Capital City, New Era Art Park.
The New Era Art Center was established in 2001, located between Haidian Park and Capital City University, covering an area of nearly 700 acres. It is one of the key cultural construction projects in Capital City.
After more than a decade of development, the New Era Art Park has gathered a large number of well-known film, music, literature, and fine arts production units in the country. There are thousands of companies and workshops of all sizes, making it a hub of cultural richness.
The renowned Flying Stone Records is located within the New Era Art Park.
In the conference room, Lin Zhijie rubbed his temples wearily, his eyes revealing a hint of irritation.
Sitting around the conference table with him were the vice president of Flying Stone Records, the manager of the artist management department, the manager of the public relations department, several agents, and a few composers from the production department, making for a crowded gathering.
The theme of this morning's meeting was the planning proposal for the debut album of the newly formed girl group— MSN.
The MSN girl group consists of three members, with M.S.N representing the initials of their names. They are all around 20 years old, and both their appearances and singing abilities are outstanding.
Lin Zhijie is the initiator of the meeting, but he clearly cannot fully control the situation.
There is significant opposition to the album planning proposal set forth by this music director— very significant!
The emergence of such a situation was somewhat unexpected for Lin Zhijie, but he has always been resolute and would never back down in the face of difficulties.
"I want to emphasize again that inviting Lu Chen to help produce this album is the right choice. His talent in songwriting is evident and trustworthy."
The MSN girl group was launched by Flying Stone Records to cater to the current market of young people.
For this established record company, the formation of this girl group is not easy. The two girl groups they launched a few years ago both ended in failure, causing significant losses to the company.
As the saying goes, "Once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of a rope," if it weren't for the current popularity of group formations, with male and female groups making a lot of money, Flying Stone Records probably wouldn't have made the decision to establish a new girl group again.
The three members of MSN were personally selected by Lin Zhijie. To ensure that this group would become a hit, he collaborated with the planning department to develop a complete promotional plan.
The top priority is the debut album of MSN! However, Lin Zhijie did not expect that his proposal would encounter such strong resistance within the company.
"Director Lin," Yi Xiangjun, the vice president of Flying Stone Records, smiled and said, "Lu Chen is indeed an excellent singer, but his works are primarily folk songs, which do not fit the style positioning of MSN. Moreover—"
The middle-aged woman in her forties tapped her fingers on the table, emphasizing, "His asking price is 350,000 for a song. At that price, we could hire anyone! And I believe the composers in the company can produce equally outstanding works."
Her gaze turned to the three composers signed with Flying Stone Records, her eyes filled with encouragement.
The latter straightened their backs, and one bespectacled, refined man nodded and said, "As long as the company needs it, we will all do our utmost to deliver good works."
After a pause, he said in an undeniable tone, "At the very least, it won't be worse than anyone else's!"
This man, named Fan Jun, is the chief signed author at Flying Stone Records, a well-known composer in the show business community, who has produced many outstanding works but has had few successes in recent years.
Fan Jun has worked with Flying Stone Records for nearly 20 years and holds a high position in this established record company. With Yi Xiangjun's support, he is not afraid to confront Lin Zhijie.
Moreover, Fan Jun is quite dissatisfied with Lin Zhijie's album planning proposal.
Lin Zhijie's idea of inviting an outsider to supervise the debut album of MSN and create the title song while having them, the seasoned composers, act as assistants is unacceptable to him.
If the person invited were a big name in the industry, Fan Jun might not have any objections.
But who is Lu Chen?
A mere newcomer who has just debuted and got lucky with a well-selling album dares to ask for an astonishing price of 350,000 per song. He truly does not know the heights of heaven or the depths of earth.
Fan Jun is unwilling to accept this. He has diligently worked in this industry for so many years, and his achievements are well-known. How could he be willing to be subordinate to a junior?
If Lin Zhijie insists, he would dare to flip the table and confront him— he can find work anywhere!
"Yes, yes!" Fan Jun was quite assertive, and others chimed in, each offering various reasons for their opposition.
Their reasons boiled down to Lu Chen's high asking price, his lack of experience, and his unsuitable style of composition, among others.
They were just short of pointing at Lin Zhijie's nose and accusing him of being reckless.
Lin Zhijie's face was ashen.
As one of the largest record companies in the country, Flying Stone Records has experienced both prosperity and decline, nearly going bankrupt and then rising from the ashes. It is truly not easy for them to survive until now.
In recent years, Flying Stone Records has been seeking innovation and change, adapting to the trends of the times, and competing for market share with emerging entertainment media companies, achieving considerable success.
