Chapter 399: The Regular Army with Built-in Achievements

"Do you know what kind of person I hate the most?"

"Someone ugly?"

"Someone who only speaks half a sentence."

Watching Xiao Yaxuan, who casually grabbed a cushion and smashed it at the man's head, laughed and scolded, "Your face saved you, I'm telling you. Otherwise, you'd be on tomorrow's newspaper headlines."

"That's rich. I'm already buying a house on the news headlines; do I need your one?" Zhou Yi, lying diagonally on the sofa, tilted his head and easily dodged.

As long as it involved entertainment-related newspapers, basically every major and minor one today featured him, with even various economic newspapers joining the fray; he was truly a domestic celebrity in a class of his own.

"There's no way around it. Zhang Guorong and Zhang Xueyou came to the 80,000-person stadium before you to hold concerts; Zhang Xueyou even came earlier this year, yet neither had such a huge influence."

Watching Xiao Yaxuan, listing them off like family treasures, spoke with some emotion: "The number of attendees at your single concert exceeded the combined total of their two; the contrast before and after is even greater."

"Why don't you say it's four times yours? They're both old fossils."

"..."

Watching Xiao Yaxuan rolled her eyes and simply and clearly raised her right middle finger at him.

Having spent so much time with Zhou Yi, she had also started to like expressing her emotions and attitudes through this concise and clear method.

After all, she was indeed someone who had held a concert at the 80,000-person stadium last year.

Thanks to the "entanglement" between her and Zhou Yi, her popularity in the mainland had surged greatly, making her truly shine. But even so, her concert at the Shanghai 80,000-person stadium last year had distributed ten thousand complimentary tickets.

With a capacity of 40,000, the actual number of attendees at the concert was 31,700.

Excluding the complimentary tickets, saying it was four times was indeed no mistake.

"I've done quite well, okay? At the very least, I didn't lose money; I even made over a million. Not everyone who holds a concert can earn as much money as you."

Regarding Zhou Yi's behavior of a well-fed man not understanding the hunger of the starving, Watching Xiao Yaxuan strongly condemned it.

At any time, only a minority of large-venue concerts involving tens of thousands of people end up making money—no, it shouldn't be called a minority; it should be said that under such conditions, only a handful of people can make money.

Li Ming and Zhang Xueyou during the Four Heavenly Kings era; going further back, the peak of Hong Kong music with the dual dominance of Tan and Zhang.

During the peak of Taiwan's Rock Records, Lo Ta-yu, Lee Jung-sheng, plus the Heavenly King Slayer, Wakin Chau.

Among female singers, the ones with the best sales for such large venues were Wang Fei, Zhang Huimei, and Lin Yi during their peak periods.

Other famous Heavenly Kings and Queens could consider it a victory if they didn't lose money holding large-scale concerts; if they made a slight profit, the press releases would dare to blow it up to the sky.

Of course, there were also singers who defied heaven and changed their fate after entering the new century, with Andy Lau being a typical example.

After entering the new century, he, who had accumulated massive popularity in the mainland through his model-worker-like movies and songs, instead replaced the gradually retiring Li Ming and became one of the few singers capable of making money holding large-scale concerts in the mainland.

"Do I earn a lot? For this one, I made at most just over ten million, okay?"

Zhou Yi sneered and curled his lip in contempt.

For a single concert, the total box office is basically divided among three parties: the organizer responsible for the venue and security gets 30%, the company gets 30%, and the remaining 40% belongs to the singer and their team.

If there is no company, then it depends on whether it's the standard 50-50, 40-60 split, or some other contract.

His total box office for this concert was over 58 million; adding the paltry sponsorship fees from brands like Coca-Cola and Anta, the final total was just over 60 million.

After deducting the shares for the organizer and Warner, what he got in hand was just over 20 million. This 20 million had to be honestly taxed, leaving only just over 10 million.

Precisely because of this, for the vast majority of singers, holding such large-venue concerts in the mainland from the start was about losing money to make noise, aiming to gather fans and build higher popularity to make money in other aspects.

This is also why, even until 2025, singers who could make money holding concerts in large stadiums in the mainland were few; apart from the relics of the Gods Era like Zhang Xueyou, Jay Chou, Lin Junjie, and Wu Yue Tian, only Deng Ziqi, Zhang Jie, Xue Zhiqian, and Xu Song could and dared to hold them.

After Tao Zhe's resurgence, the heat looked like it was on fire, but his concert only dared to be held at a 10,000-person venue, fearing a loss.

For small venues, the number of people was around ten thousand, with a maximum not exceeding 20,000; various expenses were also small, and a final calculation showed that profitability was still very much possible.

Of course, regarding Zhou Yi's remarks that could be described as begging for a beating, Watching Xiao Yaxuan was grinding her teeth: "What do you mean 'at most just over ten million'? Be a human, Zhou Yi. This is just the income from one concert; Zhang Xueyou only earns a little over two million per concert on average."

