1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Chapter 265 Rushing to the Ranking
When Zhou Yan arrived backstage, Nangong Songzi came over with a translator, "Mr. Zhou, thank you for your hard work."

"You're welcome." Zhou Yan smiled, "Congratulations, today's concert went very well."

"Thank you for your help too."

The help Nangong Songzi said was of course not just about Zhou Yan coming on stage to accompany him.

Kudo Shizuka was able to hold a concert at the Workers' Stadium, and Zhou Yan helped a lot from beginning to end.

First of all, the most important thing is the album "Original Dream". If the album hadn't sold well, the tickets for Shizuka Kudo's two concerts would not have sold well.

Shizuka Kudo’s home base is Neon, and when she entered the Chinese market, her expectations were not particularly high.

The album "First Dream" has sold more than one million copies in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. This is a genuine album. Now pirated copies of this album can be seen everywhere.

The two songs in the album, "Little Hands Holding Big Hands" and "First Dream", also often appear in some "hardcover" platinum albums.

The most outrageous thing is that Shizuka Kudo's songs have appeared in some albums of the "Top Ten Chinese Female Singers". Listeners who don't know the truth may be surprised that the accent of this top ten female singer is a bit special.

Secondly, they were able to pass the approval of the workers' sports venue so quickly because of Zhou Yan's help.

It is very difficult to open a concert in the Workers' Stadium. If it were a few years ago, it would be impossible for domestic singers, let alone foreign singers, to pass the approval.

Although it is now relaxed, Shizuka Kudo is also the first foreign singer to sing in a workers' sports club, and the relevant departments are also stricter about this kind of approval card.

Before that, there were some foreign singers singing at the Workers' Stadium, but they were usually at collective singing events, such as Shinji Tanimura who came to the Workers' Stadium in the 1980s.

There are also fluorescent sticks and fluorescent stick sponsorships, which were both proposed by Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan looked ahead through the small window, and then said, "For the concert next week, ask the staff to put two light sticks on each seat. The light sticks we got this time are still not bright enough."

"Isn't it...bright enough?"

Nangong Songzi couldn't help but was speechless. Mr. Zhou Yan was really demanding. She thought this light stick was already very powerful.

Looking at the sea of ​​pink at the scene, Nangong Songzi felt very shocked even though he had experienced many performances.

In fact, the cost of these light sticks is not high. Even if you can't get sponsorship, you can still make them yourself. However, no one has done this before. Basically, fans bring a few to play with.

Nangong Songzi believes that it won't be long before other celebrities' concerts will follow suit and arrange glow sticks. After all, these things are really cost-effective.

Zhou Yan smiled, but unfortunately no one is researching it now. Like in later generations, many concerts used light sticks to make them go crazy, and there were even centralized control light sticks.

But that thing is of no use at the moment, because there are no big screens at the current concerts, and the lighting and stage design are relatively backward. With the centralized control of light sticks, most of the audience cannot feel it.

That is to say, after the video of the concert is released, the audience can see the effect through the video.

……

The next day, Shizuka Kudo's concert was reported in major media.

Many newspapers published photos of a sea of ​​pink at the scene. These photos were taken very professionally and from all angles. At first glance, they were official.

Before this concert, there had never been a concert that used light sticks on such a scale, which was refreshing for everyone.

People who don’t know much about the cost of glow sticks are lamenting that the organizers of this concert were really generous and distributed tens of thousands of glow sticks. Moreover, these glow sticks are not recycled and the audience can take them directly with them when leaving the concert. Walk.

Of course, Changhong Electric was not willing to miss such a good publicity opportunity. They immediately jumped out and said that all the light sticks for the concert were sponsored by them, and they spent more than 2 million yuan on Kudo Shizuka's two concerts.

What they said was unclear. Many people thought after seeing the news that the glow sticks for the two concerts alone cost more than 2 million yuan.

Therefore, some media outlets that could not get the news began to write nonsense.

[Shocking, the light sticks used in Shizuka Kudo’s concert cost more than 2 million yuan, all sponsored by Changhong Electric! 】

Changhong Electrical Appliances has made a lot of money this time.

In addition to the light sticks, photos of Zhou Yan playing the piano on stage were also leaked.

The scandal between Zhou Yan and Kudo Shizuka was mentioned again by the media.

Of course, some media pointed out that the scandal between Zhou Yan and Kudo Shizuka was completely bundled hype.

There is still a certain market for the idea of ​​joint hype. After all, apart from a few collaborations, Zhou Yan and Kudo Shizuka have never been photographed together in private.

Their previous scandals were not as reliable as the scandals between Zhou Yan, Wang Zuxian and Zhang Manyu.

……

On Thursday afternoon, Zhou Yan received a call from Wang Zuxian.

