Kapitel 27: Gold Brick Road
Redakteur: Tennesh
An epic debut.
A definitive review.
By the most authoritative industry publication. No one could dispute that.
The "epic" label also meant that the upcoming season of the new talent contest was destined to be a bloody battle.
No, maybe it went beyond the New Pioneers Chart. Maybe it would develop into a storm that sucked in the entire Yanzhou music industry. Calling it subversion wouldn't be an overstatement. It had disrupted the planning of so many others.
There was a reason why Ya Erlin and Chu Guang didn't classify the song as an "epic" lightly. Setting aside the quality of the piece itself, this was still an unprecedented feat.
There had been epic pieces before. The Big Three—Silver Wing Media, Neon Culture and Tongshan True Entertainment—all boasted their own elite cooperatives. Silver Wing had Flying Pegasus, Neon Culture had Metal Torrent, and Tongshan True Entertainment was home to Fourth Dimension. They were all capable of producing epic works.
The same went for the other top music cooperatives in other parts of the world, not just Yanzhou. The music they produced was copyrighted. It was never positioned as pop music and their target audience was never the average consumer.
These cooperatives usually only composed for projects with hundreds of millions in profit at stake, like blockbusters, hit TV shows, ads, and online games. Or the biggest of superstars. They always enjoyed a heavenly existence.
And every project was kept tightly under wraps. There were no leaks. That was why these elite cooperatives had special status within their respective record labels. Even a department head like Julian carried no weight with them. She wasn't kidding when she'd said she had trouble obtaining a full song from Flying Pegasus.
When outside companies or entities wanted to use the work of these elite co-operatives, they had to pay up, and it was beyond what the average consumer could afford. Four figures was a minimum, and that only bought you a limited license that lasted a few days or a few months. It depended.
If you wanted to own a song outright, the pricing was even higher. Word was a piece composed by Flying Pegasus was sold for seven figures to a video game studio last year. No one knew the exact amount. No one could vouch for the quality of the song because no one had heard it. The rumor was it wasn't an "epic" piece. If it were, it would have cost even more.
That was why, when Silver Wing launched a virtual idol with an epic song, it sent jaws dropping everywhere.
"Are they nuts?"
That was the response of the Fei Lisi project team at Neon Culture.
Had the folks at Silver Wing lost it?
An epic song for a virtual idol with uncertain prospects? This was no ordinary song. It was golden.
If the Metal Torrent cooperative at Neon Culture produced such a song, they would never waste it on a new virtual idol.
Silver Wing's behavior was downright crazy, wasteful, and incomprehensible. It was like using a dragon-slaying sword to chop garlic. Even if Silver Wing could stomach it, other bystanders felt the pain.
The community of composers was also blown away by this costly investment. So Flying Pegasus had quietly, secretly crafted a virtual idol. And everyone thought they were working on the score for a year-end blockbuster. They never would have guessed.
Insiders at that level maintained a certain level of contact. So when "Divine Punishment" was released, Flying Pegasus members kept being pestered, but no one found out anything.
"It's OK. I understand if you can't say anything. No need to explain. You have your considerations." The folks calling Flying Pegasus started answering their own questions.
But the composers at Flying Pegasus were equally dumbfounded.
Wait, what do you understand? Please explain.
What considerations? How come we were kept in the dark? Who wrote that song? How come Silver Wing had signed such a great talent and we didn't know about it?
The head of Flying Pegasus clutched his chest with a shivering hand after hanging up the phone again.
Heartbreaking.
An epic.
Used to launch a virtual idol.
He wanted to find out who had made such a wasteful decision.
After swallowing a pill handed to him by an assistant, the head of Flying Pegasus couldn't sit still. He got up and punched his intercom.
He was going to complain to the head of the label.
The music industry was abuzz with heated discussion, and outsiders were equally excited.
A song deemed hefty enough to back an epic film by an authoritative publication was used to launch a virtual idol. It was the equivalent of rolling out a red carpet made with gold bricks.
"What do I hear? Money! Tons of money!"
"No, what you're hearing is the sound of gold bricks."
Gold bricks.
A gold brick you could purchase for a dollar.
Even music fans uninterested in epic scores couldn't help downloading the song. Only the song was available for download. The music video could only be added to a playlist.
