Chapter 183 - MSN

Beijing, NewAge Art Park.

The New AgeArt Center was established in 2001. It was located between Haidian Park and BeijingUniversity, covering an area of nearly 700 mu. It was one of the key art andcultural construction projects in Beijing.

After morethan ten years of development, the New Age Art Park has gathered a large numberof well-known domestic film and television, music, literature, art productionunits, up to thousands of large and small companies and studios, which could becalled a cultural hub.

The famousFlying Stone Records was in the New Age Art Park.

In theconference room, Lin Zhijie rubbed his forehead wearily, and his eyes showed atrace of restlessness.

Sitting onboth sides of the conference table with him were the deputy general manager ofFlying Stone Records, the manager of the brokerage department, the manager ofthe public relations department, a number of agents, and several composers andarrangers from the production department. It could be said that it was a packedhouse.

The subjectof this morning’s meeting was the planning of the debut alb.u.m of Flying StoneRecords' newly formed girl group, MSN.

There were atotal of three members in the MSN girl group. M.S.N stands for the first letterof the three members' names. They were all about 20 years old, and they wereexcellent both in appearance and singing.

Lin Zhijie wasthe initiator of the meeting, but he was obviously not in complete control ofthe situation.

There was alot of opposition to the alb.u.m planning plan made by the music director.

Such asituation was more or less out of the expectation of Lin Zhijie, but he hasalways been resolute and never flinched because of difficulties.

“I wouldlike to emphasize again. Inviting Lu Chen to help with the production of thisalb.u.m is the right choice, and his creative talent is obvious to all and istrustworthy.”

MSN was thenewly launched girl group of Flying Stone Records to cater to the market of youngpeople.

For this established record company, the establishment of this girl group was not easy. A few years ago, the two girl groups they launched ended in failure, causing considerable losses to the company.

As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy

[1]

. if it wasn't because idol groups were currently very popular, and that popular boy bands and girl groups made a lot of money, perhaps Flying Stone Records wouldn't have decided to form a new girl group again.

The threemembers of MSN were personally selected by Lin Zhijie. In order to make thegroup a hit, he teamed up with the planning department to develop a full set ofpublicity plans.

The toppriority was MSN’s debut alb.u.m!

But LinZhijie didn't expect that his plan would encounter such a big resistance withinthe company.

“DirectorLin…”

Yi Xiangjun,the deputy general manager of Flying Stone Records, said with a smile: “LuChen is indeed an excellent singer-songwriter, but his works are mainly folksongs, which is not suitable for MSN's style, and…”

Themiddle-aged woman in her 40's tapped on the table with her fingers andstressed: “The asking price for one of his songs is 350,000 yuan. Who fromthe songwriters that we have invited before have asked such a price? And Ibelieve that several songwriters in the company can come up with works that aregood enough.”

Her eyesturned to the three composers and arrangers who had signed on to Flying StoneRecords. There was encouragement in her eyes.

The latterstraightened up, and one of the well-mannered men with black-rimmed gla.s.sesnodded and said, “As long as the company needs it, several of ourcolleagues will try their best to produce good works.”

After apause, he said in an unquestionable tone: “At least not worse thanothers!”

The man’sname was Fan Jun. He was the chief contracted songwriter of Flying StoneRecords. He was a famous composer and arranger in the circle. He has written manyexcellent works, but few of them were published in recent years.

Fan Jun hasworked with Flying Stone Records for nearly 20 years and has a high status inthis established record company. Coupled with the support of Yi Xiangjun, he wasreally not afraid to play against Lin Zhijie.

And in FanJun’s heart, he was very dissatisfied with Lin Zhijie’s alb.u.m planning.

Lin Zhijie’sidea was to invite outsiders to supervise the production of MSN's debut alb.u.mand create the t.i.tle song, and have their senior songwriters act as an a.s.sistant.

If theperson invited was a top-level figure in the circle, Fan Jun wouldn't have anyopinion.

But who theheck was Lu Chen?

Just anewcomer who just made his debut and was lucky enough to sell a good alb.u.m, yetdared to offer an astonis.h.i.+ng price of 350,000 yuan a song. He really didn'tknow the immensity of heaven and earth.

Fan Junwasn't convinced. He has worked conscientiously in this industry for so manyyears, and his achievements were well known. How could he be willing to submitto a junior?

If LinZhijie really insisted, he would dare to flip the table and not give face - He couldmake a living anywhere!

“Yes,yes…”

Fan Jun was sounyielding that others also responded one after another, putting forward allkinds of reasons to oppose.

Their reasonwas nothing more than that Lu Chen’s asking price was too high, his qualificationwas too shallow, his writing style didn't satisfy what they need, and so on.

The only thing missing was them pointing at Lin Zhijie’s nose and telling him that he was talking nonsense.

Lin Zhijie’s face sank like water.

[2]

As one ofthe largest record companies in China, Flying Stone Records has experiencedprosperity and recession, almost closed down and getting revived. Keeping itstanding until now was not really easy.

In recentyears, Flying Stone Records has been seeking innovation and change, followingthe trend of times. Efforts to compete for market share with emergingentertainment media companies have also achieved considerable results.

But thecompet.i.tion in this industry was too fierce. In the eyes of outsiders, FlyingStone Records was a powerful company, but Lin Zhijie was well aware of thecompany’s current problems.

First was the lack of signed singer artists.

