Hou Jun didn't expect that Lu Yanhe would think of him for such a program.
"Sing My Song, Sing China?"
"Yes." Lu Yanhe said, "An original music program."
"How should this kind of program be run? Original music, PK every episode?" Hou Jun is indeed a veteran of music variety shows. He immediately found the most difficult part of the original music and said, "A person may be able to make a good song in a year, so how should he PK with others? Only PK once? What about the next time? Still use this old song, or another new song to PK?"
The problem that Hou Jun mentioned is actually the reason why original music competition programs are difficult to produce.
Everyone's creative talent is limited, and it's not possible to create a good new song so quickly.
There are only a few truly amazing composers who are as productive as sows and whose work is of very high quality.
Lu Yanhe said: "We can't use the conventional competition model, that's for sure. We definitely can't just gather a bunch of singers and then start competing against each other, playing the elimination and promotion game. Otherwise, everyone will bring out the best songs in the first round, and the songs that come after will only get worse and worse, and the result will be that the first round has the highest quality."
"That's right," Hou Jun said. "There are so many platforms and so many music variety shows, but there is a reason why original music programs cannot be successful. There are too few creators who can really make good music, especially now that there are still many young people doing rap."
"But, Jun Ge, you know what? When we first started to do "Jump Up", we also had a headache because we were worried that we wouldn't receive any manuscripts." Lu Yanhe said, "In fact, I have always had a feeling over the years that in China, no matter what you lack, you will never lack creators. The key is whether there is a stage for these people to emerge on their own."
Hou Jun: "But if we can't gather enough creators, the key is to find excellent singer-songwriters, it will be difficult to make this program, right?"
Lu Yanhe said: "I didn't intend for this show to become a pure stage for singer-songwriters."
"Ok?"
"I think it's more like a platform for new songs to be ranked," Lu Yanhe said. "The only hard standard for songs to appear on this show is that they have never been publicly released."
Hou Jun was stunned.
"Refer to 'Idol Era' and make monthly, quarterly and annual rankings." Lu Yanhe said, "Invite all singers who are about to release songs to debut on this show."
“So you want to be more than just a singer-songwriter?”
"What I want to do is Sing My Song," Lu Yanhe said. "But for such shows, there may be more singer-songwriters at the beginning."
Hou Jun: "But if you do this, how can those unknown singers compete with the famous singers?"
"Separate them and make more lists. Singers-songwriters and non-singers-songwriters can compete separately, and songs can be ranked as the overall list." Lu Yanhe said, "This is just a preliminary idea. The key lies in, first, having good songs, second, having a mechanism to motivate singers to participate in the program, and third, making the rankings valuable and credible, so that the results can promote the development of singers, songs and the music industry in a good direction."
Hou Jun: "Why did you suddenly think of doing this kind of music program?"
"In fact, I have always wanted to do a music program. Sister Zi Yan opened a talent agency called Shihuo, which has many singers. That was my idea at first. Now I am recording "Young Days" with Song Linxin, and we happened to talk about the difficulties of the music industry, so I changed my mind."
Hou Jun: "Of course there is no problem if you want to do this program. The songs you have written over the years are all classics and are highly recognized in the circle. It's a pity that you are unwilling to spend more effort on music."
"Brother Jun, it's not that I don't want to put effort into music, it's that I really am not as good at writing songs as you think." Lu Yanhe sighed, "Although every time I say this, you don't believe it."
"Who would believe it? "Remember", "Young Days", "Bewildered", "Chinese", "Green Apple Paradise"... You see, all these songs you wrote are popular and widely sung."
"Since my senior year in high school, it's been six years, and I've only written a few songs. And the reason why these songs became popular is the result of the right time, right place and right people." Lu Yanhe said, "I may be a very popular singer, but I definitely can't become the best singer. My vocal conditions are there."
