First of all, apologies: At the end of the last chapter, there was a mistake in the release date of He Runqing's new album "Ku Zhu". It should be Tuesday, June 21st, not Saturday. Thank you to book friend "Jun Zhi Ai" for pointing out the error.

  ***

  June 6th, afternoon.

  High heels clickety-clack.

  He Rongqing walked slowly into Sony Music, and everyone she saw greeted her with voices such as "Sister Runqing is good", "Sister Qing is good" and "Miss He is good". The sound started from the company's entrance and continued until she entered the singer's rest area.

  Even a male colleague shouted after she walked by, "Run Qing Jie, we support you, defeat Wu Xing Yu Su! You are the Queen of Sweet Songs!"

  There's no way around it, He Runqing is usually gentle and amiable to others, never putting on the airs of a big star. In the company, his relationships with others and reputation have always been among the best.

  With a hint of surprise, she turned back and solemnly nodded to the blushing male staff member, said thank you, and then continued walking forward - but once out of everyone's sight, her face returned to its previous worried look.

  Just this morning, Universal Music announced that Wu Mochou's new album "Let Me Fly" will be released nationwide next week after the release of her new album "Bitter Bamboo".

  Even an idiot knows this is for her.

  …………

  Every circle has its own rules of the game.

  For example, in the domestic popular music scene, everyone knows that from May to October is the golden half year for selling records, especially during the summer vacation period when sales are the most explosive. However, summer vacation only lasts two months, and it's not possible for everyone to rush into the market at the same time.

  Since the domestic music scene started, after twenty years of exploration, collision, competition and even war among major record companies and singers, a tacit new album release rule has gradually formed in the domestic pop music scene.

  For example, on the male singer side, Hu Yang usually releases a new album at the beginning of May every year. Zhao Xinfu will choose to release his at the end of June or early July, while Liu Mingliang's new album is generally released at the end of August or early September. This way, the three big shots in the male singer circle can each have their own exclusive time of one to two months, without affecting each other, and divide up the summer golden period and the half-year when record sales are strongest. Zhang Yan, on the other hand, has always been low-key, releasing his albums either in October or at the beginning of spring, so everyone is very tacit and doesn't start a war.

  As for the female singer, every April is Feng Fei Fei's fixed release time. Although it's not a prime time, her fan base is relatively stable and won't suddenly surge. However, sales can continue until the end of summer, so even though individual weeks or months may not be impressive in terms of sales, overall sales are still considerable.

  And after her, from June to July, it was always He Runqing's traditional hair-cutting time. When Zhou Fen was more popular that year, she usually chose the end of August and early September.

  Taking Sony Records as an example, in April, their top artist Feng Fei Fei released a new album. After selling for two months, He Runkui took over and released a new album in June and July. Then, in the second half of the summer vacation, Liu Mingliang followed up. The three singers with the highest status and sales volume in the company perfectly divided the golden half-year. In between them, according to market heat, Sony Records will also timely release albums by second-tier, third-tier or new artists almost every month to harvest the market and grab market share from other companies' equivalent-level singers.

  In short, whether it's tacit understanding or implicit rules, once they're formed, everyone feels that, yeah, this way of doing things isn't bad.

  No one should think about suppressing others, after all, it's just selling records. Everyone wants high sales. Once two big shots start a war, there might be an opportunity to create another kind of explosive market. Maybe the momentum will lead to both sides selling well in the end, but that requires both people's albums to be very strong and popular in the market. If one side is slightly weaker, the result may be completely suppressed. And if neither side is good, it will only add to the ridicule.

  To be honest, even the most confident singer or musician cannot guarantee that their album will be a bestseller before it is released. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any albums that lose money! So, even if they are singers of Liu Mingliang and Zhao Xinfu's caliber, they must have fantasized about dominating the market, but faced with strong competitors and an unpredictable market, everyone chose to tacitly separate their release dates and sell on their own.

  After all, once the war starts, the risk is too great, and it's unbearable for both the singer and the record company - everyone wants to win, but what if they lose? That could lead to a loss of reputation, or even a direct downfall!

  It was based on this underlying market rule that when Liao Liao's first album was about to be released, Changsheng Records chose the August slot vacated by Zhou Wen's announcement of her retirement from the music scene - although in August, Zhao Xinfu's popularity still lingered and Liu Mingliang would soon release a new album, but after all, male and female singers have different genders and the competition for fans is not too intense.

