Entertainment 2000: Supporting female stars will bring you a hundredfold return

Chapter 348 Is Tang Wen crazy, or is Warner crazy?
In the backyard of the Beverly Hills villa, there is an oval-shaped outdoor swimming pool.

He returned to the villa in the afternoon.

The California sun is no longer scorching.

Beside the pool, a stunning blonde woman, with her long, slender white legs bare, wearing sunglasses, was lounging on a beach chair, enjoying the sunshine.

The villa's servants came and went, bringing her drinks, ice buckets, fruit, and snacks.

She acted like the lady of the house.

The sound of the car entering the gate startled her.

Upon seeing Tang Wen return, Charlize Theron hurriedly came out from the backyard. When she saw Tang Wen get out of the car, her jewel-like eyes sparkled.

"Sally! Long time no see." Tang Wen grabbed Theron's hand and looked her up and down.

Wearing only hot pants and a bra, Theron twirled around confidently, displaying her beauty to Tang Wen from all angles.

"Congratulations, you've regained your original beauty."

She transformed from a tall, muscular, unkempt female assassin into a radiant, fair-skinned supermodel.

Theron blinked: "Honey, are you sure?"

"That's not a very accurate way to put it. We need to examine it carefully before drawing any conclusions."

Charlize Theron smiled and kissed him, her eyes burning with passion.

Tang Wen gently lifted her upturned buttocks with both hands, and with a little effort, the 1.8-meter-tall beauty, who was not light in weight, was lifted off the ground.

We went straight to the heated swimming pool inside the villa.

The water rippled, and a long-legged mermaid appeared and disappeared in the water...

night.

The lanterns are on.

After a busy day, Sister Lin returned to the villa.

Seeing Theron lying in the man's arms on the living room sofa, her eyes filled with a particularly satisfied and indescribable seductive look, he couldn't help but shake his head.

"Lin, you seem unhappy."

"If you come home tired after a long day and see this, would you be happy?" Sister Lin rolled her eyes gently, took off her coat, and handed it to the maid.

"You should look on the bright side; at least no one's going to be competing with you for it tonight, right?"

"hehe."

It was no secret that Tang Wen had returned, and many people were expected to come tonight.

Lin Chih-ling knows these North American women all too well.

She ate too much and simply went home to rest, with no one willing to help her.

When they're hungry, they especially like to grab food.

They don't know how to be considerate...

Unsurprisingly.

Although Nicole Kidman joined the cast, Naomi Campbell and Scarlett Johansson were not in Los Angeles.

Some people did come, including two powerful figures from California: Olivia Brown and Sarah Getty.

The two women arrived at the villa one after the other and were somewhat surprised to see Theron.

Having eaten too much, Theron sat up and greeted the two women in a very natural and generous manner.

The two of them were ostensibly there to discuss the "acquisition of Marvel".

Actually, I just ate something simple.

They quickly moved on to their bed.

Although American cars are fuel-inefficient, they have high chassis, rigid frames, and strong shock absorption.

It can be driven on any road condition without needing to hold back.

Tang Wen had a great time.

The next day.

New York, Manhattan, Warner Music headquarters.

Tang Wen met with the vice president of Warner Music.

When a singer comes, at most the director of the artist management department will receive them.

Only a handful of people, including Tang Wen, Linkin Park, and Madonna, could be personally received by the vice president of Warner Music.

"Currently, the three singles from your new album have already generated quite a buzz in the music industry."

According to the survey report, more than 50% of the listeners are looking forward to hearing your full album soon, and the majority of them are female listeners.

More than 71% of rock fans want to continue hearing music in the style of "Natural"...

Some producers in the industry expressed their skepticism, saying that your initial track was of very high quality and that subsequent tracks might lack momentum...

Holding his wine glass, Tang Wen listened quietly.

It is an undeniable fact that he is more popular among female listeners.

Energetic rock songs like "Natural" have always been easy to attract fans.

As for the quality of the subsequent seven songs, the music producer was not optimistic, and Tang Wen smiled.

These producers, I hope I don't find out your names, and you'd better not have any truly influential representative works.

Otherwise, give it to me!
"Tang, the quality of your new album is truly exceptional, even in my entire career. Now that we're going to be promoting it on the charts, we'll inevitably have to make some choices regarding the resources we allocate..."

This was a drawback of the radio era.

