Tuesday, July 19th, 10:00

  Hua is singing in the second conference room.

  The company meeting that was supposed to take place on Monday morning was postponed to today by Huang Dazhong due to the release of yesterday's Dongguan Bookstore sales rankings, as he was in no mood to preside over the meeting at the time.

  Now in this conference room, the high-level executives of Huage Records, including the production department, publicity department, distribution department, internal affairs department, artist management department, brokerage department, training department, legal department and so on, with nearly twenty managers sitting around the long table. Huang Dazhong was seated in the first position on the left hand side, while the chair at the top center was left empty as usual, because it was reserved for Huang Dazhong's father, who is still serving as chairman of the company.

  At this time, the manager of the brokerage department was speaking -

  "...Teng Long's Lao Qian came to us yesterday afternoon, because at that time Wu Su was busy making a new album, so the company decided not to give them any commercial performances for the time being. I pushed away all the other requests, but Lao Qian's offer was really high - 1 million yuan for one performance of three songs! Moreover, Lao Huang and our company have been cooperating for many years, so after consulting with Huang Zong, I signed a contract with him on behalf of the company for six performances. This is the only commercial performance contract that our company has signed for Wu Su in the past two or three months."

  "At that time, it was definitely considered that after finishing the promotion of this album, it would be easy to go and run down. After all, there were only six shows, and Lao Qian's clients were all relatively high-end celebrations and so on, which fit Wuxingwusu's identity and market position. I remember at that time Lao Qian was grateful to me like crazy, but now..."

  Lao Qian came in the morning, and at noon he insisted on inviting me to lunch. As a result, I ended up inviting him to lunch instead, but in the afternoon he continued to pester me, hoping that I would cancel that contract no matter what. According to him, the price offered by the client has been plummeting, and it's not just 1 million per game, even if it's 500,000, he can only barely break even. Only at 400,000 can he make a small profit. So, if he really had to sit down for six games at 1 million each, he would lose 3 million all at once! For him, this is not just a blow, but at least a big loss...

  Huang Dazhong had been meditating with his eyes closed, listening to him ramble on and on without end. He couldn't help but furrow his brow and open his eyes, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over the rankings on the table in front of him. Almost subconsciously, he locked onto that eye-catching sales figure, and his eyebrows jumped up a few times again. The impatience in his heart suddenly intensified even more.

  He waved his hand, interrupting the brokerage manager's speech, and asked directly: "So? What do you mean?"

  The manager of the brokerage department hesitated for a moment and said: "So... I think, can't we just cancel that contract with Teng Long?"

  Huang Dazhong waved his hand again. With great effort to control himself from getting angry, but instinctively the vein between his eyebrows was jumping violently, he said: "What a waste! Of course, it's going to be wasted! Is our Huage company the kind that cheats people out of their performance fees? Even if it's just a matter of a few million, can't we still afford to lose face?"

  He said this and then impatiently waved his hand, "Scrap it, scrap it!"

  The manager of the brokerage department seemed to have let out a sigh of relief, nodded and responded with a "good". Then he just sat there quietly, not saying anything.

  At this time, Huang Dazhong didn't have the energy to care about whether there was any conspiracy between him and Old Qian. He had known all along that such things were impossible to investigate! What he cared about now was another issue, so he asked: "What did you just say? 500,000 yuan per game is barely enough for him to break even?"

  The manager of the brokerage department nodded and said, "Yes! It was during the preparation for Wu Xing's album. Because there will be a period of time when we can't take on any work, so prices like 800,000 yuan per show, 900,000 yuan per show, and even Old Qian shouting out 1 million yuan per show were all mentioned, and they just kept getting higher... Hmm... When "Let Me Fly" was first released, it was last week, the sales at Dongguan Bookstore had already reached nearly 30,000 copies that week, and someone had offered 1.2 million yuan per show, but at the time we were considering Wu Xing's promotional activities, so when you said not to sign, I didn't sign. But now..."

  "Yesterday, after finally getting rid of Old Qian, I made two phone calls to ask around. Anyway, once I mentioned that the promotion for Wu Suo's album is almost done and we can start taking on commercial performances, those event companies all said that signing was possible, but the price would need to be renegotiated and definitely couldn't follow their previous quotes. Moreover, someone even specifically brought up that if we were going to sign, the setlist for each show would have to be specified by them..."

  "This thing, originally it's all conventional, singers go on stage, definitely singing their most popular and everyone's favorite songs, so originally it's just a discussion on the spot, asking the inviting party's intention, can be settled. But now, I'm guessing, their intention is probably... still that "Sisters Stand Up" album is more popular?"

  Moreover, what Old Qian said is basically correct. The price they offered was around 300,000 to 400,000 per show. Even at this price, the other party hesitated and said that if they signed a contract, they could only sign for five shows first. Because of the drastic ups and downs of Wu Xing's popularity, it was too scary for them, and they were not sure how much appeal the five of them still had in the commercial performance market.

