Chapter 6: A Set of Pre-sales (Part 2) (Seeking Recommendations)

  Power outage, came twice at midnight and noon, but still didn't finish writing when it went out again. This has been happening a lot lately, don't know if it's the line or what. This is yesterday's second update. Since I didn't get a recommended spot this week, the next chapter will be released 6 hours later today (can go to the homepage and collect some views), and the second update will be placed tomorrow morning, so as not to have another power outage at night and make me feel sad...

  Thank you for the rewards from Beifeng Qianqi, Lü Xiǎo Yuè Mù Bái and Wu Yǔ de Mèn Sāo classmates. Thank you for the evaluation vote from Lü Xiǎo Yuè Mù Bái classmate.

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  Similar views have been emerging in several fan clubs, with many people expressing their concerns in replies.

  This is largely a side effect of Ahn Hyun-ho's rise to fame, as most of his fan base consists of fans who were converted from the movie "Sorry, I Love You", these people are used to his mature and weathered image, they can't imagine him singing and dancing.

  But this also indirectly shows the loyalty of his fan base. If it were an ordinary singer, no matter how they changed their style, there wouldn't be anyone worrying and discussing it. Even if they were official fans, at most they would just have a detached attitude. Success is certainly welcome, but failure isn't regrettable either, at worst they would just give up supporting them.

  The music scene is the cruelest place in the entertainment circle, with updates and replacements happening too quickly. Basically, every now and then, some new faces emerge, while some old faces retreat from the intense competition and struggle.

  No matter how much discussion there is, before the album is officially released, it's all just talk, and you can only know what it's like after listening to it. Many fans are still looking forward to it, especially the first single "1分1秒" (One Minute One Second). A few months ago, a short audio clip was released, despite the poor sound quality due to the simple recording equipment, but it still captivated many sentimental and hip-hop music lovers. Since last winter, when personal homepages started becoming popular, many people have been using it as their homepage background music and haven't taken it down yet.

  That night, SM Entertainment confirmed through A-JAX's official fanclub that their mini-album would be released soon, and not long after, they once again announced it on the homepage of their website, revealing more details including the album name and first concept photos.

  This mini-album is named "Memory", matching the content of the two title tracks, symbolizing memories and nostalgia for past emotions. The concept photo is a picture taken when Ahn Jun-hyuk filmed the MV for "Unsetting Sun", a dark and humid alleyway with steam rising, several rusty old downspouts hanging from the wall to the ground, weak light extending from far above, Ahn Jun-hyuk standing in the middle of the alley wearing a black hoodie, his upper face covered by the shadow of the hood, giving off a gloomy atmosphere.

  That gloomy and mysterious intuitive impression made this version of the stills, once released, immediately crazy forwarded by fans.

  On the second day, the official website opened a pre-order channel. The pre-ordered album and the regular version (A version) to be released next month are slightly different. There are gifts that usually come with pre-orders, such as posters, small decorations, etc. Fans who pre-ordered will also receive an additional transparent DVD disc containing the MV and behind-the-scenes footage of the first title track "1 Minute 1 Second". Except for not including the second title track "Unfalling Sun", which is the same as the A version, it allows fans to experience the repackage version (which can be considered the final version, with both title tracks and MVs included) a month in advance. Moreover, when the repackage version is released a month later, fans can also participate in Ahn Jun-hee's autograph session at Myeong-dong Lotte Department Store by presenting the DVD disc and pre-order poster.

  These measures are naturally the efforts made by the company to stimulate first-week sales and reduce inventory costs. Putting an album on sale is not just a matter of sending it to music stores, as there are so many records on a shelf in a music store, only those that are placed more prominently will be more conducive to sales. This is a subtle form of promotion, if it were a popular singer, then it would be fine, but for a newcomer like An Jun-he, the album would need to be promoted by the company to get a prominent position, even for a record industry giant like S.M., in some respects, they also have to compromise with retailers and follow their rules.

  However, if the pre-sales are good enough to give retailers an impression that the album will be a hot seller, they will naturally offer better positioning, and at that time, the company can save a lot of money.

  Of course, it's not just a commercial consideration, but also An Jun He's way of thanking his fans for their support. Being able to pre-order the album before its release, even if it's just paying a deposit, is probably something only die-hard fans would do.

  At 24 o'clock in the morning, Ahn Jun-hee, who arrived at the company very early, also personally confirmed the news that pre-sales would start today on several other fanclubs, especially "Ahn's Little Pavilion". At this time, these fanclubs were already boiling, and his post was just released for a short while, with hundreds of replies, and the fans' attitude was very positive.

  After all, the heat of "Sorry I Love You" has not completely dissipated, and in recent months, apart from holding a few meet-and-greets in Japan, he has rarely appeared domestically. Fans who yearn to understand and get close to him are not satisfied with his occasional brief appearances on the official website or fan club. The release of this album is just in time.

  However, there is still some worry in the company.

