She debuted after having a child with a celestial being.

Nine Percent's fan meeting tour started at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai in early May, and then traveled to Quanzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

The venues in 12 cities across China, with nearly 10,000 seats per show, sold out within three minutes of tickets going on sale.

Every night, a sea of ​​glow sticks lights up on time, and the support colors of the nine boys spread out like a galaxy in the audience.

On May 5th and 6th, the world premiere kicked off in Shanghai, with a top-notch backstage team creating a high-caliber audio-visual feast.

But the fans' enthusiasm soon revealed another side of it.

At Cai Kunkun's first fan meeting in Shanghai in May, someone shone a laser pointer on him from below the stage during his performance. The small green light followed his eyes and swayed throughout the entire chorus.

Fans later angrily denounced the haters' behavior as malicious, but all nine members remained restrained on stage and continued to perform that night.

Less than a week later, Cai Kunkun's fans caused another incident.

He posted a message on Weibo saying "I'm dyeing my hair black as a perk," and when a passerby casually commented, he was attacked and doxxed by some irrational fans.

The incident became a trending topic, and Cai Kunkun had to issue a public apology, saying, "I failed to guide my fans properly." In the days that followed, he scrolled through his phone in the background and saw a flood of posts about "idols paying the price for their fans' behavior," and remained silent for a long time.

This incident became a watershed moment for the fan community in 2018.

Later, someone on Douban reviewed the public opinion trends of that year and wrote: "In April 2018, after the doxxing incident involving Cai Kunkun's fans, there was a wave of criticism against the fans online, and many bystanders said, 'Now I have no desire to know anything about Cai Kunkun.'"

This is why Xiao He doesn't manage a fan club or cult, and he has also reminded Cai Kunkun not to get too involved in fan club culture.

Because a year later, an even bigger storm was brewing.

Cai Kunkun's Weibo post received over 100 million reposts, prompting CCTV to directly criticize him and expose the false prosperity behind the fan economy.

Subsequently, Xingyuan App was investigated, and its founder was arrested for damaging computer information systems, gradually bringing the fraudulent data manipulation industry chain to the surface.

At this moment, in May 2018, all of this was still just the beginning.

Some media outlets have started making comparisons with Nine Percent's internal structure.

Despite debuting in the center position, Xiao He's fan base grew far less than Cai Kunkun's.

One press release directly stated in its title, "Xiao He doesn't understand idol management and is left far behind by Cai Kunkun."

The comments section was filled with sarcasm: "Debuted in the center position but hasn't even built a fan club yet," "Doesn't know how to be an idol," "What's the use of just writing songs?"

Chen Linong took screenshots of these comments and sent them to a WeChat group, asking him if he needed any help.

Xiao He leaned back in the dressing room chair, read the comments, and then turned his phone face down on the table.

He knew all too well how this game of traffic would end.

The more intense the hype created by data, the more devastating the explosion will be.

What he needs to do now is not manage a fan base, but manage his work.

He saw through the "popularity" that capital built up with data in his past life.

Another thing he should spend his time on now is negotiating with recording studios and record companies.

In preparation for the official release of "Crossing Boundaries" and the signing of his duo with Liu Yifei, Xiao He began contacting the three most powerful record companies in China.

Our first stop was Taihe Music.

In June, just as summer was beginning in Beijing, the Taihe Music Group's reception room was located on the sixteenth floor of a gray-blue office building in Sanlitun, Chaoyang District.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows is the traffic flow of the East Third Ring Road. Inside the reception room, there is an upright piano, and on the wall hangs autographed album covers by Xu Song, Xue Zhiqian, and Qi Wei. In the corner stands a natural wood guitar.

Liu Yifei sat next to Xiao He, wearing white suit trousers and a light gray silk shirt underneath.

She appeared relaxed. This wasn't her first time negotiating with a record company, but the last time she discussed a solo album was in 2006.

Taihe sent a vice president surnamed Hu, who was in his early forties and wore metal-framed glasses.

Hu Yiyou is the vice president of Taihe Music Group. In 2018, he was in charge of new talent support projects such as the "MOMO Music Project" and had a clear interest in collaborating with singer-songwriters who debuted through talent shows.

He flipped through the sheet music for "Crossing the Line" and the lyrics to the several demos that Xiao He handed him, and he was very interested.

"What's the name of your group?"

"HF," Xiao He said. Hu Yiyou paused for a moment, then understood and nodded with a smile.

"HF, that's an interesting meme. What are your thoughts?"

"We are an independent group, not trainees signed to any company," Liu Yifei continued, her voice soft but her tone firm. "We hope to retain the copyright to the lyrics and music ourselves."

Hu Yiyou placed the sheet music on the table and tapped it lightly twice with his fingers.

He told the two that Taihe has several labels under its umbrella, including Taihe Rye Music, Ocean Butterflies Music, and Baidu Music, and that the signing methods are very flexible, including three models: full contract, distribution contract, and stage contract.

Under the full contract model, the company invests the most resources and has a more complete publicity and promotion channel.

Issuance is relatively flexible, but the resources invested by the company will be reduced accordingly.

Stage deals tend to focus more on connecting performance resources.

He recommended a compromise: a three-year distribution contract, with Taihe handling publicity and global digital distribution, and relying on the group's Qianqian Music, Baidu and other channels to create HF's first EP.