The two chatted for a long time without saying anything special, until finally Joey Wang suddenly pretended to be casual and said, "I heard that Shizuka Kudo's concert was quite good."

Zhou Yan knew that it would not be that simple for her to call in broad daylight. He smiled and said, "Do you want to see it? There is another one this week. It's not too late to buy a ticket now."

"Are you still a guest this week?"

"We won't go this week. Wang Feng and the others will go this week."

Kudo Shizuka's second concert as a guest at No. 43 Baojia Street was arranged in advance. This was also the opportunity Zhou Yan fought for Wang Feng and the others.

No. 43 Baojia Street's new album is about to be released, and the promotion must keep up. Now Wang Feng and the others often visit various bars, so this is not the case.

Ogi Productions agreed very simply. They not only looked at Zhou Yan's face, but Shizuka Kudo's concert also needed some mainland singers to warm up the venue.

Hearing that Zhou Yan was not going, Wang Zuxian smiled and said, "Then I'd better not go. There are so many people in the audience, and I know you don't like that kind of environment."

Zhou Yan was not surprised at all, this girl was here to check the post.

The popularity of this concert was quite high, and it must have reached her ears.

……

On June 9, Jeff Brown heard good news early in the morning.

The song "Yellow" has reached No. 1 on radio stations in Oakland, California, and this is the second city where "Yellow" has reached No. 1.

Jeff Brown was very happy, much happier than before when Orlando rushed to first place.

There are two reasons for this. First, Orlando can be said to be the home base of the Backstreet Boys. The group has many loyal fans there who have been supporting them. Many Orlando fans will constantly call the radio station to request songs.

When it comes to song requests, sometimes not even one fan out of ten passers-by may contribute a lot. Some fans can always stay in front of the radio station and the phone, calling non-stop.

Second, Oakland’s population is almost twice that of Orlando, and the market is much larger than Orlando’s.

In the past week or so, the response to "Yellow" has been very good. The song request rate in many regions has been very high. It can be said to be a little dark horse.

The singles ranking list for last week has also come out, with "yellow" peaking at 21st.

Although this ranking is not particularly impressive, it has definitely met Jive's expectations. The key is that this single is still on the rise. The data next week will definitely be better. There is no problem in entering the top 20.

After ranking 40 or even 30 on the weekly singles ranking list, there is actually no reference, because the data outside the top 30 is relatively average, and it is only when it reaches the top 30 that it is considered really popular.

When entering the top 20, the battle is completely different, because most of the songs at the top are songs by well-known singers, which means that at this time, the Backstreet Boys' opponent will be Mariah Carey. , Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks and other big names.

What Jeff Brown is most looking forward to now is that "Yellow" can become a gold record. Now the gold record rules have changed. As long as the record sales exceed 500,000 copies, you can get a gold record.

Jeff Brown is still confident about the gold record. Even if he can't get it in the United States, there will be places like the United Kingdom and Germany behind him. According to his judgment, the song "Yellow" will definitely sell well in the United Kingdom.

However, Jeff Brown still hopes that "Yellow" can complete the achievement of a gold record in the United States. In that case, it will not only be earlier, but also have more weight.

There is also good news, that is, after the album came out, the Backstreet Boys were invited to participate in more events. Just yesterday, Jeff Brown just accepted the announcement of "Energetic" and DJ Bono for the group.

The U.S. tour that had been put on hold by the company has also been brought up again. Starting next month, the group will launch a nationwide tour. In fact, the Backstreet Boys have toured before. Before they signed with Jive, they took the bus to hold concerts in campuses across the country.

Although it is said to be a concert, it is actually no different from a street performance. Usually their audience is only thirty-fifty to three-four hundred people. Some street performances may have more people than this.

This model is similar to "local promotion" in sales. The main cost of each concert may be the fuel cost of the bus. The equipment and other equipment are very crude and of low quality. It is entirely based on quantity.

Before the Backstreet Boys, there were some groups that adopted the same model, and the results were pretty good. Since there was no contract company, this "local promotion" method was the only way to cultivate fans.

But now the tour concert that Jive is planning for the Backstreet Boys is different. They will have fixed venues and buy tickets seriously. Each concert will be promoted in advance and even There will be on-site book signings.

In the first few games, the company will definitely test the waters first, and if the results are good, it will increase investment in them.

At that time, they will stand on a larger stage and perform in front of thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

When their group can hold a concert with tens of thousands of people, it proves that they are really popular.

As for a bigger stage, it’s not something they should think about yet.

Everything is going in the right direction, and Jeff Brown is also happy. Fortunately, he insisted on winning the song "Yellow" at that time. Now it seems that his choice at that time was no problem.

Although the other songs arranged by the company for the Backstreet Boys are also good, Jeff Brown believes that it is difficult to have such a good response as "Yellow".

