Chapter 10

After understanding the copyright rules of this world, Liu Jie and Tang Feng added each other on QC (Quick Chat).

Liu Jie sent Tang Feng an electronic contract, asking him to review it first. If there were no issues, they could finalize the details once Tang Feng's song copyright certificate was issued.

When Tang Feng saw the revenue split for the songs, he was secretly amazed. The split for original music was 1:1:1: one-third went to the music sales website, one-third to the singer, and one-third to the copyright owner. Of course, if the singer was also the original creator, they would receive the additional one-third.

It could be said that the world's emphasis on original creators was beyond imagination!

The new songs would be sold online for two months. After that, based on sales, the music website would pay the singer 5% of the sales revenue to purchase subsequent digital rights. For example, if sales reached one million, the music website would pay the singer 50,000 Huayuan for the copyright. After that, a free version would be released, but the audio quality would be quite average. If one wanted to listen to high-quality music, they would need to become a monthly subscriber to the music website. The strength of a music website lay in the number of digital music copyrights it owned.

Opening the Reku Music website, Tang Feng registered an account as Liu Jie had instructed. New accounts could not post music until the copyright certification was approved and a contract was signed with Reku Music. Otherwise, even if the music was posted, it would not be displayed on Reku.

Reku Music classified singers based on the download volume of their songs under their name, a method used by music websites worldwide, which was quite authoritative.

A singer would automatically be upgraded to a one-star singer when their total online sales reached 500,000, with a small, colorless star appearing after their name.

When total online sales reached one million and at least one single sold over 100,000, the singer would automatically be promoted to a two-star singer, marked by two red stars. For a three-star singer, at least one single needed to sell over 500,000, and total sales needed to reach five million, at which point the third star would turn orange.

A single selling over one million and total sales reaching 15 million would make a singer a yellow four-star singer.

A single selling over two million and total sales reaching 30 million would make a singer a green five-star singer.

A single selling over three million and total sales reaching 60 million would make a singer a blue six-star singer.

A single selling over five million and total sales reaching 100 million would make a singer a blue seven-star singer.

In China, there was an old saying: "Red to the point of purple." After the blue seven-star level, the requirements doubled, making it an eight-star singer with eight purple stars. Beyond that, nine stars would make a singer a super star, marked by a sun. The final star level could be called a "god of song," requiring a single to sell over 80 million and total sales to reach 1.6 billion, which was essentially an unattainable number.

This world had never seen a true "god of song," and even nine-star singers were few and far between. No one had yet reached a single selling 100 million, let alone total sales of 1.6 billion.

Currently, the closest to this level was a foreign veteran king, whose most popular single sold over 50 million globally, with total song sales reaching a terrifying 700 million, and he had sung nearly 500 songs.

Of course, compared to the world Tang Feng came from, this was nothing. After all, here the numbers were calculated per song, not per album!

For example, in Tang Feng's previous life, MJ's album sales had broken 100 million, with all albums selling close to 800 million. If calculated per song, he would have easily surpassed a ten-star god of song.

Of course, these sales figures referred only to online sales, not physical album sales! Due to the rise of online sales, the record industry had been significantly impacted, so the majority of revenue came from online sales. Few people released physical albums first; they were usually released online first, and only if online sales were high would they consider physical releases.

Closing the webpage, Tang Feng began to create... well, to plagiarize. Fortunately, the Tang Feng of his past was not a complete novice in music, so he hummed the songs while writing and drawing on paper.

Soon, the lyrics and melodies for "Pig's Song" and "Miss Dong" were written out. He also copied some classic songs from another timeline, partly to save time and avoid the need for additional certification.

Unconsciously, Tang Feng hummed and wrote, revising familiar songs. Before he knew it, a stack of paper was used up.

"Rumble, rumble!" His stomach growled in protest. Tang Feng put down his pen and rubbed his sore wrist.

At that moment, his phone rang.

Seeing the caller ID, it was Xiao Zhu. As soon as he answered, Xiao Zhu said anxiously, "Feng Shao, what's going on? I just checked your live stream, and it was shut down!"

"Nothing much, I called the Starlight Stage people with the number you gave me, and... well, you know," Tang Feng explained the situation.

Xiao Zhu was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Damn, is this the so-called 'under-the-table rule'?"

"Under-the-table rule? Cough, sort of!" Tang Feng found Xiao Zhu's reaction somewhat amusing, but he also felt a bit smug. He had actually reached a level where people would try to use such rules on him. Tsk tsk.

"Damn, that guy from Starlight Stage is really bullying you. What do you plan to do? Just let it go?" Xiao Zhu said indignantly.

"What else can I do?" Although Tang Feng was also annoyed with the Starlight Stage manager, he knew his limits. This was a case of a big store bullying a customer.

"Report him! It's fine for them to shut down your live stream, but they can't take away the money you earned!" Xiao Zhu said.

"Ha ha, let it go for now! They'll regret it!" Tang Feng said with a helpless smile.

"You're right, Feng Shao. Last night, so many companies approached you. If they don't want you, others will. When you become famous, you can expose this incident. Tsk tsk, just imagine the face of that Starlight Stage manager. Ha ha, Feng Shao, I didn't realize you were thinking so far ahead!" Xiao Zhu said with a sly smile.

Tang Feng rolled his eyes. This guy was overthinking. It seemed these were all his own ideas. When did they become mine?

"Anyway, Feng Shao, what are your plans next? I'm your first fan, after all. Tell me!" Xiao Zhu said with a smile.

"Um, I contacted the music editor at Reku... " Tang Feng explained the situation.

Tang Feng didn't have many friends outside, apart from the few people he lived with in the basement, Xiao Zhu could also be considered one. As Xiao Zhu said, he was Tang Feng's first fan and had given him a lot of support.

Over time, the two became friends, though they had never met in person.