Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

"Is everyone here? Today we are convening an emergency meeting of all the representatives of the Railway AK Production Committee. There is only one item on the agenda..."

In the large conference room, a middle-aged man with a thick mustache and a fleshy face sat at the head of the table with a serious expression.

"As you all know, in the past seven years, the top three songs of the year have been monopolized by the singles of idol groups from S and J companies. B company has no chance of getting involved at all."

"It wasn't until last year and the year before that Bethesda released Yayoi Tsuki, the 'walking siren', which broke our monopoly on the top three and limited competition to internal teams."

“So this year, S Company and J Company jointly established the limited group "Tetsudo AK" to regain the top spot on the annual new song list that belongs to us.”

In the conference room, more than a dozen men and women in suits sat solemnly and listened to him respectfully. No one dared to interrupt or be distracted.

This has something to do with the fact that Manjiro Akimoto, who is presiding over the meeting, has a fierce appearance and always exudes the aura of a "gang boss".

But more importantly, in the industry, he is a legendary figure known as the "creator of the girl group" and the "starter of the idol war."

Manjiro Akimoto, lyricist, screenwriter, director, writer, supervisor...

But his most famous identity is not the above, but "girl group producer".

As early as 40 years ago in the "Golden Age of Television", Manjiro Akimoto tried to create the first generation of girl group "Meow Meow Club". After performing regularly on Fuji TV, the response was enthusiastic...

After that, he had mediocre achievements in music production and film shooting, but the more than ten well-known girl groups he founded, such as AK47, Teppanyaki 46, and Kaede Saka48, became very popular. He also personally established and improved the "girl group selection and elimination mechanism" which is cruel but fair, and makes people in the industry love and fear it.

Even though other entertainment companies followed suit and created a series of "copycat girl groups" such as AKSB48, no one could reach the heights he once achieved.

This time, the crossover group "Tetsudo AK", both of the original girl groups, were actually founded by Manjiro Akimoto when he was jumping back and forth between S Company and J Company, so naturally he personally took charge as the producer.

"Recently, Yayoi Tsuki has been caught up in the 'deaf' public opinion, and there has been no news about her new songs. People in the industry believe that she will withdraw from the music market competition this year..."

"However, half an hour ago, Bethesda released a preview of Yayoi Tsuki's new song release conference through all channels without any warning."

"From the preview, Yayoi Tsuki's new song is called "I Once Thought of Ending It All". It will be released tomorrow, and she will sing the song live at the press conference."

"'Coincidentally', our 'Tiedao AK's' first single 'You Are My Favorite' has been scheduled to be released tomorrow since we started preheating a month ago..."

"Therefore, we must speed up discussions, develop a comprehensive competition response plan, and implement it within 24 hours."

Chapter 158 Omnichannel Broadcast

2024-07-13

"That's roughly the situation. Representative from J Company, do you have anything to add?"

After explaining the previous situation, Manjiro Akimoto looked at a man diagonally across the conference table.

"Director Akimoto, according to our internal information, the report in Bunshun about Yayoi Tsuki's hearing loss is 100% true, which is why she has not directly responded to this rumor."

"If Yayoi Tsuki is really deaf, why would she suddenly release a new song and even perform it live..."

"Could it be that this is a 'stock' that was recorded beforehand, and they are going to use lip-synching to fool people?"

Being called out by Manjiro Akimoto, the representative of J Company looked puzzled.

"Why are you all so quiet? Please speak freely. After all, I am not a demon..."

Akimoto Manjiro clasped his hands together, supported his chin, and swept his sharp eyes over everyone in the field one by one.

"Ahem, I think if Yayoi Tsuki lip-synced at a press conference like this, it would be easily identified through track comparison and analysis. With her status and fame, there is no need for her to take such a reputation risk."

"Perhaps, she is not deaf, or maybe she was once deaf but has been cured, so she chose to release a new song on the same day as us..."

"This way, they can dispel rumors by singing the new song live, and also catch us off guard in the promotion of the new song?"

Another female representative clearly disagreed.

In District 11, lip syncing and half-open mic are not a big deal in other activities except commercial concerts, and many idols often do this in commercial activities.

But for a top singer like Yayoi Tsuki who is famous for her singing skills, every track she has sung live since her debut will be repeatedly analyzed by her competitors. Once it is confirmed that she is lip-syncing, she will end up in disgrace.

“Whether Yayoi Tsuki was lip-syncing or singing for real, whether it was a spur-of-the-moment move or a premeditated one, we must be extremely cautious and take all necessary measures to ensure that we completely defeat our opponent.”

"According to the emergency decision of the two companies, a temporary budget has been arranged, and a series of response measures will be taken in the publicity and distribution channels and music market within 24 hours..."

Manjiro Akimoto cleared his throat and the conference room suddenly became quiet.

