ECG -Chapter 79 If You Hesitate Again, I Won’t Bother Anymore

Both Jin Yongnian and Zhu Xiaolan were also so shocked that they were left staring with their mouths open. If everything Lin Hao had said was told to him by Han Ying, then it would have been understandable. But the fact that he had deduced all of this himself meant that this person was simply too impressive.

If Lin Hao had been someone in his thirties or forties, they probably would not have been this surprised. After all, with enough life experience, as long as someone carefully analyzed the whole matter, they could guess most of the truth.

But the young man standing before them was clearly only twenty years old. He was still just a second-year college student. His intelligence and the calm, confident way he spoke were enough to make some seasoned people in society feel ashamed.

Yang Qianyi let out a sigh. She had nothing left to say.

She stood up, pushed her chair back slightly, and bowed toward Lin Hao.

Zhu Xiaolan became anxious.

“President Yang…”

Yang Qianyi raised her hand to stop her.

“Mr. Lin, I was the one who did this. Don’t blame Han Ying! I was wrong. I apologize to you. I’m sorry!”

She spoke those words with great sincerity.

Jin Yongnian was extremely shocked. This was the first time he had ever seen Yang Qianyi formally apologize to someone like this.

Meiying Music had been established for six years, and the reason behind its founding was Yang Qianyi’s best friend, Qin Ruoyun. When Qin Ruoyun was twenty years old, she had already become famous throughout the country. In 1997, her manager died in a car accident, and many companies competed to sign her.

Heartbroken, Qin Ruoyun chose to trust Yang Qianyi. She forced Yang Qianyi, who had originally majored in piano and was preparing to establish a music school, to become her manager. Not long after, the two of them founded Meiying Music.

Qin Ruoyun’s family background was extraordinary. Relying on her family connections, Meiying had risen rapidly over the past few years, with unstoppable momentum.

However, Qin Ruoyun herself had a carefree personality. She only released one album every year or two and rarely participated in performances.

She rarely even came to Meiying. She was completely a hands-off boss.

Seeing how sincere Yang Qianyi’s attitude was, Lin Hao naturally could not keep acting cold. His purpose in saying all that was simple: don’t treat Lin Hao like a fool.

But as the saying went, once the point was made, that was enough. The two of them did not even know each other. Yang Qianyi simply wanted to keep a rare treasure to herself and didn’t want others to get involved.

And Lin Hao himself wanted to quietly finish college first, so deep down, he was not actually that angry. With Meiying causing this trouble, he could even have a little more peace and quiet.

As for whether this would delay his money-making, Lin Hao was not worried at all. He knew that the days when he would make huge amounts of money were still ahead. For now, singing at night and earning enough to spend was already fine.

He hurriedly stood up, supported Yang Qianyi by both arms, and smiled.

“President Yang, please don’t do this. If I were really angry, how could there still be this whole table of Northeastern dishes?”

When Yang Qianyi noticed that his hands were still holding her arms, her face immediately turned red. Lin Hao also realized it was inappropriate and quickly let go.

“President Yang, please sit. Sit down!”

To ease the awkwardness from just now, after returning to his seat, he said: “Since President Yang came this time, just tell me whatever matter you have.”

“Mr. Lin…”

Lin Hao quickly raised his hand to stop her.

“Don’t call me that. Just call me Lin Hao.”

Yang Qianyi nodded.

“Alright, Lin Hao. We came here mainly for two things. First, we want to buy a few songs. Second, we want to see whether you would be willing to sign with our company.”

“If you’re here to buy songs for Zhao Yiting, I advise you not to bring it up.”

Yang Qianyi was a little curious.

“Why? Is it just because of his plagiarism incident this time?”

“President Yang, everyone has their own principles. Mine is very simple: people with bad character are not worthy of singing my songs.”

Yang Qianyi frowned.

Lin Hao continued:

“This person has a terrible history. Before becoming famous, he had a record of sexual harassment. After becoming famous, he drove drunk, was involved with several female fans at the same time, acted arrogantly at the airport, even hit fans, and so on. I don’t believe you don’t know about these things. Although you have been trying your best to clear his name, let me say something unpleasant—he’s not worth it! He’s not worthy!”

The three of them fell silent.

After a while, Yang Qianyi let out a faint sigh.

“Looks like when signing people in the future, character really should be the first test.”

But Lin Hao shook his head.

“That’s not easy.”

“Oh?” Yang Qianyi wanted to hear his opinion.

“People are complicated creatures. Some people are completely different before and after becoming famous. How would you distinguish that?”

Yang Qianyi knew that Lin Hao was right. Signing every person was a gamble. A record company gambled on whether that person could become famous and whether they would repay the company’s kindness.

The artists were gambling too. After signing this “contract of selling oneself,” what if the company refused to arrange performances, accept advertisements, or promote them, and instead shelved them?

