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

An Ming's arrival brought Song Mo a sense of relief, but Liu Yifei was not so happy.

These past few days, she's been on a whim, constantly pestering Song Mo to write her a song.

But Song Mo hasn't given in yet, and she's currently trying to coax him into agreeing.

As soon as her brother arrived, Song Mo abandoned her and ran away.

"Now that I'm really familiar with this girl, she's become quite cunning." Song Mo walked to the parasol and sat down, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

These past few days, Liu Yifei has been using the excuse that Song Mo recognized her as his younger sister to treat him like a nanny and remotely control him in various ways.

The day before yesterday, she asked Song Mo to buy her coconuts; yesterday, she asked him to go beachcombing with her; and today, she asked him to write a song for her. Song Mo was at his wits' end and could only say, "Brother An, when are you going to take her away?"

An Ming smiled and shook his head: "I can't take her away. She listens to you now."

Song Mo rolled her eyes at him. "She doesn't listen to anyone."

"By the way, is there something you need from me?" Song Mo asked again.

Anming's expression turned serious: "The ringback tone pilot program has already started, and I want to try it out."

Song Mo was taken aback: "Go now? Isn't that a bit too hasty? Your sister is still here."

"These things are better done sooner rather than later. The sooner we act, the sooner we can take the initiative." An Ming paused, glanced at Liu Yifei who was picking up seashells on the beach in the distance, "As for Qianqian, doesn't she still have you, her brother, to take care of her? I'm very relieved to leave her in your care."

Song Mo was speechless. Wasn't this like a lamb being led to the slaughter? Well, he wasn't that beastly yet; after all, he was still young.

He nodded: "Okay, then go ahead. Since you can't go to Yanjing, where do you plan to go first?"

When the ringback tone service was first launched on a pilot basis, music companies could not cooperate directly with mobile operators. They had to go through SP companies that had obtained SP licenses as intermediaries to join the ringback tone service. Moreover, at this time, ringback tone services were not yet connected to nationwide SP companies, so they could only cooperate with local SP companies.

"I plan to go to Zhejiang first," An Ming said. "I've asked around about SP companies in East China, and a few have expressed interest."

"Okay, you go ahead. I'll take care of things here."

An Ming patted him on the shoulder, stood up, and went to find Liu Yifei.

When Liu Yifei heard that An Ming was leaving, she was naturally unhappy, but she also knew that An Ming was busy with important matters, so she reluctantly agreed.

After An Ming left, Liu Yifei was depressed all day. Song Mo didn't bother her, but bought her an ice pop. She sat on the hotel balcony, munching on the ice pop and staring blankly at the sea.

By evening, she had recovered on her own and started chattering away with Song Mo again.

Song Mo's album was finally scheduled for release on June 12.

This date was chosen by several fortune tellers whom Bi Xiaoshi consulted, who said it was "suitable for opening a business, for trading, and for accumulating wealth."

Song Mo didn't believe in these things, but he didn't object either, since it would be released a few days earlier or later anyway.

However, starting June 12th, he will be traveling to various cities, both large and small, for offline promotional roadshows.

Bi Xiaoshi had a wide network of connections and had laid the groundwork in advance, arranging venues, sound systems, and accommodations in dozens of cities from Central China to East China.

Meanwhile, "Happy Worship" and "Jiangnan" were sent to various radio programs for promotion as the top-tier singles.

Soon, news that a new artist was preparing to release a song in June spread like wildfire throughout the industry.

This news naturally sparked a huge discussion, especially considering that at this time, even the biggest stars in the music industry didn't dare to release albums.

Song Mo, a complete newcomer, dared to release a song, which naturally earned him a lot of ridicule.

Some people took the news as a joke and posted it on Xici Hutong. These days, many users of Xici Hutong consider themselves professional musicians.

For such a bold move by a newcomer, they immediately offered all sorts of sharp criticisms.

