The place where three people meet is a music tea house.

  The place was chosen by Xie Mingyuan, not big, just a common roadside small shop, but walking in and taking a look, the environment is very elegant, there are not many guests, and only two or three tables of guests are scattered around, all with a good friend holding tea and chatting.

  Xie Mingyuan arrived half an hour early and waited, until Li Qian and Liao Liao pushed the door open to enter. He caught sight of them at a glance and stood up immediately to greet them.

  To reach the level of a star like Liao Liang, as soon as they step out, they must be fully armed, because with the increasing development of modern media, many fans are extremely familiar with their favorite stars' appearance, and if they see them on the street, they will immediately surround them asking for autographs.

  On the other hand, Li Qian and Xie Mingyuan, although they are at least one level higher than Liao Liao in terms of their actual status in the circle, but when walking on the street, not a single person recognizes them.

  When Liao Liao's album was released, Xie Mingyuan's father, Mr. Xie Jingshun, wrote an article praising it highly. Although this may not have had a significant impact on the album's sales, within the industry, it was equivalent to giving Liao Liao extremely high praise. To be honest, given Mr. Xie's influence in the industry, if he strongly endorsed something, others would likely follow suit and it wouldn't be easy for them to express dissenting opinions. This was naturally a blessing for Liao Liao.

  So when she returned to Shuntian Prefecture after going out for publicity, Chen Changsheng wanted to hold a celebration banquet for her. Liao Liao had personally invited him to Mr. Xie's home at that time, and it was then that she had met Xie Mingyuan, the actual controller of Sony Records, for the first time. Later, taking advantage of everyone gathering together to attend the Spring Festival Gala, Xie Mingyuan saw Liao Liao again and directly extended an invitation to her to sign with Sony Records, with a price tag of 40 songs for 30 million, which was what Xie Mingyuan offered at that time.

  And now, it was already their third meeting within a year.

  From a distance, Xie Mingyuan stood up and waved, Liao Liao called out to Li Qian to go over together. A few steps away from him, he took off his sunglasses and beret, then politely shook hands with Xie Mingyuan.

  Liao Liao afterwards is Li Qian.

  Xie Mingyuan grasped Li Qian's hand tightly and shook it repeatedly.

  "Times are changing, markets are changing, in today's domestic popular music scene, only you and Cao Er are the most influential!"

  The evaluation of this sentence is very heavy!

  When the green plums were cooking wine, Cao Cao used this phrase to describe himself and highly praised Liu Bei. Later, the two became one of the two overlords who divided the world into three parts.

  It can be said that being able to say this as soon as they meet is enough to show that Xie Mingyuan has a high self-esteem, and it is also enough to show that he really admires Li Qian - of course, whether it's excessive praise, that's another matter.

  Even if it's an exaggeration, this is absolutely the highest level of praise.

  In the domestic popular music scene, there are at least dozens of regular record companies, not to mention numerous small and unknown so-called record companies, briefcase companies, and even those that don't produce records but only do commercial performances. Altogether, it's estimated that there are around 200-300 such companies, with the largest and most influential being Sony, Warner, and EMI.

  Among the three giants, Sony Records, a Sino-Japanese joint venture, is the most dominant.

  In Sony Music, Xie Mingyuan is undoubtedly the first person, even the Japanese general manager can't suppress this music director!

  So, although Xie Mingyan compares himself to Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms, he is still somewhat arrogant. But after all, it can be said that there is some truth to his words, and to a certain extent, it is a case of "the name matching the reality". However, when he uses Liu Bei, the future emperor of Shu Han, as a metaphor for Li Qian, who at present is just a free musician, has only made two newcomers famous, and is still a newcomer himself, it is absolutely an overstatement.

  Everyone loves to listen to good music, and for an ordinary musician, if they can get a comment from Xie Mingyuan, they will probably be so happy that they won't sleep for three days, and then they can brag about it for the rest of their lives - after all, Xie Mingyuan's status is there, and his words still have enough credibility and persuasive power.

  So when they heard this sentence, Liao Liao, who was about to sit down in the card seat, couldn't help but turn his head around in surprise.