Hou Jun: "I won't argue with you, you always have your own way. I'm happy that you want to make such a program, but you want me to be the director. From what I understand from what you mean, you may want to make this program into an annual program like "Idol Era" instead of a seasonal program. Northern Lights may not let me go."
Lu Yanhe asked: "Do you want to do it?"
"This is not nonsense. I have always wanted to do music variety shows again. But Northern Lights has forced me into the position of evening show director in the past few years, and all the music variety show plans I submitted were rejected." When Hou Jun talked about this, his tone became abusive.
Lu Yanhe said, "I'll go talk to Mr. Lin. If I can't be the chief director, I hope you can at least be a supervisor. You'll be in charge of the entire music content. Apart from you, I don't know anyone who has done music variety shows and has extensive connections in the music industry."
Hou Jun: "Then you should communicate with General Manager Lin. Maybe if you take action, their attitude will be relaxed a little."
Lu Yanhe: "Okay, then I'll go talk to Mr. Lin. If you can't join, I'm not sure."
"Why? There should be quite a few director teams working on music variety shows." Hou Jun said, "If you need, I can introduce you one."
"No, Jun Ge, we are not doing an ordinary music variety show." Lu Yanhe said, "If we can't ensure that the production team has musical aesthetics and can be fair, even if this program is popular, it will become a game of capital and money. The works and singers who make the list will be on the list for various reasons, not because the music is good enough or the audience likes it enough."
Hou Jun: "I understand what you mean."
He smiled bitterly.
In fact, after all, it all comes down to the word trust.
However, being trusted by Lu Yanhe like this——
Hou Jun didn't expect it either.
-
Sometimes, some people soar to fame in just one or two years, especially in the entertainment industry.
The so-called overnight fame.
Hou Jun would never have imagined that the little idol back then would grow to such a height six years later.
A height that many people can't reach.
Hou Jun really didn't expect that Lu Yanhe would want to make such a big move by hosting a music program at such a time.
To be honest, he was actually a little excited and his heart was pounding, and he wanted to do this with Lu Yanhe.
However, Hou Jun really couldn’t agree to Lu Yanhe directly.
This is not just his business.
This also includes his team, and the communication between him and Northern Lights.
If a variety show director does not have other identities or a high-level position, his voice is not high. Especially for a director like him who does not have a real ace variety show representative. "Xiaoge Juzhonghui" has always been a relatively niche program, not a large variety show with high national popularity. And the later evening parties are different from making programs after all.
As a middle-aged man, Hou Jun would not switch to his family just because of this problem. In Northern Lights, except that they did not want him to continue to do music programs, they treated him well in all aspects.
But he really couldn't understand why Northern Lights was so opposed to him continuing to do the music variety show.
-
Lin Desheng said: "I know Hou Jun. He is highly regarded within our company."
Lu Yanhe was a little surprised. He thought Lin Desheng didn't know who Hou Jun was.
"Then why didn't Northern Lights approve his music program?"
Lin Desheng smiled, made a phone call, called someone and asked him to come to the office.
After a while, this man came.
Lin Desheng said that this was Yu Jian, who was responsible for the production of variety show content in the company.
"Hello, Mr. Yu." It was the first time that Lu Yanhe dealt with this person.
Yu Jian shook hands with Lu Yanhe enthusiastically, "Master Lu, we finally meet in person."
"Lord Lu?" Lu Yanhe was stunned.
"Haha, because the kids in the company all call you that, so I followed them and called you that too." Yu Jian said, "I think the title they gave you is very appropriate. You can succeed in everything you do. You are indeed God Lu."
Lu Yanhe quickly waved his hand.
"Don't dare to take it seriously."
After some pleasantries, Lin Desheng mentioned Hou Jun. Yu Jian was stunned, and then at Lin Desheng's suggestion, he told Aurora Borealis about his consideration for Hou Jun.
