Chapter 48 First Week Sales

  Perhaps because she already knew the results for this week, Maki Kawahara didn't show up at the company today, and only Zhou Xiao was present to hear the company's employees announce the sales figures of the two people who were issued a challenge this week.

  Zhou Xiao, "Small Love", sold 96 copies this week...

  Hehe... An employee who heard the announcement of numbers couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Originally, Zhou Xiao's inactivity within the company was already quite embarrassing, but the final sales announcement made his embarrassment even more unbearable. 96 copies? 96 copies?! Perhaps this is the lowest first-week sales since Ori's establishment. To think that every new single is displayed prominently in CD stores, and when the week passes, perhaps Kuraki Mai and Hamasaki Ayumi's singles will be placed on a secondary shelf, but Zhou Xiao's single probably won't see the light of day again.

  Even many people suspect that these 96 copies might be the final sales volume of Zhou Xiao's single.

  Even Zhou Xiao himself couldn't help but think for a moment, should he tell his boss to arrange some singing activities for him?

  Although he was prepared for the sales of the first week, the result that not even a hundred copies were sold still made him extremely disappointed. Even when walking home, he had some dejection, which directly led to him walking with his head down when arriving at the apartment entrance, and he didn't even notice Yui Kowashi who was walking nearby.

  To know, in the past few days after knowing that Ogura Yuko lived next door, Zhou Xiao had thought of every way to get to know her, but because she couldn't find a suitable method, she never got to know her.

  While Ogura Yuko also saw Zhou Xiao, a somewhat dejected boy walking not far in front of him and entering the room next door. Ogura Yuko didn't mind and wasn't curious about this matter at all, it was just one of the most ordinary small things in her life.

  Zhou Xiao returned home and resumed his own work, which is now in the final stages of completion. It is expected that in another day or two, he will be able to deliver it to Zhou Wen Chun.

  The work was half done when the phone rang.

  "Hello? It's me." Zhou Xiao opened the phone, and the pleasant voice of Sakai Izumi came from the other end.

  "Quan Shui sister, aren't you supposed to be recording today? How do you have time to call me? I'm almost done, and when the time comes, you'll be my first reader!" Although her mood wasn't great, Zhou Xiao still made an effort to change her tone and spoke in a very relaxed voice.

  "Kawashima told me... your single..."

  "Single? Ha, it's expected, this kind of thing is too normal. It's already not bad that they can sell this much without any promotion at all. And I wasn't really paying attention to the CD store's first week sales anyway. As long as KTV has my song's data, I believe there will definitely be people who can appreciate it!" Zhou Xiao continued to say in a relaxed tone.

  "But... " Sakai Izumi trailed off, she also understood the rules. Her first single had sold only in the twenties for a week, similar to Zhou Xiao's current performance. The sales of that single didn't have much growth after a week, people tend to prefer new products over old songs.

  "Otherwise... I'll take you to promote it, gather the band and see if there's a suitable music festival in Tokyo that doesn't require any qualifications, even an underground band can go on." said Sakai Izumi.

  "Publicize it?" In Zhou Xiao's mind, a scene suddenly appeared. At the music festival, another new band came on stage. The lead singer was unknown, the bassist was unknown, the guitarist was a girl wearing a low-profile duck tongue hat, her face couldn't be seen, and the drummer was also unknown. Such a band began to sing completely unfamiliar songs.

  But for Zhou Xiao, when a song ends, what promotional effect can it have? One appearance, I'm afraid that the vast majority of people in attendance will forget quickly after listening to it. The only possibility that could make him popular in that setting is probably just one thing.

  That's when the female guitarist took off her hat and let everyone see that she was Sakai Izumi.

  But... Senpai Izumi originally didn't like being in front of the camera, and she disliked this kind of publicity. She would definitely hate it if she did something like that. What's even more frightening is that since she rarely appears on camera and has little exposure, what if Senpai Izumi takes off her hat and still no one recognizes her... Wouldn't that be even more embarrassing?

  As for the method that can ignite 100%, there is actually one, which is to let Sen Water sister pull down her old face and change Besu's hand to Inaba Hiroshi, or Sen Water sister does not go on stage, let Kuraki Mai do guitar...

  But... even if the sister really went to tell these two, Zhou Xiao probably wouldn't agree anyway? Because this is really a huge face-saving issue, so big that Zhou Xiao can't bear it.

  So, in response to Sakai Izumi's proposal, Zhou Xiao replied without hesitation: "No, sister, it's not necessary, I believe this song will definitely become popular!"

  "Ah...... what's the point of this again." Sakai Izumi said with a somewhat helpless shake of her head.

  "This is my small persistence."

  While Zhou Xiao was chatting with Sakai Izumi, various things were happening all over the Tokyo metropolitan area.

  A certain CD store in Shimokitazawa welcomed a big customer, the famous music critic Ono Rikko. This 47-year-old woman has columns in several music magazines and is known for her sharp tongue, giving off an old maid vibe. She's absolutely a rare flower in Japan's music criticism world with many readers, and not many people dare to offend her.

  While Ono Natsumi was buying CDs, she also had the demeanor of a music critic: "I'll take one of each of last week's and this week's releases!"

  Those who make a living by speaking ill of others are not ordinary people.

  The staff at the CD store acted quickly and several people were dispatched to gather the CDs that Kojima wanted.

  "Is that all?" asked Ono Rinko.

  "That's all, it's finished!" said the manager.

  "Let's wrap it up then... Uh? Wait a minute." said Ono Rikko.

  "What's wrong?"

  "It doesn't seem to be complete, I saw on the Ori chart that the new single of Daitei has a total of 30 CDs, but these three stacks of CDs are obviously missing one CD, no matter what, it can't make up 30 CDs." said Ono Rikko.

  "Is it? Give us two minutes, we'll go find him right away!" The manager said hastily.

  Although Ono Rinko is just a music critic, her influence can still affect the sales of CDs. If she were to write in her column that XX CD store's work is not serious, it's possible that their sales would decrease by 20%, and they might even be fired directly.

  After a flurry of commotion, a staff member finally figured out which CD was missing and ran to the manager and Kiyoshiro Matsumoto, saying: "It seems that the missing one is a new artist named Zhou Xiao's CD. There was no promotion or news about it, and our store only received five copies, so under the circumstances where there were no sales at all last week, other staff members sent the CDs to the warehouse..."

  "Is it just a newcomer? Hasn't been promoted at all? Ms. Ono, what do you think in this situation..." The manager turned around and asked.

  "Unknown newcomer? Dare to release a single? Hmph! Find out! I want to find out! Nowadays young people really have no humility at all! I'd like to hear what potential he has that makes the music company release his single! If not, even if he's the Prime Minister's son, I'll scold him in my column until he regrets releasing a single!"

  "I want everyone to know, don't underestimate music!" said Ono Rikko with a bit of sharpness.

  "It's all over for that kid." Upon hearing Ono Rinko say this, all the employees who heard her couldn't help but think.

  In their eyes, Zhou Xiao was already finished because Ono Rinko was the standard queen of sarcasm in the industry. Especially now that she was in her 40s and going through menopause, with hormonal imbalances, if she encountered those special days every month, Zhou Xiao would probably be scolded to tears just by reading her column!

  This is the influence that music critics, those smooth-talking guys, have!