Flying Stone Records has signed up a number of singers, several of whom were in the front line, but all of them were old people from the 1980s and 1990s. They were not aggressive enough to keep their achievements

[3]

and lack enough appeal among young people.

Of course,the company also attached great importance to the training of new people, butso far, there was no one who could play the leading role!

It was undersuch circ.u.mstances that Lin Zhijie single-handedly promoted the establishmentof MSN.

However, he underestimated the resistance from within the company.

Lin Zhijie knew that as a music director, he has touched the interests of some people. Therefore, it was regarded as having crossed the line.

[4]

It wasinevitable to encounter opposition!

Buzz ~.

At thistime, his mobile phone lying on the table suddenly vibrated.

Lin Zhijiepicked up his mobile phone and took a look. The look on his face changed a bit.

“Sorry,I'll take this call first.”

Heimmediately got up and left the conference room and went out to answer thephone.

Theatmosphere in the conference room then relaxed. Yi Xiangjun chatted withseveral department managers, and Fan Jun chatted and laughed with the singers'agents, looking as if he already had victory in his hand.

With suchfierce opposition from everyone, Lin Zhijie’s plan was bound to fail.

Everythingwill return to its original track.

After awhile, Lin Zhijie came back.

Instead ofsitting down again, he shook his phone at everyone and said, “Let’s putthis matter aside first.”

Yi Xiangjun knittedher brows and said, “Director Lin, I don't think that's a proper thing todo, right? Everyone is very busy. I think we’d better finalize the new planfirst, so as not to waste time. The company will have a long National Dayholiday tomorrow!”

She thoughtLin Zhijie was playing a game of delaying time in order to win the support of thecompany's senior management.

Lin Zhijie saidwith a smile, “I also want to finalize this matter. But Miss Chen Fei'eris coming here right now. I believe everyone knows that her new alb.u.m will beproduced by our company.”

The cooperation between Chen Fei'er and Flying Stone Records has been long-standing. Any of the former's alb.u.m was extremely important for Flying Stone Records, and there was no room for any slightest neglect.

Yi Xiangjun still has to weigh the importance of this.

[5]

But shestill has doubts: “Director Lin, Miss Chen Fei'er is here for her newalb.u.m?”

She hasn't seenany notice from the company!

Lin Zhijienodded and said, “Yes, and she's coming here with Lu Chen, because MissChen Fei'er has selected the two songs that Lu Chen wrote for her as the firstand second t.i.tle songs of her new alb.u.m!”

What?!

Everyonepresent was shocked.

Chen Fei'er actuallyused Lu Chen’s works as the t.i.tle song of her new alb.u.m, and it was still twosongs!

She was a big-timeHeavenly Queen!

How could LuChen be so capable?

Fan Junimmediately felt his face burning and a little ashamed.

Fan Jun haslong known about Chen Fei'er's new alb.u.m.

Fan Jun even had the ambition of writing the t.i.tle song for this alb.u.m. Once this can be realized, his career and reputation will undoubtedly be taken to a new level.

But Fan Jun also knew very well that his talent was not enough. He might have the advantage of being able to compose and arrange songs for Chen Fei'er's new alb.u.m because of his connections

[6]

, but writing the t.i.tle song was basically just wishful thinking.

Unexpectedly,Chen Fei'er’s t.i.tle song was actually the work of Lu Chen, which he despised.

Moreover, IfLu Chen could write the t.i.tle song for Chen Fei'er, then producing MSN’s alb.u.mwould be a cinch for him.

Theirprevious objections have all became jokes!

Both Fan Junand Yi Xiangjun had the feeling of being slapped in the face on the spot.

Seeing theugly look on these people's faces, Lin Zhijie was really happy in his heart.

Chen Fei'er’sa.s.sistant informed him yesterday that Chen Fei'er would come to Flying Stone Recordsthis morning.

Lin Zhijie alsojust learned the reason why Chen Fei'er came to the company.

To be honest,he was also very surprised. He couldn’t figure out why Chen Fei'er chose LuChen.

With ChenFeier’s position in the circle, she could casually invite the top songwriters,and few songwriters could refuse her.

It should beknown that with this alb.u.m, Chen Feier has the idea of transformation. The difficultyof its production was bound to be very high, and once it is successful, itsinfluence would also be huge!

What songdid Lu Chen write that moved this Heavenly Queen?

Lin Zhijie wasreally curious!

But on thesurface, he remained calm and said: “MSN's alb.u.m plan will be postponed.I’ll go to meet Miss Chen Fei'er first. Would you like to come with me?”

No oneraised any objection this time, and several composers and arrangers looked ateach other.

Yi Xiangjunfelt as if she had swallowed a fly and couldn’t spit it out even.

She couldonly force a smile: “Then let’s go together.”

_____________

[1] Original Chinese saying: "Once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of coiled rope". The English equivalent: "Once bitten, twice shy". The metaphor is afraid of encountering the same or similar event after being hurt once.

[2] Looks cold like stiff water

[3] 守成有餘進取不足. I really don't understand this part. What I could get from this is that old artists only have enough strength to maintain their status in the industry, but doesn't have enough strength to forge ahead/increase their status (I think) and they lack appeal to young people. Comment if you know what it means.

[4] Overstepping his authority.

[5] The "this" here refers to their cooperation with Chen Fei'er.

[6] Because he works in the Flying Stone Records (his connection) and Chen Fei'er has a cooperative relations.h.i.+p with his company, he has an advantage in being able to compose and/or arrange songs for Chen Fei'er.

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