Unlike later music albums which mainly relied on streaming media, radio resources were relatively limited.

In this day and age, no one has an album consisting entirely of hit singles.

Putting aside everything else, there's simply not enough resources to allocate for ranking.

But the remaining seven songs on the album "Tang"

Each song is a masterpiece.

There is more than one Billboard number one song.

Tang Wen wanted to see if he could break the record.

He raised his hand, interrupting the other person's speech in a slightly forceful manner: "Everyone has listened to the album more than once. As for the remaining songs, which one should be the lead single? Why don't you guys choose?"

"This?" Warner's vice president, assistant, and director of agents looked troubled.

"Tang, do you have any ideas?"

Tang Wen looked around: "I'm also a business person, and as far as I know, Warner is having a tough time lately."

The Warner vice president frowned.

If it were another singer spouting nonsense here, he would have already told them to shut up!

But the person opposite him was Tang Wen.

Hollywood's youngest and most successful director.

The youngest and best-selling novelist in the United States.

His previous works, such as "Five People Meet in Heaven" and "National Treasure," are still on the New York Times bestseller list.

The recent novel "The Martian," a less mainstream science fiction story, has also broken into the top five of the bestseller list.

It is said that his personal net worth exceeds 3 million US dollars.

He is also a rare musical genius.

Even the vice president of Warner Music would have to be careful when dealing with someone like that.

Since the beginning of 2000, the global record industry has been shrinking.

Warner Music, always third.

Global, the number one player, holds a quarter of the market share.

Then comes Sony, slightly ahead of Warner by two points.

Warner's market share is approximately 11-13%.

According to historical precedent, Warner Music will sell its entire record business in 2004, which is next year.

Now, Warner executives have sensed that things are not going their way.

They are actively seeking new solutions.

Unfortunately, despite trying various methods, the performance declined year after year.

Tang Wen: "Warner Music cannot overcome its current predicament by relying on a single best-selling album."

The Warner vice president, still clueless about Tang Wen's intentions, said with a smile:

"Tang, you're too modest. This album of yours will not be just an ordinary bestseller; it will be a phenomenon!" Without responding to his words, Tang Wen continued at his own pace, "As far as I know, there is no album yet where all ten songs have made it into the Billboard Hot 100."

"All of them are on the list?!"

The vice president was taken aback.

The assistant's mouth dropped open.

The manager's pupils dilated in surprise, and he muttered softly, "Ten songs on the charts, that's insane..."

Crazy?
Indeed.

Before the advent of the digital age, even world-renowned singers such as Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley had never achieved such accomplishments and records.

The vice president's mind works incredibly fast:

"I remember the highest record in this area was set by Michael Jackson? Go check the details."

The assistant hurriedly went out and returned shortly to report: "Seven songs? That was back in the 1980s! The album is Thriller. Of the nine songs in the standard edition, seven are on the charts, and all of them are in the top 10."

Hearing the album title, no one was surprised.

This album truly became a global phenomenon.

It contains many famous songs such as "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Thriller".

Even if you're in Asia and have never specifically sought out and listened to these songs, they'll still sound familiar.

Tang Wen knew that in a few years, this album would be recorded as having sold a staggering 6500 million copies, becoming the world's best-selling record.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy.

The Warner vice president was deep in thought.

After waiting a few minutes, Tang Wen smiled and said, "The opportunity to surpass the legend is right in front of you. If we can break Michael's record, I think it will greatly benefit your company's valuation."

Warner Music remains under Warner Music, operating independently as a subsidiary without being spun off and listed separately.

Good performance may not necessarily drive up stock price, but it can affect total market capitalization.

The Warner vice president's eyes darted around.

Tang Wen could tell that he wanted to take a gamble, but couldn't make up his mind.

He chimed in, "My last EP is still selling well, isn't it?"
I wonder how many copies this album will sell?

I remember Michael Jackson's "Thriller" sold tens of millions of copies, right?

Upon hearing the final number, Warner's vice president's eyelids twitched violently, but he shook his head and said, "Don, times have changed! It's difficult to replicate Michael's miracle."

"That's right, in terms of sales, I'd be satisfied with even a fraction of his."

One-fifth.

The Warner vice president frowned, then relaxed, then frowned again.

Yes.

Even a fraction of that, though not a huge amount, would still be tens of millions in sales, enough to help the company and myself take another step forward.

He was aware of the quality of Tang Wen's album.