The copyrights to the lyrics and music can remain with the creators, but the copyrights to the recording production will be exclusively managed by Taihe during the contract period, and the revenue sharing ratio needs to be further negotiated.

Liu Yifei and Xiao He exchanged a glance. This plan was better than expected—the lyrics and music copyrights were preserved, which was the bottom line. However, the details of the distribution agreement still needed to be refined, especially the revenue sharing ratio, the frequency of royalty settlements, and the agency rights for overseas distribution.

As Liu Yifei walked out of the Taihe Music Building, she put on sunglasses and suddenly said, "This Mr. Hu is quite honest."

Xiao He nodded: "He mentioned that Xu Song's contract terms are relevant. The specific term of Xu Song's contract with Taihe is not transparent, but the industry practice is a three-year automatic renewal model, which shows that Taihe does have a mature service system for creative artists."

The second stop is Sony Music Copyright.

Soya's China headquarters is located in the Xidian Memory Cultural and Creative Town in Gaobeidian, Chaoyang District. The entire gray and white building has a strong cultural and creative atmosphere.

The person who came to meet us was a distribution director surnamed Lin, in his thirties, with a small, meticulously trimmed goatee, and who habitually tapped his fingers lightly on the table as he spoke.

"Who wrote the suona arrangement for 'Qilin'? That intro is so captivating."

"Me," Xiao He said.

Director Lin raised an eyebrow.

Then he got to the point: Sony Music Publishing (Sony/ATV) is a subsidiary of Sony Music Publishing (Sony/ATV). In 2018, it had not yet changed its name and was still operating under the name "Sony Music Copyright".

They don't have an agency contract; they only act as agents for songwriting copyrights.

This means that artists can retain all agency autonomy and recording production rights, while Sonja only manages the commercialization of song and music copyrights, including licensing, rights protection, and royalty settlement.

"We offer songwriting copyright agency contracts. You authorize us with the copyright of all of HF's original songs, and we will handle the copyright management and royalty settlement worldwide."

Director Lin pushed a sample copyright agency contract onto the table.

"Your songs 'Qilin,' 'Wild Wolf Disco,' and 'Crossing the Line'—as long as you sign with us, we can help you recoup every revenue share from every cover, variety show use, and short video background music."

Liu Yifei opened the contract sample, looked at a few pages, and frowned slightly.

She pointed out that Sonja's copyright agency network covers the globe, but the HF group does not currently need such a large song and music monetization system.

She was concerned about whether the frequency of royalty settlements could be increased to once a quarter, and how much room there was for negotiation on the agency fee percentage.

Sonja's negotiations were purely commercial; there was no talk of dreams or sentiments, only data and terms.

This style actually made Xiao He feel comfortable; at least he didn't have to pretend.

Signing the contract takes time. Xiao He arranged to meet with Director Lin again next week.

The third stop is Universal Music.

The talks held globally were of the highest level.

The person who arrived was a vice president for Greater China, surnamed Zhang. He was in his fifties, with gray hair but a vigorous spirit, and had more than twenty years of industry experience.

"We've been following you two for a long time," Mr. Zhang said bluntly. "We've auditioned the first studio master tape of 'Crossing Boundaries' internally, and the feedback was very positive."

But what he said next was the real key point: Universal Music had just signed Wu Moufan in the first half of 2018, making him the first Chinese singer-songwriter signed under Universal Music Group's international expansion plan. The contract covered exclusive global music distribution rights, but did not include a management agreement. Mr. Zhang stated that Universal could provide HF with a similar exclusive global distribution contract, relying on its international labels such as Interscope Geffen A&M and Island Records for global distribution.

"We value more than just the single 'Crossing Boundaries.' We value the concept of HF. The crossover combination of an actor and a singer-songwriter has a huge narrative space. Universal just signed Wu Moufan this year, becoming their first signed Chinese singer-songwriter, and we will have more activities in the domestic market in the future."

But Liu Yifei's response was very calm.

She looked at Mr. Zhang and asked him if Universal Music could provide specific promotional resources for the first EP, including domestic platforms, and if they could bring a digital marketing plan to discuss it again.

Universal Pictures has presented a strong industry "momentum," but the specific domestic promotional resources are relatively vague, and the details of the terms still need further clarification.

In comparison, Taihe's implementation plan is more detailed, but the distribution ratio (55%) still needs further negotiation.

As a supplementary copyright agent, Sonya can ensure the maximum benefit for creators.

Global has the broadest prospects, but there is a certain gap in the implementation of local resources.

"No rush." ​​Xiao He closed the folder. "Let's have all three parties negotiate again. We'll make a decision once the specific terms are finalized."

Liu Yifei leaned back on the sofa and picked up her coffee cup.

When she released her album in 2006, she signed a full contract with Sony Japan, leaving no room for negotiation.

"My dear brother, I never imagined I'd become a singer, let alone debut in a group?"

Liu Yifei thought about what had happened in the past few days and found it unbelievable. If it weren't for Xiao He, she definitely wouldn't have had this thought or acted this way.

"Sister Sissi, we're using a strategy of 'surrounding the cities from the countryside.' Once HF becomes a top-tier group, what scripts and capital can't we get?"

Xiao He responded with a smile, but what he really thought was that if they debuted as a group and spent every day together, they would definitely develop feelings for each other over time.