"First, the new song of 'Tie Dao AK' will be released. We will increase the advertising on the website and self-media, and also launch more offline promotional activities..."

"Also, at the same time as Yayoi Tsuki's new song is released, we will also arrange a live broadcast press conference in the form of live singing and dancing, directly competing with Bethesda in terms of broadcasting channels."

"Online media can broadcast live at the same time, but the TV station needs to contact the colleagues in charge of publicity and promotion to try to use our new song release conference to squeeze out the time slot of Yayoi Tsuki..."

He opened a PPT and explained the new version of the "Targeted Promotion and Marketing Plan" that was launched just before the meeting because of the release of Yayoi Tsuki's new song.

S Company and J Company established a "joint girl group" for the first time in order to compete with B Company.

As the founder of the "Idol Warring States", competition is as common as drinking water to Akimoto Manjiro. His attitude has always been "if you want to fight, I will fight" and he will never give in.

"Director Akimoto, speaking of broadcast channels, I need to remind you of one very important point. That is, the broadcast channel of Yayoi Tsuki's new song release conference is very unusual..."

The publicity representative of J Company switched the projector and displayed a picture.

It is the release announcement of Yayoi Tsuki’s new song.

The announcement of the new song came hastily and abruptly, and the content was very simple. There was not even a concept map or a pre-release PV, which seemed too simplistic...

"Oh?"

But as the picture was further enlarged, Akimoto Manjiro frowned.

At the end of the trailer, in a place no one was paying attention to, after the title "New Song Release Conference Broadcast Channel", there were lines and lines of densely packed media lists in almost invisible small characters...

All major state-owned and private television stations in District 11, as well as major streaming platforms and live broadcast platforms, are listed.

In addition, broadcasting rights have been opened up to private anchors and other new media.

"How can this be?!"

"Are you kidding me? Even the Tokyo TV station that wants to broadcast cartoons at the end of the world has specially set aside time for live broadcast?"

Seeing this truly “omni-channel broadcast”, everyone gasped, and the entire conference room was almost vacuumed into a state of oxygen deficiency.

In the era when television was the mainstream media, there were sayings in the entertainment industry such as "prime time war" and "red and white war". Now with the popularization of the Internet, there is also a "traffic war". Ultimately, they are all fighting for "exposure".

Exposure is as important to an artist as their life force. Only with continuous exposure can an artist maintain public attention, fame, and commercial value. Losing exposure is equivalent to slow death until they are completely forgotten.

Therefore, from decades ago to the present, the capital in the entertainment industry has already made arrangements in all aspects such as equity, advertising orders, industry associations, copyright control, and restrictions on performing artists, keeping the major TV stations and streaming media firmly in their hands, thereby monopolizing the core resource of "exposure".

This also leads to the fact that, although there are no explicit regulations, various TV stations and streaming media have distinct positions of "entertainment faction", "business faction", and even "political faction".

No new song has ever been able to achieve this kind of "omnichannel" release lineup...

"These TV stations and platforms actually promoted the songs of Company B without informing us?"

"This violation of 'commercial tacit understanding' must be strongly condemned and subject to commercial sanctions!"

"I will call them one by one and ask them to stop broadcasting Bethesda's new song release conference and replace it with ours!"

Several publicity and promotion managers silently wrote down the TV stations and media belonging to the "factions" of S Company and J Company on the list, and hurried out with their mobile phones.

Bethesda’s advantageous publicity and promotion channels are mainly concentrated in several established TV stations and a small number of emerging streaming media.

Like this time's "all-channel broadcast", the list includes a large number of media controlled by S and J capital. This is unprecedented in the entertainment industry and is an act of betrayal that breaks the "rules of the game."

"Well, the other party did not preheat the promotion in advance. As long as they suppress the exposure of the new song release conference, the sales and popularity will definitely not increase."

Seeing the representatives hurriedly disappearing, Akimoto Manjiro nodded calmly.

"Director Akimoto! TV Asahi declined our proposal."

But a few minutes later, a publicity and promotion representative walked in with a sullen face.

Chapter 159 Head-to-head confrontation

2024-07-13

"Oh? We allocated so many resources to the advertising order for Asahi at the beginning of the year. It shouldn't be the case..."

Asahi TV and S Company have a long-term strategic partnership, and Akimoto Manjiro was obviously a little surprised.

"They said that the broadcast of Yayoi Tsuki's new song was an order from the 'higher authorities' and cannot be changed..."

"NTV rejected our request to live broadcast on its schedule..."

"Fuji TV also disagrees with changing the broadcast schedule."

"N LIVE and P Live platforms agreed to live broadcast our new song release, but they said that according to the requirements of their superiors, they will broadcast the release of Yayoi Tsuki's new song in full screen on the website and APP homepage."

Before the representative had time to explain, several other publicity representatives came in one after another...