However, the competition in this industry is too fierce. To outsiders, Flying Stone Records appears to be a powerful company, but Lin Zhijie is very aware of the problems the company currently faces.
The first issue is the generational gap among vagabond singers.
Flying Stone Records has signed quite a few vagabond singers, with several at the forefront, but they are all veterans from the '80s and '90s, lacking the drive to innovate and insufficient appeal among the younger generation.
The company certainly pays attention to nurturing new talent, but so far, there hasn't been anyone capable of taking on a leading role!
In this context, Lin Zhijie took the initiative to promote the establishment of MSN.
However, he underestimated the internal resistance from the company.
Lin Zhijie knew that as the music director, he had touched on the interests of certain individuals, which led to him being viewed as overstepping his bounds.
Facing opposition was inevitable!
Buzz—
At that moment, the phone on the table suddenly vibrated. Lin Zhijie picked up his phone and glanced at it, his expression changing slightly.
"Sorry, I need to take this call." He immediately stood up and left the conference room to answer the phone.
The atmosphere in the conference room relaxed as Yi Xiangjun and several department managers began chatting casually. Fan Jun laughed and joked with the vagabond singer agents, appearing confident of victory.
With such strong opposition, Lin Zhijie's planning proposal was bound to fail.
Everything would revert to the original course.
After a moment, Lin Zhijie returned.
He did not sit down again but waved his phone at everyone, saying, "Let's put this matter aside for now!"
Yi Xiangjun frowned and said, "Director Lin, that might not be appropriate. Everyone is quite busy, and I think we should finalize the new proposal to avoid wasting time, especially since the company will be on a National Day holiday tomorrow!"
She thought Lin Zhijie was playing a delaying tactic to gain support from the higher-ups in the company.
Lin Zhijie smiled and said, "I want to finalize it too, but Miss Chen Fei'er is about to arrive. I believe everyone knows her new album will be produced by our company."
The collaboration between Chen Fei'er and Flying Stone Records has a long history, and any album from her is extremely important to the company, leaving no room for negligence.
Yi Xiangjun could grasp the significance of this.
But she still had doubts: "Director Lin, is Miss Chen Fei'er coming for her new album?"
There hadn't been any notification from the company about this!
Lin Zhijie nodded and said, "That's right. She is coming with Lu Chen because Miss Chen has already chosen Lu Chen to write two songs for her as the first and second singles of her new album!"
What?!
Everyone present was shocked.
Chen Fei'er actually chose Lu Chen's works as the title tracks for her new album, and not just one, but two songs!
She is a top-tier heavenly queen!
What qualifications does Lu Chen have?
Fan Jun suddenly felt his face burning, a bit embarrassed.
He had long known about Chen Fei'er's new album.
Fan Jun even had ambitions to create the title song for this album. If he could achieve that, his career and reputation would undoubtedly reach new heights.
However, Fan Jun also understood that his status was insufficient. While he might be able to contribute songs and compositions for Chen Fei'er's new album, creating the title track was basically a pipe dream.
He never expected that Chen Fei'er would select the works of Lu Chen, whom he looked down upon, as her title songs.
Moreover, if Lu Chen could write the title songs for Chen Fei'er, then supervising the MSN album would be a piece of cake.
All their previous reasons for opposition had become a joke!
Both Fan Jun and Yi Xiangjun felt as if they had been slapped in the face.
Seeing the unpleasant expressions on the faces of those present, Lin Zhijie felt a sense of satisfaction.
Chen Fei'er's assistant had notified him yesterday that she would be coming to Flying Stone Records today.
Lin Zhijie had just learned the reason for Chen Fei'er's visit to the company.
To be honest, he was also quite surprised and puzzled as to why Chen Fei'er would choose Lu Chen.
Given Chen Fei'er's status in the show business community, she could easily invite top-tier authors, and few creators would refuse her.
It is known that this album is significant for Chen Fei'er as she is considering a transformation, which would undoubtedly make the production process quite challenging. If successful, the impact would be enormous!
What kind of songs did Lu Chen write that moved this sweet song Heavenly Queen?
Lin Zhijie was genuinely curious! However, on the surface, he remained unfazed and said, "The MSN album proposal will be discussed later. I will go to welcome Miss Chen Fei'er. Yi, would you like to join me?"
This time, no one raised any objections. The composers exchanged glances, unsure of what to say.
Yi Xiangjun felt as if she had swallowed a fly, unable to spit it out.
She could only force a smile and say, "Then let's go together."
——
(End Of This Chapter)
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