The fact that three songs, which aren't the strongest pre-release tracks, are already in the top 100 on Billboard speaks volumes.

According to the latest rankings that have just been released.

The highest-ranked song, "Because of U," has already climbed to seventh place.

"Cry on My Shoulder" has made it into the top 50.

"Be What You Wanna Be" is also in the top 80, so its position is relatively safe.

Even though the last song sounds a bit childish, it's still quite popular with kids.

It boasts a large fan base and a high frequency of radio airplay.

These three songs do not require any further resource consumption.

There's not even a need to maintain the rankings.

Because once the album is released, it will definitely generate new buzz.

To push an album to the top of the charts with all available resources is bold and crazy.

Tang Wen did not urge him and got up to leave Warner.

Seven songs competing for a spot on the charts requires a significant amount of resources.

It could even affect other Warner artists' albums.

It's not something a vice president can decide.

To a certain extent, it is a struggle for interests, and it will inevitably be accompanied by a round of competition.

"Play Tang's new album from the beginning!"

After seeing Tang Wen off, the vice president gave the instructions.

After listening to the entire presentation, the vice president pondered for a long time, then gave the two people in the room a gag order, left the conference room, and headed straight for the president's office...

More than ten hours passed, and it was late at night.

Tang Wen received the call. The Warner vice president spoke, his voice filled with exhaustion. Without any pleasantries, he got straight to the point: "Tang, Warner can promote it according to your plan, but you will also have to make a contribution by providing funds to compensate the affected singers. This is the best condition I have been able to negotiate."

"How much?" Tang Wen was prepared.

If he succeeds, he will benefit the most.

It benefited more than Warner Music.

"not much……"

“No problem, deduct it from the profits of my album.”

Warner's vice president was speechless: "..."

So, you're trying to get something for nothing?

However, it's not impossible.

Warner's account still has outstanding payments for Tang Wen's previous English EP.

The official release date of the new album was postponed by two days.

Just as fans were questioning whether Warner Music was suppressing Tang Wen.

Early that morning, several of America's largest-circulation newspapers, including USA Today and The New York Times, simultaneously published the news on their front pages in the entertainment section.

"Tang" - An album entirely composed of hit singles

Google and Yahoo, the two most influential websites in North America and even globally, visited by hundreds of millions of people every day, displayed pop-up ads:
An album entirely composed of singles? Who's gone mad?

The new album has officially been released in North America!
They used a promotional strategy that was unprecedented and incomprehensible to everyone.

Isn't this an overemphasis?

Using a cannon to kill a mosquito?
What are Warner and Tang Wen up to?
After seeing the headline, music companies of all sizes in North America thought they were really crazy.

How much will this cost?

Spending so much money promoting the album, isn't that losing money while gaining publicity?

Despite the best copyright protection in North America, the profitability of legitimate albums is limited in the current shrinking music market.

The possibility of amassing wealth as frantically as in the last century no longer exists.

Reporters from all over the country, especially those who make a living from entertainment gossip, smelled a big news story.

They each used their unique skills to gather inside information.

There seems to be considerable dissatisfaction within Warner Music regarding this approach.

An anonymous singer claiming to be signed with Warner Music gave a telephone interview:
"What Tanghe Company is doing is completely undermining the rules of the record industry! All of our Warner artists who are preparing to release songs this year will be affected by this!"

After the host nodded, he followed up with, "Everyone knows that Warner is not some unknown small company; you have a mature album release process!"
Since Warner Bros. knows it's detrimental to the majority, why would they do it?

The anonymous singer was speechless for a moment, then, as if breaking down, began to curse Warner Music and Tang Wen.

The audience was completely confused.

My curiosity was certainly piqued.

After hanging up the phone, the host shouted excitedly:
"Listeners! There's something wrong here. Something must be driving Warner to do this. This kind of album marketing tactic is unprecedented. I will continue to dig into the secrets behind it..."

Rumors also circulated from Warner Music that Tang Wen had improper dealings with Warner Music executives!
As for what exactly it is.

All I know is that it's related to a movie; I don't know anything else.

Viewers speculated that Tang Wen might have traded film profits for music resources.
This is not impossible.

Tang Wen is a director, as everyone knows.

An insider also revealed that the president of Warner Music wants to commission bestselling author Tang Wen to write an autobiography for him...

For a time, news was flying everywhere.

(End of this chapter)