Chapter 48

《I Am Passionately in Love with My Hometown》 suddenly became a hit!

Before the album was released, only Li Qian knew and believed it would definitely become popular, and only Liao Liao believed and hoped it would catch fire. Similarly, only Wang Jinglu was nervously looking forward to something.

Apart from this, even Li Qian’s parents, who trusted him the most, merely hoped it would sell better and receive better reviews. Even Zhao Meifeng, the producer who loved Liao Liao’s voice the most, only hoped the song’s market performance wouldn’t be too poor, as it was the second lead single of the album "Liao Liao."

As for others... General Manager Zheng Changsheng, Art Director Du Xiaoming, Huang Yueqin, Lele, and others, though they had different thoughts, no one was optimistic about the album or the song.

But it did become a hit!

Even before Liao Liao’s promotional tour for the second lead single began, listeners were already calling in to radio stations to request the song! Subsequently, as Liao Liao continuously appeared on various programs in major cities across the country, promoting the second lead single, the song’s popularity and request rate soared.

Its impact on the overall album sales was unknown until the sales data was compiled, but from Liao Liao’s perspective, she suddenly felt that her fan base had grown, and they had become more enthusiastic!

For Li Qian’s father, who often listened to the radio, his biggest impression was: no matter which music station, channel, or program you tuned into, as long as it was a music program, within a few minutes, there would always be a listener calling in to request "I Am Passionately in Love with My Hometown"!

And in this new week, when Li Qian’s father rode his bicycle around the streets of Jinan, he found that many music stores were already playing this song on their large speakers!

At first, many people were surprised.

Even Li Qian’s father, who deeply hoped the album would sell well and that his son’s work would be liked by more people, was initially surprised and a bit puzzled, even a little anxious, when he first encountered this situation.

Because... it had become so popular!

The song "I Am Passionately in Love with My Hometown" is typically categorized as a folk ballad in the domestic music scene. Folk ballads lie between folk songs and folk tunes, leaning more towards pop than folk songs and being more free and unrestrained than folk tunes. Moreover, at the beginning of the concept of pop music, its first representative work was "The Great Wall Ballad."

In the early 1980s, Liu Mingliang’s "Distant Hometown" became a hit across the country. This pure song of praise and nostalgia for one’s hometown, with its strong era flavor and homesickness, sparked a craze for folk ballads in the 1980s. In that decade, it was the most prosperous period for the Flying Band, but the mainstream of the music scene was folk ballads. Liu Mingliang, with his series of classic folk ballads, firmly held the top position in the domestic music scene! After him, there was the rise of the "Prince of Folk Songs" Zhao Xinfu and the emergence of Zhen Zhen!

Even during the decade of the folk ballad craze, there were still many mediocre works, but there were also masterpieces and excellent works. After a few years of the craze, with the decline in creativity, as Liu Mingliang began to shift towards more soothing folk tunes, as Zhao Xinfu became more focused on folk songs, and as Zhen Zhen began to fully explore American-style country folk, the distinctly Chinese-flavored folk ballad genre quickly declined.

Since the 1990s, in this market, apart from a few top artists occasionally producing a few listenable folk ballads, almost no one dared to touch this genre. Even in the early 1990s, some music professionals and critics had already declared "Folk ballads are dead."

In fact, this market trend was the key reason why Zhao Meifeng, Zheng Changsheng, and others were worried about Liao Liao’s insistence on making this song the second lead single of the album.

However, were folk ballads really dead?

Clearly not.

The decade-long craze of folk ballads followed by a cold spell did not mean that folk ballads were no longer loved by listeners. In fact, just as Americans love country music, this genre filled with national characteristics and homesickness, this strong desire to express, will never go out of style.

Because everyone has their own love for their hometown, everyone has their own nostalgia.

One could say, as long as music lives, folk ballads will not die!

One could also say, as long as people are alive, they will have their own unique hometown in their hearts, and thus, folk ballads will have a solid and powerful listener base!

The reason for the decline of folk ballads is, first, that music professionals could no longer produce good works, and second, many ideas, melodies, and rhythms from folk ballads were incorporated into similar genres like folk songs, folk tunes, and pop songs.

