Chapter 53: EP Release

Ji Xiang was truly a devoted and meticulous manager! Knowing that Shen Yan lacked a professional background, he arranged for tutors and thoughtfully reminded him of the appropriate boundaries when interacting with people...

However, Shen Yan suddenly recalled something: "Brother, You Da-zhi has been directing a television series for Chinese Entertainment recently!"

"...You Da-zhi?"

"Right, ever since he left Milkyway Image, he has been looking for work!"

Ji Xiang immediately caught onto his train of thought: "You want him to direct Architecture 100?"

"Yes, his technical skills are unquestionable... and his price is reasonable!"

"Let me think about it!"

As for why You Da-zhi left Milkyway...

Milkyway Image was founded in 1996, and with the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the Hong Kong film industry plunged into a slump. In just its second year, Milkyway Image fell into an economic crisis, with its capital chain snapping multiple times.

Their early productions earned critical acclaim but failed at the box office, resulting in heavy losses where the company couldn't even cover employee salaries.

Things only began to improve after 2000.

For three whole years, the entire team survived purely on sheer passion and dedication.

You Da-zhi was simply one of those who couldn't hold on any longer. With an ordinary family background, his girlfriend was pushing him to get married—how could he survive without money?

He had no choice but to leave Milkyway!

However, he left behind three masterpieces at Milkyway: Too Many Ways to Die, The Longest Noodle, and Expect the Unexpected...

After leaving Milkyway, he directed The Accidental Spy for China Star, which was rather mediocre. Later, the TVB series Twin of Brothers he directed became a genuine classic in the hearts of Hong Kong drama fans.

You Da-zhi was a protégé of Johnnie To. Back in the day, he was assigned as Johnnie To's assistant and spent over a decade following him...

His style tended towards serious expressions of fatalism and the like, but... directing a romance film shouldn't pose any difficulty for him...

……

How should original songs be promoted?

In the past, there was a complete industry chain—promoting songs through radio charts and music stations, along with recommendations from numerous professional magazines...

And finally, television promotion...

Nowadays, this promotional method has been phased out!

Because no one buys so-called professional music magazines anymore.

Publications like Contemporary Music and Music Weekly were hardly read by anyone...

Of course, if you were willing to pay, you could still get written up in them, but it was practically meaningless...

Moreover, charts like the Global Chinese Music Chart and CCTV Music required paying for placement.

You had to get on the charts before you even had a chance to go on television to promote your songs!

Nowadays, charts still existed, but they were largely concentrated among three major platforms: Kugou Music, QQ Music, and Kuwo Music Box...

Especially Kuwo Music; in an era lacking copyright awareness, it was the number one music platform!

You definitely had to pay for recommendations—homepage placements, new song recommendations...

Shen Yan's first EP was simply titled Shen Yan, featuring five songs: Better Go Home and Drink Tap Water, Mountains and Seas, Light, Strolling, and A Little Bit...

Every song had immense commercial appeal and a strong literary sensibility...

After its release in September, backed by vigorous promotional marketing, it quickly climbed to the top of the hit song charts.

The EP's sales even surpassed 100,000 copies!

Selling 100,000 copies was a remarkable achievement, especially considering Shen Yan was a complete newcomer...

It was fair to say that Shen Yan became an overnight sensation!

Special thanks to Shishi, Yuan Hong, and even Wen Zhang for their support—they all helped promote it on Weibo...

Even though Weibo had just been established at this stage, and Sina Weibo only had 30 million users...

Furthermore, among the three of them, Yuan Hong had the highest following with just 500,000 fans, but... the promotional impact was still substantial!

——Sina Weibo officially launched in August 2009, entering a fiercely competitive market right from the start: major web portals like NetEase, Tencent, and Sohu all announced the launch of their own microblogging services.

Additionally, Shen Yan didn't forget to add a note in the synopsis of his web novel Lord of the Mysteries: "Author-kun's first EP Shen Yan is now out, please show your support!"

Lord of the Mysteries had been serialized for three months now, updating three chapters daily...