One concert was damn near worth four or five of someone else's.

"No way, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. I'm going to feast on you heavily for lunch today. What's the most expensive restaurant in Shanghai?"

Before returning to Taiwan, Watching Xiao Yaxuan dragged Zhou Yi out of the house and ruthlessly feasted on him twice—of course, Zhou Yi also took the opportunity to visit his unlucky die-hard fan, Wei Yuncong, at the hospital.

After seeing Watching Xiao Yaxuan again, this person was so excited he almost took off from the hospital bed; his heart rate was just short of triggering an alarm.

And just as the two, after disguising themselves, were "dating" outside Shanghai, Zhou Yi, who was already on the tip of the tongue due to the concert incident, once again set off an explosion in public opinion—

The reason was simply that Shanghai's most influential newspaper, the Xinmin Evening News, had officially made its move, and with a slight move, it reached a peak that other newspapers could not surpass!

"Tickets Hard to Get; Zhou Yi's Concert Drives Urban Economic Prosperity"

As a comprehensive newspaper directly led by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, in a sense, information published on the pages of this newspaper was equivalent to an official seal of certification.

And after the Xinmin Evening News was released, the content published on it shocked all officials within the system nationwide and everyone in the entertainment industry—

"Under the Same Sky, Different Postures for Listening to Songs; The Passion of 80,000 Ignites Urban Vitality Together"

"On November 30, Asian Music Heavenly King Zhou Yi held his personal concert at the Shanghai 80,000-person stadium, achieving a complete success.

"According to statistics, one week before the concert started, fans coming to Shanghai to watch Zhou Yi's concert almost turned the off-season tourism period after the National Day holiday into a peak season. Sales of food, clothing, housing, and transportation in XH District all hit new highs, enough to be called another small Golden Week.

"In terms of dining, due to the influx of a large number of external fans, dining revenue in XH District increased by 54% compared to the previous week; revenue in CN District near XH District increased by 41% compared to the previous week.

"In terms of accommodation, the occupancy rate of hotels within 12 kilometers around the 80,000-person stadium increased by 66% compared to the previous week, and sales increased by 93% compared to the same time period last week.

"In terms of transportation, the number of ticket purchases for flights and trains with Shanghai as the destination increased by more than 37% compared to the previous week.

"In terms of tourism, the sales of scenic spot tickets in Shanghai increased by as much as 17.5 times compared to the previous week!

"The official statistical data report from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism points out that from November 23 to 30, 2002, in just seven days, Zhou Yi's concert directly boosted tourism revenue in XH District by 76 million yuan, indirectly boosting other various revenues to as high as 120 million yuan..."

In 2002, the first year of joining the WTO, the economy was developing greatly; everyone was busy making money.

And this article published in the Xinmin Evening News undoubtedly left everyone who was redoubling their efforts to make money completely stunned—

For comparison, the reporter specifically wrote out the tourism revenue of XH District up to the present year: 2.43 billion yuan.

One Zhou Yi brought 80,000 people, boosted tourism economic benefits by 200 million, and single-handedly created a small Golden Week in Xuhui at the end of November?!

Damn it, Xuhui has a total of only 2.43 billion so far, and you alone drove 200 million?!

That's too crazy, brother.

The mouths of the relevant leaders in Xuhui were almost smiling crooked.

Back then, Zhang Guorong, Zhang Xueyou, and Zhang Huimei combined could only reach this number, yet Zhou Yi alone accomplished it.

"Green light! From now on, all concert arrangements involving Zhou Yi get the green light! Whether it's a concert, a fan meet, or a signing event—give him the green light on everything! Don't let the other districts snatch him away!"

"Tell Warner that as long as Zhou Yi is willing, the eighty-thousand-seat arena will permanently reserve eighty thousand seats for him! The moment he applies, we'll approve it!"

Exhausted for a week, the entire Xuhui district was now buzzing with excitement; many departments could hand out a bit more in year-end bonuses, making other districts—and even other cities—green with envy.

Especially Zhou Yi's next stop, Guangzhou.

These days, cities qualified to host eighty-thousand-seat concerts were few, but there were still a handful.

So much so that when Zhou Yi returned to the Imperial Capital on the 5th and met the veteran seniors of the Musicians' Association, accompanied by the Spring Festival Gala elder sister who had introduced him, the question he was asked most was about his upcoming concert plans.

In the end, relying on his rock-solid record, Zhou Yi—at the ripe old age of 21—joined the Musicians' Association with unanimous approval from top to bottom, and the Spring Festival Gala senior who served as his introducer beamed even more brightly.

December 6, 2002, 7:30 a. m. —Zhou Yi officially shed his title of Pop Heavenly King on the "Morning News" program and became a National Young Singer with the prefix "China."

(End of chapter)