"Hou Jun actually makes programs of very high quality, but he is still too obsessed with so-called artistry and quality. With this way of thinking, no matter how creative the program is, the upper limit of the program is there," said Yu Jian. "He has been submitting new music variety shows in recent years. As far as we know, no matter what form it takes, it is still the same. From the beginning, he has not really thought about how to make the program popular with the public."
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.
Got it.
What Hou Jun wants to do may be good, but the ceiling is a “small and beautiful” program.
This is not what Northern Lights Video wants.
Aurora Video’s projects, especially the self-made ones, are all aimed at becoming “explosive hits”.
For this kind of "small and beautiful" project, they can buy the copyrighted programs from outside, or have a team of new talents they have cultivated to do it, but they don't need Hou Jun to do it.
In addition, Hou Jun can fill Northern Lights' current need for directors of evening parties and ceremonies, so there is no need to let Hou Jun do those "small and beautiful" programs.
After Lu Yanhe understood this, he nodded.
Yu Jian was very perceptive and asked, "Why did Lu Shen suddenly ask about Hou Jun? I remember you were on his show "Xiao Ge Ju Zhong Hui" before. Are you very familiar with him in private?"
The implication is that Hou Jun asked Lu Yanhe to act as a lobbyist?
Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "We have always been in contact. When I was not very famous, he let me appear on those two shows and sing a song called "Remembering". This allowed me to earn a little money and successfully finish high school and take the college entrance examination. I am very grateful to him."
Yu Jian and Lin Desheng looked at each other.
Lu Yanhe: "It's like this, I have an idea for a music variety show, which is comparable to "Idol Era" for idol artists, because I have only worked with director Hou Jun on music variety shows, and I think he has a good aesthetic sense for music. He helped me with the soundtrack for my movie "Love Letter". I hope to get director Hou Jun involved in this music variety show."
For Northern Lights Video, "Idol Era" is a name that they hate.
In recent years, Northern Lights Video has been extremely popular.
From dramas to variety shows, it has blossomed in all aspects and firmly established itself as the leader in video platforms.
However, only in terms of annual variety shows, Bingyuan Video can rely on the show "Idol Era" to stably have more than 20 million members and attract over 1 billion yuan in investment, allowing Bingyuan Video to closely follow Northern Lights Video.
The show "The Birth of the Actors" is going to be a big hit again, and one season will be over.
Not to mention, a top-ranked annual TV show has a strategic significance for this video platform that cannot be quantified by data. Northern Lights has been trying to make such an annual variety show, but it has not been as expected.
"Idol Era", which has a very strong fan base, has almost pushed the ceiling of what a program can achieve.
It is extremely difficult to replicate one's own "Idol Era".
Now Lu Yanhe, the hit maker, is actually proposing to make an annual show? Or is it a music variety show that is comparable to "Idol Era"?
The auras of Lin Desheng and Yu Jian changed instantly.
-
“Another show.”
Chen Ziyan smiled.
"Music."
Lu Qingzhen also smiled.
Lu Yanhe sat in front of the two of them, feeling a little confused.
"what happened?"
"Nothing." Lu Qingzhen shook her head. "I'm just curious about how you have so many endless thoughts in your head."
“Everyone has a lot of ideas in their head.”
“But your ideas can become reality, and more people will regard your next idea as gold.”
"I'm lucky."
"Zi Yan, you're right. His modesty sometimes makes me want to spit on him."
Lu Yanhe looked innocent.
Chen Ziyan said to Lu Yanhe, "You should know that it's easy to fail when making a music variety show, especially one with original music, right?"
"I know." Lu Yanhe nodded. "But, as I said before, let's just fail."
Chen Ziyan: "How do you plan to do this show?"
"Director Hou Jun's team is responsible for the music part, and director Li Zhenzhen is responsible for the program production part," said Lu Yanhe.
Chen Ziyan: "Is this the program you told us about before... tailor-made for those talented singers who picked up the fire for us?"
"No." Lu Yanhe shook his head, "But they can still participate as long as they can receive good songs."
Chen Ziyan: "When are you going to come up with a program tailor-made for talented singers?"
