Chapter 347 Fire
Rowling's tape was officially released on October 20th. It sold so-so in the early days, but as time went on, sales began to get better and better, especially as several classic songs in the tape began to be sung in society and aroused everyone's interest.
This was an era of information blockade, and Rowling's song selection was carefully chosen. Two of the songs given to her by Song Yuanchao can be regarded as classics among classics in later generations, and the other songs are not bad either. Although the real original singer is not Rowling, the original tapes are rarely circulated in China. When people hear these songs for the first time, their first impression is that Rowling is the original singer.
In addition, in order to promote this tape, Luo Yang also put in a lot of effort. He specially asked someone to play two songs of Rowling on the radio station, namely "When You Are Old" and "The Rest of Life". When these two songs with beautiful melodies and touching people began to be played on the radio station, these two songs including the name Xia Ye spread quickly across the country at the speed of radio waves and caused a sensation.
In just one month, this tape, which was priced at 6.5 yuan, sold 100,000 copies. Although this number did not break the average monthly record of "When Will We Meet Again" by Wang Jieshi and Xie Lisi released by Pacific Records this year, it is still considered extremely high.
The tape "When Will We Meet Again" was a legend in tape sales in the 1980s. It was a tape of a male and female duet, containing some old songs and movie songs. The number of songs in the whole tape was more than Rowling's, a total of 18, and the selling price was also higher than Rowling's, selling for a full 6.9 yuan.
In an era when the average wage is only around 40 yuan, a sales price of 6.9 yuan is considered very high. However, this tape actually sold more than 5 million copies that year, setting an amazing record. This record can be said to be unprecedented and has become a milestone in the sales of popular song tapes in China.
Back then, their songs "Grandma's Penghu Bay", "Treading on the Waves", and "Walking on the Country Road" echoed everywhere in the streets, villages, the Central Plains, and inside and outside the campus. Wang Jieshi and Xie Lisi also became idols in the hearts of young people.
At the beginning, the sales of Rowling's tape were not as popular as "When Will We Meet Again", but as time went on, the sales of this tape showed a clear upward trend, especially when radio stations in various places played Rowling's songs under Luo Yang's deliberate promotion, the sales of the tape began to show a hot trend.
If nothing unexpected happens, the number of tapes sold by Rowling will also be an astronomical figure, but it is unknown whether it can surpass "When Will We Meet Again".
The person who was most happy about this was not Pacific Company, nor Luo Lin, the person involved, but Luo Yang.
In order to accomplish this matter, Luo Yang can be said to have paid a huge price. Because Luo Lin was a newcomer and had no fame, in order to produce this tape for her, Luo Yang almost covered most of the costs of recording and selling the tape. This was a considerable amount of money. Even though Luo Yang had earned a lot of money over the years and was not short of money, it would also hurt him greatly if the money was completely wasted.
It was precisely because Luo Yang took responsibility for the risk that Pacific Company helped to produce the tape, otherwise Pacific Company would not have agreed to this matter.
At the beginning, Luo Yang had planned to make a loss. In his opinion, a partial loss was completely bearable, even if it was a large loss. But he did not expect that as time went on, Luo Lin's tapes sold better and better, especially after Song Yuanchao gave him the idea of a radio station, Luo Lin's tape sales suddenly became extremely popular.
Before the end of the first month, the sales volume of tapes reached 100,000 boxes (excluding ripped and pirated copies). Due to risk-taking reasons, the profit-sharing ratio in the contract signed between Luo Yang and Pacific Company was higher. Before the tapes were sold, such a ratio was beneficial to Pacific Company, but from the current situation, Luo Yang has become the beneficiary.
According to Taiping Company's forecast, Rowling's tape sales are likely to exceed 300,000 copies next month. If this number can be reached, the profits will be enormous.
The selling price of the tape was 6.5 yuan. After deducting the cost and the share shared by Pacific Company, the profit share of a tape in Luo Yang's hands was about 0.9 yuan.
This number is not low, and with the subsequent large-scale recording and sales, the cost will be further reduced. When the sales volume exceeds 500,000 boxes, Luo Yang's profit share will increase to about 1.1 yuan.
From this point of view, Luo Yang has not lost money, and can even make a lot of money. As for Pacific, it is also a pleasant surprise. Although Pacific gave up part of the share of Luo Lin's tapes due to risk-taking, even so, Pacific still makes more money than Luo Yang overall. In addition, Xia Ye's name is getting more and more famous. As a company that is vigorously exploring and cultivating its own singers, this is also a pleasant surprise.
The hot sales of the tapes further strengthened Luo Yang's confidence in entering this industry, and he has officially started preparing to set up a company.
