I am a super cop

Chapter 1564 Inside the Industry
Gu Chen never thought that Gao Mingyang would have such an experience on his music creation journey.

But this seems to be the only way for every original singer.

All of Gao Mingyang's original songs are based on his own life, so the lyrics are very substituting, making people listen to songs like listening to stories.

Opening a small refrigerator, Gao Mingyang took out some bitten bread from it, and took two boxes of milk.

Throwing one of the boxes to Gu Chen, Gao Mingyang also asked casually, "Have you had breakfast?"

"I've eaten." After taking the milk thrown by Gao Mingyang, Gu Chen casually put it aside.

And Gao Mingyang sat on the bedside, ate breakfast in a daze, and said in his mouth:
"Actually, that girl is the motivation for me to stay here. Otherwise, with my character, I would have already started my wandering life with my guitar in my arms."

"Where is that girl now?" Hearing what Gao Mingyang said, Gu Chen was also a little interested.

Gao Mingyang smiled wryly, and shook his head: "I've already left, and left quietly."

"Why?" Gu Chen asked.

Gao Mingyang shook his head: "I don't know why? Maybe it's because she held too much hope and wanted to stay in Jiangnan City, but later found that she herself is too ordinary, and being ordinary makes her feel inferior."

"When hope is shattered, it may be when she leaves."

"Then are you willing?" Seeing Gao Mingyang's moist eyes, Gu Chen knew that there seemed to be a very close relationship between this southwest girl and Gao Mingyang.

Gao Mingyang rubbed his face and shook his head silently: "Of course I don't want to give up. She is the most special girl I've ever seen."

"Actually, when I was 16 years old, I lived in Jiangnan City with my relatives who came to work in Jiangnan City."

"At the age of 17, I started singing in the underground passages of Jiangnan City alone with my guitar in my arms. A year later, I became a bar singer in Jiangnan City."

"But if you sing in a bar, you know, in those days, it might only be 150 to 200 a night, which is very rare."

"Besides, the bar owner sees that I am young, and often lowers the price. Even though I can sing better than others, I'm sorry, you are only seventeen or eighteen years old. People think you are too young, so they can only give you this price."

"But I don't like the feeling of singing in bars myself."

Gu Chen nodded silently: "It's like you said directly into the microphone after you sang the second song yesterday...you don't have thoughts, you don't understand music?"

"Haha." Seeing Gu Chen teasing himself again, Gao Mingyang nodded with a wry smile, and said truthfully:

"You've met me. In fact, I often do this. If I feel uncomfortable, I won't sing. At worst, I don't need money."

"Facing a group of customers who don't understand music all day long, shouting at you there, to be honest, if it wasn't for that little money, I would have stopped singing."

"At that time, I felt that the environment of this bar was too hypocritical, that many people there were too fake, and the income was very unstable. These were unbearable for me."

Glancing up at Gu Chen, Gao Mingyang said again: "So what you saw last night is the real me. I did this when I was 18 years old."

"Haha." Looking at Gao Mingyang's self-mockery, Gu Chen and him looked at each other, and they both burst out laughing.

Gao Mingyang also burst into tears with laughter and said, "Unexpected, right? Going around, I'm in my thirties, but I'm still the same."

"Then you have been staying in Jiangnan City?" Gu Chen asked.

Gao Mingyang shook his head: "Of course not. When I was 18 years old, I started singing in bars in Jiangnan City. At that time, I sang other people's songs, but I always wanted to sing my own songs."

"So, I paid all the money I earned at that time for tuition, and learned how to compose and sing with a music teacher in Jiangnan City."

"Gradually, I also slowly began to learn to write songs by myself, but later I discovered that as a singer-songwriter, my own lack of experience also made me, who was young at the time, eager to enrich myself."

"So, when I just turned 20, I finally made up my mind, left Jiangnan City, and started my career as a wandering singer."