Moreover, the folk ballad genre is indeed very difficult to produce masterpieces!

In the thirty years of pop music history in the timeline where Li Qian once lived, there were only a few songs that could be considered hall-of-fame folk ballads.

"Yellow Earth Plateau," "I Am Passionately in Love with My Hometown," "Xintianyou," "Wanderer’s Lament"...

In this timeline, there were probably only a few songs that could reach this level.

Without a doubt, "I Am Passionately in Love with My Hometown" not only ranks among them but is also on par with the best!

Thus, in this similar timeline, it became a hit!

...

The date was August 16th, ten days after the release of "Liao Liao."

Monday morning.

After Zhao Changsheng arrived at the company and had just brewed a cup of coffee, his secretary entered the office with several documents.

The one on top was the record sales chart from Dongguan Bookstore.

He took the chart, calmed his mind, and started reading from the top. But soon, when a familiar name caught his eye, Zhao Changsheng almost spat out his coffee!

"Liao Liao"... Ninth place!

4,386 copies!

What kind of international joke is this!

Selling about a thousand copies in the first week, a slight increase or decrease in the second week would be normal, but... over four thousand!

Zhao Changsheng looked down and found that Shen Haimei, who was tenth last week, had been pushed to eleventh!

He swallowed, put down his coffee cup, and looked at his secretary, asking, "Did you call to confirm? Is this data... correct?"

The secretary seemed to be waiting for this question and quickly replied, "The PR department didn’t quite believe it either. Manager Liu emphasized when he gave me this data that he had already confirmed with Dongguan Bookstore, and the data is correct!"

Zhao Changsheng nodded subconsciously and looked down again.

4,386... correct!

Ninth place... correct!

Oh, right, "Liao Liao"... correct!

But... damn!

This isn’t 1,400 or 2,400, this is 4,300 plus!

How could it suddenly become so crazy?

Before the release, he had listened to the album and didn’t think it had such explosive power!

The question now is, is it only selling well at Dongguan Bookstore, or is it selling well nationwide? Is the so-called 20x rule of Dongguan Bookstore’s chart still applicable?

If it is, that’s... over 80,000 copies!

That’s terrifying!

To date, the highest single-week sales recognized and certified by the Music Association was 370,000 copies, set by Liu Mingliang in 1987! A single-week sales of over 300,000 copies has only happened once! A single-week sales of over 200,000 copies is considered top-tier, with male singers like Liu Mingliang, Zhao Xinfu, Zhang Chang, and Hu Yang, and female singers like Zhen Zhen, achieving this record.

Generally, a single-week sales of over 150,000 copies, or about 7,000 to 8,000 copies at Dongguan Bookstore, would secure a platinum record, with a good chance of a double platinum, and would be considered a top-tier artist in the domestic music scene.

Male singers who have achieved this include about seven or eight people, while female singers include only four: Zhen Zhen, He Runqing, Feng Feifei, and Zhou Mo. Therefore, they are known as the Four Heavenly Queens and are considered the top female singers.

A single-week sales of over 100,000 copies is considered a top-tier male singer, or a near-top-tier female singer.

For example, Shen Haimei, Sun Yue, and Yang Qianzheng have all achieved this.

And now, "Liao Liao" has sold 80,000 copies in a single week?

Is it a sudden burst, or...

Will its sales plummet next week, or... continue to maintain?

Of course, if it can maintain this sales level, even with a slight decline, as long as it lasts for a few weeks, it would be enough to make Zheng Changsheng jump with joy, and Liao Liao’s status in the industry would be firmly established. As for a bigger burst... he didn’t even dare to think about it! Because everyone knows, for a new artist, the first album... the probability is almost zero!

Holding the thin printout, Zheng Changsheng’s mind was filled with countless thoughts.

Excitement, anticipation, confusion, doubt, anxiety, frustration...

He looked up and found that the secretary was still there, so he asked, "Anything else?"

The secretary quickly said, "When I started work, Manager Liu from the PR department had just left, and the production department called, asking if we need to arrange the second batch of production in advance."

Zhao Changsheng hesitated for a moment and said, "Let’s wait and see, let’s wait and see. I feel this result is a bit unrealistic! I’ll talk to the production department myself at the 10:30 meeting. Don’t worry about this. Is there anything else?"

