 20 CDs here. Please check them." The driver carried several boxes of records to the store entrance, made a note in his notebook, and then got back into the car and drove away.

Old Liu carried these boxes of records into the store, took ten cassette tapes and put them on the shelf, but he was too lazy to put CDs on the shelf.

Because CDs are too expensive.

The nationally unified price of genuine cassette tapes was 9.8 yuan, which was affordable for everyone.

A genuine CD costs 58 yuan, which is not something everyone can afford.

This year, the VCD market share in mainland China has just reached ten million units. While it's become widespread in cities, it's still far from being a common household item in rural areas. As for DVDs, the technology was only introduced to mainland China last year, and due to high costs and prices, they are far from widespread.

Therefore, cassette tapes are the best-selling record in the mainland Chinese record market.

For a newcomer like Qi Yuan, whose singing isn't good, Lao Liu thinks it would be good if he could sell half of the cassette tapes, and he probably wouldn't even be able to sell five CDs.

Never mind, he works with high-end manufacturers anyway. The new records are sold in his store, and he gets a commission for every copy sold.

If they can't be sold, they can be returned, so he doesn't have to spend money to buy more.

After tidying up the shelves, Lao Liu, as usual, put a cassette tape into the player and turned the volume up to play "Too Softhearted".

"You're always too soft-hearted, too soft-hearted... Xiao Qi's songs are truly the best." Old Liu praised the song "Too Soft-Hearted" highly.

He earned tens of thousands of yuan in the first half of the year by selling Richie Jen's records, so he had a special fondness for Richie Jen.

The media are all saying that Richie Jen's "Too Softhearted" has sold nearly 20 million copies.

As someone who owns a record store, Lao Liu thinks this data is nonsense.

Based on his conversations and speculations with his colleagues, the official sales of "Too Softhearted" in mainland China have definitely exceeded one million.

Including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia, the estimated sales of genuine copies are three to four million.

The sales figure of nearly 20 million definitely includes piracy.

Half an hour after the store opened, a young couple walked in. The girl asked, "Boss, do you have Qi Yuan's records? I want to bring the music video discs."

"Hiss!" Old Liu gasped.

What a day! I hit the jackpot as soon as I opened the door. The profit from selling one CD is higher than selling five cassette tapes.

Upon encountering such a wealthy man, he patted his bald head and immediately forced a bright smile: "Yes, yes, please wait a moment, I'll go get it for you right away."

A little while later.

Do you have any records by Qi Yuan?

“I wish you well…”

“You Qi…”

"No need to ask, it's there. It's on the second shelf to the right from the front."

By the end of the day, Lao Liu had already learned to answer questions quickly.

He discovered that eight out of ten customers who came into the store today were there specifically for Qi Yuan, and most of them were girls.

Old Liu picked up a cassette tape of Qi Yuan again, looking at the handsome face on the cover. Does being handsome mean your records sell more?

Another little girl bought two cassette tapes of the same name, "Prayer for Wishes".

When the young girl paid, Old Liu specifically asked her, "Young lady, why did you buy this Qi Yuan record? Is he a good singer?"

The little girl glanced at Old Liu: "Of course it's good! Before he released records, my classmates and I would get together after school every day to listen to his songs on the radio. Now that's great, we bought his cassette tapes, and finally we don't have to tune in to the radio every day."

The young woman was quite talkative; once she started talking, she couldn't stop. She retorted to Lao Liu, "Boss, do you even know what R&B is? Forget it, I can tell you don't understand. Middle-aged men like you are already out of touch."

"Hey...you little girl..." Old Liu fell into deep self-doubt.

Is he out of touch?
He's always keeping up with the trends, okay?

He first listened to Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung, then the Four Heavenly Kings, and now Richie Jen. Who understands music trends better than him?

Another ten minutes later.

A group of female students came into the store and bought ten cassette tapes and a CD, all of which belonged to Qi Yuan.

Gradually, Lao Liu fell into deep self-doubt, wondering if he had really fallen behind.

Looking at the thick wad of cash in his hand, he made a decision that went against his idol's wishes: he took out the cassette tape of "Too Softhearted" and replaced it with a cassette tape of "Prayer" to attract customers.

For some reason, as he counted banknote after banknote, Lao Liu actually found the young man's "Oh Yeah" quite unique, and his singing sounded much more pleasant.

(End of this chapter)