Everyone who watched the music video shared the same thought.
"How come it feels like this is just the beginning?"
"You're spot on. It is just the beginning. Didn't you see the words 'First Movement' at the end of the video? It's the end of the year. I think Silver Wing is up to something."
"I think Silver Wing is up to something too."
"Neon Culture and Tongshan True Entertainment created such a frenzy with their virtual idols, while Silver Wing kept a low profile. Turns out they were holding back a secret weapon."
"They've made their first move. A second move is coming, no?"
"Am I the only person who noticed the name Fang Zhao?"
...
No matter what, "Divine Punishment" being deemed an epic by industry authorities caused countless ripples. Everyone at Silver Wing was shocked except for Du Ang, Julian, and Ya Erlin.
After reading the review, Du Ang and company rushed to the 50th floor. Today marked the official launch of Polar Light, so the entire virtual idol project team was there. They were celebrating when the trio arrived.
Zu Wen and Zeng Huang weren't music fans, but they knew what the review meant for Polar Light's debut.
When Du Ang and company arrived, they locked the elevator doors so no curious outsiders could bother them.
Du Ang was so excited he forgot what he wanted to say when he opened his mouth.
Ya Erlin and Julian shoved him aside when they saw he couldn't manage a syllable after several false starts.
"Fang Zhao, are you really the composer?" Julian asked. Even though she had asked the question many times, she was still skeptical when the review came out.
"Yes, I wrote the song." Fang Zhao nodded.
"If I'm not mistaken, there are still other movements in the works?" Ya Erlin followed up.
"Indeed." Fang Zhao had nothing to hide. "There are still three more movements to go."
The trio of department heads took a deep breath.
Three more movements.
"Have you started recording them? Let us take a look." Du Ang was anxious to get a head start.
"I haven't started recording," Fang Zhao responded.
"Why?" Du Ang asked in a surprised tone.
But Fang Zhao was the one who was surprised by the stupid question.
"I've used up all my funding."
Kapitel 28: Upstairs for a Meeting
Redakteur: Tennesh
Much of their top-notch equipment had a limited shelf life and their rental payments accounted for a good chunk of their 5-million-dollar budget, let alone other costly expenditures. Plus the project staff hadn't been paid yet.
It was a cliche, but artists had to eat too. Fang Zhao didn't want to mistreat his own people, so when he used up all his funding, he put the project on hold. They would continue whenever they received additional funding. The success of the first movement convinced Fang Zhao that Silver Wing wouldn't pass on such a promising project.
"Hiss—that's a loaded question." It finally dawned on Du Ang and company that the project was only budgeted for 5 million—and that was the result of Du's lobbying. It would have been even less had the original appropriation gone through.
Indeed, 5 million was too little considering the success of the project thus far. Fang Zhao and company had done an amazing job just launching Polar Light.
"Rest assured, I'll lobby the bosses for more funding. It will be more than last time. Plus you'll get decent bonuses," Du Ang said.
Even an idiot knew that Silver Wing finally had a proper virtual idol on its hands. How could it not back the hell out of it? Not to mention a second epic was in the works.
This kid was going to become rich. He might even be recruited by Flying Pegasus. That was a goal Ya Erlin had failed to achieve up to this point.
Having been dealt a reality check, Du Ang calmed down somewhat. "Speaking of which..."
Du Ang scanned the group, his gaze pausing briefly on Zu Wen and company. "Mum's the word. Try to run a tight ship."
Zu Wen struggled not to break into laughter. "Understood."
Outside observers all thought that Polar Light's epic debut was a secret bomb Silver Wing had held back for the end of the year. When a Silver Wing spokesman was asked about the project in a clip they just watched online, all he could do was maintain his composure and smile, projecting an aura of mystery. But the project team figured the spokesman's back was drenched in sweat.
What else could he do but smile and act coy? Say he didn't know about Polar Light? That would be the equivalent of slapping himself in the face.
If that was how he answered, Silver Wing would've become the biggest joke in the industry and even gone down in history as such.
Silver Wing couldn't afford to lose that much face.
