Chapter 360: The Conservatives Thought the Radicals Were Too Conservative

"Are you sure?"

Zhou Yi, who never expected the company's ambition to be so great, was rare in being stunned for a moment, then looked up at Qian Jiang in disbelief: "Even without Ying Huang, others wouldn't let us pull this off, right?"

The fact that he has appeared in his current situation is already the result of his own unique top-tier popularity combined with the impact of hype.

If he goes a step further to the extent Qian Jiang described, isn't that somewhat inhumane?

He hasn't unlocked this achievement on the mainland yet;

In Taiwan back then, there were two diamond-level singles, "Later" and "Courage," leading the charge, so Warner never even considered this matter.

How did coming to Hong Kong make them start thinking about this?

"Mainly because the opportunity is rare; this year might be the weakest year in the history of the Hong Kong music scene. The Four Heavenly Kings are all aging; the successor, Xie Tingfeng, was forcibly imprisoned by the court for fourteen days;

"Twins' wings are not yet fully grown; Chen Yixun's songs are well-known, but his personal popularity is slightly insufficient, and his fan appeal is not enough.

"Chen Xiaochun and others, who seemed to explode in popularity like a last flicker of life last year, have new albums and new songs this year that are not very good; the threat to you is almost non-existent."

As an agent who experienced the peak of Hong Kong music, Qian Jiang knew better than anyone the hollow core of the current Hong Kong music scene—

"Ah Yi, you haven't experienced the music era I went through, so you might not understand just how weak the current Hong Kong music scene has become.

"I can assert that in the next few years, the center of gravity of the Chinese music scene will definitely be the Taiwan music scene. Once the mainland music scene has absorbed enough experience and learned enough, then the mainland music scene will be able to replace the Taiwan music scene by virtue of its huge market prospects.

"Since the Hong Kong music scene already has half a foot in the grave, let it exert its remaining heat and create some history for you before it dies; is there a problem with that?"

Qian Jiang himself had no sentimental attachment to Hong Kong music.

In his eyes, the Hong Kong music scene, which has now weakened to the point where only Xie Tingfeng and half of Chen Yixun can break out of Hong Kong, has lost the "holy land" halo of the past. Rather than waiting for it to weaken step by step until no one cares, it is better to let Zhou Yi help it off—

And incidentally allow Zhou Yi to earn a reputation that sounds a bit more impressive.

After all, helping someone off requires effort. Since effort was expended, isn't it reasonable for Zhou Yi to get some reputation in return?

"That's what you say, but are you sure those people in the Hong Kong music scene are willing?"

Speaking of which, Zhou Yi, who had just finished breakfast, let out a burp: "Burp~"

Such a chart-topping feat would undoubtedly be rubbing the entire Hong Kong music scene's face in the dirt; even if it could really be done, the radio stations themselves would probably tamper with the ranking data.

After all, getting that close to the face is undoubtedly a bit excessive.

"Those old fossils definitely won't be willing, because this is equivalent to stepping on their faces."

Qian Jiang, who had extensive connections in this former stronghold of Hong Kong, immediately wore a playful smile on his face: "But they are not a monolithic block internally. Do you remember the Hong Kong Xincheng Radio Station I specifically mentioned to you before?"

"The first Xincheng Mandarin Power Awards?"

Reminded by Qian Jiang, Zhou Yi actually recalled something Qian Jiang had once mentioned to him.

"Yes, although you didn't go to the awards ceremony site because you were abroad, I still specifically sent someone to accept the award on your behalf."

Qian Jiang took over paper and pen and began explaining the feasibility to Zhou Yi: "As the third largest radio station in Hong Kong, second only to RTHK and Commercial Radio, Xincheng Radio has had extremely rapid momentum since its establishment in the early nineties.

"But as the new century approached, internal strife and personnel changes caused their influence to decline somewhat.

"This Xincheng Mandarin Power Awards is a measure they launched after restructuring to compete with RTHK's Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs, TVB's Top Ten Gold Songs, and Commercial Radio's叱咤樂壇 Awards.

"Because they were eager to build name recognition and authority, the first edition, which has already concluded, was very successful, becoming an instant hit in the minds of the Hong Kong public.

