52 Preparing for the first degree
November, the project department held a general meeting at the beginning of the month.
"...At the end of the period, the total revenue of peripheral products was 21.76 million, and the net profit was..."
Yuan Xiao, who was sitting next to the big screen, saw five heads peeking out of the meeting room. He reached out and knocked on the table to stop the meeting and asked someone to call them in.
We came a little early, but that's okay.
"There are seats in the back. You guys can find a seat first. You can listen to this part while you're here. The share will probably be credited to your cards this week."
No one would be excited when they heard about making money. After they took their seats one by one, the finance department began to report the income calculation of the entire "Ouwei" project after the settlement.
The program consists of eight main episodes, five performances, plus a theme song, a sports meet special, and a debut battle live broadcast. Each episode has different program peripheral designs that are on sale for a limited time. It finally ended last week, and this month happened to be the time for the financial report to be released.
"The total net profit from advertising revenue, sponsorship revenue and peripheral revenue is 81 million."
Yuan Xiao nodded. That’s right. All the investment of the first batch of trainees has been recovered.
Don’t think that 80 million is a lot. This is just the revenue. The cost of recording the program has not been taken into account. After settling the salaries of the staff, distributing dividends to all participating trainees, paying performance bonuses to employees, and deducting various stage setting expenses, what can be deposited into the company’s account will be just equal to the initial investment.
The future revenue situation will depend on the first issue.
After the financial summary, the staff packed up their things and gave the front row of the conference table to Stary and Gu Yuchen's music production department.
It was the first time for the five of them to attend such a formal large-scale meeting. They were all very reserved and sat like elementary school students, with their hands neatly placed on their knees.
The remote control of the big screen was handed to Gu Yuchen, and Yuan Xiao nodded at him, indicating that they could start.
"Okay, let me tell you about the current progress of the first album."
"As of yesterday, four songs from the first album have been mixed. The main song and "Misplaced Lighthouse" are in post-production. The remaining songs are being revised based on the feedback given to me by Xiao Pei, and they will be ready for the studio soon."
Yuan Xiao nodded and asked Gu Yuchen: "When do you expect to complete the production of the entire album?"
Gu Yuchen clicked on the date on the computer and took a look, then replied: "The recording work will be completed by the 20th at the latest."
This is the benefit of preparing the album in advance. A series of tedious preparatory work is completed in advance, so that the boy group’s blank period can be shortened to the shortest possible time.
"I suggest that they should record the main music video now."
Yuan Xiao leaned on the table and turned to the five people from Stary, "How is the choreography for the main theme going?"
Pei Zijin spoke on their behalf: "'Star Tracks' can now be performed in its entirety. You can go to our practice room to take a look. The remaining three songs can also be sung and danced to in their entirety."
Yuan Xiao nodded, "I remember in the last report you said there was a song you wanted to perform as a band on stage, right?"
Although the entire album written by Gu Yuchen is generally of similar style and theme, he still tried to make some distinctions and adjustments in individual music styles to ensure that the long album will not be boring to listen to.
One of the songs was a light rock song, and the original plan was to do a short choreographed group dance at the bridge position, but a few days ago when Pei Zijin was reporting to Yuan Xiao, he proposed that they wanted to perform this song in a band style, and the five of them were just the right size to form a band.
Yuan Xiao understood immediately: "You guys want to release this song for music festivals or something like that?"
The captain nodded: "Because our current music library is too small. If we have various performances in December, I am worried that the audience will get tired of us dancing all the time. Also, we may need to do this to attract some audiences who originally do not accept the style of boy bands to try to get to know us."
Yuan Xiao was not worried about the band's performance on stage, but was slightly concerned about their instrumental skills. "How are you guys learning your instruments now?"
Yuan Xiao had asked them to choose musical instruments to learn since the trainees' tryouts. Now everyone can play the guitar and keyboard, which are essential for creation, but forming a band requires more than just keyboard and guitar. Bass and drums are more important. Yuan Xiao knew that Yu Le had been learning drums from the beginning, but he didn't have the opportunity to show them during "I Have Not Been There", so he didn't know how well he has learned them now.