After Du Ang and company left, Fang Zhao was thanked by Bei Zhi and Ji Polun. Fang Zhao had listed their names in the credits, which gave them exposure. It was an important boost for any singer or actor.
Bei Zhi probably didn't expect Fang Zhao to list him in the credits, considering he had only helped out on the 50th floor for three days during his break. All he did was haul equipment around for three days. Even though he was listed last, he was still excited. His agent had just told him the number of online searches for him would spike considerably. However you looked at it, that was a form of fame as well. He had an edge over other newcomers.
So excited. So excited.
"Hehe, hehehehe, hahahaha!"
Bei Zhi scampered about ecstatically in the newcomer dorm, behaving like a convulsing lamb.
His three roommates were jealous. What could they say? You can't control luck.
After he was thanked and congratulated by Bei Zhi and Ji Polun, Fang Zhao skimmed the comments on the song posted online, getting a sense of the overall response before moving on to the more respected media outlets. They were the opinion leaders on the matter.
The hosts of the popular webcast "Prairie Fire" had all forgotten about the "Yanzhou Derby" they had coined earlier. Now all the talk revolved around Silver Wing's underlying strategy and speculation about its next move. They were convinced that Silver Wing had been working on the virtual idol for some time and all previous rumors were simply a smokescreen.
To back up their speculation, "Prairie Fire" invited experts onto the show. Experts wouldn't lie, no?
Two guests appeared on the live webcast. The first was Prof. Bradley, a scholar from the history faculty at Yanzhou University who specialized in the Period of Destruction. The other was researcher Kou Da, who studied animal mutations during the Period of Destruction at the Yanzhou Academy of Science. Both were bona fide experts.
Both were genuine leaders in the field. What they said was authoritative. No one questioned the veracity of their research.
Bradley analyzed the authenticity of the "Divine Punishment" music video—the sequence of events and the location and scale of the meteor showers and subsequent earthquakes. His conclusion: the music video was spot on. Although the virtual idol was fiction, the historical backdrop was accurate. He couldn't find any flaws. The music video was better made than many movies about the Period of Destruction.
Professor Kou Da of the Yanzhou Academy of Science focused on the mutated animals that appeared in the music video. His conclusion: there were no inaccuracies. So many mutated animals appeared during the Period of Destruction, but the music video got all the minute details right. The production design was so exacting that he wanted to meet the expert consulted for the project.
The two hosts acted as if they had landed a major scoop, concluding, "Therefore, our suspicion is that Silver Wing was backed by a formidable team of consultants comprising the top names in the business. They stayed out of sight because they signed confidentiality agreements. You can tell that Silver Wing put considerable thought into the project. It must have been in the pipeline for some time."
On the 50th floor of Silver Wing Tower, Zu Wen and company shifted their gaze to Fang Zhao.
A formidable team of consultants?
Hehe.
Among outsiders, all eyes were on Silver Wing's next move. In fact, many Silver Wing staffers were wondering too. They were waiting for the company's top brass to respond. This was no ordinary debut. There was too much attention. The higher ups were also cautious. Didn't you notice the label's chief spokesman could only smile and remain silent?
Du Ang had decided to ask for more funding after conferring with Ya Erlin and Julian in his office. They had heard nothing from senior management so far. Du Ang wanted to use funding as an excuse to probe. But before he could make his move, he received a text message from his superior. He was so shocked he turned ghastly pale and nearly dropped his cup.
"What's up, Old Du?" Ya Erlin and Julian asked when they saw Du Ang react the same way a rat did when it ran into a cat.
"Manager Shi asked us to round up Fang Zhao for a meeting upstairs." Du Ang responded as he tightened his grip on his cup.
"You mean us three?" Julian pointed at herself.
"That's right. That's what Manager Shi said—us three and Fang Zhao. The four of us. Not one less."
"What floor?" Ya Erlin asked. The location of the meeting reflected the rank of the executive who called and led the meeting. The rule of thumb at Silver Wing was the higher the floor, the higher the rank. The meeting was most definitely about the virtual idol project and its epic song. If they found out where the meeting was being held, they could try to figure out the agenda through their connections.
Du Ang took a gulp and pointed upward. "Top floor," he said in a shaky voice.
Only one person could convene a meeting in the top-floor conference room—the big boss.
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