Chapter 234: Music War
Chapter 234: Music War
Ah Lok sat in the office and put a vinyl record on the record player. He hung up the needle, a flash of electricity passed by, and the five-speaker stand-up speaker played Zhou Huimin's sweet singing.
Yin Zhaotang was wearing a suit, sitting on the sofa, crossing his legs and humming along.
"Looking back slowly, the night that once belonged to each other, Honghong is still you, the sunshine that gave me my heart"
"Even if thousands of songs are sung in the future, they will float along my distant road."
"Even if there are thousands of stars in the future, they will be brighter than the moon tonight"
Ah Le came to the table with a smile on his face to make tea, without disturbing the boss who was immersed in singing along.
After Tianyu Brokerage was established, it hired a lawyer, an accountant and several assistants to be responsible for basic contract work in the company.
There are already more than a dozen employees, but they are all doing miscellaneous work.
There is no problem for an external agent to carry bags for the artists.
But when there is a conflict of interest, fighting and killing, the boss still has to come forward to settle it. On weekdays, the affairs of the agency are left to Ah Le to take care of.
Although Ale does not hold a high position in the company, as one of the four young masters of Shanghai Street, he is quite famous in the world.
To run an agency, the most important thing is to be good at communication, which is exactly the job of Caoxie.
Zhou Huimin's first album has been recorded with EMI Records. The title song is "Thousands of Songs" and the B-side title song is "Silly Girl"
Released on both vinyl and cassette.
Among them, "Thousands of Songs" was composed and recorded by Yin Zhaotang, while "Silly Girl" was purchased from the copyright library of EMI Records for 50,000 Hong Kong dollars.
Ah Le sent the record numbered 01 to the boss for a listen, and it really made the boss look happy, and he flattered him very well.
Yin Zhaotang picked up the teacup, took a sip of hot tea, and showed approval: "The recording effect is good, the recording engineer hired by EMI is very capable!"
"When you have time, remember to follow up on Rongzi's contract. Don't let Rongzi suffer too much loss by switching jobs."
As the top star of Tianyu, Zhang Guorong gets five points from every commercial activity and three points from album revenue.
She is the company's cash cow, even Zhou Huimin can't compare to her.
But in the past two months, Zhang Guorong planned to move from Kam Poly Records to Huaxing Records together with his mentor Lai Siu-tin.
Huaxing, backed by TVB, is signing artists and buying songs on a large scale.
Since 79, whether it is ATV, TVB, or the three major record companies, they have been buying up song copyrights in large quantities and scrambling to sign famous singers.
There is only one reason, that is, tape players came on the market and the sales of records in tape format were increasing rapidly.
All capitalists in the music industry have sensed the direction of the wind and want to seize the initiative in the new trend.
Tianyu has no copyright library, no master composers, and no distribution channels.
If you want to join the music industry and gain something, you must hold on to the artists you have. Therefore, Yin Zhaotang and Zhang Guorong are very easy to talk to. If they want to transfer, it doesn’t matter. If they think the contract money is high, the company will help them negotiate!
Ah Le understands the boss’s style of doing things. He does not rob artists of their commissions but hopes for fair trade.
They use violence to ensure that artists can make money with peace of mind, and take a small cut from the extra money they make.
If we can use the power of the community to play a role in contract negotiations, it will be icing on the cake.
"Boss, I will do my best to get it done and make sure Arong feels that his money is worthwhile." A Le said with a smile.
Yin Zhaotang nodded slightly, took out a cigar, sniffed it and said, "Transfer 500,000 Hong Kong dollars from the agency's account to purchase music copyrights."
“Don’t just post ads and sit in the office waiting for good songs to come to you. Send out more invitations to songs and take the initiative to find masters to invite and buy songs.”
Ah Lok smiled bitterly and complained loudly: "Brother Tang, the music industry makes money quickly, and prices are even higher!" "Three years ago, Joseph Koo made 50,000 Hong Kong dollars for a song, and this year it's gone up to 300,000. Lai Siu Tin made 200,000 Hong Kong dollars for a song, and those with a little fame make more than 50,000."
"Five hundred thousand dollars will be gone in a minute, and I can't even make an album."
Yin Zhaotang exhaled white smoke, with a smile on his face: "Why do you have to buy it in Hong Kong Island? You can go to Taiwan Island or Japan."
"Go to Tokyo and find Yamaha and Sony Music to buy the copyright for the Cantonese cover."
Ah Le frowned in confusion and asked, "Why buy the devil's songs?"
"Fill in the Cantonese lyrics, make some changes, and it's ours!"
Ordinary citizens seldom hear Japanese, European and American music. The Hong Kong music scene took advantage of the information gap and took shortcuts to produce hit songs in the 80s, the peak period of Hong Kong music.
This kind of operation stifles the creative talents in Hong Kong, but to some extent, it plays a very positive role.
It made Hong Kong music widely sung, opened up the mainland market, brought about a period of prosperity for the music industry, and attracted more people to create music.
Zhang Guorong's first Mandarin album, also released on Huaxing Records, is titled "The Wind Continues to Blow". The title song "The Wind Continues to Blow" is actually a cover of Yamaguchi Momoe's "The Other Side of Goodbye"
Knowing that there are places where you can make a profit from the price difference, of course you would get rid of the middlemen and buy up the goods as soon as possible.
Just because Yin Zhaotang can reproduce a song of "Thousands of Songs" with his brain, it doesn't mean he can reproduce several albums.
There are only a few songs that I love, and even fewer that are suitable for Chow Hui-min.
Instead of thinking about being a plagiarist, it is easier and more profitable to be a capitalist.
Ah Le agreed, "I'll go to Japan next week and see if the prices are high."
"Well, I remember there was a female singer named Miyuki Nakajima and a male singer named Koji Tamaki. Both of their works are very good." Yin Zhaotang blew a puff of smoke.
As far as I can remember, the Mandarin cover rights of Japanese singers were very cheap, with popular singles costing only 10,000 or 20,000 yuan.
The rights to a Cantonese cover will cost several thousand yuan.
Because the world's largest Mandarin-speaking region prohibits European, American and Japanese singers from releasing albums.
Songs released in the Japanese language circle can earn tens of thousands of yuan in extra cash, which is all picked up for free. The Japanese have no chance to touch the remaining profits.
Ah Le silently wrote down the names mentioned by the boss, drank his tea, rinsed his mouth, and suddenly asked, "Brother Tang, a nightclub owner called and asked Ah Rong, Chen Baozhu, and Feng Baobao to perform."
"One hundred thousand for one song!"
In Hong Kong Island, only third-rate talent agencies will allow their artists to sing in nightclubs.
Although the price of each song is considerable, the singing venues are full of good and bad people, and artists can easily get into trouble.
A song costing one hundred thousand yuan would make many people drool.
But Yin Zhaotang is aiming to sign a contract with a superstar, hoping that in the future his artists can earn one million or ten million for a song!
Instead of one hundred thousand.
He stood up, holding a cigar in his mouth, and said, "I don't care what other companies do, but my company will not force artists to sing for money. If someone wants to make extra money, I won't stop them."
"But don't ask for it. Some people don't want to go. The brothers in the company want to show their short dogs."
Ah Le nodded to show that he understood, and then took out a list of submitted songs received this month and handed it to the boss for review. Every purchase of music copyright by the company had to be approved by the boss.
(End of this chapter)