Ultimately, they struck a deal on the spot, deciding on one hundred thousand grand for each song. First, the two mentors were wealthy and powerful, caring little for such a small sum; second, the songs were genuinely brilliant and well worth the price.
Hearing that Qin Tian had yet to sign with an agency, Sister Na immediately arranged for her manager to contact him. After the dinner, Sister Na even personally took Qin Tian back to her hotel teahouse, intending to let him sober up. However, their group all had a decent capacity for liquor, and no one was completely knocked out.
Sister Na affectionately inquired about Qin Tian's preparations for the next round of the competition, as well as his future development plans.
"Xiaotian, I suggest you choose 'The Young China Speaks' for your next performance. This song has limitless potential! If you don't sing it in the competition, I'll directly recommend it to this year's Spring Festival Gala. Variety shows love this kind of positive energy!" Sister Na suggested earnestly.
"Sister Na, I also have a song called 'Xiang Chou'. It's quite popular too, but it wouldn't be very suitable to sing for the next match," Qin Tian shrugged helplessly, mainly because he hadn't found a song appropriate for the competition.
Sister Na genuinely wanted to help, and eventually decided that Qin Tian should sing 'The Young China Speaks' first. Then, Sister Na asked again, "So what are your plans for the future? Are you going to study at a music conservatory? You have great looks, quite suitable for being an idol singer. But even as an idol singer, you have to keep learning; in the end, relying on strength is what allows you to stand firm."
"When the wind blows, even pigs can fly; when the wind stops, the ones that crash and die are still pigs," Qin Tian joked about idol singers.
Qin Tian expressed his wish to study in the literature department at the Beijing Film Academy, planning to develop across film, television, and music—singing, dancing, and acting all at once—using his identity as a singer to add a little extra flair to his acting career. Besides, the literature department could also help him improve his lyric-writing skills.
Of course, these were all excuses; the real reason was too embarrassing to say out loud.
As for the arrangements, he already planned to learn from a teacher, and Huan Ge had promised to help introduce someone in that area.
As for signing an agency, after discussing it with Sister Na, Qin Tian decided to sign with Canxing. Sister Na probably held shares in Canxing, though she didn't spell it out explicitly. Qin Tian found out later that Sister Na's older sister, Na Xin, was part of The Voice team. Unless Liang Bo's side put up a huge amount of money, Qin Tian figured that by buttering up Sister Na, winning the championship should be a breeze.
Of course, Qin Tian was just blowing his own horn; it had nothing to do with the actual situation.
In the end, Qin Tian signed a five-year contract with Canxing. Considering how talented Qin Tian was, Canxing only locked him in for five years, complete with a priority renewal clause. On top of that, because Sister Na liked Qin Tian, Canxing promised to release an album for him every year.
The revenue split was also quite generous: a seventy-thirty split. For example, if an album sold for twenty yuan, the music platform took a twenty percent commission; after deducting four yuan, the remaining sixteen yuan went to the distribution company. The distribution company would then settle accounts with the production company and the singer. After deducting a certain percentage for production costs, the production company distributed the profits. The singer took the lion's share of the album revenue, generally split seventy-thirty, with the singer taking seventy percent. Since Qin Tian wrote all his songs himself and didn't need to purchase them externally, his royalties as the lyricist and composer might even be higher.
Commercial performances were also split seventy-thirty, though this time the company took seventy percent. Endorsements worked the same way, except if Qin Tian secured an endorsement on his own, the company wouldn't take a cut.
This treatment was already quite impressive! Usually, contracts signed by newcomers were an eighty-twenty or ninety-ten split, with the company taking ninety percent; even the more conscientious ones offered eighty-twenty. Contracts like the full management deals that Happy Boys signed with Tianyu controlled everything across film, television, and music—if they really wanted to blacklist you, you'd have no choice but to go carry bricks. Therefore, such lenient terms from Canxing were truly rare.
This clearly showed that Canxing held Qin Tian in high regard and was definitely grooming him as a priority! Moreover, the show The Voice was also produced by Canxing, so there was finally no need to worry about any shady manipulation. As for Qin Tian, he only signed the music contract; the film and television contracts were left aside for now.
Immediately following this, the big shots at Canxing began issuing instructions, suggesting that Qin Tian first record the three songs 'Wukong', 'The Young China Speaks', and 'Xiang Chou'. After all, Canxing was right there in Shanghai, very close by, making it convenient to take action.
Yet plans could never keep up with changes; Qin Tian had originally intended to go back to take his final exams, but now he had to ask for leave once more. Fortunately, seeing their son earn two hundred thousand in just a few days—more than the two of them made in a whole year—and knowing nothing about the music industry, Qin Tian's mom and dad simply decided to head back first. At this point, even if Qin Tian stopped studying, he was fully capable of supporting himself.