“Alright, I understand. Then let’s not mention Zhao Yiting anymore. Our Phantom Entertainment doesn’t only have him as a contracted artist. Xiaolan will give you some artist profiles later. You can choose whoever you think is suitable and give the song to them. How about that?”

Lin Hao nodded.

Yang Qianyi continued, “The second matter is that I want to know your thoughts. Do you want to debut as a singer? If you do, can you sign with our company?”

Lin Hao smiled. “Before graduating from university, I personally won’t sign a contract as an artist!”

Yang Qianyi didn’t notice the emphasis he put on the word “personally,” but she understood the other meaning behind it.

“You mean we can sign a songwriting contract?”

Jin Yongnian and Zhu Xiaolan exchanged glances. They hadn’t expected this outcome.

There were generally three types of singer agency contracts:

First, an artist management contract: The company handled the singer’s performances, endorsements, and other commercial activities, as well as the distribution ratio of performance income.

Second, a recording contract: It covered the number of songs or albums the singer would record, the company’s investment in production, the distribution and payment of royalties between both parties, and ownership of the recording copyrights.

Third, a songwriting contract: It covered the ownership and agency rights of musical works created by singers or songwriters during the contract period.

In practice, if it was a record company, most would sign a full contract. A so-called full contract included all three of the above.

Of course, some artists signed with several different companies, but those people were usually already famous and popular. Newcomers rarely received such treatment.

For example, Sun Xiaowei, who had plagiarized Lin Hao’s songs, had signed an artist management contract, because Yanjing Fenghua Fashion Audio-Visual Media Co., Ltd. was an agency company and did not have the rights to release records.

Lin Hao nodded. He raised one finger.

“One year. I can only sign for one year at a time. After tax, 200,000 yuan per song. Also, during the contract period, any songs I create for myself or my band will not be included in the contract.”

Yang Qianyi, Jin Yongnian, and Zhu Xiaolan all fell silent.

Two hundred thousand per song—for a newcomer like Lin Hao, that price was already sky-high!

Although Yang Qianyi’s psychological bottom line had been 300,000, that was the price she had prepared for Zhao Yiting at the time, and it was only for buying one song.

A song specially tailored for someone and a possible batch of creations after signing a contract were completely different matters!

Although after signing, the more good songs he could produce, the better, once the quantity increased, the costs became a problem. Regardless of the quality, every song would cost 200,000 yuan, leaving no room for negotiation.

At this price, Phantom Entertainment would have to take an enormous risk. Although the two songs he gave Han Ying were already proof of his ability, and the songs he sang in the video were also excellent, who could guarantee that every song he wrote in the future would maintain this quality?

Who could guarantee that he wouldn’t run out of talent?

At that time, the domestic songwriting market was extremely chaotic. An unknown songwriter might work extremely hard to write a song and still be unable to sell it for even 500 yuan!

Songwriters with a little reputation in the industry usually charged anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, depending on the quality of the song.

As for someone like Yu Huai, one of the top famous songwriters in China, because his songs had made many singers famous, he had only started charging 500,000 yuan per song in recent years.

But even he couldn’t sell every song at that price. If a song’s quality wasn’t enough to make a singer become an overnight sensation, paying tens of thousands, 100,000, or 200,000 yuan was completely normal.

Because Lin Hao’s two songs had helped Han Ying win the gold medal in the National Youth Song Competition, it had unknowingly added a layer of prestige to him.

Moreover, Yu Huai had become increasingly difficult to deal with over the past two years. That was why, before Yang Qianyi came to Snow City, Qin Ruoyun had specifically instructed her: if she couldn’t sign Lin Hao as a singer, then as long as the price for a songwriting contract was reasonable, she must secure it!

Although Qin Ruoyun had said that, Yang Qianyi still felt that 200,000 yuan was inappropriate no matter how she thought about it.

The reason was simple—

It was too expensive!

Seeing that they had all fallen silent, Lin Hao thought to himself:

I’ll give you one piece of advice and three seconds to decide. If you hesitate again, I won’t bother anymore!

Actually, when a singer bought a song, they were making a huge gamble.

If they bet correctly, they could earn back ten or even a hundred times the money within less than a year.

For example, before his rebirth, there was a female singer from Northeast China who spent 100,000 yuan in 1994 to buy a song. She then sold her house and gathered another 110,000 yuan to film an MTV.

She had truly risked everything in one desperate gamble!

But that song soon won the 1994 MTV Competition Gold Award, the National Radio Station’s “Chinese Songs Chart,” Shanghai Oriental TV’s Wind and Cloud Chart, Beijing Music Radio’s “Song Ranking,” and many other honors.

The 210,000 yuan in 1994 could definitely be considered a huge fortune.

But because she had gambled correctly, that song brought her countless honors and wealth!

Lin Hao no longer thought too much about it and smiled.

“I only have one guarantee. During the contract period, every title song I provide will become famous across the entire country!”

“Besides, I have another big gift to give you!”

After saying that, he began counting the seconds in his mind.

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