  At noon, Quan Baogen came over and talked to An Junhe about the pre-sale, saying: "The company printed 200,000 DVDs this time, hoping they can all be given away!" When he said this, his tone was not quite reassuring.

  An Junhe was taken aback by the words, "20,000?" This number represents that the company predicts his album pre-sales will be within 20,000?

  He wasn't surprised that the number was too many, but rather too few. So far, the popularity brought to him by the drama "Against" has not been counted among other fan clubs, and only the official club's registered fans have exceeded 900,000. These fans may not be able to pre-order all the albums, but it is estimated that there will still be one-third of the share, plus the promotional effect, but unexpectedly, the company's estimate is so low.

  Hearing the surprise in his tone, Guan Bao roughly guessed what he was thinking and let out a bitter laugh: "You've never calculated the composition of your fan base, have you?"

  After hearing this, An Junhe furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before suddenly realizing.

  That's right, his fan base is indeed very large, even more powerful and intimidating than Rain was at the beginning. 3 years ago when Rain debuted, he claimed to have 100,000 fans, but anyone knew that number had some water in it, far less than his actual 90,000 registered fans. However, most of his fans are movie fans, and only a small portion of them became fans because they liked his songs.

  Although they are all fans, the areas of fondness and support are different. Especially albums are different from TV dramas. Watching TV dramas does not require payment, any fan can provide viewing support for free, but albums need to be paid for. This mini-album has two title tracks and MVs, and is released in two versions: A version costs 9,000 won, while the repackage version costs 12,000 won.

  The company is uncertain whether movie fans are willing to pay for it, so they lowered their expected sales.

  Considering this point, An Junhe's heart was also uncertain. He could confidently say that he would get good results, and the main song he carefully selected had been fermenting online for several months, but there might be unexpected factors at play. The specific outcome was still unknown, and it seemed that tomorrow's statistics would reveal the answer.

  Quan Baogen also seemed to have similar thoughts, seeing him fall silent and stop speaking, patted his shoulder comfortingly: "Don't worry, this is just a preliminary estimate, even if it's lower, it doesn't represent the formal sales being bad. Your song '1 minute 1 second', even the music critics from 'Popular Music Voice' at that time couldn't help but praise, you should have confidence in yourself..."

  Although these words are comforting, he is probably the one who has the least faith in them.

  An Junhe couldn't help but smile as he listened to him ramble on again, knowing it was his habit when he was nervous. He nodded and didn't say anything else, but the anxiety in his heart still lingered, causing him to be distracted throughout the morning's practice.

  The company will arrange for him to appear on the comeback stage on Friday, March 4th. At this time, the only music show that can be boarded is KBS's "Music Bank". In fact, it was not the company's choice, but rather KBS actively sought after it. "Sorry, I Love You" is still creating profits for KBS, and as one of the main creators who presented this end-of-year gift, Ahn Jun-hee is now highly favored by them - although both parties had a disagreement over copyright issues in private before, business is like that, one second they can quarrel to the point of being red-faced, seemingly about to tear their faces apart and fight to the death, but the next second they may be shoulder-to-shoulder and harmonious. What's more, Ahn Jun-hee was very tactful at the time, even if he asked for a high price, at least he didn't sell any copyrights to competitors.

  This afternoon, the company's well-planned publicity plan began to take effect step by step.

  TV, newspapers, internet and other channels have started the first wave of promotion. Around 10 o'clock, the 2-minute preheated version MV of "1 Minute 1 Second" also began to be broadcast on major music stations.

  The MV plot is not complicated, it's just that as the song progresses, the reverse shots are used to set off the lyrics' sorrowful atmosphere of commemoration and nostalgia. The only highlight is probably the reverse shot effect of time flowing backwards, everything is proceeding in reverse, which is also the focus of the MV promotion. After watching the MV with Lee Hyeok-jae, who was practicing with him, in the rest room for a while, Lee Hyeok-jae gave him a thumbs up: "So cool! You can even spit out bananas from your mouth..."

  An Junhe slapped his forehead, "I knew you were up to no good!"

  "Heh heh." Li Hezai scratched his head and then said, "But seriously, the filming was really cool. I wonder what 'The Unfalling Sun' will be like?" His words were filled with anticipation.

  "Ah..." An Junhe smiled reluctantly, he knew that the infatuation wasn't directed at him, but rather at Hyejae who had appeared as a backup dancer in the "Unsetting Sun" MV, but this guy was probably going to be disappointed.

  He had already seen it before. At that time, the lighting engineer concentrated most of the light on him, so He Zai and several other accompanying dancers only had a vague outline and couldn't see their faces...

  An Junhe thought about it and looked at He Zai's expectant expression, feeling a little sympathetic. If he saw the MV, would he be so angry that he would strangle the lighting engineer to death?

  A similar funny idea emerged in his mind, and the depression of his mood was slightly alleviated. When he returned home at noon, he instructed the driver, Yuan Cheng: "Yuan Cheng, find a video store."

  No matter how nervous he was, after all, he wasn't a person who was used to evading setbacks. He wanted to take a good look at what pre-sales were like in reality.