The TV stations and streaming platforms that usually have a good cooperative relationship with S and J companies uniformly rejected the "cooperation request" to use the "Tetsudo AK" combination to squeeze out Yayoi Tsuki, and the reason was uniformly "requirements from superiors."

"The superior authority... could it be the Ministry of Education?"

"No, even if it's Suho, there's no way that Company Be can ask the government to intervene in the release of a new song."

For Manjiro Akimoto, this was a situation he had never encountered in his decades of work.

After all, there are laws such as the "Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Law" and the "Anti-Monopoly Law" in place, and there is more than one major political party in the 11th district. Even large capital conglomerates can only use various tricks to monopolize in secret. It is impossible for the government to intervene in the commercial market in such a blatant manner.

"That's fine. If we can't suppress the broadcasting channels, we can just compete head-on on the 'hard power' of song quality and singer popularity."

"What do you think, my colleagues, in this regard?"

The battle-hardened Akimoto Manjiro quickly calmed down and put aside the problems that he couldn't figure out or solve.

"Ahem, everyone knows that Yayoi Tsuki's singing skills and voice are unique, so there's no need to elaborate. Let's talk about the song itself."

"Our music department's connections at Bethesda didn't get a demo of Yayoi Tsuki's new song. But it's said that the master tape of this song was not recorded at Bethesda, which further makes us suspect that it was a 'stock' recorded in advance."

"Just from the title of the song, "I Once Thought of Ending It All," it seems to be a sad and literary work, which is contrary to the market's recent preferences and is unlikely to be well received..."

"But one thing that needs to be noted is that the lyrics, composition and arrangement of this song are all 'down to earth'."

The head of J Club's music department intervened in the discussion with a serious look on his face.

"Descend to the earth?"

"That monster music producer that appeared from Bethesda this year?"

Hearing the name "Xia Fan", the representatives in the office couldn't help but look at each other...

After all, among the new songs released in the first quarter, the combined performance of new songs from the three companies S, J, and A is not as good as the two songs "Sakura" and "Red Lotus".

"This is normal. Bethesda obviously wants 'Xia Fan' and Yayoi Tsuki to join forces to enhance their market competitiveness."

"But they overlooked that the two songs in the first quarter of Xia Fan, although of good quality, were able to maintain a gap-level lead, thanks to the help of the 'easterly winds' such as the cherry blossom season and the Curse of the Blade movie."

"Moreover, even for a master-level music producer, the production capacity of producing 'hit songs' is limited. No matter how good you are, you are just a newcomer. No matter how good you are, you can't produce a hit song every month or so, right?"

Sensing an atmosphere of "uneasiness" beginning to spread in the meeting room, the representative of Company S deliberately increased the volume to boost morale.

"I don't know much about the producer Xia Fan. But from a musician's perspective, the two previous works may have their own unique features, but the biggest threat to us is still Yayoi Tsuki's popularity and singing skills."

"Yayoi Tsuki's popularity was already high after the recent hearing loss rumors, and this time she is releasing a new song in the form of a live performance, so it is sure to attract a lot of attention."

"But our new song "Tetsudo AK" has been preheated for an extra month, and each member has a large number of fans with purchasing power, so there is a great chance that we will win in sales through direct competition."

Akimoto Manjiro looked confident of victory, which gave everyone confidence.

To be fair, the song "My Favorite Is You" was also produced by top musicians, but in order to accommodate the uneven singing skills of the girl group, the lyrics of up to 20 people, and the compromise of the subject matter to the market audience, the final product can only be regarded as mediocre and slightly artificial...

However, the 20 members of "Tiedao AK" were selected through precise analysis of big data without sacrificing the original core members of the team. Not only can they sing, dance, and rap, but they also have a large number of die-hard fans who "unconditionally double their purchases" behind them...

Yayoi Tsuki may be the new top star, but the combined popularity of the 20 members of "Tetsudo AK" is still slightly better.

The strongest point of idol economy is that even if the idols are selling golden feces, fans will still pay for it and support the "minimum sales volume".

"There are still 18 hours until the release of the new songs of both parties... Today's temporary meeting ends here. All representatives should implement it according to the plan."

"Let Company Be feel the little shock called 'idol'."

There was not much time to continue the long speech, so Akimoto Manjiro signaled for the meeting to be adjourned and asked the representatives to implement the plan as soon as possible.

……

Half an hour before Yayoi Tsuki’s new song release conference.

In the center of the warehouse of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, a temporary stage with dazzling lights has been built, and many staff members are busy preparing around it.

In the center of the stage, Xia Fan connected the Fusangshen electronic keyboard to the audio signal, and his fingers swept across the black and white keys, playing a light melody.

"A slug like you, are you sure you can complete the live accompaniment by yourself without arranging a band?"

Yayoi Tsuki, who had just finished putting on her makeup, walked over from the side.