  But Li Qian just smiled faintly and patted Xie Mingyuan's hand, saying "Director Xie is overpraising!" Then he lightly changed the subject: "This place isn't easy to find, we've delayed for a while, making you wait." He completely didn't pick up on Xie Mingyuan's hint.

  With a swish, Xie Mingyuan's heart felt a little cool.

  Of course, with Xie Mingyuan's age and city, even if he was emotionally stirred, he would never let it show in his eyes. He released his hand, chuckled, and invited the waiter over to ask about Li Qian and Liao Liao's preferences. He ordered a pot of Bi Luo Chun for himself and Li Qian, and an extra glass of soda water for Liao Liao - who had just finished recording an album and was at his most vocally strained and sensitive time, green tea being too stimulating for the vocal cords.

  Yes, after ordering tea and some snacks, the three of them sat down facing each other. Xie Mingyuan was the first to ask with a smile about Li Qian's exam situation - for the three of them, this was actually the simplest and most effortless topic that required no evasion or careful consideration.

  Of course, while talking about Li Qian's film academy, Xie Mingyuan couldn't help but have all sorts of thoughts rising up in his mind, because Li Qian's reaction was simply too strange.

  He responded like this, and it's true that he has a bit of an air of being unruffled by praise or criticism, but isn't this also too frivolous?

  He clearly knew he was going to drag him into Sony, but in fact, he didn't want to come, so as soon as they met, he first set his attitude straight, lest he would be too enthusiastic about it later and it would be hard for the other person to refuse.

  Still... a Liu Bei who controls one-third of the land is basically not even in his eyes?

  If it's like that, then he is even more arrogant than himself!

  Actually, before this formal meeting, as early as when Liao Liao's album was just released, Xie Mingyuan had already started paying attention to Li Qian. Even when the album "Liao Liao" was a huge hit and other record companies were busy trying to find out who Li Qian was and how to contact him, with Xie Mingyuan's ability and influence, he had already gotten his hands on Li Qian's contact information early on. Moreover, even though it has been seven or eight months since then, Li Qian has been avoiding the music scene, but still has all sorts of connections and interactions with this circle.

  He Runqing got "Half a Jar of Silk" from Li Qian through Cao Yun, and he was very clear about the situation. Because He Runqing was originally a signed singer of Sony Records, and it was he who personally dug him up, so there were some connections between them.

  Li Qian followed Wang Huaiyu to learn about the Erhu, he had just heard the news from the circle and immediately called Wang Huaiyu's mobile phone directly - the two were originally old classmates and old friends. Wang Huaiyu was also a disciple of Xie Jinshun, this kind of thing, did not involve any secrets, how could he not say?

  Certainly. Li Qian helped those little girls of Huage with their album, including the contracts they signed with each other, and he was almost the first person in this circle to get the exact content except for Huage's related personnel.

  So after seven or eight months of getting to know each other in various ways, he actually felt that he already understood Li Qian quite well.

  However, it is clear that Li Qian in person is somewhat different from the one he imagined - more humble, but also more aloof.

  Xie Mingyuan was somewhat puzzled.

  He smiled and said, "I'm fine, or my old father is fine, we've all been in the art circle for many years. Although making music and making movies are two different professions, there are still some old friends, do you want me to invite a few old friends out, and everyone has dinner together?"

  Yeah, although this statement is somewhat exaggerated and pretentious, it's also a familiar phrase.

  Xie Mingyuan thinks that if Li Qian is really very proud, he should have some resistance in his heart, and then, between words and expressions, there will definitely be a hint of displeasure.

  But unexpectedly, Li Qian just smiled blandly and said: "I'm just trying it out, if I really can't get in then so be it. Anyway, I already have a steady income now, no need to necessarily go to university."

  Xie Ming was taken aback for a moment and then burst out laughing.

  It's also, isn't it just a film academy? Hasn't Li Qian just taken for granted the music academy guest professorship that he was very likely to get? Even if he didn't get into the film academy, wouldn't he still be a heavyweight figure in the music circle?

  Go ask him about his film academy exams yourself. It's getting a bit too much now.

  So he changed the subject at that time and asked Liao Liao, "Fei Fei's album has been on sale for two weeks. How is it? Have you listened to it? Is there any comment that I need to pass on to Fei Fei?"

