Chapter 492: Album Prepared and Ready

Chapter 492: The Album Is Ready

“The bigger the heart, the more thrilling the stage! Q~Lalalala!”

Meng Fan, mimicking Cai Wenji’s loli voice, saw Jin Xiaowen enter and seized the chance to end this impromptu gaming session. If he didn’t, who knew how long Uncle Shi Shiwu would keep playing? He put away his phone, pulling Shi Shiwu up as well, and again mimicked the loli voice, “Let’s go! Trample on the old folks with bad brains!”

Shi Shiwu: “Huh?”

“Old folks” Shi Shiwu was dragged by Meng Fan to the recording studio. In truth, all the songs for the album had been recorded over this period, and the cover art and other details were already done. But Meng Fan, Shi Shiwu, and Jin Xiaowen were perfectionists, still needing to tweak some details for further refinement, striving to ensure every sound on the album was captured in its best state—not just Meng Fan’s vocals, but also the accompaniment.

Two days of work, and it was finally wrapped up. The cover and packaging were ready, and Shi Shiwu had his studio members send the master tapes directly to the record factory.

For Meng Fan’s album this time, Shi Shiwu was the producer, and he also entrusted the subsequent production and distribution to his studio.

Since the advent of MP3, the record industry had been in decline, and with the era of universal internet, it had essentially withered. Abroad, it was relatively better, but domestically, during the wild early days of the internet, musicians’ winter had begun. Only now, with the emphasis on legitimate streaming, had things started to warm up.

However, that was a warming for musicians; the traditional record industry was still enduring winter, even hibernating, with little hope of awakening.

Nowadays, few singers release records through traditional means—mostly big names, and even then, it’s gradually shifting to collector’s editions and premium products. The buying audience has shrunk to fan circles and die-hard fans; ordinary people rarely buy records anymore.

In the era of legitimate streaming, digital albums have replaced traditional records.

So, the number of physical albums Meng Fan released was modest—only an initial print of 50,000 copies. Compared to current singer album releases, that’s actually quite a lot—Shi Shiwu’s last album was the same number—but relative to Meng Fan’s comic book initial print, it was truly pitiful.

That’s the state of the record industry now. Even with Meng Fan’s immense popularity, even with Shi Shiwu and Jin Xiaowen at the helm, even with Meng Fan’s excellent singing skills, they could only print 50,000 copies initially.

It wasn’t that Meng Fan’s popularity meant no fans wanted to buy; rather, for most people, buying it meant having nowhere to listen to it!

How many households nowadays have devices that can play discs? Very few!

Some singers’ albums include QR codes alongside the discs, which can be scanned to connect directly to an app for legitimate music listening. To boost sales and offer so-called fan perks, they even add “carefully prepared” surprises, like flashy commemorative photo cards, and so on.

Meng Fan could do the same, but aside from making a bit more money, it was truly meaningless. Better to release a small quantity for fans or passersby with the means to collect or listen, while focusing the main channel on digital albums.

Digital albums are now the biggest sales channel for singers’ albums. The key is convenience—after purchasing on a website or app, you can listen forever, supporting your favorite singer while truly enjoying their beautiful voice.

“Meng Fan? That Iron God? He’s really releasing an album!”

This exclamation came from the office of the director of the music library copyright management department at Penguin Music. Without hesitation, he said, “Sign him, we must sign him, we must get him!”

With that, he immediately took his deputy and assistant to the meeting room to meet with the head of Shi Shiwu’s studio. Meng Fan had also entrusted the digital album contract negotiations to Shi Shiwu’s studio.

Shi Shiwu’s studio had a partnership with Penguin Music, and Meng Fan had often collaborated with Penguin as well, so the first choice for digital album distribution was still Penguin. As long as they offered a standard contract, Meng Fan didn’t want to fuss. Of course, a first-tier singer standard was a must.

However, the final negotiated terms were higher than those for first-tier singers, even surpassing Shi Shiwu’s standards. This included revenue sharing ratios (covering both platform and sub-platform shares—for example, after songs were added to the library, Penguin had the right to cooperate with other platforms for secondary licensing, and Meng Fan would get a cut of what those platforms paid Penguin), promotional intensity, and so on. The specifications were all a notch above Shi Shiwu’s.

The reason was simple: this was Meng Fan’s debut album.

Generally, cross-over stars with top-tier influence and popularity in their original fields could enjoy first-tier singer standards when releasing albums. For instance, top-tier actor Huang Bo crossing over (or rather, crossing back) to release an album would definitely follow first-tier standards. Similarly, sports star Da Bai Yang releasing a single was the same. As for Jack Ma, the martial arts world’s number one—who could split Zhen Ye Wen with a palm, punch Jia Tony, kick Wu Zhan Lang, and throw Chao Qinglong—releasing a single went without saying, even if it was just for fun.

As for Meng Fan, besides his current skyrocketing popularity, he truly could sing. Whether collaborating with national team powerhouse Qin Jing at the National Day gala, with walking CD Shi Shiwu at the Double Eleven gala, or performing solo, he had demonstrated extraordinary vocal skills. People genuinely looked forward to Meng Fan’s album—not just to join in the fun or boost his popularity, but to actually buy it and enjoy it!

Thus, the demands put forward by Shi Shiwu’s studio head were mostly accepted by Penguin Music. The terms given were indeed higher than Shi Shiwu’s.

Additionally, another album was set to be released: the original soundtrack for the first season of “Spirits Underground.” It included all the songs from the first season’s animation—the opening theme, ending theme, and insert songs—totaling twelve tracks. Eight people participated in the singing, including Meng Fan, Shi Shiwu, Jin Xiaowen, Bai Zhi, Su Qingcen, two singers Meng Fan had signed from “Fantasy Music,” and a well-known voice actor who had also voiced in the animation.

A physical album was also in preparation, with a small initial print of only 5,000 copies. It would be released alongside the digital album after the first season of “Spirits Underground” had fully aired.

Though everyone knew Meng Fan had long crossed over into singing, the fact that he had just dabbled in esports and was immediately releasing an album was still quite surprising. His cross-over speed was fast, and his moves were aggressive.

(The End)