"That new artist from Ocean Butterflies? Song Mo? Releasing an album now? Are they crazy?"

"I heard it's a nineteen-year-old kid who wrote both the lyrics and music? Who listens to newcomers these days?"

"June? Everyone's pushing it back, but he's charging forward. What else is that but reckless daring?"

"They even had a rumored relationship with him before, he's A-Du's junior, and this is what happened? They really don't know what they're getting themselves into."

"Just wait and see, he'll probably be gone after this album."

Besides the skepticism from people in the internet industry, Ocean Butterflies headquarters also disagreed. However, Bi Xiaoshi ignored the headquarters' opinions this time and directly pushed forward the project, adhering to the principle that "a general in the field may not be subject to orders." In any case, given the current situation, Ocean Butterflies was unlikely to fly to him, and as for a complete falling out, that was even less likely.

Compared to the bewilderment of industry insiders and Ocean Butterflies Music, record store owners were initially overjoyed when they heard the news that a singer was preparing to release a new album, seeing it as a sign of market recovery. However, when they learned that it was a newcomer preparing to release an album, they were all greatly disappointed.

If a newcomer releases an album at this time, who will buy it?

Therefore, even though Bi Xiaoshi begged and pleaded with everyone, many audio-visual store distributors only ordered the minimum quantity when purchasing, and some didn't even order any at all, since they figured no one would buy it anyway.

It's fair to say that the industry is overwhelmingly pessimistic, with some even writing articles in newspapers titled "Ocean Butterflies' newcomer Song Mo releases an album against the trend: courage or ignorance?"

The content essentially says that they overestimated their abilities and failed to assess the situation, and that this album will likely be quickly drowned out by the market. It also laments that Ocean Butterflies, which is used to smooth sailing overseas, made a bad move in mainland China this time, and it will be difficult for them to make a comeback.

Upon seeing the news, Guo Liang in Yanjing immediately called Song Mo.

"Xiao Song, are you really releasing your album in June?"

"Yes, June 12th."

Guo Liang was silent for a few seconds, then sighed: "Why won't you listen to advice, kid? Can't you wait a bit? In this market, whoever makes money will die."

Song Mo smiled and said, "Teacher Guo, are you not confident about the album?"

"Of course I'm confident in the album, but I'm not confident in the market," Guo Liang said anxiously. "Do you know how many record stores are closed right now? People aren't even leaving their homes, who's going to buy your album?"

Hearing his concerns, Song Mo also told him about their considerations and their strategy of focusing on small and medium-sized cities first.

After hearing this, Guo Liang understood that Song Mo and the others had already thought things through very clearly. He was just the album's producer, and once the album was finished, there was nothing he could do, so he had to give up.

It's just a pity that such a good album by Song Mo didn't come at the right time.

Later that evening, Hu Haiquan called him, and the two chatted about Song Mo's album.

"That Song Mo, I told you, he insisted on releasing the album in June. I couldn't persuade him no matter what I said. It's such a great album, twelve songs, every single one of them is good enough to be a single, but he had to choose this time. What's wrong with a newcomer waiting? Can't he wait until the market recovers in the second half of the year to release it?" Guo Liang had also put a lot of effort into Song Mo's album, and at this moment he still felt that Bi Xiaoshi and the others were too impulsive.

Hu Haiquan, who was on the other end of the phone, had already heard about this. He had even met Song Mo once. Hearing Guo Liang say this, he became curious: "Is his album really that good?"

"Of course, why would I lie to you? I genuinely feel it's a pity," Guo Liang sighed.

"Since you've said that, Lao Guo, I'm really curious. When the album comes out, I'll definitely go to Wangfujing to buy a few copies to listen to. I just don't know if I'll be able to go then," Hu Haiquan said casually.

Currently, everyone is staying at home and can't go out. Although we've heard that the situation has greatly improved, no one knows when things will be allowed to reopen. Everyone is itching to get out.