Chapter 120: Pre-release Single for the Second Album, Gaining a Little Follower
The two finished discussing the movie and didn’t part ways.
Fan Xiaopang wanted to spend more time with the young, handsome, wealthy, and clean music genius. Such a man appearing in the entertainment circle was rarer than a giant panda, and few female stars wouldn’t desire him.
Shen Qing was also tempted~
No, that’s not right, I shouldn’t say tempted.
It’s reasonable for a reborn person to chat a bit longer with a female star he admired in his past life, right? It’s not like he’s doing anything harmful.
The two chatted from movies to TV dramas, then from childhood to the present, and finally about Zhang Liangying’s upcoming second album.
Shen Qing discovered that Fan Xiaopang was a bit of a money-grubber and was particularly interested in making money.
She was especially curious about the profitability of Zhang Liangying’s album.
Shen Qing roughly explained the profit structure of an album to her.
“With your calculations, our studio makes about 30 yuan per album. For 3.5 million copies, that’s 105 million, and that’s just from CD sales. Tapes, copyright fees, endorsement fees, and so on haven’t even been counted.”
This knowledge was completely beyond her comprehension.
Fan Xiaopang had never imagined that singers could be so profitable.
Before, she always thought that the most profitable ventures for singers were concerts and endorsements. How much money could releasing an album even make?
But Shen Qing’s words completely opened up a new world for Fan Xiaopang.
She swallowed, her luscious red lips parting slightly, “Your studio only has two people, yet the profit you make is more than Emperor Entertainment and Huayi combined. They even lose money sometimes!”
“Indeed, but that’s an exception!”
Shen Qing smiled, “There’s only one Zhang Liangying, and only one me. Plus, we have a cooperative model with Taihe Rye Music. Other singers are directly signed to companies and don’t get this much.”
In the end, Xiao Fan herself didn’t even know how she left.
On the way home, she was still thinking about Shen Qing’s words: 【Our last album made a small profit of 100 million. Let’s set a small goal, and make another 200 million with the second album! 】
Awesome~
A small goal of 200 million, is that it?
So infuriating!
Xiao Fan had never seen so much money in her life.
For years, she had been desperately trying to act, to improve her status, all for the sake of making money, right?
But Shen Qing and Zhang Liangying earned so much so easily by releasing an album, more than anyone else.
What was even more infuriating was that for the second album, they could invest 15 million to shoot a so-called music video. Directors wouldn’t even dare to dream of such a sum…
Last year, Ning Hao begged and pleaded to get three to four million from Andy Lau and China Film Group Corporation to shoot 《Crazy Stone》. This 15 million would be enough for him to shoot three movies.
The 《The Knot》, scheduled for release on December 1st this year, starring Chen Kun, Vivian Hsu, and Li Bingbing, was jointly invested by China Film Group Corporation, Taiwan Longxiang Company, and Hong Kong Emperor Entertainment. Its production cost was just over 10 million, with actor salaries around a hundred thousand each.
This shows the significant impact Shen Qing’s announcement of 15 million had on the film industry.
Damn, envious, jealous!
Back home, Xiao Fan threw herself onto the sofa.
“It feels like earning money from TV dramas and movies is so low-end~”
“I’ve acted for seven or eight years, done movies, TV dramas, and commercials, but now, excluding my house, I have less than 5 million in total…”
“Sigh, the gap is so huge!”
“Haha, but today was incredibly fun, I definitely came to the right place!”
…
On the other side.
Gao Yuanyuan and Zhang Liangying also finished their outing. The two had visited several places today, and Yuan Yuan successfully influenced Liangying.
Shen Qing didn’t refuse either; after all, it was just hiring actors.
Both Yuan Yuan and Xiao Fan, in terms of acting skills and looks, were suitable for 《Wish》.
Moreover, both were free!
Getting it for free felt great.
A few days later.
News spread that Gao Yuanyuan and Fan Xiaopang had joined 《Wish》, surprising the public.
What was Shen Qing’s background?
How did he manage to invite both big directors and famous actors consecutively?