"So you left Jiangnan City when you were 20?" Gu Chen said.

Gao Mingyang took a mouthful of bread, took another mouthful of milk, nodded silently, and said with a joking smile:

"Of course, I left Jiangnan City when I was 20 years old. For four full years, I carried my guitar and passed through many western cities and went to the plateau area."

"Then followed the Yunnan-Tibet Highway all the way to Lijiang."

"That was my happiest time. If there is no fare, I will hitch a ride. If I can't stop the car, I will leave. If I can't walk, I will stay."

"When it rains, I sing in the rain. When it snows, I write poems in the snow. When the pie falls from the sky, I just open my mouth and continue."

"But don't you feel bitter like this?" It feels like Gao Mingyang has been living like an ascetic monk these years. You must know that Gao Mingyang was only 20 years old at that time.

Gao Mingyang shook his head with a smile: "Bitter? Is it bitter? Let me tell you, Gu Chen, I don't think these things are the hardest part of my career. I think whether it's wandering or underground passages, Or singing in a bar."

"These times are...very good for me. The only thing that makes me feel bitter is that when I don't have the inspiration to write something, when I don't know how to create, this is suffering."

"So, it was after such a journey that my enthusiasm for music was almost completely released."

Holding his throat with his hands, Gao Mingyang reminded Gu Chen, "Gu Chen, you have to know that my voice has always been clear and clear, but it was also nourished by tobacco, wine and wind and snow that made me vicissitudes and deep. "

"After I ended my four-year wandering career, when I returned to Jiangnan City, I began to enter a high-yielding period of creation."

"At that time, among other things, there was no one who was engaged in music in the independent music circle in Jiangnan City who didn't know me, Gao Mingyang."

"Gradually, I became well-known in the Jiangnan music circle."

"But as a musician, I know that I can't always be so content with the status quo. I have to stand up and start yearning for a bigger stage."

"So?" Gu Chen asked.

Gao Mingyang looked out the window in confusion, the sun shone on his face, making him look so pale and haggard.

Gao Mingyang grinned: "So? So I need a beautiful stage to show my singing voice."

"In those few years, I signed up to participate in many singing talent shows, especially the most popular domestic competitions. I signed up for the Jiangnan Division and the Yangcheng Division, and finally reached the top 30 in the country."

"Unfortunately, when I was 30 to 18, I regrettably stopped with a difference of 4 votes."

"At that time, I thought I was about to succeed, but the door of my dream opened a crack, but it closed again to me."

"Do you regret it?" Gu Chen asked him.

"I don't regret it." Gao Mingyang shook his head, forced a smile and said: "What do you regret? This shows that there are strong players in the strong. If you don't participate in the competition, you don't know your true level."

"And I prefer to write something real, including my lyrics, every word is real."

"These are all my real experiences. If the next performance is my last song, the last performance, I will go back to Jiangnan City, and I will make an album of my own."

"I want more people to know that China, in fact, has very good original music and is very sincere."

"Maybe I was born for music in my life, and I am the one who needs to continue walking on the road of original music."

"Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa!"

Listening to Gao Mingyang's impassioned speech in the dilapidated hut, Gu Chen was proud of his persistence.

Although he is so poor that he can only eat bread and live in a dilapidated hut, Gao Mingyang's enthusiasm for music does not seem to be fading at all.

Gu Chen couldn't help but applaud him as encouragement.

After a while, he said again: "Gao Mingyang, your spirit is commendable, but you always play with your temper like this, can you make money?"

"Take the night you sang at the bar yesterday. You should have earned a few hundred yuan. If you add the rewards from the guests, it shouldn't be too bad. But if you just stop performing like this, won't you cut off your own income?" A way of making money?"

"Hehe." Hearing Gu Chen's words, Gao Mingyang nodded silently, and also echoed, "That's right, I cut off this source of income, so what?"

"At least make some money and improve your life, right? Don't you want to release your own music album? It should be expensive, right?"

