1993 My China Entertainment Age

Chapter 30 Reaching cooperation, the last piece of the magic rock puzzle!

Out of personal accomplishment and politeness, Jiang Xiaofeng and the two of them smiled and nodded to each other, which was regarded as a face-to-face meeting.

However, there is definitely still pressure. After all, Dou Wei and Huang Fei are both big names and very good singers. When Jiang Xiaofeng sings in front of them, it feels like Guan Gong is playing tricks in front of him.

Moreover, this was the first time Jiang Xiaofeng saw Huang Fei in real life. Huang Fei's big eyes looked particularly bright and energetic, and her whole person's temperament was also very cold.

Huang Fei saw that the strong young man in front of her seemed a little uncomfortable, and then she smiled and joked: "It's okay, you sing your song, don't worry about us, just pretend we don't exist."

"Yes." Jiang Xiaofeng pretended to be calm and nodded, and cast a grateful look at Huang Fei.

After withdrawing his thoughts, Jiang Xiaofeng took a deep breath, then lowered his head and gently strummed the strings.

After a short prelude, Jiang Xiaofeng started singing while playing:

"Nothing can stop

your yearning for freedom

…”

Along with the melody played by the guitar, the first line Jiang Xiaofeng sang stunned the four audience members outside.

Because most songs need to be laid down first and then reach the climax slowly, but the lyrics and music of "Blue Lotus" sung by Jiang Xiaofeng gave people a strong impact as soon as they started.

"A wild and imaginative career

Your heart is free from worries

Through the dark years

I also felt hesitant

The moment you lower your head

Only then did I realize the path under my feet

The free world in my heart

So clear and far away

Blooming and never withering

blue lotus

…”

Although the lyrics of the song "Blue Lotus" are not heroic and the tune is not too ups and downs, during the performance of this song, Jiang Xiaofeng sang it in a calm and peaceful tone, but it shocked the audience.

's mind.

Especially Zhang Peiren, he feels that the style of Jiang Xiaofeng's works is more popular and more popular than the works of He Yong, Zhang Chu and Zhang Chu.

After listening to Jiang Xiaofeng sing the song "Blue Lotus", Zhang Peiren no longer concealed his appreciation for Jiang Xiaofeng, and enthusiastically invited Jiang Xiaofeng to join Magic Rock Culture.

From the beginning, Zhang Peiren wanted to create the "Four Heroes of Magic Rock" to compete with the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Xiangjiang, but he never found a suitable candidate and only signed three original singers, Dou Wei, Zhang Chu and He Yong.

Now that Jiang Xiaofeng suddenly appeared in front of him, Zhang Peiren also decided to seize the opportunity, recruit Jiang Xiaofeng under his command, and package Jiang Xiaofeng, Dou Wei, Zhang Chu, and He Yong into the "Four Elites of Demonic Rock".

Both He Yong and Dou Wei admired Jiang Xiaofeng's works and talents very much, and helped lobby to invite Jiang Xiaofeng to join Magic Rock Culture.

Jiang Xiaofeng is a relatively down-to-earth person, and his ideas are relatively simple. There is no problem in joining Moyan Culture, but in business, the contract must be clarified.

After He Yong, Dou Wei, and Huang Fei left, Jiang Xiaofeng and Zhang Peiren were in the office to formally discuss cooperation matters in depth.

In fact, there are various cooperation models and cooperation agreements between singers and record companies, and there are seven common models.

The first is outsourcing. Independent singers pay the record company to distribute and sell the album. The independent singer is responsible for all the profits and losses. The record company earns money from contracting to promote and distribute the album.

Of course, if the album makes money, the record company will also take a certain amount of commission.

The second is that the record company signs a contract with an independent singer, and then helps produce albums, promote sales, etc. In the end, the record company will be responsible for any profit or loss.

This model is similar to that of many major record companies, except that there is no management contract with the singer, only the singer's recording contract. They can only make money from album sales and copyrights, and at the same time, they have to pay the singer a sum of money to buy the song.

The third option is for record companies and independent singers to join forces and jointly bear the profits and losses, and the share ratio will be divided according to the capital investment of both parties.

…

Frankly speaking, so far, Jiang Xiaofeng does not have the ability to produce records alone. On the one hand, he is not capable enough, and on the other hand, the funds do not allow it.

After careful consideration, Jiang Xiaofeng finally chose the second cooperation model. He felt that it was easier and less risky. If the record sold well, he would get some money. If the record sold poorly, there would be no loss.

In Jiang Xiaofeng's view, the most profitable thing for a singer is not the record share, but the income from performances and endorsements after becoming famous.

