The battle for traffic in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 165 Sincerity is the eternal nirvana
"I just called Sister Zeng (one of Xu Xing's executive agents) and she said that recently domestic music platforms such as Penguin Music and NetEase Cloud Music have been negotiating with several international record companies. They all want to open up channels for outstanding Chinese musicians to develop in the American music market.

"Huachenyu should follow the path of Sony Records. Tianyu and Sony Records reached a strategic cooperation in 14. In addition, there may be recommendations from Ayun Music and NetEase Cloud Music. Sister Zeng said that Huachenyu seems to be negotiating with NetEase Cloud Music for exclusive copyright.

“Recently, many Chinese singers will come to the U.S. Regardless of whether they want to develop their careers in the U.S., they will come to see how your new single wins the number one spot.

"Sister Zeng was about to call you and tell you that Universal Music in China contacted her and said they were planning to hold a party for Chinese musicians in the United States. You would be the absolute protagonist, and asked if you were willing to participate."

The next day at breakfast, Sun Man came to report what she had learned.

"It's okay to join in."

Xu Xing usually gives any face he can.

However, Xu Xing did not think that this wave of "entering the United States" stimulated by himself would last long or make any big name for himself.

In its previous life, Kpop was stimulated by BTS and began to aggressively expand into the American market.

They originally had the motivation to expand overseas because the South Korean market was too small, but they didn't achieve any impressive results.

Because, after all, this development path cannot be achieved simply by operating fans and increasing the number of downloads.

Essentially, it requires spending money and resources on large-scale marketing.

The high cost is simply unaffordable for most singers.

——Or even if they can afford it, they don’t have the qualifications to smash it.

Xu Xing was able to achieve such success because of his experience of living in the United States, the tail end of the golden age of cultural and entertainment exchanges between China and the United States, which was about to end, and the fact that his label Interscope had no main singers to promote.

The song's streaming volume is indeed very good, so the Billboard official website did not take any action on "Love Yourself"'s weekly championship.

In the past, BTS was eligible to be promoted thanks to the US cultural policy that began to promote South Korea as the representative of Asians, and major record companies allowed them to be promoted.

——Otherwise, the song "butter", which has terrible streaming and radio play data, was forced to rely on downloads to suppress the supernova Olivia Rodrigo's single to become a hit for nearly ten weeks. It has long been fucked up by the American music industry, and Billboard officials have long adjusted the rules to cut downloads. They will not wait until BTS members start solo before no longer counting the downloads from the artists' official websites, ending the farce that has lasted for several years.

Other Chinese singers would never have the determination and confidence to spend tens of millions on marketing like Xu Xing.

Xu Xing's two singles, "Love Yourself" and "Shape of You", were the champions of the Billboard HOT 100 chart in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

If you hit it with all your strength, it will really make a sound, and you can also earn your money back.

That self-media report did report in sufficient detail the operation of Xu Xing's fans to manipulate the rankings, but it did not mention at all how much money Xu Xing had spent.

I guess after reading the report, most people still thought that the money Xu Xing spent was only the cost of the hundreds of thousands of downloads.

But in fact, that is only the most cost-effective part.

In fact, domestic platforms such as Penguin, Ayun, NetEase Cloud, and several international record companies should be very clear about these inside stories.

But it's still such a high-profile posture.

So, Xu Xing thinks that their purpose is just to squeeze the fans' wallets and trick the singer's team into paying money.

Several platforms can take the opportunity to cooperate with singers, and record companies, fans download, and singers find their producers to buy songs...

If you don't make money, you'll lose it.

……

So, with so many people coming to the United States together...Xu Xing would not be able to have dinner out with Ms. Zhen Huaiwei, with whom she had made an appointment in advance.

Too many people and too many eyes.

Come back to the villa!
"..."

Sun Man, who received the task, was hesitant to speak.

"Don't worry, it's not what you think. She just wants to thank me for my help some time ago. She also happens to be in the United States."

Xu Xing took the initiative to explain.

"How can I thank you?"

Sun Man laughed.

“It’s just a simple meal.”

Xu Xing answered sincerely.

Well, sincerity is always the best weapon.

Secretary Sun was persuaded by Xu Xing.

After she left, Xu Xing met her agent Kristin who came to see her at the villa.

As soon as they met, Kristin spoke in a boastful tone.

"Interscope finally agreed to help. Your personal website will be online the day after tomorrow, and "Shape of You" will also be available for download on it when it is launched."

"Great!"

Xu Xing laughed.

This time, Xu Xing wanted to see if Billboard officials would start restricting official website downloads in advance if "Shape of You" continued to top the charts.

If these loopholes that BTS exploited within the rules in their previous lives had been plugged in advance, could a “world boy band” still be created?

……

Afterwards, Xu Xing got into Kristin's car and went to watch the MV of "Shape of You", and then went to talk to John Janick, the CEO of the label Interscope.

Label founder Jimmy Lovine resigned as CEO in 2014 to become music director for Beasts and Apple Music.

For John Janick, Xu Xing is the most outstanding new singer since he took over as CEO of the label, and one of his few outstanding achievements.

