Chapter Thirty-Six: Misconceptions

  Just as Sakai Izumi and Kawashima thought the conversation was about to end, Zhou Xiao suddenly remembered something and said: "By the way, can this first single be made into an underground single?"

  "Underground? Why would you think that?" Kawashima was perplexed by Zhou Xiao's idea.

  "Because..." Zhou Xiao couldn't say it out loud, but in his mind, since this single was a hit last time and sold over 2 million copies just through karaoke, if he were to do it himself, it wouldn't sell less either. In a situation where sales are almost guaranteed, bringing in the production company and distribution company to split the profits would clearly be giving money away.

  "It seems that you, little brother, have extraordinary confidence in this song." Sakai Izumi chuckled lightly, stirring the ice cubes in her glass with a straw while savoring her words. Her demeanor caused Zhou Xiao and Kawashima to pause, taken aback by her beauty. Although Sakai Izumi was over thirty years old and rarely appeared on TV, she remained stunningly beautiful, with a youthful appearance that belied her age. The passing years had seemingly slowed down her aging process, leaving no wrinkles around her eyes or eyebrows, even without makeup. Her radiant complexion made her look like a girl in her early twenties. With the confidence of being an exceptional singer and the maturity that came with it, she exuded a captivating aura, making her chuckle seem both elegant and innocent.

  "Ugh, why are you looking at me like that." Sakai Izumi also felt the intense gaze of the big boy in front of her and lowered her head in embarrassment.

  “Cough, cough...” Zhou Xiao awkwardly coughed and said: “Quan Shui jie, I'm not being arrogant, but I think this song... if it doesn't go through the company's operations and just spreads underground, it might not be bad. As long as it can get on KTV, relying on word of mouth, it should also be able to achieve pretty good sales.”

  "Hmm... Mr. Zhou Xiao, I still have the qualifications to say this, but actually your idea has some mistakes." said Kawashima Dao.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I suppose you think that if you release an underground album, you'll lose a lot of channels for merchants to share the profits, but things aren't that simple," Kawashima said.

  "What does that mean?" Zhou Xiao asked, Kawashima's words were actually what Zhou Xiao had been thinking in his heart, but Zhou Xiao didn't directly admit it and instead asked back.

  "In fact, things are simple. If a record company is involved, when a CD is put on the shelf for sale, there are roughly several companies that split the profits, including record stores, record labels, music production companies and brokerage firms, as well as the author and performer of a song."

  "That's right." Zhou Xiao nodded, this basic knowledge, he still knew.

  "Generally speaking, the song's author and performer take up about 15% of the total share, while the remaining profit is shared among the other three parties. When an indie single album is released, most of them still need to be consigned to a record label to distribute it to record stores across Japan. In this case, although there are no music production companies and talent agencies taking a cut of the profits, the record label and record store will inevitably demand more profit from the indie album's issuer, after all, you're releasing an indie album, and the record store side needs to take on more risk of loss."

  Moreover, it's not easy to get your song into KTV systems either. Songs from regular channels have record companies as guarantors, so they don't encounter much obstruction when being added to the system. But if you're an underground artist, forget about royalties - just be grateful that the KTV company doesn't charge you a fee for adding your song to their system.

  So, for various reasons, although it seems that going underground saves some channels, the money saved is not much more. Otherwise, wouldn't those singers all rush to terminate their contracts with the company and become underground singers after they became famous? Moreover, without our professional one-stop service, many things need to be done by yourself, just now when we were chatting, I heard that you seem to have many things you want to do, in this case, will you have time to run these things?

  "And most importantly, we are the ones who do Japan's rock music best. This song only has a rough melody for now, how do you plan to arrange it?" Kawa Island finally said the most important point.

  Although he had a deep understanding of the Japanese entertainment industry in his previous life, once he delved deeper into the secrets and inner workings of the industry, Zhou Xiao became unclear. He then realized that releasing underground singles was often not something singers wanted to do, but rather an act of desperation. Moreover, the issue of composition also caught his attention.

  The lyrics and composition of a song are important, but the arrangement also plays a significant role. Unlike composing, which requires talent and inspiration, arranging requires a person's musical sense and experience. Having thousands of songs in one's head or playing guitar for over a decade is not enough to guarantee good arrangements. However, with the help of top-notch arrangers like Akio Minakami, Takeshi Yamashita, or Daisuke Ikeda, this song would surely shine brighter than Zhou Xiao's past works.

  After the breakup, Zhou Xiao walked back home in a daze. He didn't pay much attention to the contract with the company. The main reason for this was still his encounter with Sakai Izumi's sister.

  After returning home, he even lost interest in writing, but he also knew that if you don't move forward, you'll fall behind. So, no matter how unwilling he was, he still forced himself to write enough to meet his daily minimum quota, and finally put down his pen with a sigh, staring blankly at the ceiling.

  He was lost in thought, pondering a simple question: should he call Sakai Izumi or not...

  For him, meeting Sakai Izumi was a truly astonishing and fortunate thing. As an ordinary otaku from Beijing, China, even if he had gone to Tokyo, he might have occasionally met some celebrity, but Sakai Izumi was someone he would never have met in his lifetime. From this point alone, he wanted to cherish and make the most of this opportunity to defy fate.

  But Zhou Xiao didn't know that, in Tokyo, Sakai Izumi was also like this, she held her mobile phone, the screen showed a boy's number, but the dial button hadn't been pressed yet.

  It wasn't love at first sight. In Sakai Izumi's mind, besides that boy, what resonated more was the words of that old Taoist.

  "Forty years old? Half a person? Is he... really? If that's the case, how can I escape my fate?" Even someone as calm and collected as her couldn't remain indifferent in the face of life and death.

  It's also because of this reason that she really wants to call Zhou Xiao, because she really doesn't want to lose the person she has finally found.

  As for Zhou Xiao, if he knew that although it was only their second meeting, Sakai Izumi actually cared so much about his words, even if the real reason had nothing to do with his own charm, he would still be very happy.

  "Uh..." Zhou Xiao struggled for a while and finally sent the message with trembling hands, still not having the courage to call directly.

  And his hand holding the phone had already sweated in just a few seconds, making his phone all wet and soggy, it can be seen that he sent this message with great courage.

  Sakai Izumi, who had been holding her phone the whole time, was startled by a sudden incoming text message. When she saw the name on the screen, a faint smile like a sunny day finally appeared on her face: "Little devil, you're quite perceptive. If I were to call you when I get home, what would that be about?"

  With a relaxed mood, I looked up steadily.