Of course, record companies these days can still make money by selling records, so most record companies only sign recording contracts with singers, and generally do not sign management contracts.

The record contract, as the name suggests, refers to the contract signed by the record company and the singer to release records. Generally, there are restrictions such as three records every five years, two records every two years, and one record per year.

Corresponding to the record contract, there is the management agreement. The management agreement refers to the agreement between the singer and the management company or agent, which is a contract for performing arts matters.

Generally speaking, a singer's advertising contract, concert contract, etc. are separate from the record company and are included in the management agreement.

For example, take Huang Fei. After she debuted in Hong Kong, her Cantonese record deal has been with PolyGram (Xinyibao), her Mandarin record deal has been with Fumao Records in Taiwan, and her manager

The appointment was at Chen Jiaying's K's Production.

Many well-known Hong Kong singers are like Huang Fei. Their Cantonese records belong to the Hong Kong record company, their Mandarin records belong to the Taiwanese record company, and their management contracts belong to another economic company.

Moreover, Moyan Culture does not want singers’ management contracts, it only wants singers’ recording contracts.

Therefore, the three singers Dou Wei, He Yong, and Zhang Chu who joined Moyan Culture did not even have their own managers.

Before signing with Moyan Culture, the three of them actually had their own bands. Unlike Black Panther, whose entire band signed with Kingstone Records, Moyan signed not a whole band, but the lead singers of three bands.

Dou Wei, He Yong, and Zhang Chu all faced the same problem: the other party was only willing to sign the lead singer.

When the brotherhood of sharing weal and woe meets mature and indifferent business rules, many questions that have never been considered are suddenly placed in front of us.

However, Dou Wei did not hesitate too much and directly disbanded the dream band he had formed himself.

Although several other members of the Dreaming Band were disappointed with Dou Wei's decision, there was nothing they could do about it.

Jiang Xiaofeng was working alone and had no band of his own, so he didn't have to worry about this.

After communication and exchange, Jiang Xiaofeng and Zhang Peiren reached an agreement and decided to sign a contract with Moyan Culture for one record per year.

After determining the cooperation model, Jiang Xiaofeng and Zhang Peiren began to discuss the issue of recording distribution.

Generally speaking, of the income from a record, the singer himself can get 10%-30% of the royalties, the songwriters, producers and other creative staff will share 5% equally, and the rest goes to the record company.

This is the era of physical records, and some of the industry rules in the United States have been inherited by the music circles in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Therefore, in the Chinese music scene of the 1990s when physical records were at their peak, it was still very profitable to write a hit song.

But this premise is that the entire industry has established good genuine sales habits and a complete royalty payment and distribution system.

However, the mainland music scene is still in its infancy and has not yet established a good copyright distribution system. Of course, this problem is a long story. Piracy has been rampant since the beginning of physical records.

Moreover, various sales channels, publishing and distribution units will also conceal the true sales volume. This will lead to some songs being very popular in the market, but what is the true sales volume of the record company, or in other words, inform the singer of the sales volume that needs to be allocated royalties to the singer.

Very little.

For many songs that are sung by the whole people, the singers do not get much royalties, and the songwriters get even less.

Therefore, when Zhang Peiren proposed a 10% record share, Jiang Xiaofeng felt very puzzled and asked: "Mr. Zhang, is my record share so small? Only 10%?"

Zhang Peiren said dumbfounded: "10% is too little, 10% is really a lot. This is already the share of the domestic first-tier singers, and our company's share is less than 20%."

Jiang Xiaofeng asked in confusion: "What about the remaining 70%? Who gave it to?"

Zhang Peiren said bluntly: "Record stores, publishing houses, producers..."

Jiang Xiaofeng thought about it, a genuine tape sold for 10 yuan, and he would get 1 yuan for selling a tape. If he sold 100,000 copies, it would be 100,000 yuan, which was also a lot of money.

In order to get Jiang Xiaofeng to agree to join Magic Rock Culture, Zhang Peiren also promised Jiang Xiaofeng that after finishing Dou Wei, Zhang Chu and He Yong's records, he would immediately produce and release his personal record.

At that time, Jiang Xiaofeng will not have to worry about anything but writing and recording songs. After the record is released, he will still get 10% of the record share.

As for the song copyright of the record, Jiang Xiaofeng also made concessions and let Moyan Culture manage the song distribution copyright for five years.

The next day, both parties found a law firm and drafted a contract. Jiang Xiaofeng signed it and shook hands with Zhang Peiren.

“A pleasure to work with.”

“A pleasure to work with!”

(End of chapter)