Peninsula: From Water Injection to Stardom

Chapter 116 Exchange of Personal Connections

After leaving the CUBE office building, Jiang Yan walked to the JYP building in just a few minutes.

Being close by is convenient, but unfortunately, it won't be so convenient after next year because CUBE will be moving to a new building.

The relocation work has already begun in stages, and by February next year, all CUBE employees will have completely moved to the new building.

Jiang Yan will also be there, since Yuehua's South Korean building is still a long way off, and I remember it won't be officially put into use until 19.

But to be honest, Jiang Yan felt that he probably wouldn't be able to wait for Yuehua's building; he would probably find a place to set up his own studio before that.

Although he hasn't spoken to Du Hua yet, he's already considering discussing his future development plans with her at some point.

And, to renegotiate exclusive contracts.

Jiang Yan hasn't considered leaving Yuehua Entertainment yet, because the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Jiang Yan needs a management company to do the dirty work for him, and Yuehua Entertainment is obviously a good fit.

Although resources are lacking in South Korea, connections and resources in China are enough.

Now, I took the elevator to the floor where Park Jin-young's office was located.

After the elevator doors opened, Jiang Yan walked confidently to the door of an office and knocked.

After hearing the gorilla's "Come in" voice from inside, he opened the door and went in.

Upon closer inspection, the other person still wore that kind-looking smile.

"Come on in, have a seat." Park Jin-young walked over to Kang Yeon, patted him on the shoulder warmly, and invited him to sit down.

"Brother Zhenying, please sit down as well." Jiang Yan calmly sat down on the sofa.

Park Jin-young seemed to have prepared tea in advance, placing two ceramic cups, which he had bought from who-knows-where, on the coffee table before sitting down opposite Kang Yeon.

"This is a piece of Longjing tea from China that an old friend sent me some time ago." Park Jin-young smiled and handed one of the cups to Kang Yeon.

"Brother, you're too kind."

To be honest, Jiang Yan was a little confused about what the gorilla was trying to talk about and why it was being so enthusiastic.

Without batting an eye, he took the cup, took a small sip, and then feigned praise, saying, "Brother, your skills are excellent; the tea smells wonderful."

When Park Jin-young heard his praise, his eyes almost closed with a smile.

Then, when he said he wanted to talk to him about something, Park Jin-young wasn't in a hurry. He first chatted with Kang Yeon about everyday things and asked him what he had been busy with lately.

After Jiang Yan had drunk almost half of his tea, Park Jin-young suddenly changed the subject, saying, "You received an invitation to this year's MAMA, right?"

Jiang Yan vaguely sensed that this topic might be related to today's important business, so he immediately straightened his expression and replied, "Yes, Ment..."

They notified me a couple of days ago and even invited me to be a guest performer.

"So how do you plan to design this performance?"

I've decided not to go.

"Then what—what did you say?!"

After realizing what Jiang Yan had said, Park Jin-young stared at him with wide eyes.

He was actually planning to discuss with Jiang Yan the possibility of a collaborative stage performance for MAMA.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yan spoke in a way that defied common sense, revealing that he had no intention of going.

"Brother Zhenying, you heard me right. I already thought about it yesterday. I won't be going to MAMA this year. I'll have CUBE announce this news in a couple of days."

"What's the specific reason? Is there some important event on your itinerary?"

"There's nothing particularly important on the itinerary, but I feel like it's pointless to go if I don't win any awards, so I'd rather not go."

Jiang Yan spoke very frankly; he didn't intend to make up any excuses.

The MAMA awards, in essence, are just a game of connections among the three major entertainment companies; only the minor awards are given to other entertainment companies.

But Jiang Yan didn't care about the other scraps either, and he was too lazy to take them even if they were given to him.

Park Jin-young paused upon hearing this.

He was well aware that someone like Jiang Yan, who was neither one of the top three artists nor a foreign green card holder and had so many debuffs, was unlikely to receive any of the grand prize or the main prize, even if they were dividing up the spoils.

Jiang Yan was actually right not to go.

But this meant he couldn't bring himself to talk about what he wanted to discuss.

However, Park Jin-young himself had no grounds to persuade Kang Yeon to participate in MAMA.

However, this wasn't without a solution. After understanding the essence of the problem, he considered for a moment and said directly to Jiang Yan, "What if I said I could help with the Best Male Singer award?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan was taken aback for a moment.

What does that mean? The gorilla doesn't want the award anymore?

But he soon realized that Park Jin-young was proposing a swap of his personal connections with him.

With Park Jin-young's help, he could actually win the Best Male Singer award.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yan immediately perked up.

He replied with a rather serious expression, "Brother Zhenying, tell me your conditions first."

Park Jin-young slowly explained, "Actually, my initial plan today was to discuss with you about collaborating on a stage at MAMA, to promote TWICE and GOT7 —"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan nodded thoughtfully.

Isn't this just asking him to help the poor? It's a common tactic used by K-pop companies to promote newcomers or obscure artists.

While it's called a collaboration stage, it doesn't really offer any advantage to established artists. However, for newcomers or unknown artists, it's an opportunity to showcase and gain exposure.

The reason the gorilla contacted him today was probably to use his current popularity to boost the two groups that JYP is currently focusing on by collaborating on a stage performance.

And frankly speaking, this is also about piggybacking on his stage, because TWICE didn't have the qualifications to perform on stage this time.

"But let me help you—you should know that this alone is definitely not enough." Park Jin-young changed the subject, subtly indicating to Kang Yeon to offer his bargaining chips.

Jiang Yan understood perfectly well, and he also knew that his greatest resource right now was himself.

Since his comeback single and English single became hits, many entertainment companies have approached him with songwriting offers.

Nowadays, the market price for one of his songs is at least one million, and that only covers the purchase of the recording and performance rights, not the copyrights to the lyrics and music.

After thinking for a while, Jiang Yan first took out his phone, searched for a bit, and then said to Park Jin-young, "Jin-young oppa, listen to this first."

After he finished speaking, he clicked on the background music and started playing it.

Then, a prelude with a core motif of plucked and rolling bass began, and the catchy melody immediately caught Park Jin-young's eye.

After listening for about a minute, Jiang Yan paused the playback and continued speaking to Park Jin-young: "What if we use this new song as a collaboration stage, and I exclusively license the core copyright and performance rights of the song to JYP? What do you think, Jin-young hyung?"

As an excellent producer, Park Jin-young could certainly tell that the accompaniment provided by Kang Yeon was of very high quality and must be a gem that hadn't been released in the other party's existing music library.

Park Jin-young's intuition told him that once the song was released in its entirety, it would most likely become a hit single.

"That sounds good, but—"

Jiang Yan could tell that Park Jin-young was interested, but he also knew that this alone was definitely not enough.

However, as long as both sides are willing to talk, there is no need to worry about not being able to reach an agreement.

At worst, he can just add some resources that China doesn't need.

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