Chapter 642: The Super Monster That Strikes After the Opponent

As someone who had struggled in the physical record industry for over twenty years, Qian Jiang was ultimately somewhat bewildered by the utterly unreasonable explosion of "Rat Loves Rice".

If Zhou Yi hadn't said he had already used his connections on the bar street to investigate them thoroughly, he probably would have gone mad searching for them just like the general managers of the artist departments at Sony, Universal, and EMI, his old rivals.

After all, Yang Chenggang and Wang Qiwen had both wandered and struggled in the bars of the Imperial Capital; for the wealthy older sisters with backgrounds on that bar street, finding out information about the two of them was a trivial matter.

It's just that the way "Rat Loves Rice" became popular made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

This was purely an internet song, with no backing from any record company, and absolutely no marketing that could be called promotion—this was even more outrageous than when Zhou Yi first debuted.

When Zhou Yi debuted, he at least relied on Little Diva Xiao Yaxuan to maximize his popularity, which required spending money to buy ad space.

At this very moment, he finally understood what those Americans felt when they were struck by a dimensional reduction attack from Apple's online music store.

Oh no, it should be said that this was even more outrageous than Zhou Yi's results in the Apple Music Store—when Zhou Yi entered Apple Music, he brought his own traffic and attention, whereas "Rat Loves Rice" had nothing.

The singer was unknown, the author was untraceable, yet it forcibly obtained popularity and singability far exceeding the works of top-tier singers from record companies purely through the power of the internet.

He didn't understand, but he was greatly shocked.

And what worried him most was that this song was released for free online.

What if a large number of followers imitated this?

The cost of rough recording and uploading to the internet was far, far lower than the cost of officially releasing a record; if everyone learned from this Yang Chenggang, it would mean the traditional record system, which was mainly based on physical records, would gradually crumble.

Not only would the threshold for singers be lowered infinitely, but even this hard-won market would shrink—Apple Music was at least paid, but domestic online music payment... Qian Jiang didn't see any hope.

Most crucially, once this model spread, the influence of record companies themselves would undoubtedly be lowered and weakened without limit in the foreseeable future.

Even Warner would not be an exception.

From "Ding Xiang Hua" crying its first cry in '02 to "Rat Loves Rice" exploding across the entire web in '04, Qian Jiang seemed to see the doom of "himself".

However, before he could feel regret over this result he was completely powerless to change, another report from his subordinates made him instantly freeze in place—

"What did you say? Another new singer has appeared on the charts and is beating a crowd of traditional singers into the ground?"

"Yes, his stage name is Dao Lang, released by Tianjin Audio-Video Channels from Tianjin, and the piracy momentum is very fierce."

"Piracy momentum?"

"Yes, this person is very strange; all his promotion channels are local distributors of record channels, completely bypassing the existing promotion models of record companies. The album 'The First Snow of 2002', released on January 6th, started in Tianjin, covered the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surroundings for nearly half a month, and now has directly exploded."

"???"

How is there another master?

Qian Jiang frowned tightly, his expression even more solemn than his state when he saw the results of "Rat Loves Rice".

Compared to the unfamiliar and unknown-filled internet, the move of covering via local distributors was something he knew too well—many singers in the old Hong Kong music scene had played this way.

Completely bypassing the record parent company, they cooperated directly with distributors, using their underground piracy channels to sell albums to seek fame.

But this model was quickly abandoned by those Hong Kong singers—

Hong Kong was too small; the market in the golden age was already fiercely fought over by various top-tier and top singers, it was always those twenty or thirty people, incredibly competitive, and even if someone wrote a good song, they would basically choose to sell it to them.

Over time, these singers became mere foils, and then no one asked about them.

But the Mainland was different.

The Mainland market was too huge; just becoming famous in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surroundings was enough for a singer to fill themselves up with commercial performances, and they didn't even need to run out to do commercial performances.

And with the development of the domestic music industry, people who wanted to become singers also understood this red line, so even if someone cooperated with distributors, it was only done secretly behind the scenes, and they even had to wear a mask to ensure safety.

No one dared to try directly letting distributors use channel power to strongly promote like this Dao Lang.

Qian Jiang immediately requested an album—unlike the crudely produced "Rat Loves Rice", this "The First Snow of 2002" was obviously well-produced, completely at the level of a studio album.

But the record distribution company was not any company he was familiar with, but came from an XJ Audio-Video Society he had never heard of.

Qian Jiang had people check, and the conclusion was that this audio-visual society was only responsible for selling genuine records there. The reason "The First Snow of 2002" entered the Mainland market and circulated to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was because many distributors were operating it.

Of course, what was operated over was not genuine copies, but pirated ones.

From the 6th to the 12th, climbing step by step, this album entered the public eye of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surroundings; with the strong promotion by audio-video shops on every street and alley, the song's various rankings began to skyrocket.

Before, everyone's attention was on "Rat Loves Rice", and they hadn't noticed Dao Lang whose ranking was still relatively low.

But by the 15th, as Dao Lang's ranking surged, the Pepsi Music Wind and Cloud List specially made a recommendation for this song.

Starting from the 16th, in this winter of flying snow, "The First Snow of 2002" finally completed the accumulation of the masses and surpassed the latecomers—

In terms of singability, it not only surpassed the songs of Wang Lihong, Tao Zhe, Liu Dehua, and Zhang Xueyou, but in data growth, it also kept pace with "Rat Loves Rice", shocking the eyes of everyone in the area.

"Approaching the New Year, all record companies will relax, either adjusting their promotion plans to after the New Year or after the Lantern Festival; this period is your best opportunity to leap up."

In the conference room of a large audio-video publishing house in the Imperial Capital.

The general manager, who had lit a cigarette, was elegant and strategic: "No one knows the arrangements of record companies better than us; during this time, your opponents are all busy celebrating the New Year, which is our best opportunity to market you."

An album that became popular across the country without relying on any marketing—this was the marketing route they set for Dao Lang: a Western Region Song King who never marketed.

What?

You say there was obviously marketing?

Wrong! That was pirates seeing profit and spontaneously selling Dao Lang's albums, which was a disguised promotion for him; doesn't this show even more that Dao Lang's strength is formidable?!

So strong that even pirates promoted him as much as possible to sell more of his albums; isn't this strength proof of invincibility?

Moreover, they weren't bragging; Dao Lang's strength indeed matched this marketing.

They had seen a lot, but at least three songs in Dao Lang's album showed signs of a huge explosion—

"The First Snow of 2002", "Impulsive Punishment", "Lover".

One album, three blockbusters; among male singers in the Mainland, only Zhou Yi was better.