So even though on the first day of "Love Yourself"'s release in the United States, some people in the industry criticized Xu Xing for disrupting the market order by downloading it frequently, and Chris Wu's "July" followed closely, which made that voice reach its highest point, he didn't care.

After Xu Xing finally won the number one single, he valued Xu Xing even more. He was as ambitious as Xu Xing in releasing the new single. He told Xu Xing that Interscope would fully support "Shape of You" to achieve amazing results.

Previously, for Xu Xing's most lame radio station broadcast, they had already done the work of the DJs (which was actually bribing the DJs. This was a violation of the rules, as the DJs would not accept the money if there was no connection, and might even report it). At least the pop station would no longer turn a blind eye to the listeners' on-demand requests as before.

——Of course, you also need to buy the obvious push.

As long as the response to "Shape of You" is as good as that of "Love Yourself", it will definitely win the pop radio station's airplay championship.

Xu Xing also told John Janick that he was confident about the performance of the download end.

——That is, the fans are ready to go crazy. There is no need to say it directly, as it makes people feel like they are not talking about a normal music release.

……

When they returned to the villa, Sun Man had already brought Ms. Zhen Huaiwei over.

She told Xu Xing that Ms. Zhen was waiting on the balcony.

When Xu Xing walked upstairs, she saw Ms. Zhen sitting on the round lazy sofa by the balcony. She was sunken into the sofa, flipping through a fashion magazine very attentively.

It wasn't until Xu Xing walked up to her that she noticed something.

When she looked up and saw that it was Xu Xing, Ms. Zhen immediately smiled gently and cleanly.

"I just went to the record company to take care of some things," Xu Xing explained first, "If we eat outside, we might be seen by the paparazzi, so I invited Sister Zhen to come to the villa."

She was wearing a white printed satin dress with a navy blue shawl, and her hair was tied up in a fluffy low bun.

It is an artistic style of peaceful and quiet times.

Compared to that time when she filmed the commercial, her temperament seems to be more quiet and intellectual.

“You’ve already explained it on WeChat.”

Zhen Huaiwei smiled.

"Oh," Xu Xing also smiled, and then asked her, "Would you like something to drink?"

"wine?"

She said in an uncertain tone.

"Ah."

Xu Xing nodded and went to get the red wine and wine glasses.

After pouring her some red wine, Xu Xing didn't actively ask her to drink, but she drank it quite quickly.

"I drink well."

Zhen Huaiwei responded to Xu Xing's slightly questioning look with a faint smile.

Xu Xing poured it for her again.

Start chatting.

First of all, I would like to thank Xu Xing.

In addition to the verbal thanks, the actual thanks was that she designed several sets of T-shirts for Xu Xing's trendy brand store. She said that she had designed for other brands before, so she had been continuing to try designing in private.

When she saw Xu Xing’s trendy brand store opening, she thought about taking out her savings to see if Xu Xing would like it.

After watching it, Xu Xing felt that it was indeed great.

At least it looks better than those in my store.

Xu Xing accepted the offer and even proposed to invite her to be the art director of his own fashion brand.

Zhen Huaiwei said embarrassedly that she had originally come to thank Xu Xing, but now it seemed like she came to Xu Xing to ask for a job.

Xu Xing explained sincerely.

Zhen Huaiwei thanked Xu Xing again and confessed that she was indeed making a lot of money now.

So the topic turned to her daughter Zhen Wei.

After what happened with Chris Wu, Zhen Huaiwei originally wanted to arrange for Zhen Wei to take a leave of absence from school, so that she could rest for a while and avoid the attention of the outside world.

However, Chris Wu's fans' continued verbal abuse and attacks on Zhen Wei online even continued offline. At school, the extremely radical Megan spread rumors about her everywhere, graffitied the school walls with vicious and dirty words, and made various threats, saying that she would be in trouble if she dared to return to school.

So Zhen Huaiwei had to make the decision to let Zhen Wei study abroad. This time she came to the United States to arrange a school for Zhen Wei.

"Where's her best friend?"

Xu Xing asked.

The main thing is that person is really a fan of Xu Xing.

"Qingqing wanted to come with Weiwei, but her family didn't want her to. But she told me yesterday that she showed her family the threatening letter she received, and they agreed. Weiwei is lucky to have such a good friend. The threatening letter was written by Qingqing herself."

Zhen Huaiwei forced a smile.

It can be seen that she is actually in a very bad mood recently and she really wants to talk.

When talking about Zhen Wei, she would occasionally talk about herself, saying that she had also been a fan, but not as extreme as her daughter. She had clearly told Zhen Wei that stars are really not what they seem.

"Being a star is probably like a lie, a lie that fans have to believe. Fans will not take the initiative to verify the lie, but will deceive themselves over and over again when the truth begins to be exposed, until they can no longer deceive themselves."

Xu Xing laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly.

"…Uh, sorry, that's not what I meant," Zhen Huaiwei said very awkwardly, "Celebrities are different from each other. I think you are the real one."

"No," Xu Xing shook her head, "I've actually told more lies than any other star."

(End of this chapter)