HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 291 [291] A new emperor ascends the throne in the Chinese music scene, Qi Yuan becomes the emperor of the music scene?

Peng Guohua is a very clear-headed person. He knows that some trends are worth following, while others are not.

Warner's willingness to flaunt its battle reports under the company's name indicates that the data is largely accurate.

Warner Music has made a rapid comeback in the past two or three years, with artists such as Qi Yuan, Dai Pei Ni, Sun Yan Zi, and Zhang Shao Han becoming popular one after another. Do you really think that rival record companies are not envious?

The market is only so big. If Warner makes more artists famous, other companies' share will get smaller.

The competitors would love for all of Warner's artists to collapse and become obscure.

Business competition must follow the rules; you can't just do whatever you want.

In the entertainment industry, no matter how envious you are of other artists, you can't deliberately sabotage them.

Because even our own artists might have problems, if we all mess with each other, then nobody's going to play along.

Usually, people kick someone when they're down. They only kick an artist when they're in trouble and it gets exposed.

There are countless companies in Hong Kong and Taiwan waiting for Qi Yuan to make a mistake so they can pull him down from the top.

Anyone with a clear head knows that Zhou Jianhui wouldn't be foolish enough to issue a false battle report and give others an excuse to attack Qi Yuan.

Unless Zhou Jianhui decides to quit being the general manager.

In fact, many rival companies have secretly used their channels and connections to investigate the actual sales figures of "Wish".

Then... they discovered that Warner Bros. had not only not exaggerated, but had actually underreported.

In Warner's official press release, Qi Yuan's "Wish" was listed as having eight million copies, a round number.

This data is from a while ago.

Records are consumables; they can get damaged or lost with repeated use, and if you have children at home, they might get broken by playing with them.

Some fans went to record stores to buy Qi Yuan's new album, and for various reasons, they bought a copy of the third album.

The official sales of "Wish" have reached over eight million copies.

Upon discovering this data, record companies became even more envious.

Holy crap! There really is eight million, and they even hid tens of thousands of them without reporting them. Who can we complain to?

Warner's publicity department and Zhou Jianhui are so unprofessional. If one of our artists sells eight million copies of a single album, how many tens of thousands of copies would we miss? We would have to count every single one of them.

In the entertainment news fields of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, Qi Yuan has become a hot topic.

[It made history; Qi Yuan's "Wish" is the best-selling album in the history of Chinese pop music.]

This is a high-quality masterpiece that will be remembered in the history of Chinese music.

[A new emperor ascends the throne in the Chinese music scene, with eight million copies sold—a feat unprecedented.]

……

Qi Yuan, who had just returned to the mainland from Hong Kong, was stunned when he saw the report of the 'new emperor's ascension to the throne'.

Has he become the emperor of the music scene?
Calling a super-popular celebrity an emperor is not unprecedented.

In 93, Li Lianjie starred in "Fong Sai-yuk," which became a hit across Asia. The media and audiences began to call him the "King of Kung Fu," and some also called him the "King of Kung Fu."

At that time, Jackie Chan was also very popular in Hong Kong, even more so than Li Lianjie.

Cheng Long does not have such a title. People in Hong Kong generally believe that what Cheng Long does is acrobatics, not real kung fu.

This is also why some bigwigs in the Hong Kong entertainment circle are not optimistic about Jackie Chan's foray into Hollywood, despite his and Li Lianjie's efforts.

Being hailed as the Emperor of the Music Scene must make Qi Yuan very happy.

However, in public, he would not be arrogant and call himself emperor.

Like emperors and kings, emperors are bestowed titles by the media and the public; self-proclaimed titles are easily ridiculed.

Besides, Qi Yuan is quite a distance from being a music industry emperor. There are many senior figures with high status in the industry, whose historical significance is even greater. None of them have called themselves emperors, so for a 22-year-old young man like Qi Yuan to call himself an emperor is just being arrogant.

Once Qi Yuan succeeds in breaking into the American music scene and becomes the first Chinese singer to enter the European and American music scene, achieving something no one has ever accomplished before, then he will be qualified to call himself emperor.

Qi Yuan has a fairly clear understanding of himself.

After returning to the mainland, Qi Yuan first went back to Beijing to receive an album sales certification issued by the Broadcasting and Television Society.

Qi Yuan's photo holding the certificate appeared in mainland newspapers and was also circulated online, sparking much discussion among netizens.

"If you don't understand, just ask. Why are all the newspapers reporting on the 800 million album sales? Didn't your previous albums sell even more? Didn't Richie Jen's 'Too Softhearted' sell 2600 million copies a few years ago? Isn't 2600 million more impressive than 800 million?"

"Brother, the 2600 million for 'Too Softhearted' includes pirated copies, while 'Wish' only counts legitimate copies. Let me put it this way, according to authoritative statistics, 'Too Softhearted' sold approximately 300 to 400 million legitimate copies."

"Holy crap! 'Wish' is actually twice the price of 'Too Softhearted'?"

"The Emperor of the Chinese Music Scene, truly deserving of the title!"

……

Taiwan.

News of the Broadcasting and Television Society awarding Qi Yuan a certificate reached this area.

Those executives at Feng Hua Records who were clamoring about using opportunistic marketing tactics started sweating profusely.

Qi Yuan is serious, and he's even received recognition from authoritative institutions.

Fortunately, Peng Guohua restrained himself and scolded them, preventing Zhang Huimei from following up. Otherwise, if everyone had discovered that Qi Yuan's album sales were real and their sales figures were inflated, the situation would have been very awkward.

Of course, if we count piracy, Zhang Huimei's album could indeed have broken eight million copies sold.

These days, many companies buy articles to hype up singers' album sales, but these are often pirated copies; the main purpose is simply to attract attention.

……

Beijing.

Qi Yuan took some time to visit the place where Chen Kaige edits videos.

Chen Kaige said with some regret, "It's a pity you don't have time, otherwise you could come and edit the film with me for a while, and you would understand the entire process of making a movie."

During the filming of "Bouquet", Qi Yuan's rapid learning speed left a very deep impression on Chen Kaige.

At that time, Qi Yuan's directing skills were already master-level. Most of the time, Chen Kaige only needed to say something once, and Qi Yuan could remember and apply it, which amazed Chen Kaige.

Chen Kaige did not doubt that Qi Yuan was a cheater; he simply thought that Qi Yuan was exceptionally talented.

Qi Yuan humbly said, "Don't bite off more than you can chew; learn slowly."

Chen Kaige wholeheartedly agreed: "That's true. It's amazing that you can learn so much from just one movie with me."

You sang the theme song for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Have you seen the movie?

I also want to make a martial arts blockbuster, with you as the male lead and sing the theme song.

I'll show you one more time, this time I'll teach you how to manage a super-large film crew..."

Chen Kaige spoke with great enthusiasm, and Qi Yuan's heart skipped a beat. Oh no, could it be "The Promise"?

After filming "Farewell My Concubine", Chen Kaige has been seeking a career change.

In 95, he filmed the romance film "Temptress Moon," and in 98, he filmed the historical film "Jing Ke," trying out different styles.

Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" gave Chen Kaige a new perspective, leading him to discover that martial arts blockbusters have a strong market overseas.

Not only Chen Kaige, but Zhang Yingmou also revised the script for "Hero" after seeing "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Qi Yuan was a little flustered. What should she do if it really was "The Promise"?
It really proves the saying, what goes around comes around.

(End of this chapter)