Early the next morning, Zhou Ziheng woke up.
"Summer, summer is quietly slipping away,"
"Leaving little secrets,"
"Deep in our hearts, deep in our hearts,"
"I can't tell you."
From the radio at the nearby train station came "Pink Memories", a song that was sweeping across the length and breadth of the country in this era.
After washing up, Zhou Ziheng took out the address Chen Xiaoqi had given him last night.
No. 25, Airport Road, Baiyun District!
Zhou Ziheng was very familiar with this address!
Not because he knew it personally, but because the original owner did.
This was the address of the China Record Guangzhou Branch.
When the original owner first came to Guangzhou, he had also ambitious and full of high hopes, gone there hoping to catch their eye and sign a contract to release a cassette.
Of course, the ending went without saying; he didn't even make it past the front door.
Having confirmed the address, Zhou Ziheng called Li Chunbo, and the two of them left the house with a mixture of nervousness and excitement.
The Yuexiu District, where the train station was located, was quite far from the Baiyun District. After transferring through several bus lines, around ten o'clock, the two finally arrived downstairs at the China Record Guangzhou Branch building.
"It's Jiang Hua!"
Just as they got out of the bus, Li Chunbo nudged Zhou Ziheng to look not far away.
Zhou Ziheng looked over in that direction and saw Jiang Hua walking into New Era Audio & Video under the guidance of boss Wang from the Friendship Salon karaoke lounge.
"Do you think his cassette will get published?" Li Chunbo asked.
Zhou Ziheng shook his head. "I don't think so! I've listened to that cassette of his. The quality is terrible, the lyrics miss the mark, and the melodies aren't even complete."
"Tell me, if you get signed by China Record while he gets rejected by New Era, what kind of expression do you think he'll have when he sees you again? Won't he be too ashamed to show his face?" Li Chunbo said with amusement.
Zhou Ziheng shook his head.
Although Jiang Hua held deep hostility toward him, to be honest, he had never once regarded Jiang Hua as a rival.
Therefore, he couldn't care less whether Jiang Hua managed to get signed by New Era and have his cassette published.
"Let's go! We're going in too!"
With that, Zhou Ziheng took the lead and walked toward the neighboring China Record Guangzhou Branch.
In the 1990s, Guangzhou had four major record companies.
They were China Record Guangzhou Branch, Pacific Audio & Video, New Era Audio & Video, and White Swan Records.
These four major record companies were the pioneers of Mainland China's popular music at the time.
Over the next few years, almost all the top singers in Mainland China's pop music scene would come from these four companies.
Among them, the China Record Guangzhou Branch and New Era Audio & Video were neighbors, both located on Airport Road in Baiyun District—one at number twenty-four, and the other at number twenty-five.
Zhou Ziheng and Li Chunbo arrived downstairs at the China Record Guangzhou Branch building. After registering with the security guard, they had him make a call upstairs to Chen Xiaoqi.
Ten minutes later, Chen Xiaoqi hurried down.
When he reached the two of them, he first said to Li Chunbo:
"Chunbo, take your cassette to the planning department on the third floor and find Guangping. He'll arrange your next steps. As for Ziheng..."
He looked at Zhou Ziheng, thought for a moment, and said, "I know Liu Zhiwen, the vice president of Pacific Audio & Video. I plan to recommend you to go over there. What do you think?"
"Brother Xiaoqi, don't you and Brother Guangping both think very highly of 'Wandering Song'? How come..."
Hearing Chen Xiaoqi's words, Li Chunbo asked somewhat anxiously.
Before he could finish, however, Zhou Ziheng pulled him back, signaling him not to say any more.
Zhou Ziheng knew Li Chunbo was sticking up for him, and in truth, he himself was somewhat disappointed that Chen Xiaoqi didn't plan to sign him. But he didn't want Li Chunbo to stick his neck out for him and offend Chen Xiaoqi.