Besides, Qin Tian had already discussed the matter of taking the arts academy exams with his parents, and given the current circumstances, they gave it their wholehearted approval.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the airport...
"I don't know anything about this industry, but that little black fatty Guo Dagang makes sense: when artists compete in the end, they compete on culture. You can lack a formal degree, but you absolutely cannot lack culture; you must build up your literary foundation," Qin's Dad offered his sensible advice based on his own understanding and life experience.
"You're eighteen now, an adult. Go ahead and fly with peace of mind; your mom and dad won't hold you back." After saying this, Qin's Dad patted Qin Tian on the shoulder, and together with Qin's Mom, they walked into the security checkpoint hall. Qin's Mom's eyes were red; after all, in this lifetime, this was the first time Qin Tian was leaving his parents for so far away. Qin Tian wanted to give the money to his parents, but no matter what he said, they refused to take it, leaving it all for Qin Tian. After all, a poor family needs a rich journey.
...
Qin Tian arrived at the recording studio arranged by Canxing.
Actually, the business of recording a song was quite simple: you first put together the arrangement, and then made your vocals blend seamlessly with the accompaniment. The sound engineer was responsible for mixing; even if you couldn't sing well, by recording the dry vocals and adding the accompaniment, they could make your voice sound full and rounded.
Furthermore, the sound engineer would fuse the vocals and accompaniment flawlessly.
The million-dollar sound engineer everyone often talked about did precisely this kind of work, fine-tuning the mix.
Those video remixes could turn ordinary speech into a song (for example, "I have a hoodie, wearing it makes me look like a big-eared dwarf"). Plus, in his past life, Qin Tian worked in editing, so he understood a thing or two.
Of course, it wasn't as if singers never went out of tune; you just recorded it line by line. At worst, you didn't have to record it word by word, did you? After over a year of systematic study, Qin Tian's singing skills basically had no major issues.
At the recording studio, Qin Tian first communicated with the recording engineer regarding the arrangement. 'Wukong' had already been sung once, so the arrangement was basically complete, though the engineer tweaked it to make it even more perfect. Then they began the arrangement for the second song, 'Xiang Chou'. The arrangement for this song was simple, consisting of a guitar plus a melodica and drum beats, so there weren't any major issues.
'The Young China Speaks' proved slightly more difficult and required discussing it with the teacher bit by bit. Fortunately, there was the original version to reference, so it didn't take too long. The arrangement teacher couldn't help but exclaim that Qin Tian was truly a genius to finish so quickly!
If Qin Tian had heard that, he certainly would have complained again: "A man shouldn't be called too fast—doesn't even know that!" (┳Д┳)
After a week of hard work, all three songs were finally completely recorded, leaving them waiting for the show to air before uploading them to PP Music.
Qin Tian poured his heart and soul into recording songs, completely unaware that the show's production team was already hyping it up wildly. The promotional teaser for the show featured a solo close-up of Qin Tian, ending with the line "What use do I have for this iron rod?", immediately followed by shots of the four mentors turning their chairs. The singer was rendered in pure black with only a silhouette, accompanied by vertical white lyrics on the side, making it look incredibly captivating.
Through the promotion, everyone realized this was a music talent show that didn't judge by appearances, and the gimmick of blind auditions made it a fascinating listen. Looking over at the neighboring channel's Happy Boys, where the good-looking contestants always had the advantage and the singing skills—not to say they were a disaster, but they weren't much to write home about—the comparison made The Voice look exceptionally nice.
Ignoring looks and listening only to voices undoubtedly gave ordinary people a strong sense of identification. After all, ordinary folks were the vast majority; as long as you had talent, you wouldn't be buried. Moreover, everyone wanted to hear this original song and find out what kind of story about Wukong it was actually writing about. That single lyric line alone was simply explosive!
To secure the ratings for the premiere, the production team lavished praise on Qin Tian, describing him as peerless in the heavens and rare on earth. Qin Tian felt a bit worried about such over-the-top promotion; after all, when expectations were set too high, disappointment easily followed.
Yet, Qin Tian clearly underestimated himself as well. Setting aside his vocal skills, his looks alone were worth the production team's heavy push! Besides, this was 2012, not the "Singing China" era where audiences had already been bombarded by two or three seasons of The Voice. When wearing boxing gloves and singing 'Wukong', audiences had already experienced numerous music shows and no longer held such high expectations. Unlike now, when the format was so fresh, it was destined to be a hit!