Chapter 87

Li Mu, who had been feeling relieved, was very busy these past two days.

The Yi Ting website was undergoing its final tests before going live. Although the team was led by Kong Lingyu, Li Mu still needed to keep track of their progress and provide suggestions and opinions to ensure they stayed on track.

As for the page design, after a morning of communication with the graphic designer and several revisions, it finally met Li Mu's requirements.

To handle the large number of users that Yi Ting would attract, Li Mu asked Kong Lingyu to add new servers and bandwidth. The first step was to ensure the system could handle at least 100,000 users listening to music simultaneously.

Additionally, a project manager from Chengyu Construction Company, responsible for the specialty store renovation, arrived in Haizhou with two sets of design plans for Li Mu to choose from. After selecting one, the construction began immediately.

Actually, Li Mu had little say in the store renovation. The headquarters had very detailed requirements, with a specific renovation manual that strictly regulated everything from wall colors to the size and pattern of floor tiles. The shelves, display areas, cash registers, and lighting all had official templates, and personal modifications were not allowed.

Under the unified standards, the specialty stores all had a similar feel, so Li Mu did not intervene much.

The project manager hired a few local workers and led the team to start work, with construction hours from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Overtime was a common practice in their company, and Li Mu was naturally very pleased with this work ethic.

During the construction period, Li Mu had no other requirements except to order a large advertising banner from an advertising company. The banner, which hung from the top of his store's entrance to the ground, covered a significant portion of the storefront.

On the banner, besides the huge Metersbonwe logo, there were two nearly 2.5-meter-tall cool photos of Guo Tianwang. In addition, it read in bold letters: "Metersbonwe Haizhou Store Opening Soon, Stay Tuned."

After all, this was the busiest street, and Li Mu did not want to focus solely on the construction while neglecting the promotion. The large banner was extremely eye-catching, visible from over 100 meters away, serving as an early advertisement.

Every young passerby was attracted by the huge banner and instantly received the exciting news: Metersbonwe was opening in Haizhou.

The recording of the Simple Plan's semi-final performance was scheduled to air on Nansu TV the day after tomorrow at 8:00 PM. Yi Ting was also set to go live at midnight on the same day. Li Mu decided to go to Jinling.

Li Mu notified Kong Lingyu in advance that the technical team would work an all-nighter the day after tomorrow, with triple overtime pay for everyone. He would be at the office to witness the historic moment of Yi Ting's launch.

The next day at noon, Li Mu arrived at Simple Plan's rehearsal room. He listened to them rehearse "Old Boy" several times. Zhang Kexuan's control over the song's emotional depth was already very good, and the band's coordination and arrangement made the song sound perfect. Li Mu increasingly believed that the four members of Simple Plan had the potential to become big stars. If they could learn to write their own songs in the future, it would be even better.

After listening, Li Mu gave them an honest evaluation: "From what I can see, you should have no problem making it to the first round of the finals."

The finals were divided into two rounds: the first round was a reduction from 18 to 5, and the final round was a reduction from 5 to 3, with the selection of the champion, runner-up, and third place.

Immediately after, Li Mu and the four members of Simple Plan dove into the recording studio to begin closed recording.

The recording process generally started with the instruments, followed by the vocals, and then post-production sound editing and cutting. Typically, the songs we hear are compiled from the best segments of multiple recordings. This is a scientific recording method. Even later, when more and more tone-deaf celebrities started releasing albums, their lyrics could be read a few times, and the post-production could adjust the pitch.

Li Mu and Simple Plan started with "Li Bai." The instruments were recorded three times to get the accompaniment right, but Zhang Kexuan's vocals were recorded over a dozen times. It wasn't because he performed poorly, but because Li Mu was striving for perfection.

Listening to a recorded version of a song is very different from watching a live performance. Live performances can naturally overlook some errors and shortcomings, but recorded versions cannot. Every single recorded in the studio must be flawless. This is pop music, meant for a vast audience, unlike the niche folk songs like "Zebra, Zebra" that Li Mu recorded himself.

"Li Bai" finally met Li Mu's standards. After a short break, they began recording "Sunflower." With the previous experience, Zhang Kexuan's performance was much more stable, and the vocals were completed in five takes.

With both songs done and time still on their side, Li Mu said, "Let's go all out and record 'Old Boy' as well. You'll be heading to Beijing for the finals in a few days, and you might not have the time or the best state then."

"OK!" Everyone was excited, so they ordered some takeout and started recording "Old Boy" intensively. Zhang Kexuan's voice was a bit strained, so Li Mu let him rest for over two hours. By the time the accompaniment for "Old Boy" was recorded, Zhang Kexuan's voice had recovered, and he was in his best state. Since they had been rehearsing "Old Boy" for the past few days, the recording of this song went even faster than the other two.

After recording all three songs, they went out for a meal together. Li Mu reminded them to pay attention to Yi Ting and not to leak the source files of the songs before they were officially released on Yi Ting. The four members understood and nodded in agreement.

Li Mu finally felt relieved. At 8:00 PM, Nansu TV would broadcast the semi-final recording. Zhao Kang, who was in Haizhou, was already well-prepared. His internet army had been stirring up a topic among Simple Plan's fans: where to listen to the official versions of "Li Bai" and "Sunflower." The live audio they had heard was not of high quality.

However, all the fans said that Simple Plan had not signed with any record company yet, so they had not recorded in a studio. Everyone was waiting for their studio versions, but it might take some time.

Many fans analyzed the timeline, and the most popular theory was that Simple Plan would likely sign with a major record company after the finals in mid-August. It would take at least six months from signing to the release of their first album. Therefore, fans probably wouldn't hear the studio versions of Simple Plan's songs or buy their albums this year.

However, Zhao Kang's internet army started a new round of promotion. They spread "insider information" online, telling all Simple Plan's fans that the official studio version of "Li Bai" had already been recorded in the studio, along with "Sunflower." These two songs would soon be released online, sparking heated discussions among fans.

Li Mu brought the source files to Yi Ting's office, where Kong Lingyu and his team, including two full-time technicians, a server technician, and several local part-time college students, were ready.

Before the official launch, Li Mu and the team conducted another round of front-end and back-end testing. Everything was smooth and flawless. Most importantly, the website's interface was very attractive, making Yi Ting the coolest music listening site at the time.

The music library's songs were all sourced from the internet, a common practice for all music listening sites. Li Mu knew that the accumulation of initial capital was often unethical, and the internet industry was no exception. Many billionaires in the future made their fortune through copying, imitation, infringement, and substandard products. At this point, he shouldn't feel too ashamed. Staying in sync with the times would prevent him from being criticized. The most important thing was to get Yi Ting up and running and attract users.

At 8:00 PM, the Nansu TV program began.

Many people were brushing the forums online, eagerly awaiting the broadcast of Simple Plan's performance video. Everyone knew that they were the last to perform in the semi-finals, so the broadcast would likely be after 9:00 PM.

At the same time, Zhao Kang's internet army started the second round of promotion.