  Listening and listening, Huang Dazhong subconsciously closed his eyes again, leaning back on the chair. After the manager of the brokerage department finished speaking, he sat up straight with some weakness, nodded, and said: "Don't ask anymore, don't ask anymore, you'll lose value if you keep asking! Stop first, take a break, and then talk about it later!"

  He paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and his eyes scanned the faces of the dozen or so people on both sides of the conference table, asking: "Then what's next? Is there anyone else who wants to say something?"

  The scene was silent, with no one making a sound.

  After a pause, the production department manager suddenly spoke up and said: "If no one says anything, then, Director Huang, I'll talk about the preparation for Zhao Jiayu's album?"

  But Huang Dazhong waved his hand and said, "Other things will be discussed later. Today's meeting only has one topic, which is to discuss what Five Elements Wu Su should do next!"

  The production department manager nodded and fell silent, looking rather embarrassed.

  And then the entire conference room fell into an eerie silence once again.

  After a moment, Huang Dazhong turned his head to look at Du Xiaoming sitting opposite him and asked: "Old Du, when it comes to music, you're an insider, you have the most say! How about you say something?"

  Du Xiaoming paused for a moment, shifted his buttocks and sat up straight. He slowly opened his mouth and said: "Wu Xing Wu Su is on this side, hmm, this fall is a bit miserable, but after all, their popularity foundation was still there before, so I think it's not impossible to recover! It's just...I'm not quite sure what suits their style now. And to be honest, I was the producer of their last album. This album failed, and I have some responsibility for that..."

  Huang Dazhong hastily waved his hand to interrupt him, "Don't say that now, it's not the time to ask about responsibility. The key is how to salvage this situation! If you want to talk about responsibility, I'm the one with the most responsibility! It was my insistence on not giving them a share of the profits that led us to where we are today!"

  Although Huang Dazhong said so, the starting point was really just to comfort Du Xiaoming. After all, he knew better than anyone else that the sales of "Let Me Fly" had plummeted for two consecutive weeks. The market and popularity that Wu Xingyusu had just cultivated were also cut in half, and the top priority now was not to pursue responsibility.

  But... although it was just a comforting word. As soon as he mentioned this matter, he couldn't help but subconsciously glance at the ranking list on the table. Then, his heart was again in an uncontrollable spasm of pain!

  There's no doubt that "Let Me Fly" is going to flop, with sales plummeting for two consecutive weeks. Even an outsider can tell that there must be a problem with the quality of the album and songs themselves.

  You talk about fame, Wu Su is so red that you say propaganda, Hua Ge's album directly allocated 15 million yuan for the promotion of this album. This amount of money is enough to produce and promote two or three new artists' albums.

  But it's just a flop!

  For this album, Huayi Brothers Music invited all the big names in the industry, whether it was lyrics, composition, arrangement or choreography, they spared no expense to create a masterpiece. Even Du Xiaoming, the company's music director and an expert in the field, personally took charge of production, making it a truly conscientious work... It can be said that no one hopes more than Huang Dachong that Wu Xing Wu Su will continue to be popular with this new album, continuing the momentum of sweeping the music scene with their previous album.

  But still, it's so ugly!

  Looking back, where is the reason?

  The only reason Huang Dazhong could think of was - without Li Qian!

  That's right, it's because he's missing!

  So, it's all over!

  Moreover, Huang Dazhong himself also knew that in fact, within the Huaying Music label, the results of the two albums "Wu Xing Wu Su" and the previous one were already there, a comparison that was so striking to the eye. Therefore, Li Qian's importance had already become something that didn't need to be emphasized again. The reason why "Let Me Fly" failed was also something that everyone in the company knew about from top to bottom.

  But ironically, what's really frustrating is that Li Qian was actually very willing to join forces at first, but it was himself who insisted on kicking him out, which ultimately ruined the collaboration!

  What's the point of all this trouble!

  At the beginning of the negotiations, the other side insisted on a share of 4% or 5%, and according to the person in charge of the negotiations, when reporting back, it was said that the agent of the other party revealed at the time that they wanted this share purely to save face, and even if it was as low as 2%, the other party would not be unacceptable.

  It's just two percent!

  Even if an album sells 10 million copies, 2% is just a few hundred thousand yuan. Moreover, even if it's sold in the same way as "Sisters Stand Up" and Liao Xiao's "Tao Sheng Yi Jiou", selling over 5 million copies in half a year, and selling for two years, that's only around 8 million copies. It's impossible to sell 10 million copies! So, it's just 8 million copies, and the 2% share is less than 2 million yuan!

  Now think about it, even if I only got one hit song from Li Qian at that time, what's the use of spending an extra two million?

  As long as the album sells well, or even if it doesn't sell well, but as long as the diving isn't that intense, and doesn't directly knock Wuxin down to the ground like now, then 2 million is nothing. Isn't that just the cost of a few commercial performances?

