Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 137 Adding New People
In early November.

Han Lei officially announced the imperfect end of "I'm Crazy for Singing" with the heartfelt statement, "I got the song seven days later than her."

But the craze sparked by "I'm Crazy for Singing" did not subside; instead, it left a deep imprint on this hot summer.

Even until the end of the year, people were still debating whether Tian Zhen's championship was genuine or not.

Every original song that emerged from the quarterfinals onwards flourished across the country, spawning countless pirated copies.

To the surprise of many in the industry, the best-selling song was Li Chunbo's "Xiao Fang," followed by Han Lei's "Walking Around," while "My Deskmate," a favorite among young people, ranked third.

As for the overall champion Tian Zhen's "Persistence", it couldn't even beat Chen Hong's "Sing If You Want", and only ranked fifth.

As for Han Hong...

Although she had a significant lead in public favor during the competition, her two original songs sold relatively poorly.

Seeing the rampant piracy, everyone at Yuanmeng Company was seething with hatred. Zhang Yan had originally wanted to take a break, but now he couldn't care less.

Even when Tao Hong was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama, he only took half a day to celebrate.

With Chen Hong working tirelessly overseeing the project, the compilation album "I'm Crazy for Singing" officially began shipping on July 24th.

Meanwhile, the five key members of Dream Records—Tian Zhen, Han Lei, Han Hong, Wang Luyao, and Lao Lang—plus the boss lady Chen Hong, also embarked on a nationwide commercial tour.

By the end of August, the number of official albums produced had exceeded 70. The exact sales figures are difficult to calculate at the moment, but the continuous influx of orders from all over the country shows that there is absolutely no possibility of unsold stock.

The fact that a variety show could achieve such success amidst a sea of ​​piracy demonstrates its immense influence.

This sales volume completely broke the monopoly of Hong Kong and Taiwan songs, allowing countless people to see the potential of original songs from the mainland.

Previously, the best-selling albums by mainland singers were usually covers of Hong Kong and Taiwan songs—which, to put it bluntly, were essentially official piracy.

That's exactly what happened with Wang Luyao's album back then. So not only was the song popular, but she herself wasn't, and she didn't get much money either.

Now, "I'm Crazy for Singing" is likely to become the first mainland original album to sell over a million copies, or even two or three million copies.

This record alone is enough to fulfill my dream of eating this for ten years!
This also injected a strong boost into the mainland music scene. Countless record companies, whether affiliated with Hong Kong, Taiwan, or even invested in by Europe, America, and Japan, sprang up like mushrooms after rain in the second half of 1992, allowing the mainland record industry to enter its golden age ahead of schedule.

…………

mid-December.

Exhausted, Zhang Yan and Chen Hong finally returned to their apartment in Beijing.

At this time, Han Lei, Tian Zhen and others were still making money, but Chen Hong really couldn't hold on any longer. After all, she was not a professional singer and had never experienced such a marathon tour.

Zhang Yan was so busy that his whole body was completely exhausted.

So the two of them ate and slept in the apartment, and it took them four or five days to recover.

This morning.

Zhang Yan put down his newly bought mobile phone and said to Chen Hong, "Dou Wei introduced someone to me, saying he's a bit like Brother Ning, but he still lacks experience—how about it, do you want to go check him out?"

Dou Wei was the most enthusiastic about helping to find a top-notch arranger, especially since Zhang Yan had given him a lot of face in front of Chen Jiantian.

This is the principle of making friends. You can't just take Dou Wei's help for granted because they're brothers, and then say something like "Does Dou Wei look like your dad" once Zhang Yan gives Dou Wei face.

"That works too, it'll be good to get some fresh air."

Chen Hong had had enough of staying at home these past few days, so she took this opportunity to go out for a walk.

The two picked up Dou Wei in their Xiali, and Zhang Yan asked, somewhat puzzled, "Where's your Santana?"

"I don't know, but it was lent out anyway."

Dou Wei rubbed his face in annoyance and asked, "Do you guys think that playing rock music means you have to form a band?"

Zhang Yan knew immediately that something must have happened to the Dreaming Band, so he joked, "What's wrong? Don't want to dream anymore?"

“My dreams aren’t that messy, nor are they so money-grubbing!” Dou Wei said, then looked at Zhang Yan seriously and asked, “How do you usually manage your singers? Do you ever encounter issues with splitting the profits?”

“Of course,” Zhang Yan said. “However, I’m imitating Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment companies. The profit distribution is all written down in black and white in advance. Moreover, I created ‘I’m Crazy for Singing’ by myself. This platform has a greater reputation than any of them.”

