The entertainment industry of the Empire is unprecedentedly developed.
In the film industry, the Empire is the world's largest box office market. In terms of the total overseas box office for domestic films, it alternates with the United States, generally ranking first or second in the world. The Golden Dragon Awards at the Yanjing International Film Festival and the Oscars in the United States are considered the highest-level film awards in the world.
In music, the Empire's pop singers have spread their songs across the globe, and they have become immensely popular worldwide. The Empire's music industry is also the most advanced in the world, with world-renowned music festivals like the Sound Festival, which have a significant influence.
In literature, the Empire has the world-class Hongdao Literature Award, which is considered one of the two most prestigious literary awards in the world alongside the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Empire's various publications and e-publications have reached their peak, and there is a unique form of literature and literary medium known as online literature.
... Saying that the Empire's culture is in an awkward position is not because it lacks competitiveness. In fact, the Empire's cultural competitiveness is only slightly inferior to the United States in some areas, which seems somewhat out of place given its massive population of over a billion. Additionally, while the Empire's film, music, and literature industries are highly developed, they are largely Westernized. Film, for instance, was invented by the French, and although the Empire's film culture bears the mark of modern Han culture, films that truly focus on the Chinese nation have relatively weak influence globally.
The Empire's music... is entirely Westernized. The popular songs now are Western-style, performed in the Empire's Mandarin or the popular Cantonese in Guangnan. However, the melodies and core elements are still Western.
In literature, the Empire's ancient poetry revival movement has been ongoing for decades, but its effectiveness has been limited... The development of online literature has also hit a bottleneck...
Therefore, the issue with the Empire's culture is that the Chinese are actively seeking the roots of their culture, aiming to integrate this unique heritage into the national character, allowing the culture of the descendants of Yan and Huang to truly carry forward and flourish in the modern world.
To say that the modern Han culture, which has integrated with Western culture, has spread throughout the world is not an exaggeration... even with the United States, it's a case of mutual influence.
To put it simply, after World War II, countries like South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Japan, as well as neighboring countries in India, Central Asia, and South Asia, now have most of their people proficient in both their native languages and Chinese. South Korea, in particular, has fully adopted Chinese characters in recent years—this was necessary because they used Chinese characters before creating their own writing system. They now need to better communicate with China and interpret their own traditional culture, so they have started writing in Chinese characters and speaking Chinese.
... This radiating influence makes every Chinese person proud of the modern Han culture, despite its awkwardness, it also has a grand and splendid side.
In the music industry, although the Empire's music is highly developed, there is also the form of independent musicians—new songs are produced in collaboration with different companies, and the profits are shared, but they operate outside the major music production companies.
However, this presents a significant problem—without professional talent agencies to support them, it is difficult for them to maintain their popularity. Without maintaining their popularity, each time they release a new song, they need the music production companies to promote it... but these companies are not their own, so the promotion does not benefit them much!
Therefore, many talent agencies and record companies are unwilling to accept independent music producers! Their lives will become increasingly difficult unless they can consistently maintain their popularity...
However, in an era where more and more people are singing and fewer people are listening, countless young men and women with musical dreams enter this industry every day, but how many succeed? They are quickly overshadowed by newcomers! In the end, they become penniless, lost in the crowd, and even end up busking in places like Lijiang and Dali.
So, only those with great confidence and great ability would choose to become independent music producers!
No wonder Xiao Zhi was so surprised when he heard Li Chenchan's proposal.
"Right, you can say that," Li Chenchan nodded slightly.
Xue Feiyang also frowned and said, "Li Chenchan, you need to know how difficult it is to be an independent music producer... How many are famous in our country now? Think carefully before you decide."
Li Chenchan smiled confidently, "Singing isn't my main job, so being an independent music producer fits my situation better! So, Mr. Xiao, this is my idea. If you think it's not good, I won't force it."
Xiao Zhi fell into thought.
Even if Li Chenchan requests this method... but the guy's songs are really good! "Classmate" and "Brother in the Upper Bunk" are incredibly popular. If they were truly promoted and sold, they would definitely make a lot of money! And today's "Friend," as a more sensitive musician, Xiao Zhi can predict how popular this song will be!
Since that's the case, signing him is certainly possible.
So, he said directly, "Li classmate, we have two ways to sign with artists like you. The first is to completely buy out the copyright of your songs and issue them ourselves. The second is to share the profits. Which method do you think is more suitable for you?"
Li Chenchan, of course, did not hesitate, "I prefer the profit-sharing method." He believes that "Classmate" and the other two songs will definitely make a name for him in this world, earning him not only financial capital but also significant social capital in various aspects.
These things are very useful...
"Profit-sharing..." Xiao Zhi nodded. He was not surprised by Li Chenchan's choice. The company has a dedicated music evaluation team that will assess the value of the songs and decide the level of promotion. Xiao Zhi told Li Chenchan, "We usually give new artists a 30% profit share."
This profit share is not much, but it is not insignificant.
The Empire is different from the previous life... In the previous life, music companies did not rely on issuing songs to make money—during the era of rampant piracy, making money from issuing songs was a pipe dream! However, the people of the Empire have a strong awareness of copyright and will voluntarily protect the copyright of a song.
When a song is on the charts, only the highlights or the first few seconds to tens of seconds are available for trial listening. After trial listening, if you like it, you can directly download it, and the download is charged. The cost per download varies from 0.01 yuan to 1 yuan.
0.01 yuan is for songs that cannot be fully released due to various reasons, and 1 yuan is for songs by superstar artists.
This copyright profit share, as well as the profit share from album sales and merchandise.
As for a singer becoming famous and receiving advertisements, the music companies have no right to share in the profits, so they give the musicians a 30% profit share.
This is the industry standard... which adjusts as a singer's value increases.
Li Chenchan was silent for a moment, then nodded. The copyrights of a few songs were temporarily transferred, and they would be packaged and sold next! However, with Xue Feiyang's help, Li Chenchan confirmed that the promotion budget for his songs must at least match the level of a third-rate singer, otherwise the contract would be void!
This clause was difficult for Xiao Zhi, but he finally nodded in agreement.