Huayu 2002, I'm going to dominate the music scene!

Song Mo certainly couldn't agree to sign an 8-year contract.

Therefore, he decisively said, "Eight years is too long. I can only sign for five years. If it works out, we can continue to negotiate. If not, then forget it."

Bi Xiaoshi paused for a moment, then exchanged a glance with Xu Yuan.

"Xiao Song," Xu Yuan began, his tone gentle, "Eight years is the standard timeframe. You're a newcomer, and the company needs to invest resources in training you—releasing albums, doing promotions, running errands—all of these take time. Eight years really isn't a long time."

What the two said wasn't wrong. These days, music companies sign new artists for at least 8 years. For example, Jay Chou signed with Wu Zongxian's company for 8 years, and JJ Lin signed with Ocean Butterflies for as long as 10 years.

Song Mo shook his head: "Teacher Xu, I understand what you mean, but eight years is too long for me."

Bi Xiaoshi was silent for a moment, then said, "Song Mo, you need to understand that the length of the contract directly affects how much resources the company invests in you. For a newcomer, signing an 8-year contract is better for your development and allows for more room for error."

Ocean Butterflies Music has a tiered system for calculating the production costs of an album.

Production costs and promotional resources will decrease at each stage: 10 years, 8 years, and 5 years.

As for less than 5 years?

Newcomers shouldn't even think about it; contracts of less than 5 years aren't even enough for music companies to recoup their training fees.

Song Mo knew, of course, that if he signed a five-year contract, Ocean Butterflies would provide very limited resources.

But he didn't care. When other people sign with a music company, what they value most is a huge amount of music resources. After all, when musicians write songs, they are always given priority to big companies.

Song Mo didn't care about that; he could handle all the songs himself.

As for publicity resources, he has even less to worry about. When he really becomes popular, Ocean Butterflies' publicity resources will definitely come knocking on his door.

In this industry, there's only one truth: once you're famous, everything you do is right.

Song Mo was very determined, "I think five years is enough for me. In five years, I will either achieve great success or go back to Sanlitun."

Bi Xiaoshi and Xu Yuan sighed, and finally nodded, "Then let's go for 5 years."

Song Mo pressed his advantage, adding, "Furthermore, I have another request."

Bi Xiaoshi raised an eyebrow slightly: "Go on."

"The contract is not yet expired. If Ocean Butterflies wants to sell my contract in the future, they must get my consent. I must have the right of first refusal to purchase my contract."

Upon hearing this, both Bi Xiaoshi and Xu Yuan were stunned.

An Ming, who was standing to the side, was also stunned for a moment. He couldn't help but glance at Song Mo. Why did this kid think of adding this?

Bi Xiaoshi sighed, thinking that since he had already conceded on the copyright and the contract period, this was nothing, so he gritted his teeth and agreed.

This is how people's bottom line is broken step by step.

Song Mo's request was not made on a whim, but because of a major event that had just happened in the music scene this year.

Jay Chou's mentor, Wu Zongxian, sold Alfa Music to Holiday Group due to financial difficulties.

In this process, Jay Chou's contract was packaged and transferred as part of the company's assets, meaning that Jay Chou was sold to Holiday Group as a commodity.

Jay Chou was naturally very dissatisfied with this, as he is now an Asian superstar, especially after Nicholas Tse's cover-up incident.

His popularity in mainland China has begun to surpass that of Nicholas Tse.

Now he's being sold around like this. Doesn't this little superstar have any pride?

But no matter how dissatisfied he was, it was useless. That was how the contract was written, so he tacitly accepted it and stayed at Holiday KTV until the contract expired before leaving.

Song Mo didn't want to encounter such a mess in the future.

"Then let's continue our discussion." Xu Yuan's expression became more serious; he had a premonition that today's negotiations wouldn't go so smoothly.

Song Mo nodded and continued flipping through the contracts.

He paused when he turned to the page about royalties.

"11%?" He looked up.

Bi Xiaoshi nodded and looked at Song Mo seriously, "This number proves that Ocean Butterflies is absolutely sincere."

Currently, the revenue share for newcomers in the music industry is generally around 8%, while the industry standard for established singers is 10%.

Only those at the level of Princess Consort or Richie Jen can negotiate 14% to 16%.

Song Mo was silent for a few seconds, then spoke up: "Teacher Bi, I have an idea."

Bi Xiaoshi and Xu Yuan exchanged a glance, both feeling a bit helpless. Why does this child have so many ideas?

"you say."

"I want to determine the revenue share based on record sales," Song Mo said. "The higher the sales, the higher the revenue share. For example, there's one standard for sales under 10 copies, another standard for sales between 10 and 30 copies, and yet another standard for sales over 30 copies, and so on."

After hearing Song Mo's words, the two shook their heads with wry smiles. They weren't fools; how could they possibly agree to such a request?

Besides, even if they were willing, Ocean Butterflies Music would definitely not approve it.

"Xiao Song," Bi Xiaoshi shook his head, "Your idea is good, but we can't agree to it. Sales are influenced by too many factors, such as advertising, distribution, and the market environment. These are things that you can't control, and neither can we. If we do it your way, the risks will be too great for both the company and you."

Xu Yuan chimed in, "And to be honest, nobody can predict how many copies a new artist's first album will sell. If sales are poor, your share will be even lower, right?"

The two of them tried to persuade him earnestly, their main point being: don't even think about it.

Seeing their determined expressions, Song Mo didn't insist. He brought up the idea as a gamble, just in case Haidie made a foolish decision and agreed.

He knew that such matters always had far-reaching consequences, and that Song Mo could sign such a contract.

Does that mean A-Du also has to sign a similar contract? He's Ocean Butterflies' top male artist, followed by Kit Chan, JJ Lin...

"Then how about 12%, to make it an even number, it's auspicious," Song Mo readily agreed.

Bi Xiaoshi was left speechless, both amused and exasperated by his words.

He glanced at Xu Yuan, who sighed and nodded.

"Okay," Bi Xiaoshi said, "12% it is, no more than that."

Song Mo nodded and said, "Then let's add one more condition: the revenue sharing ratio will be renegotiated every two albums released."

Bi Xiaoshi looked at him and suddenly felt like laughing.

This kid is really something else.

However, this is acceptable; for a newcomer, two albums are enough to show their future potential.

If Song Mo's career doesn't develop as expected after two albums, then this 12% share is naturally worth discussing.

If Song Mo's development exceeds expectations, then this 12% share will be even more debatable.

If you want to retain a top-tier singer, 12% of the revenue share isn't enough.

Song Mo did the math in his head: 12% record royalties plus an additional 6% for lyrics and music copyrights, totaling 18%.

This revenue share is higher than that of the biggest stars in the music industry.

"It seems Ocean Butterflies is really sincere this time," Song Mo thought to himself.

But this idea changed after seeing the content on the next page.

"They're waiting for me here, these old geezers, they're really bad."