Indeed, there was.

The secretary took out a newspaper and handed it over, saying, "Manager Liu from the PR department sent this, and he specifically instructed me to give it to you. He said there’s an important music review in it."

"About Liao Liao?" Zheng Changsheng said, taking the newspaper. "Isn’t it just the flattery from those music critics they bribed? Why do I have to read it?"

This was the "Shuntian Evening News." He opened the newspaper, flipped to the entertainment and culture section, and easily found a not-too-long article— "I Am Passionately in Love with 'I Am Passionately in Love with My Hometown'!"

But what was shocking wasn’t the title or the size of the article, but its author—Guancheng Dong!

Zhao Changsheng blinked, a bit disbelieving!

People outside the music industry might not know what this name meant, but as someone who had entered the industry alone and struggled for many years, Zheng Changsheng was well aware of the famous music professionals and critics in the industry!

No wonder the PR department took it so seriously; Guancheng Dong rarely wrote music reviews!

Zhao Changsheng held the newspaper and spent a few minutes reading the review very carefully.

From start to finish, it was full of praise!

Zhao Changsheng felt a bit annoyed—folk ballads had long been out of the pop music scene, and everyone knew folk ballads were dead! Regardless of what the Dongguan Bookstore sales chart means this week, even if everything is true and Liao Liao’s album is really selling well, it’s still unclear what’s going on! Guancheng Dong, however, boldly proclaimed a terrifying slogan: the revival of folk ballads is imminent!

Revive what?

Zhao Changsheng put down the newspaper, thought for a moment, and said to the secretary, "Notify everyone in the company to have a meeting!"

He paused, and before the secretary could turn around, he suddenly said, "Wait... do you think... the sudden success of Liao Liao’s album at Dongguan Bookstore is due to some behind-the-scenes push?"

As he spoke, he shook his head.

Liao Liao was signed by him personally, and he knew her background and social circle. If there was a push, it wouldn’t have waited until now.

Pushing his chair back, he stood up, walked a few steps around his desk, then suddenly stopped, grabbed the phone, and dialed a number. When the call connected, he said, "Old Liu, this is Zheng Changsheng. Find a survey company immediately and have them conduct a survey on Liao Liao’s album. Questions like where they heard about the album, why they bought it, and which song they like best. Work with the PR department to finalize the survey and send people out to conduct it. Remember, not just in the capital, but also in some key cities!"

He said, "Mm, mm," and hung up the phone.

...

At the Monday meeting, based on Zheng Changsheng’s opinion, the proposal from the production department to arrange the second batch of production in advance was rejected.

Zheng Changsheng had ample reasons for this.

First, given Liao Liao’s fame and the fact that it was her first album, the sudden rise and fall in sales was somewhat abnormal. The actual sales outside needed further market feedback, and it was not advisable to tie up the company’s working capital for sales that might only happen a few months later.

Second, even if Liao Liao’s album really became a hit, Dongguan Bookstore, which the company treated as a first-tier distributor, was initially given 15,000 cassette tapes and 1,500 CDs, accounting for 7.5% of the first batch production, and 500 vinyl records, a larger quantity than most provincial distributors. As of last weekend, they had sold only about 5,000 units in two weeks, with about 10,000 units still in stock. Even if they sold 4,000 units this week and next, it would be enough for two weeks. Therefore, it would be timely to arrange production after this week’s sales data is out.

Besides, 4,000 units next week?

What are you thinking?

Dream on!

However, the next morning, Changsheng Records suddenly received a restocking notice from Dongguan Bookstore.

A restocking notice means that their stock is almost sold out, and they are preparing for the next batch!

Before Zheng Changsheng could react, in the afternoon of the same day, Changsheng Records received restocking notices from seven provincial distributors!

Every person in Changsheng Records who heard this news was stunned!

Even more shocking, just one day later, on Wednesday morning at 11:00, Dongguan Bookstore sent another restocking notice—

"Liao Liao" is sold out!

***

Writing 4,000 words a day is really my limit. Any faster, and it would just be filler. At this speed, I can say with a clear conscience that I am writing very seriously and responsibly!

Tears welling up, I ask for votes and not to rush me...

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