Qidian's statistics showed over 3 million views.

Pirated readership figures had to be multiplied by at least ten...

At this stage, the reach was certainly no weaker than a celebrity's Weibo recommendation...

Shen Yan had originally thought about asking a few top authors for a recommendation spot... but since he had zero personal connection with that crowd, he decided to forget it!

By the way, Lotus Tower had finished serialization, and Shen Yan directly had Chen Xu upload Lotus Tower to Qidian...

Completely free!

Meanwhile, Legend of Fei began serialization in Wuxia Weekly...

As for the sensational Shen Yan, he spent almost the entire month promoting his songs.

Ji Xiang booked a slew of offline promotional performances for him, including but not limited to mixed-lineup concerts and shopping mall promotional events...

Literally shopping mall promotional events!

Where Shen Yan would hold a guitar and sing right in the middle of a shopping mall...

Still, that was pretty good; at least he didn't have to go sing at a nursing home!

In September, a flood of singers released albums: Bibi Zhou released her fourth album Time, Yu Haoming released Embrace, and Zeng Yike released FOREVER ROAD.

The top-selling release was the original soundtrack for Together Again...

As an aside, after 2008, the internet became fully popularized, and the new generation no longer relied on personal cassette players or MP3 players for listening to music, increasingly opting for online streaming media instead. This further fueled the rise of internet musicians. Mainstream media began to be cannibalized by self-media, and traditional mainstream singers entered a sluggish period.

The year 2009 was the golden age of "viral internet hits," with tracks like Love and Business and The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style becoming enduring sensations.

Although songs like Making Mistakes, Love and Business, and One Person's Loneliness, Two People's Fault were once attacked by mainstream media as vulgar, it had to be admitted that their brainwashing power was first-rate.

It just so happened that Shen Yan's songs weren't very suitable for ringback tones...

The top ten ringback tone charts were entirely dominated by vulgar pop hits like Love and Business, My Good Brother, Making Mistakes, Love and Business, I'm Just a Legend, and One Person's Loneliness, Two People's Fault!

Additionally, Heartache 2009, Want a Hug, Marry a Man Like Grey Wolf, and Li Lei and Han Meimei also ranked near the top.

……

Changsha, hotel.

Tomorrow, Shen Yan was scheduled to participate in the recording of Day Day Up, where he would make a guest appearance midway to perform Mountains and Seas...

Ji Xiang was on the phone with someone...

After a while, he knocked and walked in. Shen Yan was busy typing away at his novel...

"I just got word that Better Go Home and Drink Tap Water has climbed to number 95 on the ringback tone download chart..."

Shen Yan took a brief break to reply: "What about the others?"

"Outside the top one hundred..."

Outside the top one hundred...

What a damn joke!

Shen Yan shook his head: "I really feel like writing a viral hit song..."

Ji Xiang: "Then go ahead and write one... Let me tell you, just the ringback tone download royalties for Love alone exceeded 50 million!"

"I'm worried about losing my dignity!"

"True, those brainwashing songs exude a sense of cheapness... But we're doing pretty well ourselves; I calculated that the ringback tone royalties alone are enough to cover our initial investment cost... Sales, promotions, and commercial performances are pure profit!"

"...How much can we make?"

"Hard to say, since it's not time to settle accounts yet, but at the very least, it'll clear 2 million!"

2 million...

His share would be 800,000.

That was already quite good!

Added to the 300,000 in his bank account, it would be enough to cover a down payment...

Pondering for a moment, Shen Yan asked in return: "Aren't there any commercials looking for me?"

"...There are, but I turned them all down... They were either shady three-no products or didn't match your image and temperament!"

"You make the call," Shen Yan said. "How are things going with our movie?"

"I've already sent the script to Li Xue. In a couple of days, I'll take you to meet Sister Bingbing!"

Shen Yan nodded. Just as he was about to speak, his phone buzzed. Glancing at the caller ID, he smiled: "...I'll take this call!"

"Still Shishi?"

"Yeah..."