Actually, they, like Xiao Fan, were overthinking things~
Often, inviting people to work doesn’t require a grand background; it just requires paying them enough.
Take Ning Hao, for example. He doesn’t always have projects. Even though 《Crazy Stone》 made him famous, his schedule is still open now. Why wouldn’t he take on some work?
It’s similar for Jiang Wen and Lou Ye.
Directors like them haven’t reached the point where people are lining up to invest in them. They are still high-level hired hands, earning at most a million or so for a movie, often only a few hundred thousand.
But they are accustomed to a high cost of living. If they don’t have income for half a year, their savings won’t last long.
They also feel anxious, both mentally and physically.
Now that they can get a role in Zhang Liangying and Shen Qing’s project, and the pay is more than enough, with Taihe Rye Music and Lu Zheng backing the film, there’s no reason to refuse.
As for Feng Xiaogang, money was one aspect, but he was purely resentful of Zhang Yimou.
After all, Old Mouzi was directing the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
It’s better not to mention it, but once the Olympics are brought up, the old and young gentlemen of the Beijing Circle, including Feng Xiaogang, get even more annoyed.
Damn it, we’re having a grand event in our capital, and there’s no one within the four-nine city walls? Does it have to be a guy from the Northwest Circle to take charge? Can he even grasp the subtle flavors?
At that time, the Beijing Circle strongly recommended Chen Kaige. While he could be unreliable at times, he was also quite dependable at others, and his command and control over large-scale scenes were impeccable.
Even the Minister of the Cultural Activities Department of the Beijing Olympic Committee personally invited him to participate in the selection process.
What does this indicate?
It was a done deal, wasn’t it!?
Chen Kaige was very excited and immediately agreed.
Then.
He started to be unreliable, busy filming 《The Promise》 while also handwriting the opening ceremony creative proposal.
He was the only director to compete in his personal capacity.
Others, like Zhang Yimou, Ye Xunxian, and the production company for the Athens Olympics opening ceremony, JACK MORTON (JM), formed a tripartite joint team. Their creative proposal alone required two flatbed carts to be brought into the venue.
Chen Kaige’s proposal, however, was only 2 centimeters thick~
While presenting his proposal, he even spontaneously recited a poem: “Suddenly, news from beyond the sword arrives of Ji Bei’s capture, at first hearing, tears streamed down my robes…”
And then there was no then.
He didn’t even pass the first round.
But Feng Pants had it worse; he didn’t even get a chance to register for the competition.
Years later, he was still trailing behind Zhang Yimou, tinkering with a Hamlet-esque 《The Banquet》, with plots about queens and princes messing around. It sounded boring.
Feng Pants truly lived in Zhang Yimou’s shadow. Wasn’t 《The Banquet》 just a low-budget version of 《Curse of the Golden Flower》?
But currently, he couldn’t think of a way to escape Old Mouzi.
His thinking was completely undeveloped.
Or rather, his talent was limited.
Coincidentally, 《Wish》 appeared. This project was very promising, and he really wanted to prove himself through this film: “I’m not just a second-rate director who only knows how to amuse you!”
…
As the online buzz grew louder, Zhang Liangying’s second album became the most anticipated music album of the year, crushing Jay Chou’s upcoming 《Still Fantasy》, set to be released in September, on all major websites.
Old Chou was depressed.
Qing, we’re brothers, can’t you go a little easier on me?
He even called Shen Qing about it, “Shen Qing, you’re making me too miserable. You have to write me a song. The theme song for 《Secret》 is yours!”
A chance to boost his status that came knocking on his door, why not take it?
He already had something ready in his mind anyway.
Shen Qing: “Easy, just say when you need it, anytime.”
Jay Chou: “Haha, great! I’ll tell you after I finish writing the script. I won’t talk anymore, I’m going to write the script. My head is spinning these days. I never wrote 800 words for essays in school.”
…
In the following days, 《Come On! Boys》, 《Absolute Singing》, and 《Super Boy》 were held successively.
As expected.
Zhao Lei was eliminated.
Shen Qing had long anticipated this outcome and didn’t write a song for him, letting him sing Pu Shu’s 《Life Like Summer Flowers》.
