"Let's put the revenue split aside for a moment. Are the songs you wrote yourself all ready?" Chang Jihong asked. "Huayi Music will definitely need to review them first."
"I can finish writing them tonight," Chen Jing nodded.
"Alright, tomorrow you'll come with me to meet Zhang Yadong from Huayi Music," Chang Jihong said. "Now let's talk about endorsement deals. First are the endorsements you carried as a member of SJM. Leaving aside those in other countries and the ones that have already expired, there are still two left in China: Pepsi and OPPO phones. Both were just signed this year, though fortunately only for a one-year term. They're set to expire next February and June respectively. I suggest you fulfill these two contracts and then try to renew with them. Because right now, aside from the unseemly offers and the categories you specifically asked to exclude—like milk powder, health supplements, and video games—most of the brands coming to you are fast-moving consumer goods and apparel. Pepsi's influence is unquestionable, and being chosen by them is a recognition of your popularity in itself. As for OPPO, being an electronic product, it carries even higher prestige. Securing that deal is naturally for the best."
Hearing this, Chen Jing nodded. Previously, as part of an Asian supergroup, he could easily land endorsements with Pepsi and OPPO, but now that he had gone solo, he hadn't yet proven his commercial pulling power. The vast majority of Chen Jing's fans were students with limited purchasing power; they might manage to buy an album, snacks, or a drink, but buying electronic products like phones was a stretch, let alone luxury goods. Moreover, before the era of the 'four top traffic idols,' celebrity popularity and traffic were actually quite superficial, largely because capital hadn't yet started playing the game of traffic combined with IP, resulting in very low conversion rates.
"No problem," Chen Jing nodded.
"Next are the products seeking collaboration this time. After screening, there are 5 left in total. Take a look." Chang Jihong handed the files to Chen Jing.
Chen Jing took them and looked through the list. "Semir, Yili Breakfast Milk, Oishi Potato Chips, Xtep, and Weibo!"
"These five meet your requirements and fit your identity as a popular idol. I've already accepted them," Chang Jihong said.
Chen Jing nodded. Although this was less than half of his previous collaboration offers, it was much safer. "What is my endorsement fee now?"
"For a one-year contract, it's 2 million RMB; for two years, it's 3.5 million RMB!" Chang Jihong said. "This price is considered quite high, somewhat higher than quite a few popular young actors on the mainland."
Clearly, in the mainland entertainment industry around 2010, capital and corporate giants had not yet entered in a massive way, so actors' pay and endorsement fees hadn't skyrocketed yet. Current endorsement fees were still comparatively low. This was nothing like the era after 2015 when the four top traffic stars exploded across the mainland and infinitely inflated celebrity paychecks! The appearance fees of top traffic stars were astronomical, exceeding even those of heavenly kings and mega-stars. If Chen Jing wanted to command astronomical fees, he would probably have to wait a few years.
"How much is Li Yuchun?" Chen Jing asked out of curiosity. "What about Jay Chou?"
Chang Jihong glanced at Chen Jing and smiled. "I don't know Li Yuchun's exact figure right now, but it should be around 5 million. As for Jay Chou, he just turned down a contract renewal with Pepsi and switched to Sprite for an endorsement fee of 40 million!"
Hearing this, Chen Jing couldn't help raising an eyebrow. "That... that's quite a huge gap!"
"You just left your group and went solo; you haven't proven whether your popularity is hollow or not yet. Li Yuchun has already proven herself, and Jay Chou's 40 million isn't just a one-year endorsement fee," Chang Jihong said. "If your debut album can get good sales, your endorsement fee will definitely go up again."
"How many years are these contracts for?" Chen Jing asked.
"Except for Weibo which is for 2 years, the rest are all 1 year!" Chang Jihong said. "Obviously, they want to test the waters and see what your popularity is really like first."
Hearing this, Chen Jing couldn't help smiling. He was being underestimated, but that was fine; when it came time to renew, the price wouldn't be this low anymore.
Immediately, Chen Jing started calculating how much money he could make. Weibo was 3.5 million for 2 years, and the other 4 endorsements were 8 million for 1 year, making a total of 11.5 million RMB. Thirty percent of that came to 3.45 million, and after taxes, it would be 2.76 million RMB! He would earn 11.5 million, taking home 2.76 million—tsk, tsk, tsk. Fortunately, when Chen Jing signed with Chang Jihong, they agreed that as long as his business revenue reached 30 million by the end of 2010, the revenue-sharing ratio could be adjusted. Looks like he needed to push a bit harder.
"There are also 10 commercial performance invitations here, 200,000 per show!" Chang Jihong said.
"Take them. Take as many as there are!" Chen Jing said fiercely. Making money wasn't disgraceful. Besides, he was currently strapped for cash to buy the adaptation rights for the novels and games he had his eyes on. Fortunately, the IP craze had not yet taken off in 2010; cheap ones could be bought for 100,000, and even the expensive ones wouldn't exceed a million. But if he dragged it out too long, the prices would change drastically, and someone else might beat him to the punch, so Chen Hao had to work hard to make money.
"Alright, then I'll accept all of them," Chang Jihong said. "Lastly, regarding that drama *Palace: The Lock Heart Jade* you mentioned, I've already asked around. The script is still being written, and as for the female lead, it'll likely be Yang Mi from Li Xiaowan's agency. As for the male lead, Yu Zhen originally favored Feng Shaofeng from Huayi, since they've collaborated before. But I've already been in touch with Xiangnan Satellite TV, and later I approached Yu Zhen as well. When they heard you wanted to join, they were both very willing—after all, you have high buzz right now. So, the male lead for *Palace: The Lock Heart Jade* should be secure. However, Xiangnan Satellite TV put forward one request: they'd like to invite you to participate in their New Year's Eve concert this year, with an appearance fee of 2 million."
Hearing this, Chen Jing nodded. Ever since Xiangnan Satellite TV launched its New Year's Eve concert to massive success, other television stations had followed suit, triggering a New Year's Eve concert war. Consequently, singers had become hot commodities. Because the Mandopop music scene was getting increasingly sluggish, quite a few artists even seized the opportunity to cash in by arbitrarily inflating their prices.
Artists' New Year's Eve rates were divided into tiers, and there were also certain industry rules. Kelly Chen, Sun Nan, Miriam Yeung, Kenji Wu, and others were all in the million-dollar artist tier, with appearance fees hovering around one million. As for artists like Heavenly King Andy Lau, the God of Songs, and Rain, whose regular appearance fees already reached the million-dollar mark, they were generally classified as "seven-figure finale artists."
In addition, organizers often wanted to create special gimmicks to grab attention by inviting artists in group formats—such as F4 appearing on stage together, or former couples and lovers like Annie Yi and Harlem Yu sharing the stage. Such setups were much harder to pull off, and it was no surprise for the artists' New Year's Eve rates to multiply by five or six times, placing them in the "topic tier." Of course, sometimes if you extended the invitation early, before the topic generated any hype, the other party couldn't easily change their appearance fee, which meant getting a bargain.
However, Chen Jing hadn't been among those invited previously. Right now, because of his high buzz and overflowing topicality from leaving SJM, his appearance fee had skyrocketed to 2 million. Who knew, Xiangnan Satellite TV might even invite Han Geng and Chen Jing to share the stage, and if they invited all of SJM, that would be even wilder!
"I've already accepted Xiangnan Satellite TV's New Year's Eve concert on your behalf. Consider it a resource exchange, and besides, their appearance fee is very sincere," Chang Jihong said.
"No problem," Chen Jing said.
When it came to making money, he was dead serious.