"Yellow" has a wide audience and low error tolerance. As the first single, it is a very reliable choice. Although there are no specific statistics, according to the feedback received by Jeff Brown, it can be seen that this song has a wide audience, including all ages, not just teenagers.

Jeff Brown took a document bag and walked to the Backstreet Boys' practice room, where they were practicing "Yellow".

Because they knew that the company had restarted their US tour, they had been practicing very hard these days. In addition, they would be on a show in a while, and the program team asked them to sing the song "yellow" .

After they finished practicing, Jeff Brown clapped his hands and said, "Stop for a moment."

Several people in the group had actually noticed Jeff Brown coming in, so even if he didn't shout, they stopped.

Several people looked at Jeff Brown, and Nick asked: "Mr. Brown, is there any good news?"

Seeing the smile on Jeff Brown's face, they knew there would be good news, and they've been hearing good news all this time.

Jeff Brown smiled and nodded, "There is good news. After Orlando, "Yellow" also successfully reached the number one song request rate in Oakland."

"Great."

"Oh yeah!"

Several young men were very excited and started high-fiving each other.

Hearing good news every day also makes them more motivated.

"Also, there is one more thing."

Jeff Brown raised the document bag in his hand and said, "These are the postcards you have received in the past two days."

"so much?"

Kevin looked at the document bag in Jeff Brown's hand with a surprised look on his face, "This looks thicker than the soles of Hoy's shoes."

Among the members of the group, Hoy is the shortest, so he likes to wear shoes with thicker soles, and others sometimes make fun of him.

Hoy didn't feel dissatisfied, and said with a smile: "It's really thick. Are they all postcards inside? Are there any others?"

"It's basically postcards, or letters."

It’s not like no one has ever sent them postcards before. Those loyal fans in Orlando not only send them postcards, but sometimes they also send other things, such as books and CDs.

But their fan base is so small that it usually takes a long time to save so many postcards.

And it had only been a few days, and it had only been three or four days since Jeff Brown last sent them a letter.

In other words, they received so many postcards in these three or four days.

"Take it over and have a look."

Kevin eagerly took the file bag from Jeff Brown and took out the postcard inside.

These postcards are basically sent to the group, and very few are sent to individuals, because new fans only know the group and don't know them personally.

The postcards were placed in the document bag. Although they felt thick, they were pressed together, so they didn't feel too exaggerated. After taking them out and spreading them out, several people suddenly felt that the number was a bit unexpected.

"Are there hundreds of them?"

"There are at least two to three hundred."

"Well, I already have more than thirty in my hand."

"I have over fifty."

"This must have been written by a girl, and there's a red heart drawn on it."

"Maybe he's a middle-aged man?"

"But it's signed Aisha."

"My uncle's pen name was Marilyn."

"I have a Marilyn here, he can't be your uncle..."

Listening to those flimsy data, although the members felt that they were famous, the feeling was not particularly intuitive. Now that they have seen so many postcards and read the love expressed by fans for them, they truly feel that they are famous.

Seeing several young men looking at the postcards excitedly, Jeff Brown smiled and left the practice room without saying hello to them.

The children were working hard, and he had to help them ask the company for more resources. Taking advantage of this momentum, he quickly pushed them forward.

……

With the development of the market, in order to attract fans to buy records, publishers will now lower the price of records in the first week and then raise the price later.

This has the advantage that sales will be much higher in the first week, but the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, sales will drop off a cliff in the second and third weeks.

But in order to promote the Backstreet Boys, Jive extended the record discount period, so the sales of "Yellow" not only did not drop in the second week, but increased a lot.

Not only the sales volume, the song request rate of major radio stations has also increased a lot. The song request rate has reached the top in many places. MTV's data is also very eye-catching, giving it more exposure.

When the singles chart came out in the second week, many people were shocked. "Yellow" directly shot to second place on the singles chart, becoming a super dark horse.

Although they did not win the top order this week, Jive is very satisfied. Their highest goal before was to enter the top ten of the rankings. Unexpectedly, they have exceeded their goal and reached second place all of a sudden.

As soon as the weekly list came out, it attracted the attention of major media.

Because it was on this list that they noticed the group called Backstreet Boys for the first time, and there were more reports and analyzes about the song "Yellow".

At this time, many people suddenly realized that the composer was Y.

Even though film scoring is different from the pop music circle, there are many people in the industry who know Zhou Yan well.

Originally, those who discussed Zhou Yan more often were people working in the film industry or people related to pure music. Now, because of the song "Yellow", the pop music industry has also begun to discuss Zhou Yan.

Once we discuss it, we will understand more.

It turns out that this is not the first time that Y has written songs for singers. Before that, he had written songs for some Chinese and Neon songs, and the one with the best results was Neon singer Kudo Shizuka, who has recently made a new career move. .

(End of this chapter)