If that ended up jeopardizing the publication of "Xiaofang", the blame on him would be enormous.
Chen Xiaoqi didn't seem to mind Li Chunbo's somewhat questioning tone and instead explained:
"The song 'Wandering Song' is very similar in style to your 'Xiaofang'.
There is a lot of strong opposition to your 'Xiaofang' inside the planning department, and it takes a great deal of effort for Guangping and me to push for this cassette's release.
If Ziheng's 'Wandering Song' is added as well, the difficulty will be even greater. We only have enough leverage to get one of the two of you published."
"Brother Xiaoqi, say no more, I understand!" Zhou Ziheng interrupted him. "Since you're recommending me to Pacific Audio & Video, Brother Xiaoqi, it means my song has a very high chance of being published and distributed over there. As long as it can be published and distributed, it doesn't really matter whether it's through the planning department or Pacific Audio & Video."
Chen Xiaoqi nodded with gratification. "That's true. Actually, in my view, if your song gets published, it has a very good chance of making a splash in the cassette market. But the planning department was just established; although I am the director, it's not a dictatorship where I have the final say.
There are many people in the planning department whose views differ from mine.
Instead of entering the planning department and ending up shelved and sidelined, you'd be better off going directly to Pacific.
Besides, Pacific isn't actually bad at all.
Not only do they have the top equipment in the country, but their distribution channels are just as strong. Furthermore, the compensation they offer singers is quite good. Once you go over there, you can still make a name for yourself."
Zhou Ziheng signaled Li Chunbo with his eyes to stay quiet, then nodded directly. "All right, then I'll go to Pacific."
Nodding, Chen Xiaoqi took a letter of introduction out of his bag.
"This is my letter of introduction. Take it with you to Pacific Audio & Video. I think, for my sake, they will definitely sign you."
He paused, looking somewhat hesitant, but finally said:
"You mentioned last night that your songs haven't been recorded yet. If you just go over there with the lyrics and melodies like that, the terms of the contract might not be very favorable.
So I suggest you do what Chunbo did: record your songs onto a cassette. Having a finished product not only makes it easier for them to judge the quality of the songs, but it can also increase your own earnings.
Take Chunbo's 'Xiaofang' for example. If our planning department agrees to publish it, because his cassette is already fully produced, we will offer him a profit-sharing contract."
Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng nodded in understanding.
This was just like how independent singers in later generations would earn more in cooperation with record companies compared to singers whose production and planning were handled entirely by the company.
Li Chunbo's "Xiaofang" was a record he had independently produced into a cassette himself.
The record company didn't need to hire lyricists and composers to write songs, nor did they need to hire specialized arrangers, and so on.
A lot of expenses were saved in the process.
Without those steps, the record company only needed to handle promotion and large-scale cassette duplication.
For a singer, being able to produce their own record was definitely more beneficial than letting the record company handle production.
Only...
Zhou Ziheng hesitated for a moment and looked at Chen Xiaoqi. "Brother Xiaoqi, my financial situation is quite tight, and I probably can't afford to rent a recording studio. Look..."
"I'll write you a pass so you can record in China Record's studio!" Chen Xiaoqi said directly.
Then he asked: "Do you have enough songs? A cassette can't just have one song.
Also, that song 'Second Hand' had better not be put on the same cassette as 'Wandering Song'; the styles clash too much.
If there's an opportunity in the future, we can produce a separate rock album."
Chen Xiaoqi had already seen that Zhou Ziheng was not only capable of handling pop songs, but also dabbled in rock.
However, although he also liked "Second Hand", he felt that "Wandering Song" was clearly much more likely to become a hit.
"Don't worry about that. I've written quite a few songs myself over the years, and some of them match 'Wandering Song' very well," Zhou Ziheng replied.
"Then I'm relieved. During this time, just focus on recording your songs onto a cassette! Once you've finished recording, take the cassette to Pacific.
Let me know when you do, and I'll put in a good word for you over there!"