Chapter 6

Yang An, exhausted from yesterday, fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and didn't pay attention to what happened online. He rubbed his dark circles and yawned, asking, "What's the fuss about?"

Song Xiaomei exaggeratedly said, "Many people are asking for the name of the singer, saying they are completely obsessed and can't stop listening to the song on repeat!"

Yang An laughed, "Is it really that exaggerated? This song was given to me by a friend, and I don't even know who sang it. By the way, someone is looking for you outside."

After dismissing Song Xiaomei, Yang An felt a bit proud. He turned on his computer and logged into the Haijiao Community and Maozhuang Net. In this world, any major gossip or news with wide-ranging influence would usually appear on these two forums.

Sure enough, the entertainment and gossip section of Haijiao Net and the mixed section of Maozhuang Net were both filled with posts related to "A Set of Pancake Rolls."

Yang An clicked on the post on Haijiao Net titled "The Magic Sound Returns, I Love a Set of Pancake Rolls."

The post was made by a user named "SuperBro Asks If You Are Convinced." He first posted a video and wrote, "SuperBro was fortunate enough to be a live audience member at the Red Maple TV show 'Laughter in the World' yesterday. I thought it would be a boring trip, but unexpectedly, I heard a magical sound that deeply moved me. SuperBro risked his life to record the song and played it on repeat all night. I spent the night making an animation background and subtitles, and now I'm sharing it with everyone. SuperBro only has one question for you: Are you convinced?"

This SuperBro was quite talented, creating a short animation with hand-drawn illustrations. A super-cute little girl stood in front of a pancake roll stand, licking her lips and staring intently at the pancake rolls being made by the vendor. She mumbled to herself and then started dancing to the music while eating.

Looking at the replies below, the first four floors were meaningless replies to grab the floor. From the fifth floor onwards, the replies became more serious.

Fifth floor: "It's over, over, over! After listening to this song, the evil in my heart was ignited. I actually fell in love with this little girl. I'm actually a lolicon, lolicon, lolicon..."

Sixth floor: "The person above is already confused. Are you a lolicon, or is your mom a lolicon? After listening to this magical sound, I also fell in love with her. I really want my wife to have another cute daughter. Hug! Yayo, check it out! A set of pancake rolls!"

...

Seventeenth floor: "The magic sound returns, and I can't stop! It's so dynamic, so talented, so moving! Yayo, check it out! A set of pancake rolls! Keep the formation below!"

...

Seventy-fourth floor: "I'm willing to pay a large sum for the lossless version of the magic sound. I want to make it my phone ringtone! Yayo, check it out! A set of pancake rolls! Keep the formation below!"

...

One hundred and fiftieth floor: "A clear and charming voice, a dynamic and magical sound. Does anyone know who the original singer is? I'm rolling on the ground in the snow, begging for information! Everyone, hey, enough, let's all have a set of pancake rolls, boom boom boom, boom boom boom, I say pancake, you say roll! Keep the formation below!"

...

Yang An chuckled and then checked Maozhuang Net. The content of the hot posts was similar.

Most netizens were not averse to the song, and more than half of them liked it very much. They were all asking who sang it and where they could download the lossless version. Only a few trolls were criticizing the song for lacking depth and being a shallow, meaningless pop song with shallow and boring lyrics.

"Pop song? Ha, you don't know anything. These days, the most profitable and easiest way to become famous is through pop songs!" Yang An thought disdainfully.

Yang An logged into his email and saw a notification that he had received a message from the China Music Association website, sent two days ago.

The China Music Association notified him that the song "A Set of Pancake Rolls" had passed the registration and review process. The copyright owner was Yang An, and the association hoped that the author would continue to create more excellent works.

"Continue to create more excellent works, ha, it costs 100 yuan to register a song, 50 yuan for review, and 200 yuan for a copyright certificate. You collect millions in fees every year!"

Yang An muttered a few complaints. To produce "Laughter in the World," he had to take on multiple roles, handling almost every step himself, even the background music.

Singing was not Yang An's strong point. He was not professionally trained, and his voice was average. He could handle KTV, but in a professional recording studio, he was a disaster.

So when recording "A Set of Pancake Rolls," he first asked his neighbor's daughter, Wang Xiaoyi, who was in junior high school, to help record the rap part. He then used a voice-changing software to turn it into a child's voice and embedded the instrumental track on the computer. It was a hodgepodge of amateur work, but the result was surprisingly good!

Yang An then went to the music website of the China Music Association and searched for his song.

The daily download count was 3,980, and the total download count over three days was 24,030!

In this parallel world, the protection of original music was still taken very seriously.