In addition, considering the methods I used to promote Wang Luyao, most of them are quite respectful of me—besides, pop singers are generally easier to manage than rock singers, except…”

Dou Wei, annoyed by Zhang Yan's criticisms of rock singers, interrupted him, saying, "Can't you say something useful?!"

"Can't you at least be a little more respectful when you're asking for advice?" Zhang Yan rolled his eyes at Dou Wei through the rearview mirror and said simply, "The best way is to find a reliable agent—don't count on me for that, I'm short-handed right now."

"How am I supposed to know who's reliable?"

Dou Wei leaned back dejectedly. Half of the problems facing the Dream Band were due to their guest manager.

He did want Guo Sige to help manage it, but as one of the founders of Black Panther, Guo Chuanlin, while not going to break ties with Dou Wei over Dou Wei's departure from the band, would never become the manager of Dream Band.

"lets change a topic."

Seeing that they were not far from their destination, Dou Wei quickly introduced, "I recommend this person, Zhang Yadong. He is from Shanxi and used to work in the mining bureau's art troupe. In mid-June, he went to Tianjin because of 'I'm Crazy for Singing'."

Later, he discovered that Tianjin was mainly dominated by folk arts and crosstalk, so he came to Beijing to find work. He was an average singer, played the keyboard well, and had a knack for arranging music. He had also studied tuning and had a bit of Zhang Weining's style.

I was originally thinking of recruiting him into the Dreaming Band, but you've gotten a good deal this time.

"You yourself are an expert in composing; it would be a waste to give you someone like that."

The two bickered all the way.

When they arrived at the entrance of a residential area, Dou Wei led Zhang Yan and Chen Hong around two and a half times before pointing to a semi-underground storage room and saying, "This should be it."

"You can't even remember an address, what kind of work can you do?"

Zhang Yan was complaining and preparing to knock on the door when he heard arguing coming from inside.

Judging from the conversation, it seemed that Zhang Dongya's father-in-law and mother-in-law had come to his door, wanting to persuade their son-in-law to return to Shanxi and live a good life with his wife and children.

But Zhang Yadong refused to agree and insisted on staying in Beijing to pursue his dreams, even saying things like, "I'll just get a divorce if necessary."

Hearing this, Zhang Yan regretted bringing Chen Hong along—but since they were already there, they couldn't back down because of this.

So he pushed open the door and said, "What's there to argue about? Dreams and reality can coexist."

In the cramped storage room, the three men, their faces flushed, stared in astonishment at Zhang Yan. Then, Zhang Yadong's parents-in-law turned to look at Zhang Yadong, asking him with their eyes who this man was.

Zhang Yadong was also somewhat bewildered.

He hadn't watched that episode of "Economic Half Hour," so naturally he didn't know Zhang Yan.

But seeing that the other person's clothes and appearance were not those of an ordinary person, he did not hold the other person accountable for trespassing on his property, but cautiously asked, "Who are you?"

"Zhang Yan."

"Zhang Yan from 'I'm Crazy for Singing'?!"

Upon hearing this name, Zhang Yadong immediately became excited. To the untrained eye, it was the "Five Tigers of Dream Fulfillment," with the addition of Chen Hong, a popular actress.

But for a singer and songwriter like him, the name 'Zhang Yan' is more resounding and important than the names of those six people combined!
Zhang Yan took out two business cards and handed them to Zhang Yadong and his father-in-law respectively, and said with a smile: "Dou Wei said that your arrangement skills are quite good. It just so happens that our Yuanmeng Records is short of someone to assist Brother Ning."

Ning Ge is Zhang Weining, the music director of our show "I Am a Singer". He was responsible for producing all the songs in the show.

Since officially joining our Dream Come True program at the beginning of the year, he has earned... well, about 30,000 to 40,000 yuan in the past six months. The revenue sharing from record sales and commercial performances hasn't come through yet, but he estimates he'll earn at least 150,000 yuan by the end of the year.

Of course, you won't earn that much when you first start out, but as long as you pass our company's assessment, bringing your wife and kids to Beijing or Tianjin shouldn't be a problem.

"Mr. Zhang, you, you, you..."

Faced with this windfall, Zhang Yadong stammered a little.

Zhang Yadong's father-in-law swallowed hard, then suddenly asked warily, "You're not trying to fool me with this charade, are you?"

[PS: For details about Zhang Yadong, please see the author's notes.]

(End of this chapter)