  Although at the time, considering Zhou Mei would not appear in August or September, He Runyin intentionally delayed the release of her album by almost a month, intending to monopolize the entire summer vacation. However, her dominance was still far from reaching that level, and Liu Mingliang also saw that Zhou Mei was not there, so he released his album ahead of schedule. But even in the gap between these two big-name singers, Liao Liao still rose rapidly with the high quality of his album.

  In fact, Liao Liao's rise has formed a direct competition with He Runqing to some extent, resulting in He Runqing's failure and significant decline in her influence on the market. Nearly a year after "Fen Xing" went public, sales have not yet reached two million copies, which is the most powerful explanation of her previous defeat.

  Although she had the single "Half a Jar of Silk", He Rongqing quickly stopped her own decline, although when she first participated in the New Year's Eve concert, two women who were fighting fiercely in the market also held hands intimately, with a good sisterly appearance, but whether He Rongqing had any psychological knots in her heart was really hard to say.

  Moreover, after that failure, she herself was somewhat disheartened and also understood that with her market influence, it was impossible to dominate the summer market, even just the female singer's summer market.

  By now, in 1996, the domestic pop music scene has added another big shot who is qualified to share a large piece of time, that is Liu Liao. For the big shots in the music scene, everyone's release time will have to go through some slow mutual grinding before they can gradually find their rhythm.

  But actually, it's just a word from Liao Liao, and it doesn't matter much.

  Now, Zhang Zhen's album is still dragging on, as always, and although the external statement is that the album has been in intense production, according to Zhang Zhen's temperament, it is estimated that it will be difficult to see its release this year. Zhou Mei's comeback is also far away, and there is no accurate news so far. So, even with the addition of Liao Liao, the market is still sufficient to share.

  Feng Fei's April, no one robbed, so He Runqing took the beginning of summer vacation, Liao Liao took the end of summer vacation, three major female stars, just perfectly divided the market again.

  In fact, both Changsheng Records and Sony Records thought so.

  However, no one expected that Wu Xing Wu Su, who had just sold well and became popular at the beginning of this year, would rush to grab the market so hastily.

  They were a combination that suddenly became popular before and after the Spring Festival, although it was indeed red enough, but the whole circle generally expected that their next album should still be released in a more familiar time period, at least to consolidate another album, and then have enough strength and confidence to divide the summer market.

  So in the previous forecast, everyone was calculating that Feng Fei and Hu Yang would take the lead, followed by Zhao Xinfu, then He Runqing, and then Liao Liao and Liu Mingliang. These six people were just right to stagger each other, forming a situation where one person occupies one month, not to say completely undisturbed, but at least leaving a buffer period for each other, which was also an acceptable plan for everyone.

  However, no one had anticipated that Hua Ge would have such confidence in Wu Xing Su, and their desire to compete for the summer golden time was so strong.

  But after last year's collision with Liao Liao and defeat, He Runqing, although relying on "Half a Jar of Silk" to stop the decline, the downward trend is still so obvious in the eyes of major record companies.

  Obviously, compared to Feng Fei Fei's not-so-competitive April and Liao Liao's August which will be a strong and hard-to-call victory or defeat, Huage Music thinks that He Runying is the softest persimmon among the female singers with enough qualifications in this market.

  So they took action.

  They released their albums only seven days apart, and both are female singers, which is obviously the most direct market competition.

  And if we consider the momentum of He Runqing, and Wu Xing Wu Su's first album has been on the market for less than half a year, it is already close to breaking 5 million in sales with an extremely strong momentum. Without a doubt, this is no longer just a matter of Wu Xing Wu Su stepping on He Runqing, but rather Huaguo Records wanting to use Wu Xing Wu Su's strong market position to challenge Sony Records again!

  As a result, He Runqing's album had just been released and hadn't even sold out yet when Wu Xingwu Su's album was released right on its heels. Of course, there are still many fans who like He Runqing's songs, and they will still buy the albums they want to buy. However, what about fans who like both He Runqing and Wu Xingwu Su? If they have enough money, that's one thing, but if they only have enough money to buy one album...if they buy Wu Xingwu Su's, then they won't be able to buy He Runqing's!

  ***

  It's probably because I've been pushing too hard over the past month, and recently I've been feeling persistently fatigued. My state still hasn't adjusted back to its best. However, please rest assured that there will definitely be a second chapter today!

  I'm working hard on adjusting!