Chapter 55: How Much is Ten Million Yen?
"Mr. Nagata, this is Yamamoto in charge of external relations. I just received a message from Ori who's in charge of sales statistics. Nakajima's 'Small Love' has suddenly started to grow in popularity against the odds this week! Except for some CD shops with poor locations in Tokyo, most stores have already sold out their first batch of CDs! Do we need to restock?"
Chang Hu was fortunate to still be able to speak, and it was impossible not to make money. If he really dared to suppress Zhou Xiao, he would inevitably cause the entire company to become disheartened and disunited. So, even if he was unwilling, he could only say: "Of course we'll continue to supply goods, the second batch will be 200,000... no, 1 million copies!"
This time, the large order was unexpectedly not suppressed. Originally, it was the second batch, he thought 20,000 copies would be enough for sales, but since this song became popular, making 100,000 copies didn't feel too unrealistic. The key is that if many of these 100,000 copies don't sell out later on, it will be even easier to handle, and the inventory backlog will also make Zhou Xiao see the difference between himself and other pop singers.
"Are there any recommendations from famous musicians......" Nagao Taiga didn't know, now Zhou Xiao's popularity, actually has nothing to do with Ono Rikko's recommendation, selling out several thousand CDs, basically all of them were brought about by Murakawa's side.
But sometimes things are just so coincidental, if it's only the trendy wave brought up by Village G, there's a big possibility that it won't be able to make the trend truly popular. If Zhou Xiao's CD supply is sufficient, then even when the CDs sell out, that might be the end of it. In that state, it's very possible that this song's huge popularity will drag on for a long time just like last time with Zhou Xiao.
But at this time, the vast majority of CD stores had sold out of Zhou Xiao's CDs, and Ono Rina's recommendation had just been released. As a result, when other musicians and reporters from various media outlets with keen senses of smell rushed to various CD stores, they were told that Zhou Xiao's CDs had already been sold out!
At this time, everyone naturally felt that the trend had really started, and Zhou Xiao's CD was hard to come by!
What is the media? News, sensationalism, and topicality are their lifeblood. When reporters call back to their own TV stations, the people in charge of each station hear that not even a CD copy remains, all Japanese media are looking for this CD, what will they do?
Reporters are all news-hungry, and soon, one after another, manuscripts were generated under their pens and transmitted back to the TV station!
Soon, reporters not only interviewed managers of various CD stores but even called Nagata Hiroshi directly!
"Zhou Xiao's single is actually just a test, we were originally going to decide how many CDs to add based on market reaction." As for the reporters' interviews, Nagato Daikou could only say that, pinching his nose in acknowledgement.
"How many CDs will be released in the second batch?" a reporter asked.
"A hundred thousand... sheets." Nagato Hiroshi said reluctantly.
Chang Hu Da Xing is very clear, when you're on fire, everyone will gather around to praise you, and with 1.2 million followers, it's likely that tonight's show will mention the big hand pushing new people under...
But he can't even retort that he doesn't want the people under him to sell CDs, can he? Is that possible? Now he's actually starting to hope that Japanese music fans won't be so easily influenced by trends.
Being introduced a new male artist, the sharp-tongued Kiyoshi Maekawa openly boasted that almost all CD stores in Japan couldn't find this newcomer's CD! If only one of these three things had happened, perhaps the momentum of "Small Love" would have stopped at a relatively ordinary popular song category. But when the three things happened simultaneously, people suddenly found that everyone around them was talking about, saying, and seeing such news, such topics, and the Japanese people's unparalleled herd mentality finally burst out!
Can't buy CDs? Nor does anyone know who found it, anyway, very quickly, people in Tokyo all knew that this song was available at karaoke, and for a time, all the karaoke shops in Tokyo were bustling with customers, with an increase of 20% compared to usual. Don't think 20% is small, the Tokyo metropolitan area has over 30 million people, and Japanese people love singing karaoke, this industry is absolutely huge in Tokyo, having a 20% increase means that within just one or two days, all karaoke shops saw an increase of tens of millions.
The production of the CD was now very quick and easy, and the packaging of the CD was also very simple. The plastic CD cases were already available, and the printed materials only included a single-sided CD cover and back cover, with nothing inside. In less than two days, 100,000 copies of the CD were shipped to record stores all over Japan.
"What if Xiaoxiao's 1 million CDs are not enough?" Everyone in the CD scene, including those on the Ori ranking chart, asked when handing over to Takashi Okada.
"If it's still not enough, then don't bother going through me, just make up for whatever is lacking!" said Osamu Nagata.
What seems to be a compliment is actually nothing, Chang Hu Da Xing doesn't think Zhou Xiao's CD can really sell over 100,000 copies. In his opinion, a newcomer who has just debuted has no way to resist the trend, and can only follow the trend without being able to add fuel to it. Under such circumstances, Zhou Xiao will not be able to go too far.
But he clearly underestimated the character of the Japanese and the potential of this song, after the third week of Zhou Xiao's single release, most music fans in Japan found a very surprising name on the Ori sales chart.
Who is this? "Little Love"? Sales are actually... 100,000 and 1,200 copies?! According to the data, this single, which was released three weeks ago, took second place on the weekly chart this week! Only after the Jeniuses idol kinkikids who had a connection with Zhou Xiao!
It's another day of sales announcements, and Zhou Xiao hasn't been to the company for a few days, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know his popularity is slowly rising. When he walks into the company, you can clearly feel it - the gazes around him have changed, the mocking and onlooker-like gazes from last week or two weeks ago are gone, replaced by shock, fawning, and flattery!
With a hint of pride, Zhou Xiao sat down in the same position as he had for the past two weeks. There was still some time before the sales figures were announced, and during this period, Zhou Xiao had been anxious. But this time, he could finally bask in the admiring glances from those around him, savoring the sense of accomplishment they brought.
"Have some tea!" A very young and pretty employee in the company brought a cup of tea over to herself, Zhou Xiao was slightly stunned, last week she didn't have such good treatment.
Comfortably sipping tea, before long, Zhang Huahu walked out of his office with a piece of paper in hand, announcing Zhou Xiao's music sales for this week. The single-week sales of 990,000 copies may not be impressive to Kuraki Mai, but everyone at the company knew that even now, sales of one million copies would be considered an excellent achievement for a newcomer. What was even more frightening was that Zhou Xiao had just started with "Little Love", and no one knew how long this whirlwind would last!
"Zhou Xiao, this is your share for the past few weeks. Since you're still taking music lessons, a portion of the money has already been deducted, and the rest is all on this card. Take it." Zhang Huada walked up to Zhou Xiao's front and handed over a bank card.
"Then thank you very much." Zhou Xiao seemed calm as he took the bank card, but in fact his heart was overjoyed, he finally had money.
After barely holding on in the company for a while, Zhou Xiao finally managed to extricate himself from inside. The first thing he did after coming out was almost what everyone would do at this time.
That's right, go to the bank and check how much money you've made!
Trembling, she inserted her bank card into the ATM, and after a second or two of reading, the number that came out made Zhou Xiao's eyes widen.
13 million! One thousand three hundred million yen!
"Writing songs in Japan is so profitable!?"
Although things are not that simple, he still has a large tax to pay off. However, Zhou Xiao doesn't care about this point because he quickly thought of another thing - the popularity of this song has just started, and 13 million yuan might only be one-tenth or even one-twentieth of its final sales!