Gu Chen's words seemed to have poked Gao Mingyang's weakness again.

Gao Mingyang was silent for a few seconds, and then he came over and opened the drawer, found an old notebook with yellowed pages, and looked through it directly in front of Gu Chen.

There are also broken thoughts in his mouth: "Now making music albums is much better than when I was at the beginning."

"The current music albums, the copyright fee is mainly on the lyrics and music, which I can handle by myself, not to mention the sales, the sales of professional singers are very poor now."

"Otherwise, if you look at Mr. Wang, who doesn't make headlines every time, his album only sells [-] copies. This should be regarded as the top in the music industry."

"As for concerts, except for the previous generation of singers who can hold a concert, there is still a few streams. Basically, most professional singers can't hold a concert."

"So, they still rely on commercial performances to make a good meal, but they still have to be scolded by fans."

"Then you should know these things very well. You can make them yourself, and the cost should be saved a lot, right?" Gu Chen didn't know much about these things, so he just said it casually.

After all, Gao Mingyang seems to know music very well, and he is looking forward to making his own album.

Therefore, Gu Chen felt that he should belong to a well-connected singer.

But Gao Mingyang snorted coldly, and smiled self-deprecatingly: "Gu Chen, you are right, I can make my own album."

"And you can do everything yourself. It can be said that there is no cost, but the premise is that you have to know how to arrange music, use a computer to make production, and know how to publish your own works."

"Take my buddy as an example. He released three EPs and two official albums this year, but they were all shoddy."

"If you don't know how to do it, it also depends on what price you want for the production. The higher the cost, the better the production."

"At the lowest level, if a friend is willing to help you do it for free, or if you know how to make it yourself, then there is really no cost, and you can still do it pretty well."

After a pause, Gao Mingyang continued to gesture with both hands, and sat down with Gu Chen to communicate face to face: "I can handle lyrics, composition, and arrangement by myself."

"But for the accompaniment instruments, all midi plus sound library are made, and the recording is 300 to 500 an hour. I think you only need to record and sing for an hour, and 300 yuan will be recorded."

"Finally, post and sing the mixtape, find a cheap one, 500 yuan, then the cost of a song will not be very high, and you may get a discount if you do it in batches."

"But, again, the quality is very uncertain."

"Then what if you want to make it well?" Gu Chen asked again.

"Excellent production?" Gao Mingyang hesitated for a moment, and replied with a smile: "If it is done well, the estimated cost is around 2 per song, and it is estimated that it can be guaranteed to be at the publication level."

"If you can sign a contract with a company, then you don't have to worry about it. The company will pay for it. You don't have to worry about how much the company is willing to spend on making songs."

"Anyway, if it's better, then pay more."

"The first is the production cost, including songwriting copyright, producer, arranger, recording, downmixing, and mastering."

"The second is the cost of making the CD, and this production cost is too complicated. Let's take the songwriting copyright as an example. If you write the song yourself, then you don't have to count it."

"If you are looking for other people's songs, the current market price is almost 10 for a song by a well-known author, and tens of thousands for a lesser-known author."

"As for an album, it must be calculated as 10 songs, and the copyright is about 10 to one million."

After a pause, Gao Mingyang said again: "In addition to these costs, the producer's cost is always there, right?"

"With the copyright of lyrics and music, it is up to the producer to decide the final style of the song, how to arrange it, etc."

"For big-name producers, it's usually tens of thousands of yuan a song, or the whole album can be packaged, between 10,000+ and a million."

"If you know how to do it yourself, you can omit these yourself."

"The second is the hardware recording, which includes the cost of the recording studio, the cost of the recording studio, and the cost of the musicians. Generally speaking, a song is less than [-]."

"As for downmixing, it's probably less than 2, and the mastering process is less than [-]."

"Calculated in this way, if it is to be well-produced, the production cost of the entire album will range from about 40 to more than 200 million."

