HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 296 [296] Plans Change, Single to be Released at the End of the Month to Conquer the Japanese Music Scene

Shortly after Volkswagen's advertisement went live, countless customers flocked to Volkswagen 4S stores to inquire about the same car that Qi Yuan drove.

Especially in provinces north of the Yangtze River, many people dislike Japanese cars and appreciate German cars like Volkswagen.

Qi Yuan's endorsement has further enhanced the public's influence in mainland China.

A wealthy woman in Beijing ordered five cars in one go, which alarmed local reporters.

It turns out that this wealthy woman's family owns a company and needs a fleet of cars for her employees to use for business trips and negotiations.

In an interview, the wealthy woman said, "Our company needed a company car, and I really like Qi Yuan. When I saw that the car he endorsed looked good, I persuaded my husband to buy one. My husband thought German-made cars were good, so he agreed. It's that simple. I guess it's my way of supporting Qi Yuan."

In other words, without Qi Yuan's wealthy family's company, they might have purchased cars from other brands.

reporter:"……"

The reporters were already aware of Qi Yuan's strong spending power, but they were still stunned.

Five Passats, even the lowest trim level, would cost over a million.

So the media came up with this news headline.

[A female fan spent a million yuan in cash to buy a Volkswagen just to make Bo Qi smile]

[Volkswagen dealerships in multiple locations were packed with customers looking at cars; just how terrifying is Qi Yuan's influence?]

[The most successful car ad of the year, bar none]

[Volkswagen easily recouped its investment by hiring Qi Yuan as its spokesperson for 3200 million yuan.]

[Thousands of netizens are posting online in search of the audio resource for an advertisement jingle, which appears to be Qi Yuan's first solo English single.]

……

Qi Yuan's first English song was the English theme song for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

That song was a movie theme song, and it was a duet with Li Wen, so it wasn't his first solo English single.

There's absolutely no problem with saying that "Free Loop" is Qi Yuan's first true English single.

Zhou Jianhui of Warner Music Taiwan was very excited. He learned through Warner Music's Beijing branch that "Free Loop" was extremely popular in mainland China.

The sensation caused by "Free Loop" and the car advertisement shows that there is a market for Qi Yuan's self-composed and self-sung English songs.

It's impossible to say for sure whether there's a market for it in Japan and Europe, but it's certain that it has a market in China.

Zhou Jianhui immediately contacted people in Japan and the United States.

Finally, a plan was devised for Qi Yuan to release a single first, followed by an EP, with the intention of separating "Free Loop" from Qi Yuan's EP to test the waters in advance.

The Japanese and European/American record markets are different from those in China.

There is almost no room for physical singles to survive in China.

It won't be until more than a decade later, with the emergence of various music platforms, that record companies and singers will be able to make money through singles.

Currently, the Chinese music scene is dominated by albums.

The situation is different in Japan and Europe; the market there is very mature, and physical singles are very popular.

Take the American music scene as an example. Many singers release an album every two or three years, not because they are carefully honing their craft, but because they want to maximize profits.

If a Western singer's album contains four great songs, they will first select two to release as singles and chart success.

Moreover, it's not two songs released at the same time, but one song released at a time.

The first song's potential was exhausted, its popularity waned, and sales plummeted, so they considered releasing a second one.

This approach can maintain a singer's popularity for a long time.

It might be one to two years before the popularity of the two songs completely fades. At that point, releasing a full album can generate another wave of market revenue. If the album is of high quality and has four or five good songs, a singer can maintain their popularity for two or three years.

In contrast, the Chinese music scene is somewhat distorted, with singles having no room to survive and album piracy having a huge impact.

The peak sales of an album can only last for a week to a month, after which they plummet.

To maintain popularity, they have to keep releasing new albums.

Zhou Jianhui sent Zhang Hao to the mainland to discuss the specifics with Qi Yuan, and also brought a proposal for "Free Loop"—first to Japan, then to the United States.

"Your 'Free Loop' became a hit along with the car commercial, and Mr. Zhou wants you to release an English single ahead of time, as singles are very popular in Japan and the United States."

Utada Hikaru, who was very popular in Japan, officially entered the Japanese music scene in 98 with the release of her first Japanese single, "Automatic/time will tell." The single was a hit, and she didn't release her acclaimed album "First Love" until the following year.

"You're going to have a concert in Japan soon, releasing a single first might help you break into the Japanese market in advance..."

Zhang Hao said a lot, and his conclusion was to suggest that Qi Yuan release a single to test the waters.

Qi Yuan originally planned to submit his film to the Tokyo International Film Festival, hoping to break into the Japanese market through a combination of film and song.

It's really hard to keep up with the changes in plans.

If "Free Loop" is successful in the Japanese market, it will be of great benefit to both the film "Bouquet" and Qi Yuan personally.

Failure? Qi Yuan was confident in "Free Loop".

This song was popular not only in China but also in Japan, where it was frequently used in advertisements and film scores, and it holds many fond memories of youth for countless Japanese people.

The three songs on her first English EP were all carefully selected by Qi Yuan. They are related to the theme of love and take into account the acceptance of Japanese and Western audiences.

Releasing only a single might not be as effective as a combination of a movie and a song; failure is out of the question.

Qi Yuan decided to accept Zhou Jianhui and Zhang Hao's suggestion and, taking advantage of the popularity of the mass advertising campaign, immediately release an English single to test the waters.

Qi Yuan could understand Zhou Jianhui's anxiety.

It's only September now, and there are still a few months until the end of the year. If Qi Yuan can successfully break into Japan and Europe and America, Zhou Jianhui's year-end work report can be written even more impressively.

We'll release the EP after the film is submitted to the Tokyo International Film Festival; the results won't be available until next year.

Since Zhou Jianhui wants to achieve results, Qi Yuan should grant his request.

The more stable Zhou's position is at Warner, the greater the benefits for him.

In addition, if he doesn't release a single, Qi Yuan's upcoming concert in Japan will be a bit awkward, as there may only be a few thousand people, and they will all be Chinese.

It's possible that those Hong Kong and Taiwanese media outlets that dislike Qi Yuan might take the opportunity to smear him, saying that Qi Yuan's foray into Japan and Europe is a joke, and that his concerts in Japan are all attended by Chinese people.

Releasing a single first and then holding a concert in Japan might attract some genuine Japanese fans.

If he's going to release a single, he needs to hurry up and film the music video; he wants the Japanese to remember his face.

Since Ning Hao happened to be in Taiwan, Qi Yuan decided to go there to film a music video and, incidentally, test Ning Hao's current skill level.

In fact, with Qi Yuan's current directing skills, he could direct a whole TV series, let alone a music video.

Considering that the domestic market is too small and TV dramas and movies don't make much money, he might as well release English songs abroad to earn US dollars.

His idea was to cultivate Ning Hao, let Ning Hao direct and promote the artists of Starry Sky to consolidate the domestic base, and he would be responsible for conquering Europe and the United States, to achieve true success in both China and the United States.

……

On September 18, Qi Yuan arrived in Taiwan.

Warner Music officially announced the release of Qi Yuan's first English single and also revealed that Qi Yuan will be launching his music career in Japan at the end of the month.

This news caused an uproar both inside and outside the Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment circles!
(End of this chapter)