Lei Zi himself wasn’t very convinced by Mango TV, and he made a few sarcastic remarks when leaving the stage.
“Thank you to my boss, Shen Qing, for letting me stand on the national finals stage. The future music path is long, and I hope to bring everyone more beautiful folk songs. See you next year!”
Audience: Your boss is Shen Qing?
Lei Fans: Hahaha, we guessed it long ago. Awesome, Lei Zi is going to take off.
Mango TV: ???
Shen Qing didn’t let Zhao Lei return to Chengdu. His experience wasn’t sufficient yet to create good folk songs, so he directly sent him to continue his poor backpacking trip in the west.
As for Deng Ziqi, she and Xiao Jingteng, forming the ‘Little Dengzi Combination,’ were dominating the 《Absolute Singing》 stage, leaving Shang Wenjie, Yu Kewei, Tan Weiwei, and other competitors in misery.
No original songs were needed at all.
In the past few days, Shen Qing has been having Deng Ziqi lure Xiao Jingteng to the studio.
Sign him for eight years.
However, Shen Qing’s eight-year contract was completely different from Tianyu’s, offering great freedom and a high profit-sharing ratio, rarely seen in the industry.
In the future.
Qingying Studio will have too many generals to charge forward: Zhang Liangying, Deng Ziqi, Xiao Jingteng, Zhao Lei. It shouldn’t be a problem to dominate half the music scene, right?
…
Since the script for 《Wish》 would take at least ten days to write, Shen Qing wasn’t idle. He was sitting in the Qingying Studio, drinking tea and writing songs.
Hmm~
There was also a little shadow.
Jing Tian, this girl, skipped classes and didn’t go home, often coming to the studio to hang out with Shen Qing.
Brother Qing’s scalp was tingling.
If you come to see me, what will Director Lu say?
Jing Tian: “Brother Shen Qing, you look so serious when you write songs!”
Indeed, a young girl is still a young girl. The desire for power and money in her eyes wasn’t as strong as Shen Qing’s handsomeness.
Shen Qing: “Ahem, don’t hold my hand, it’s not good if people see.”
Jing Tian: “I’m just looking at your hand, so stingy!”
Shen Qing: “…”
Meanwhile,
Shen Qing’s emotions had brewed, and he began to write.
Jing Tian propped her chin on her hands on the table, admiration overflowing in her eyes, “Is this a new song for Sister Liangying? What a beautiful name, The Brightest Star in the Night Sky…”
Actually, ‘Escape Plan’ sang it with more flavor, but to match the album’s style and have it chart alongside 《Wish》, Shen Qing still copied it.
This song was sung by Deng Ziqi and Angela Chang in their previous lives, and it was quite good. If one hadn’t heard the original version by ‘Escape Plan,’ they would likely love it.
《The Brightest Star in the Night Sky》 will be released as the pre-release single for the album at the end of the month, serving as a vanguard to build momentum for the second album.
Afterward.
Shen Qing finished writing the remaining 8 songs in one go.
Jing Tian’s tender, fair, and rosy face was filled with admiration throughout the entire process, even evolving into adoration.
Shen Qing: It’s over, could I have charmed this girl?
Never mind.
He couldn’t control what she liked, as long as he could keep his pants from falling down.
…
Also today, Zhang Liangying attended a Sprite event with Chen Liang.
She was about to sign with Sprite along with Jay Chou, so it was only right to represent the brand in advance, especially since they were paying handsomely.
Five years, forty million.
That’s eighty million for the two of them.
Yes, Zhang Liangying and Jay Chou were valued the same!
This price made many peers envious to death.
What is a top-tier star?
Liangying and Jaylen are the standard answer!
Although Stefanie Sun and Angela Chang debuted earlier and were very strong in the music scene, their fan-attracting power couldn’t compare to Liangying and Jaylen.
Naturally, they couldn’t command such a high price.
Thinking that half of this forty million would go into his pocket, Shen Qing felt wonderful, “Good job, Liangying, keep it up! We’ll be back to record songs tomorrow!”