"I can do it anytime, but what I want to do more now is the show "Sing My Song"."
Chen Ziyan nodded.
"This show has become popular, and I believe it will be of great benefit to the entire original music industry. In the future, when people release new songs, this show will be the first choice for them to promote their songs," said Lu Yanhe. "This is a gap in the current Chinese music industry."
Chen Ziyan said: "If this show doesn't have many viewers, it won't be a good place for everyone to promote their songs."
"Everything depends on human effort." Lu Yanhe said, "Compared to the endless cover songs that appear every year, new songs can still give everyone a fresh feeling, right?"
"New songs mean that there is no audience base and they have not been tested by the audience. It is very likely that after an episode, there will not be a single song that can become popular."
"So, this requires a director team with taste, aesthetics, and the ability to choose songs, so I found Hou Jun," said Lu Yanhe.
"Most of the singer-songwriters are not famous and may not be able to attract enough audiences to watch this show."
"So this program not only recruits singer-songwriters to sing new songs, but all singers whose songs have not been publicly released are invited. Of course, the prerequisite for being on this program is to pass the review of Hou Jun and others." Lu Yanhe said, "We don't want bad songs."
Chen Ziyan: "Would a famous singer be willing to premiere his new song on a stage like this?"
"I have invited Song Linxin and Qin Zhibai." Lu Yanhe said, "Not only them, but also Hou Jun. Their connections in the music industry can help us attract some singers first. Of course, we can also specifically invite songs from those top singers. It is inevitable to spend money in the early stage. As long as we can make this program popular, singers will scramble to be on our program later, just like the current "Idol Era"."
Chen Ziyan and Lu Qingzhen looked at each other.
"Not every popular program will attract those famous singers," said Lu Qingzhen.
"What if one day, the rankings of this program become one of the criteria for the audience to evaluate a song or a singer?" Lu Yanhe asked, "Just like the annual rankings of "Idol Era", it has become one of the important indicators of whether an idol artist is successful."
Lu Qingzhen: "That's because idol artists grew up completely wildly before that, and there has never been a unified evaluation system."
"Does Chinese music nowadays... have any?" Lu Yanhe asked. "Movies and TV dramas all have the three major awards, but music, let alone the three major awards, has even one award that is widely known and recognized by the audience nowadays?"
Lu Qingzhen and Chen Ziyan breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
"Okay, we've asked all our questions. It seems like you've thought it through very clearly." Chen Ziyan said.
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"In fact, I didn't think a lot of things through clearly at first, but after you asked the questions, the answers came to my mind. The more I answered, the clearer it became."
"You always see some gaps, and you have the ability and power to gather a group of people to fill them." Lu Qingzhen shook her head. "I have nothing to say. I don't think there is anything to question about your ideas. I will just help you fill in the gaps and move forward."
Lu Yanhe: "Sister Qingzhen, you're praising me so much that I don't know what to say."
"No need to say anything." Lu Qingzhen said, "Although I know this program cannot lack investment, if you are not satisfied with the investment promotion of Northern Lights Video, feel free to contact me. After all, this is not a self-made variety show of Northern Lights. The copyright of the program is in the hands of Linghe. They may not be willing to tilt the platform's investment resources towards this program. Having said that, they can do it. Recently, there was a drama that was broadcast to the S-level level and ranked first for several days, but there was not a single patch advertisement."
Lu Yanhe was a little surprised when he heard this.
"What's going on? What drama?"
"It's a copyrighted drama, a contemporary idol drama starring Liu Zefan." Lu Qingzhen said, "Nowadays, platforms generally give investment resources to their own sons."
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.
"Given your cooperation with Northern Lights, they shouldn't do such a stupid thing, but you still have to be careful," Lu Qingzhen said.
Lu Yanhe: "I know that if they don't hold the copyright, they won't use the best resources to make this program, so I don't plan to let Linghe monopolize the copyright of this program."
