Chapter 409: The Basic Operations of Disc-Selling Hua

A sudden windfall caught everyone completely off guard.

Just looking at the sales figures Qian Jiang provided, Zhou Yi had a moment where he suspected the Americans had lost their minds.

As the most refined and information-dense writing system in existence, Chinese pop songs composed of Han characters would, if translated into other languages including English, basically lose the original structure and rhythm of the song.

This is also a difficult-to-solve pain point encountered by Chinese singers trying to break through.

In a Chinese context, those familiar with the language can easily catch the rhymes of the lyrics under every melody. But once translated into English or other foreign language versions, a very concise line of Chinese lyrics would instantly be expanded into a long string—

A typical example is the song "In the Name of the Father."

"Once innocent scenes, cruel tenderness appears"

"The time of sin has come, let us pray together."

This is a verse with extremely obvious Chinese rhymes, but once translated into English, the original beauty of the sentence is instantly destroyed completely.

Not only that, since this section's melody is perfectly matched with the Chinese lyrics, after the translated foreign lyrics lose their original rhymes and beauty, they will also appear extremely mismatched with the melody that should have been paired with the Chinese rhymes, commonly known as the lyrics being "scalding to the mouth."

If it's not translation but a complete rewrite, the English lyrics written by domestic lyricists are basically English lyrics written based on Chinese thinking, still not very good.

Therefore, when Warner initially wanted to launch his Chinese album in Europe and America, Zhou Yi actually had very little hope for this behavior. Even though his English major was popular, the sales of the first two Chinese albums in the English-speaking world were just so-so, adding up to less than a hundred thousand copies.

At the time, thinking in his heart that it wouldn't sell much anyway, he didn't object to the outrageous price of 69.9 US dollars for the deluxe edition.

You have to know that even for his English major hit "Attitude Show," the deluxe edition's price didn't reach this number; setting this price for a Chinese album in North America somewhat reflected Warner's heart for mowing leeks.

But who could have known...

Now, just the sales revenue from these 130,000 deluxe edition records has reached over nine million US dollars...

"And this is just the beginning."

Qian Jiang, spreading out the documents and handing them to Zhou Yi, was so excited he was about to spit flying: "The 90-minute music film version of 'In the Name of the Father' has a very high approval rating. According to the sampling survey specially conducted by the company, over 77% of the sample actually bought it because of the plot and visual language of this music film.

"They don't care about the so-called Chinese at all; they are just watching the movie.

"So the company has now made a decision. They plan to launch an English special edition in North America to test the waters. This special edition album focuses on the 90-minute DVD of the song 'In the Name of the Father,' and the other Chinese songs inside the album are merely freebies.

"At the same time, they will compare you again with Tom—ah, pfft, Eminem—to create hype for you in public opinion." Qian Jiang, having said the wrong name, spat once himself and laid out the headquarters' plan one by one.

To put it simply, it's about changing the skin of Zhou Yi's "Lianshan" in the US—now it's a music album, but if you change the direction and turn it into the soundtrack for the movie "In the Name of the Father," won't that drive sales?

Just like Eminem's music film "8 Mile," his soundtrack sold massively as the movie became a huge hit.

Warner's idea was also very simple—Aren't you, Eminem, awesome with "8 Mile"? Is the hype high?

You won the initial hype by dissing Zhou Yi during your previous promotion; now it's time to contribute your own hype!

Although the 90-minute runtime of "In the Name of the Father" is a bit short for viewing, calling it a music film is no problem. This way, Eminem's "8 Mile" equals Zhou Yi's "In the Name of the Father"; the equation holds!

You have to know that right now is when the movie "8 Mile" has the widest recognition in North America, and since the movie has just finished its theatrical run, even if Warner arranges a comparison, it won't add any box office to "8 Mile," so it's purely sucking blood.

"Besides that, I don't know if you, A-Yi, understand the North American disc market."

At this point, Qian Jiang's face also became a bit strange, like someone trying to laugh but holding it back: "Your 'In the Name of the Father' is now fermenting in reputation and is considered to have great potential. They plan to put the DVD of this music film on the disc market to expand your influence and sales.

"Doing this can also lower the price of a single DVD; it's equivalent to buying a single song and getting a 90-minute super-long MV for free.

"As for the channels... you know, under the parent company Time Warner, there is a subsidiary called 'Disc-Selling Hua'."

"..."

"Disc-Selling Hua" is actually okay.