  But... how could I have been so out of my mind at that time and refused to give Li Qian a share?

  Perhaps it's because I trusted Hua Ge's internal production capabilities too much?

  Still, it underestimates Li Qian's ability to turn stones into gold?

  Hmm, okay. Thinking carefully, the key point is probably that on the previous album, he directly took away 15% of the share, which would be over 140 million if it sold 8 million copies. It's a real cut in the flesh! At that time, I really felt heartbroken! So at that time, I made up my mind and absolutely refused to give him any share!

  But now it's good that he's been kicked out, really saved a lot of money, at least his share doesn't have to be given.

  However, looking at the straight decline of the album "Let Me Fly", even if the album "Sisters Stand Up" brought a halo to Wu Xing Yu, it won't completely disappear. But the popularity will at least be halved, so I estimate that in the end, "Let Me Fly" can barely break through 2 million? Get a double platinum record?

  It's already like this, and it can't get any worse!

  So, okay, the production cost of this album is over 20 million, and the promotion expenses have already exceeded 10 million. Adding the share for Du Xiaoming, the producer, just these costs alone have already exceeded 40 million!

  Then, Huage had its own complete factory and could produce records by itself, so the cost was definitely lower. However, the cost of a box of tapes was around 80 cents, and they were sold for 6 yuan each, with a profit of 5.2 yuan. If they sold 20 million copies, their total income would be around 100 million yuan. First, they had to deduct more than 40 million yuan in costs. Then, they had to deduct the sales commission paid to Wusu, which was 10% of the price, or 24 million yuan!

  So, in the end, the actual profit that really goes into the Huaguo Singing Record account... is just around 30 million!

  At the time of Zhang's album, even if only calculating the profit from selling albums, Li Qian would have taken a large share of the profits, but at most it would be roughly equal to the company's share. Even if both parties split the account in half, that album could bring in over 150 million yuan in pure profit for the company! Not to mention that Huage also earned more than just albums, and the biggest head was actually those commercial performances with prices that kept rising and were in such high demand that they couldn't keep up.

  So... 2 million album sales, double platinum, for other singers, it's definitely something to be ecstatic about, but for Wu Xing Yu Su and Hua Ge Chang Pian, this is absolutely a losing deal that makes you want to kill yourself!

  No need to give Li Qian over 14 million, but the company actually made at least 10 million less than Wu Suo's last album!

  And if we also take into account the losses in business performance caused by the sharp decline in popularity due to the five elements, this number will be even higher!

  On both sides, for Hua Yu Singing, it's a huge loss of tens of millions!

  No one knows that since the sales rankings came out last Monday, after seeing "Let Me Fly" being directly cut off by Liao Liao's "Tao Sheng Yi Jiou", until now, Huang Dazhong has been unable to sleep all night. Even when he was exhausted from messing around with women until midnight and fell asleep, he would always wake up at 4 or 5 o'clock. And recently, every time he washed his hair, a big handful of it would fall out...

  If it's just about being heartbroken over money, that's not the worst part. What's most regrettable is that Wu Xiu, a rising star with such a bright future, was actually ruined like this!

  This is his biggest capital to compete with Sony!

  Their existence and popularity are not just about the huge income brought by their annual albums and commercial performances, but also provide a stable foothold for the entire Chinese music industry in the market.

  For a major record company like Hua Ge, this foothold is crucial, it's a matter of life and death!

  But what can he say now?

  At first, he insisted on excluding Li Qian from the division, but his opinion was that even Du Xiaoming had advised him at the time, and even said "As for how to make Wu Xing Wu Su develop in the future, I'm not as good as Li Qian". He repeatedly advised him to think thrice, and Wu Xing Wu Su made a big fuss, forcing him to finally take out some rewards to barely suppress the temper of those few girls. So, now that things have come to this, who can he blame besides himself?

  Now that I think about it, if we had just given the 2% reward to Li Qian at the beginning, everyone would have continued to cooperate and make money together, and Wu Xing Wusu wouldn't have made a fuss either. Wouldn't everything have been fine?

  …………

  These things, these thoughts, and the unspoken regrets were like venomous snakes that gnawed at Huang Dazhong's heart every moment, but at this time, despite a thousand regrets, his expression in front of so many subordinates was just a slight furrowing of his brow and a brief pause in his speech.

  Then he continued: "So, Old Du, let's not mention responsibility for now. What do you think, is there a good way to handle this?"

  Du Xiaoming nodded and said slowly: "To say a way... from where the disease was created, start treating it from there!"

  Huang Dazhong's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he heard the words, and he continued: "As far as I know, Liao Liao originally signed a contract with Changsheng Records for only two albums, which have already been released. That means she is basically a free agent now! And her relationship with Li Qian... is extremely good!"

  Upon hearing this sentence, Huang Dazhong's eyes suddenly lit up.

  ***

  5,000 words, first update!

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