Singers could upload original music to the China Music Association website, and netizens could pay to download it. By default, each download paid the singer one cent, but the singer could also set the price from one cent to ten cents, or choose to remove the song from the online library and release it on physical albums, which were more profitable.

There were also pirated versions online, but not many, especially high-quality and lossless versions, which were protected by the China Music Association. The association spent millions each year on copyright lawsuits. Besides, people didn't like poorly made pirated songs. Who can't afford one cent? If they really liked a song, no one would download the pirated version.

"Total downloads of 24,000, meaning I can earn 240 yuan? Not bad, at least I've covered the costs!" Yang An felt quite pleased and then started thinking.

"There are many good songs in my world that can be brought to this world without any issues. But I haven't learned professional singing techniques, so I can't sing high-difficulty songs like 'Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,' 'Love Even in Death,' 'High Song,' or 'I Am a Little Bird.' To sing, I need to practice and improve my voice!"

Yang An wrote "Learn Singing" in his notebook. This was a skill he needed to master in the future.

Next, he wrote "Learn Broadcasting and Hosting." This was a deep realization from yesterday's recording. A good host could control the entire show, manipulate the guests, and freely control the pace. To become a king of variety entertainment, he first needed to be a good MC, and this was urgent.

Yang An casually clicked around the entertainment section of the Haijiao Forum and noticed another popular post.

The post was titled "Deep Dive into the Creation Process of 'A Set of Pancake Rolls'" and was posted by a public account. It talked about the new game segment "Slippery Laughter" on Red Maple TV's "Laughter in the World" and the participation of the "Marriage and Romance" film crew. It described how Shen Hui performed hilariously to the accompaniment of "A Set of Pancake Rolls."

The post included several on-site photos and detailed the release date of the movie "Marriage and Romance," along with the career introductions of Shen Hui and Liu Suxu. It was clearly a soft promotional article, and most of the replies were meaningless, likely from paid posters.

"Promotion! This film crew is quick to react, but I wonder if they are on the right track."

This was Yang An's first reaction, and he smiled. He thought for a moment, then picked up his phone and called Shen Hui, "Brother Hui, it's Yang An."

Shen Hui, who was probably still in bed, sounded rather lazy, "Director Yang, is there something?"

Yang An said, "Is your film crew planning a new round of promotion?"

Shen Hui was confused, "Promotion for what? I don't know. Director Yang, wait a moment, I'll ask my agent and call you back."

After hanging up, Yang An went to Song Xiaomei and leaned over her partition, smiling, "Xiaomei, your chance to shine has come!"

Song Xiaomei's eyes twinkled, her nose twitched, and her face bloomed into a smile, "What good news, Brother Yang?"

Yang An said, "I can guarantee that the 'Marriage and Romance' film crew will definitely use this opportunity to promote themselves and increase their fame. I'm short on funds for promotion, but if someone is willing to pay, we can save some effort and make a little money on the side."

Song Xiaomei, quick on the uptake, quickly understood the situation and exclaimed, "That's right! The film crew needs fame more than we do! I'll report this to Director Duan right away!"

Yang An stopped her, "Wait, wait, wait for the film crew's call."

Even good wine fears a deep alley. A good show must be well-promoted. The 10,000 yuan budget Li Song gave him couldn't even hire a few paid posters. This promotion must rely on the big sponsor, the 'Marriage and Romance' film crew.

Anyway, the outside world already considered 'Laughter in the World' a bad show and 'Marriage and Romance' a bad movie. It would be best if both were hyped up together. As long as the ratings of 'Laughter in the World' exceeded 0.3%, and the 'Slippery Laughter' segment became a hit, Yang An would have successfully taken his first step in the entertainment industry!

Soon, Shen Hui's agent called back. The agent admitted to the promotion and said that the film crew had spent 200,000 yuan to hire paid posters, using the popularity of the song "A Set of Pancake Rolls" to hype up the show on several major websites.

Because "A Set of Pancake Rolls" was so popular, the 1,000,000 yuan budget for promotion and hype was only half spent, and the desired effect was already achieved.

On the phone, Yang An said, "Mr. Gu, I think we should discuss this promotion together. Just promoting the movie with a soft article is not enough. It's better to focus the money where it will have the most impact, achieving twice the result with half the effort! Our 'Laughter in the World' show is a long-running variety show on Red Maple TV, and a new segment is a significant highlight. We can provide some exclusive insider information and even some director's cut clips. However, the cost..."

The agent immediately understood Yang An's meaning and readily agreed, "No problem, we'll come to the TV station this afternoon for detailed discussions. I wonder if 500,000 yuan for promotion is enough?"

Yang An smiled and, in front of all his colleagues, loudly