"But this is not enough for Xincheng Radio; what they want is to surpass RTHK and Commercial Radio, but the current landscape of the music scene makes it extremely difficult for them to achieve this leapfrog goal; they need a new stimulus point."

Speaking at an excited point, Qian Jiang even showed a tendency to turn into an Italian, constantly changing hand gestures with his right hand to match his tone and emphasize: "And you are this stimulus point; do you understand what I mean?"

Controversy is attention.

As the third largest radio station in Hong Kong, once Zhou Yi starts a chart-topping campaign on Xincheng Radio, it will not only bring huge attention, users, and listening rates to the newly restructured Xincheng Radio, but the Xincheng Radio executives themselves will not engage in any backroom deals or play any small tricks to prevent such a scene from appearing—

They might even welcome it.

What about ruining the Hong Kong music scene or making the Hong Kong music scene lose face? What does that have to do with their Xincheng Radio? They only want performance metrics now; otherwise, why would they spend a huge amount of money and effort this year to create the Xincheng Mandarin Power Awards?

The charts of RTHK and Commercial Radio are not necessarily the same.

"Don't think that Xincheng Radio currently ranking third in Hong Kong means it has no clout; don't forget how many radio stations there are in Hong Kong."

Seeing Zhou Yi interlace his fingers and fall into thought, Qian Jiang couldn't help but add: "Now is exactly the moment when Xincheng Radio is at a critical juncture of ambition; if you miss this village, you won't have this shop."

"No, I don't mean to look down on Xincheng Radio; I just thought of some things."

Zhou Yi shook his head and said with a smile: "In that case, let's go for it. Success makes a king, failure makes a bandit; as long as we succeed, who will care that Xincheng Radio only ranks third in Hong Kong?"

Just like the so-called brainwashing package "When the Nocturne rings, go on stage to accept the award."

When Jay Chou's team widely marketed this meme, who cared that the award Jay Chou won was not the Golden Melody Award, but the Chinese Music Top Ten Awards, whose reputation had by then completely degenerated into a watered-down award?

One word to describe the 2006 Chinese Music Top Ten Awards: Tencent Gala, Weibo Awards, iQiyi Scream Night...

The gold content can be imagined.

In the mobile internet era, Jay Chou's team obviously also knew this award ceremony was not presentable, so in the initial marketing, they directly blurred the name, using words like "Chinese Golden Melody" to blur the concept, directly leading many following fans to say it was the Golden Melody Award, and many marketing accounts also followed the trend to ride the heat and call it the Golden Melody Award.

Facts proved that this was an extremely successful marketing campaign.

And Xincheng Radio, being the third largest radio station in Hong Kong, still has some gold content, more or less.

"No problem! Then leave it to me!"

Having received Zhou Yi's consent, Qian Jiang immediately became full of energy—preparing to contact Xincheng Radio right away.

However, just as he took out his phone to contact a friend, a piece of news that surprised him interrupted his excited mood—

"What did you say? Eminem dissed Zhou Yi?"

The news from Warner Music's headquarters made Qian Jiang, who was enthusiastically arranging domestic affairs, frown; Zhou Yi, who was picking his teeth nearby, paused his hand movements upon hearing this, turned his head, and watched Qian Jiang finish communicating with the person on the other end of the phone.

"Ah Yi, over in the US, Eminem held it in for so long and then publicly dissed you; he even wrote a song calling on his fans and passersby to diss you together."

After hanging up the phone, Qian Jiang's face instantly became solemn: "Although that single did not name names, it is generally seen as talking about you. According to company news, he probably wants to use the heat of this diss to promote his movie '8 Mile'."

"'8 Mile'?"

Zhou Yi, biting on a toothpick, raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Qian Jiang nodded: "Yes, he probably held off until now to diss you just to hype up this movie; this person is shrewd. He also said immediately after dissing you that he would release the theme song for '8 Mile', which is obviously hyping up the heat."

"..."

"A bit interesting..."

Zhou Yi rubbed his chin with his right hand, his mind flooded with a myriad of thoughts.

Seeing him like this, Qian Jiang was about to speak when he was interrupted—

"A-Yi, we must—"

"Old Qian, I think you are still too conservative."

Qian Jiang: "?"

Zhou Yi, with a toothpick dangling from the corner of his mouth, grinned widely, revealing a brilliant smile: "How about trying a more radical plan?"

(End of this chapter)