  Just then, the waiter brought tea over. Although Liao Liao didn't drink tea, she still got up to help the two men pour their tea. After pouring the tea and returning to her seat with her glass of soda water, she smiled and said: "Fei Fei's albums are always worth listening to a hundred times! Just her voice is enough to make me infatuated, what else do I need to evaluate? Oh, right, if you must say something, please help me pass on a message to Xie Zong. Tell him my sister has been pestering me to ask for a signed photo of Fei Fei, and I hope she can give me one so I can get rid of her. Ah... I can exchange mine with hers!"

  Xie Ming laughed with a "heh heh" upon hearing this.

  This is also in a teahouse, if it were in an office, he would probably burst out laughing.

  But this obvious joke shows that Liao Liao is not resistant to Sony Records - this is a good start.

  He naturally agreed to this matter. Then, he turned his head and looked at Li Qian, smiling and asked: "What's your opinion, Young Master Qian?"

  If it were just this sentence, it would be a topic that is obviously meant to be praised, and Xie Mingyuan specially invited Li Qian and Liao Liao together, apparently not just to let them praise Feng Fei Fei for a few sentences, although Feng Fei Fei is a heavyweight singer under Sony.

  So at this time, without waiting for Li Qian to answer, he sighed again and said to himself: "Unfortunately, Fei Fei is already on the decline!"

  Liao Liao was taken aback by the words, and Li Qian couldn't help but smile, saying: "Director Xie, your lament is unjustified. Feng Fei's album has just been released and it directly entered the top five of Dongguan Bookstore's sales rankings. Is this what you call 'the times are getting worse'?"

  Xie Mingyuan smiled and said, "From the songs you wrote to the album you made, I can very clearly see that you are one of the few people in this circle who understands. But I don't think I'm confused either. What's wrong, does Mo Xiang feel that some things are inconvenient to say?"

  He paused for a moment, then continued without waiting for Li Qian's response: "Zhen Zhen, Run Qing, Fei Fei, and Zhou Yan are widely recognized as the four top female singers in the country over the past decade. That's undeniable. However, over the next decade, Zhen Zhen, Run Qing, and Fei Fei will definitely start to fall behind. Times are changing, markets are changing. As our country's economy gets better and better, ordinary people and music fans have more and more money, so the market capacity will continue to grow stronger. However, with the improvement of living standards and the increasing influence of foreign cultures, themes like patriotism and grandeur will inevitably be replaced by personal emotions and personal life! So... the future of this market belongs to Zhou Yan and Liao Liao. Their urban love songs are the mainstream of the future market - what do you think, Qian Shao?"

  Seeing Xie Mingyuan say this, Liao Liao couldn't help but look at Li Qian with concern.

  Li Qian remained silent for a moment, lifted his cup and took a sip of tea, and finally nodded slowly.

  This is indeed an unavoidable topic in today's music scene, that is, a new era has really arrived.

  Zhen Zhen indeed led an era, sang the strongest voice for female singers, and greatly improved the status of female singers in the market and society. However, as Xie Mingyuan said, with the development of the times, more personalized emotional expression will become the mainstream of the whole society, and naturally also the main direction of future music industry development. Therefore, Zhen Zhen's slow, atmospheric, and lyrical style is destined to become narrower in the future market.

  Of course, the narrower it gets, doesn't mean there's no market for it, just that it will get smaller and smaller.

  Similar to her, there is also the sweet song queen He Rongjing who has been popular until now, and Feng Feifei whose music style is a mix of folk songs, ballads and love songs.

  Of course, unlike Zhen Zhen and He Runqing, Feng Fei Fei has been with Sony Records since her debut, relying on Sony's strong connections and reputation. Over the past decade, Feng Fei Fei has consistently been one of the most well-known TV drama theme song singers in China. Although no one has ever counted them specifically, it is said that she has sung over 200 TV drama theme songs and interludes - basically, as long as you turn on the TV and flip through the channels, at least one TV show's theme song will be sung by Feng Fei Fei.

  Just based on this point, no matter how the market changes, as long as Sony continues to support her, she can at least keep the title of "Queen of Movie and TV Theme Songs" from being taken away.

  ***

  The first update!

  Wishing you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!