Zhou Yi himself felt like laughing upon hearing this.

Warner Bros. Pictures, a competitor of Warner Music, is jokingly called "Disc-Selling Hua" because it often scoops up those movies with poor box office performance in the disc market.

"However, doing this means since you are using Warner Bros. Pictures' channels, you definitely have to give them a share of the profits; otherwise, they definitely won't agree."

After speaking, Qian Jiang handed the choice back to Zhou Yi.

Once it becomes a "single DVD," the profit is obviously not as explosive as the deluxe edition; it has to rely on strong channel promotion to move volume.

Even close brothers must settle accounts clearly.

"This is no problem. Even if it's just relying on the music film DVD to push up single song sales or album sales, the reputation boost this brings me far exceeds the revenue shared with them."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yi made the decision.

Unlike his English major work, the song "In the Name of the Father" is a solid Chinese song.

Later, no matter how you sell it or how you ride the coattails, as long as you successfully break into the foreign market, it will have a huge driving force for his reputation boost and the sales of future new albums.

"Alright, then I'll go arrange it."

With permission granted, Qian Jiang left with full excitement, leaving Zhou Yi sitting alone in the leather chair of the conference room, wondering what he was thinking.

On December 22, 2002, the disc channels under Warner Bros. Pictures and partner disc channels quietly listed the "album" of "In the Name of the Father."

Without needing to re-record anything, Warner directly dismantled more than half of the deluxe edition stock, put it into the original DVD packaging of "In the Name of the Father," and served it directly to the table; it was a temporary measure while the factory produced new stock, and also served as a test of the waters.

If the effect is good, then more can be added.

In terms of marketing, Warner mainly targeted two objects—one was the currently trending "8 Mile," and the other was the classic movie "The Godfather."

"A classic work paying tribute to The Godfather! Spike Zhou's latest music film In the Name of the Father!"

"Fully matching Eminem? Spike Zhou's latest music film is actually a gangster Godfather theme!"

"Tom is a low-level thug, while Spike is a gangster Godfather? This is a double crushing of both personality and style!"

"..."

United States, New York.

Having just attended the victory celebration for "8 Mile," Eminem was stunned after seeing the reports on the newspaper blowing up everywhere—

What the heck is this low-level thug and gangster Godfather stuff?

We who play hiphop are called low-level—uh, seems like we really are thugs.

"What is this guy Spike up to again? Did he make a movie? Is it released?"

Regarding this Chinese person who had rarely made him look like a fool, Eminem frowned tightly. But his traveling companion told him no, this was just a music film expanded from an MV, and the inspiration was obviously from "The Godfather."

The price of 13 US dollars per DVD, although indeed a bit more expensive compared to mainstream disc prices on the market, also comes with a free song; it means spending a few more dollars at a low price gets you a new song from Spike, a huge bargain!

That's how Warner promoted it.

While promoting, they didn't forget to diss Eminem's soundtrack, claiming it stuffed in a lot of music that was utterly no good, purely to scam money, unlike our Zhou Yi, who is honest and speaks little; he says one song and delivers only one song, never forcing a sale.

And it was precisely at this moment, leveraging Warner's disc channels and flying the banner of paying tribute to The Godfather and countering 8 Mile, that In the Name of the Father won massive market attention upon its debut—

On the musical front, Warner even raised the banner of paying tribute to another master, publicly promoting the segment in the disc where Zhou Yi plays Nocturne.

Never mind whether he finished playing; just ask if he played or not, that's all that matters, unlike that Eminem, who only knows how to swear.

Eminem's mouth was nearly twisted crooked by anger—

"That damn dog Warner!"

Feeling he had been freelooped by that son of a bitch Zhou Yi again, Eminem had bitterness but no way to speak it out.

On the 25th, after days of warm-up, when the first-day results from Warner's various disc channels were compiled, he got even angrier and took a bit more medicine—

Two hundred and eighty thousand copies!

Relying on the heat generated by Zhou Yi and Eminem trading insults, plus the high profile of 8 Mile and the classic-baiting The Godfather, the Chinese disc In the Name of the Father, made specifically for North America, carved a bloody path purely through the high quality of its DVD movie!

"The highest-selling Chinese song in the history of the North American music scene! The highest-selling Chinese song in the history of the Chinese music scene in the United States!"

"The sky has changed! Chinese songs breaking into the American market?!"

(End of this chapter)