Chapter 56: MS's Invitation
What's the concept of 130 million yen? Most people may not have a clear idea about the exchange rate between Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, nor do they know how much one yen is worth. Here's a simple conversion method: directly convert yen to yuan, but it's troublesome because it's not an integer. However, the exchange rate between yen and US dollars has been stable at around 100/1 for many years. So, 130 million yen converted to US dollars is approximately $130,000. Then, if you multiply that by the 2000 exchange rate of RMB 8.2 to USD, Zhou Xiao discovered that in China, he had become a millionaire!
"Not just a millionaire, but sales of millions in the future... Ah... I'm going to become a billionaire?! Even if it's only in yen... But because of this one song... A billionaire?! Autumn... Akimoto Yasushi must have made a fortune in his past life, damn it!"
There is a fat man in the Chinese music scene who once said that there are many excellent lyricists in the Chinese music scene, but there are no good composers. He also gave an example: Song Ci has been passed down for thousands of years, but the melody has not been passed down.
It can be said that although there are indeed cultural factors at play, the fact that Chinese songwriters and composers cannot get much money under incomplete copyright rules is also one of the reasons.
But Japan has done a good job in this regard, even to the point of being overly meticulous. Lyricists receive 5-6% royalties, composers receive the same, singers receive 2%, and arrangers receive 1-3%. These 15% profits, combined with karaoke revenue sharing, TV usage fees, other artists' cover versions, and other expenses, add up to support countless lyricists and composers who may have only written one song in their lifetime, allowing them to live comfortably without worrying about food or clothing.
In this state, one program notice after another was sent to Zhang Hu's hands, and some programs were not even suitable for him to refuse before the time arrived.
For example, "Music Station".
What is "Music Station"? It's a long-running music program that has been on the air since 1986 and was still going strong in 2014, when Akashiya Sanma hosted it! This show isn't easy to get on, especially for many Japanese minor singers, small groups, and idols who don't have enough connections. Being able to appear on "MS" even once is already a major goal for them! And it's not just limited to Japan; even big stars from Europe and America make sure to appear on "MS" when they come to Japan to promote their work.
Originally, you thought that sales volume was not the only criterion for selection, qualifications and timing were also important, but at the same time, public opinion is also very important. The popularity of Zhou Xiao's song, rather than saying it's a popular song, is more like a social phenomenon. People are flocking to it, apart from the excellence of this song, the label "currently popular, most popular now" is also important! With this popular label, after Lang Huadai expressed that CD sales don't need to go through themselves and can be replenished by themselves, "Small Love" finally started its rapid sales journey!
《MS》 was released early, and the announcement of Zhou Xiao's participation added fuel to the fire. When July 2000 arrived, after the fourth week of single release, Japanese music fans found that the song "Little Love" occupied the top spot on the Ori Chart every day! 200,000, 300,000, 400,000! The sales of this song skyrocketed with its topicality, making people dizzy just by looking at the numbers!
And finally, Zhou Xiao will also stand on the MS stage that all Japanese musicians dream of.
According to the previous contract, after MS sent an invitation, Zhang Xiaohao called Zhou Xiao to the company and handed him a program list of recent invitations.
After flipping through, Zhou Xiao discovered that this not only included music programs like MS, but also some variety shows. These popular variety shows seemed to want to capture the popularity of his song, which is why they invited him. Some others were live performances at small theaters. The Chinese entertainment circle is quite special - if a singer wants to make money, compared to royalties and advertising, commercial performances are a very important source of income. However, in Japan, such performance opportunities are not common. Singers, apart from making music, mostly perform on TV and at concerts, even if there are live performances, most are small theaters. As for music festivals? Those are things that unpopular singers participate in. Popular singers basically won't go, because the majority of music fans in the industry like niche music. If you're popular, it means you've gone mainstream, and the mainstream music market is not what music festival fans like.
"Except for MS, all the others are just ordinary invitations. Not to mention our company, even other companies, most people would decline such an invitation." said Osamu Nagata.
"Is there only one MS in the music group?" Zhou Xiao asked.
"There are other options, but I think it's not necessary to appear on many more, because originally you didn't have any publicity at the beginning, and now if you suddenly appear on many TV programs, it would give people a feeling of lowering your image, so just appearing on one MS should be enough to cause a stir." said Osamu Nagasawa.
"Alright, I'll go with MS then." said Zhou Xiao.
"By the way, it's been a month since this song was released. Have you considered the pace of releasing singles?" Nagato Daikou asked.
Rhythm?
"That's right, how many singles are you planning to release in a year? One? Two? Three?" Nagato Daikou asked.
Zhou Xiao's path is that of a creative singer-songwriter. For such artists, having two original singles in a year is already quite good. Unlike Hamasaki Ayumi, who has people supplying her with songs, many times just writing the lyrics herself, and even having countless people wanting to help write the lyrics, she can release many singles in a year.
"Ah... let's release another one within the year." Zhou Xiao said, his mind was filled with many musical ideas, but not all of them could become popular due to their quality. Some songs had great musicality but didn't necessarily become hits. Many songs that sold well did so because of the singer, like Nakajima Miyuki's upcoming single "Hoshi no Sekai" in July 2000. Although it debuted at number one on the weekly sales chart, it didn't even make it into the top 100 for the year 2000.
But in the '02 New Year's Eve show, Nakajima Miyuki surprisingly performed this song. Although countless young Japanese singers consider performing on Kohaku Utagassen a dream come true, Nakajima Miyuki didn't need such an event anymore. Her appearance at the '02 Kohaku was her only one. And with just that single performance, she brought "Ue o Muite Arukō" to 11th place on the '03 Oricon yearly chart!
This is the charm of a great god.
But for Zhou Xiao, there are also many problems. First of all, one problem is that now it's the year 2000, and in this year and the next few years, the Japanese music scene will basically be a stage where female singers fight each other. To be specific, it should be Hamasaki Ayumi fighting alone against Kuraki Mai, Utada Hikaru, Koda Kumi, etc... Both sides take turns singing, from 1999 they started monopolizing the annual sales, until 2005, when they finally handed over this highest honor to others.
However, at that time, the only ones who flopped were Kuraki Mai and Utada Hikaru, while Hamasaki Ayumi was still able to fight for a few more years, until she defeated Koda Kumi in 2007 and then gradually began to exit the forefront of the stage.
And then after that, it's going to be Akane and AKB's world...
It can be seen that although she has been named with many other female singers, Ayumi Hamasaki's strength is indeed stronger than the others.
In this state, Zhou Xiao doesn't think that her sales volume can surpass Ayaka Hamasaki who has the entire entertainment industry revolving around her. The goal she set for herself is more about being a topic of conversation rather than music itself, so in the future, she will also try to lean towards being a topic of conversation rather than getting involved in the songstress wars.
"Mr. Zhang Hu, if it's a single that isn't so rock-influenced, would that be okay?" Zhou Xiao suddenly asked.
"Isn't it rock?" Nagai Taiga was taken aback.