"And if the CD of the album is to be released next, the production part, first of all, is the cost of the ISBN version number. Generally speaking, it can be done within [-], and the master disc of the CD is within [-]."

Flipping through the various costs recorded in his notebook, Gao Mingyang continued to explain with distress:
"There is also this one, pressing tablets. This depends on the material, ranging from 1 yuan to a few yuan per sheet. Let's take the cheapest 1 yuan per sheet, which is not a small fee."

"There is also the packaging box, ranging from 2 yuan to more than ten yuan, depending on the material, let's count as cheap, 2 yuan each."

"Cover and back cover printing, this also depends on the material. According to the cheap calculation, each album is 3 yuan."

"Calculated in this way, all calculated according to the cheapest, if 1000 CDs are published, the cost is probably less than 1 yuan."

"But that's not the most important thing. If you want everyone to know that you have an album, you have to spend a lot of money to promote it."

"If you want to spread the publicity network across the country and save some money, it will be about... 200 million."

"My God!" Hearing Gao Mingyang's introduction, Gu Chen also took a deep breath: "The production cost of this music album is so high? Can it make money?"

"Hehe, making money? You think too much." Feeling that Gu Chen is an outsider after all, Gao Mingyang regards him as a friend, so he will naturally reveal something to him, so he directly explained:

"Actually, assuming that all the thousand copies are sold, if calculated on the basis of 80 copies, the sales will be 8 yuan, not counting promotional expenses. Your album will lose at least 30 yuan, right?

Gu Chen nodded silently: "Then if you have the equipment and level of Li Ronghao, then you will spend about the same amount of electricity, right?"

Asked by Gu Chen, Gao Mingyang froze there for an instant.

After a while, he nodded slightly: "It would be much better if I had a master-level talent like him. After all, he came from a professional class, and I was just a grassroots team."

With a faint sigh, Gao Mingyang also felt helpless and said: "In fact, the audio of a finished song requires lyrics, arrangement, recording, harmony, post-production, etc."

"To make a work of decent quality, the production cost will be [-] to [-]."

"You get what you pay for, and now pop music is very messy, and new songs are emerging one after another, but there are really fewer and fewer left. Most of them are commercialized. If they can be popular for a while, it's OK to make enough money."

"You can write your own songs, or even spend some money to make a similar demo. If it really becomes popular, there will be companies willing to pay for you to make high-quality products, but the chances are very slim."

Gesticating his hands, Gao Mingyang explained helplessly: "To release an album, a single usually has one song, an EP usually has 2 to 5 songs, and an album usually has 6 to 12 songs."

"To put it simply, if I optimize the cost according to my creative level, the song, the preliminary work, the lyrics, composition and arrangement, need help to optimize, then the minimum cost is about 2000 yuan, and the distribution level starts at 5000 yuan. "

"The next step is to go to the recording studio to record. The recording starts at 200 yuan. After the recording, it is repairing and mixing. Sometimes it doesn't cost money. Some recordings will be given away, and then there will be an audio product."

"However, I can publish the finished music on major music platforms, which are free."

"However, if you want others to hear your music, the promotion fee can range from a few hundred yuan to hundreds of thousands. For example, "Desert Camel", which was popular before, cost 40 yuan, ranking first on the short video music list. "

"And if a singer like me wants to make his songs heard by the public, he can only upload them on major music platforms."

"You can also shoot the MV yourself. If you want to save money, it's best to shoot the MV version of your own live performance, such as in small events and bars."

"I have recorded some before, but because I didn't spend money on publicity, the effect was very poor."

Feeling deeply, Gao Mingyang also smiled helplessly: "I'm not afraid to tell you that the involution in any industry is very serious now, and it is almost impossible to get exposure without spending money. If you want to rank high, then You're going to have to throw money at it."

……

　Ask for votes, with a sincere face. ╰(‵ ′)╯

　　
　
(End of this chapter)