“Are you going to share it with them?”
"It's not free. We'll see how we negotiate. They'll come up with a plan." Lu Yanhe said, "In short, I just need to ensure the independence of my program production and have enough autonomy and decision-making power. That's enough."
Lu Qingzhen nodded.
After communicating with Chen Ziyan and Lu Qingzhen, Lu Yanhe left.
Chen Ziyan sent him downstairs, got him into the car, and watched him leave before returning to the office.
Lu Qingzhen was still waiting for her in her office.
Chen Ziyan smiled and asked, "Tell me, do I know what I usually say to you? As his agent, do you feel that you are not capable enough and can't keep up with him?"
Lu Qingzhen: "I can only say that he is really exaggerating. Those plagiarists can't copy ideas as fast as him."
Chen Ziyan: "It is normal for people with this ability to be great. He even told me seriously that he doesn't think he is a genius, he is just an ordinary person with the same problems as ordinary people."
"Okay." Lu Qingzhen nodded. "In his world, he can think whatever he wants."
Chen Ziyan smiled and sighed.
"If someone told me now that he could build an entertainment empire in the future, I wouldn't be surprised."
"What's so strange about this? In my eyes, this entertainment empire has already taken shape," said Lu Qingzhen.
Chen Ziyan: "Please pull up the information of all the singers who have signed contracts with the company. We should prepare in advance. Those who have plans to release songs and those who don't should all be notified. When the show starts looking for people, they will need songs to audition. Don't just leave them here without any songs."
Lu Qingzhen: "Most of the singers who signed with our company did not sign music contracts."
"The people we sign are not newcomers. They have been in the industry for so long. Don't they have their own connections and resources? This news tells them that they should work hard on their own," Chen Ziyan said. "If they can appear on this show, maybe they can become popular again like Cheng Hai and Zhang Pingqing in The Birth of the Actors. If they become popular again, it will be time for us to show our talents."
Lu Qingzhen nodded.
"In fact, the music companies should be the ones most interested in this program."
"It feels like those music companies have basically disappeared from the entertainment industry now."
"Maybe through this program, they will emerge again and start to have a voice." Chen Ziyan said, "The most important reason why music companies can't stand out now is that they can't promote new people. The big names often set up their own companies. They rely on some half-baked singers who can't make a sound in this industry. Who will care about them? Some traditional and old music companies don't care about new people. After all, the reality is that they lose money for every new one they make. Maybe they can finally make one popular, but the person will leave immediately. It's better to rely on the song copyrights accumulated in the past and live comfortably on the old capital. That's enough. The ecosystem is broken, and they can only do things like patching up the gaps in one place."
Lu Qingzhen: "That's the right answer. Although several online music platforms seem to be booming, new songs won't sell at all unless they're sung by top-tier singers or big-name singers with their own fans. What a pity."
"Now do you realize the significance of the Sing My Song ranking? The show itself is secondary. The key is that if we can make such a ranking, maybe everything will change." Chen Ziyan said, "Any consumption in the entertainment field is essentially herd consumption. Wherever there is a hot spot, there is consumption. The scattered fire, even if it is a sky full of stars, is definitely not as eye-catching as a bright moon."
Lu Qingzhen: "That's true. If a ranking list can really be established, it will attract concentrated attention, focus and pursuit, and it will also lead to competition, pursuit and defense by more people and more works."
"Everyone understands the principle, but not everyone can put it into practice." Chen Ziyan said, "If Sing My Song is also successful, Yan He will have basically conquered all the mainstream film and television formats on the market."
"I write and direct movies and TV series, write music lyrics and sing songs, and perform in variety shows... a real hexagonal warrior." Lu Qingzhen nodded, "Exaggerated."
"And he said he was an ordinary person." Chen Ziyan shook her head speechlessly.
It can be seen that she is very "troubled" by Lu Yanhe's self-evaluation.
Lu Qingzhen laughed. (End of this chapter)