At this time, the self-employed had just appeared in the mainland, but real private companies had not yet appeared. According to the historical trajectory, the first private company after the reform and opening up was not officially established until 1985, so Luo Yang used the relationship with the Ministry of Culture to handle this matter, which is what later generations called "hanging on". Although this operation has many problems and drawbacks, it can only be carried out in this way at present.
As for Luo Lin, the hot sales of the tape made Luo Lin also very happy. Overnight, Xia Ye's name spread all over the country, and her singing voice was sung everywhere along with the tape. However, only a few people really knew that Luo Lin was Xia Ye. Because she used a stage name and Luo Lin did not show her face on the cover, even the dance troupe where she worked did not know the secret that Luo Lin was Xia Ye.
The famous Luo Lin still went to get off work and came home as usual, and lived her sweet life with Lin Yuhang. In the troupe, Luo Lin was still an unknown and marginalized character. Although some people in the troupe listened to Luo Lin's tapes and sang her songs, and some even joked with Luo Lin that Luo Lin's voice sounded a bit like Xia Ye, they never thought that when they said this, Luo Lin, who looked calm and unnoticed, was the Xia Ye they were talking about.
Luo Yang made money, so he naturally didn't forget his sister. He took a portion of it and gave it to Luo Lin, saying it was the commission for her tape production. Luo Lin didn't care about the money. Luo Yang was her brother, not an outsider. Besides, the money was earned through her own labor, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
In addition, Rowling and Lin Yuhang were already married, and they would need money for family expenses and the upbringing of their future children. After asking Luo Yang about the approximate total share, Rowling accepted the money with peace of mind. But she had no idea that Luo Yang was actually finding an excuse to give the money to Rowling. You have to know that in this era, the profits from producing tapes were basically earned by the production companies and middlemen, and as a singer, there was never any share, and all they got was the buyout fee for a box of tapes.
Even nationally renowned singers, such as Li Guyi, Hu Songhua, Luo Tianchan, Jiang Dawei, etc., were only paid around 1,000 yuan for a tape, and the highest was no more than 2,000 yuan.
"Does your sister still plan to continue working in the song and dance troupe?" In Song Yuanchao's yard, Luo Yang and Song Yuanchao were sitting in the study drinking tea. Today they were drinking the best black tea. As the weather gradually got colder, black tea was good for the stomach and comfortable to drink. Moreover, after staying with Song Yuanchao for a long time, Luo Yang's taste for tea had gradually improved. He no longer only drank the scented tea that people in Yanjing liked as before.
"Don't you know my sister? In her eyes, there is only my brother-in-law. The saying goes, 'marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog.' That's exactly her. She goes wherever my brother-in-law is. She has a very stubborn temper." Luo Yang took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, shook his head and sighed. Before getting married, Luo Lin considered herself a member of the Lin family, not to mention now that they are married.
After the tape became popular, Pacific Records contacted Rowling again and suggested that she go to Guangzhou to study and work. If she was willing, Pacific Records could give her very favorable conditions, including not only a job but also housing. In their eyes, Rowling, as a popular singer, was a future cash cow. How could they let go of such a person?
However, Rowling still declined the invitation and told the other party that she did not want to leave Yanjing. However, she did not reject the suggestion of releasing a new tape next year. She just replied that she would use this time to study hard and improve herself, and would release a new tape when she was ready.
Pacific Company was naturally somewhat dissatisfied with Luo Lin's reply, but given Luo Lin's background, Pacific Company could only ask He Zhili, who had dealt with Luo Yang at the time, to persuade Luo Lin through Luo Yang. Unfortunately, even Luo Yang could not change Luo Lin's decision, so the matter could only be left as it is for the time being.
Song Yuanchao personally agreed with Luo Lin's idea, because before releasing the tape, Luo Lin just wanted to prove herself and had no desire for fame or fortune. Otherwise, with Luo Lin's personality, she would not have agreed to Luo Yang's suggestion. Now Luo Lin can be said to have succeeded, and her feelings for Lin Yuhang make it unlikely that she will leave Lin Yuhang.
"Your sister is a pure person, someone who is free from vulgarity. You have to understand her." Song Yuanchao said half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Luo Yang was also amused when he heard this, and shook his head and laughed: "That's true, that's her personality, otherwise she wouldn't have been marginalized in the song and dance troupe. If it were someone else, hehe..."
Haha, everyone knew what was said after that, but Song Yuanchao still reminded everyone that as the name Xia Ye became more and more famous, Rowling could hide it for a while but not forever, and some things should be prepared early to avoid causing unnecessary confusion to Rowling's work and life.
