China Entertainment started from Nortel 96

Chapter 13 First Album Release

December 20, 1996, is a Friday, and in four days it will be the release day of "Heart Is Too Soft" in Wanwan.

Qi Wei's first album "Shengtian Banzi" was released on Saturday the 21st, very close to the release time of "Heart Is Too Soft".

Of course, Qi Wei is not worried about having a head-on confrontation with "Heart Is Too Soft", because "Heart Is Too Soft" was introduced to the mainland by mainland publishers for release in January, and its popularity will start after January next year.

Qi Wei's class teacher Cui Xinqin has helped him apply for a two-week vacation from Nortel, starting this Saturday.

On Friday, Qi Wei finished class somewhat absent-mindedly. After class, he got rid of his "enthusiastic" classmates and went straight to Boss Wu's bar.

In Boss Wu's private box, Boss Wu poured Qi Wei a glass of wine and said with a smile:

"For your first album, I asked the publisher to help you burn 300,000 copies, of which 5,000 discs have been fully shipped. All major audio and video stores and shopping malls have put the goods on sale, and they will go on sale tomorrow."

"Thank you very much, Master Wu, for taking care of me."

Qi Wei happily clinked the wine glass extended by Boss Wu.

Generally speaking, the division of recording is calculated like this.

The distribution of records is generally about 30% for channel terminals such as video stores and shopping malls, 7% to 9% for producers, and 5% for lyrics and composition in total, minus about 5% for publishers and music production associations.

% share, the remaining 50% is divided between the singer and the record company.

The singer gets less, while the record company gets more.

Record companies have to produce albums, release and promote them, which costs money and effort. Generally, they will not give singers more than 10% of the share.

For example, when the world's pop king Michael cooperates with Sony, he can get the industry's highest 20% share, which also includes the producer's share, and even spends a sum of money for production and promotion, etc.

Only well-known singers have bargaining power, and some singers or newcomers get less than 1%...

Some singers and companies publicize how high a share the singer gets, not to mention whether the share is linked to sales performance. Some contracts are directly profit share.

There is a big trick with profit sharing! Profit sharing refers to the record company’s share of profits after deducting costs.

Whether it's profitable or not, it's up to the record company to decide.

If the records don't sell well, the singers won't get any money if they lose money. If the records sell well, the record companies will find ways to make accounts and make losses, and the singers won't get any money either.

How much money is given to the singer depends on how conscientious the record company is.

Generally speaking, singers currently signed by domestic record companies do not expect to make money from records.

Commercial performances, program announcements, advertising endorsements, and concerts are the big ones.

Therefore, if Qi Wei signs a contract with those record companies and becomes their singer, even if he takes over the lyrics, music, production, and singers of an album, the record share will be difficult to exceed 20%.

Being an independent musician is different.

After subtracting the necessary shares from offline channels and publishing houses, independent musicians can enjoy the remaining 65% of the share when publishing records.

This is much more than what the record company gave me.

This is also the reason why many mainland singers and bands now take the independent musician route.

Of course, large record companies have a lot of resources, which can help you solve your worries and help you make the cake bigger. Maybe even if you split a small amount, you may get more in the end.

In addition, as an independent musician, the approximately 65% share may have to be divided with the publisher.

Under normal circumstances, independent musicians find a publisher, and the publisher helps you release records. Either you pay him how much money he has to release a number of records for you. The publisher earns a fixed distribution fee, and the risk of loss is entirely borne by the independent musician.

Either the publisher shares the record share with you, and the publisher helps bear the risk of loss.

If your record is likely to sell well, then the publisher will definitely get a share of it from you.

No one will complain about making a lot of money,

If you negotiate a share with the publisher, under normal circumstances, the publisher's share is 20% to 35%.

The stronger the publisher is, the greater the share it will ask for.

Qi Wei wanted to ask for help from others, and at the same time, he wanted to sell Boss Wu a favor.

The two parties agreed that the share would be half for each party.

In other words, Qi Wei can get about 32% of the share.

If you sell a tape for 10 yuan, Qi Wei can get 3 yuan and 2. If you sell a CD for 50 yuan, Qi Wei can get 16 yuan.

If Qi Wei sells out all 300,000 records, Qi Wei will get over one million in pre-tax income from the share!

Of course Boss Wu will also earn a lot.

Boss Wu is very optimistic about Qi Wei's first album. The publisher he found will pay a fixed distribution fee, and Qi Wei will get a share of the distribution fee.

The more records you release, the lower the cost of a single record.

The cost of publishing and burning a CD is less than one dollar.

Therefore, Boss Wu spent nearly 300,000 in issuance fees.

If all 300,000 records are sold out, Boss Wu can earn more than 700,000.

It seems that Boss Wu earns less from records than Qi Wei, but this is not the case in reality.

Generally speaking, publishers and the like will definitely engage in some gray income, such as selling record master tapes to pirates or engaging in piracy themselves.

Otherwise, why would piracy be rampant in China? How did those pirates obtain high-definition audio?

There must be a "thief"!

Of course, Qi Wei definitely has no control over these things.

Doing business is all about points. Boss Wu also took the risk of losing money by doing this. If he really made more than himself, Qi Wei didn't care.

Anyway, what you can earn is enough.

If more than 10,000 copies are sold, Qi Wei can earn back the production cost.

Of course, Qi Wei's goals are definitely not limited to this.

"Do you think you can buy all the 300,000 tickets?" Boss Wu asked with a smile and narrowed eyes.

"Definitely! And I think Mr. Wu, you are still a little conservative." Qi Wei replied confidently.

"Oh? So how many do you think you can sell?"

"This is the number." Qi Wei put down his wine glass, smiled and stretched out a finger towards Boss Wu.

Boss Wu was slightly surprised and opened his squinted eyes slightly.

Of course, the eyes are small, and it doesn’t make much difference whether they are opened or not.

Said: "There are not many people in the country who can sell this amount, but you are very confident."

"This is the confidence you have given me, Mr. Wu." Qi Wei complimented.

"Really? Then it looks like I have to prepare another distribution fee and let the factory burn another batch."

"I won't let you down, Mr. Wu."

"Then I wish your first album a big hit."

In this private room, the 82-year-old Lafite was poured on the graceful and sexy girl, making her look even more charming and enchanting. Amidst the interlacing of cups and cups, laughter and laughter, Qi Wei was enjoying it while looking forward to the prospect of releasing his first album.

Very much looking forward to it.

And in a certain video store.

"Another crappy album by some unknown singer!"

A batch of goods had just been delivered, and the owner of the video store complained while counting them.

Soon, he discovered Qi Wei's album.

""Shengtian Banzi"? The album title is quite crazy!"

The boss was stunned for a moment and sneered disdainfully.

But soon after he counted 200 copies sent to him by the publisher, he felt something was unusual.

When he looked at the handsome appearance of the lead singer on the album cover, he fell silent.

I couldn't help but become curious.

I opened a tape, took out the tape of Zhang Xueyou's "Kiss Goodbye" from the recorder, put this tape in and played it.

He is ready to continue the inventory work.