If you are in a band but your piano playing is messy and it is just a band form, it is better not to do it.
Last time Pei Zijin said that they should go back and give it a try first, and this time they just happened to mention it, so Yuan Xiao asked about the progress.
"We've roughly arranged a version. I'm the guitarist and lead singer, Chenchen is also the lead singer, Zeyu is on keyboard, Fanfan is on bass, and Lele is on drums." Pei Zijin and the others have been even busier during this period than when they were recording the show. They have filled their schedules and haven't let Yuan Xiao worry at all.
Neither bass nor drums can be mastered in a short period of time, and Yuan Xiao still has reservations about the stage performance of this song.
"Okay, then please tell me about the progress of the MV."
A pretty girl from the planning team stood up and came to the front of the conference table to switch the PPT. "According to the previous meeting plan, the first album will include the story MVs of the three songs "Star Tracks", "Misplaced Lighthouse" and "Millions of Sparks" and dance MVs of the remaining songs, plus the concept MV for the entire album. The following is the revised script and storyboard, as well as a simple presentation after our communication with the visual effects team."
It was Stary’s first time to record a MV, and everyone was staring curiously at the storyboard shown by the planning sister.
Yuan Xiao had known all this stuff for a long time. To put it bluntly, all this stuff today was for Stary and the others to hear. She simply went over a few of the places that were mentioned last time for revisions and nodded to indicate that this version was OK.
Generally, in each album of a boy band, only the main song and some songs with more stories will have formal music MVs, and the rest are mostly dance MVs. Those that have been practiced well don't need too much explanation, just let them dance when the time comes, and at most there will be some adjustments in the positioning.
Yuan Xiao indicated that planning was fine, so he could change to art.
The work of the art department is very heavy. They are divided into several groups, including the design of the album itself and the peripherals. Each element is carefully designed and meaningful.
Yuan Xiao is very ambitious. He has prepared three formats for the release of Stary's first album, including digital album, physical album and vinyl. Of course, the prices are also different.
Physical albums require fans to have a high purchasing power, and what Yuan Xiao and her colleagues have to do is to complete all the parts beyond Stary's own appeal, so that fans will not only increase sales for the performance of their favorite people, but they can also get a physical album that is worth collecting.
"Because it is an album of the same name, the cover of the physical and digital albums still features the five of you as the main characters. The album cover is made of a matte texture, and the group logo and Stary's name are laser engraved."
Stary’s logo was shown to them after the group was formed. It was in the shape of a star ring, somewhat similar to how their cheering sticks look like from above.
Yuan Xiao didn't care about the gestures and left them to figure out on their own. They almost twisted their fingers into knots while studying them, and finally Jin Zeyu came up with one.
Just simply stretch out your right hand and make a "C" shape. When the fans in the audience also stretch out their hands and do the same movement, it will form a star.
Yuan Xiao: Sometimes these people are actually quite talented.
This is indeed a great idea. Yuan Xiao can imagine how many fan-favorite pictures can be produced with such actions and camera positions.
"The entire album box will consist of two layers, with the disc on the top. The configuration includes a PB lyrics book, a card bag pendant, five-member small cards and a group poster." These are all standard configurations. Yuan Xiao has no plans to issue single covers and single chains to stimulate competition among fans. He only gave special numbers to the first 30,000 copies as a reward for those that sell out in seconds.
The following is the special configuration that Yuan Xiao requested to be added: "The lower layer is a small Xinggui exclusive small player."
This is taking into consideration that some fans are first-time idol-chasing fans, and Stary is also releasing an album for the first time. Not everyone has a dedicated player or desktop computer to play the album. Yuan Xiao, who was a student before, also worried about this problem, so he simply solved it in his first album.
This can be regarded as a special treatment for Genshin Impact’s first idol group album. There may be other configuration designs in the future, but it will definitely not come with a CD player, as it would take up a lot of space if there were too many of these things.
A sample of the player was also brought to the meeting and placed on the long conference table. A record of a singer under Yuanxin was temporarily used for testing.
The overall color of the player is gradient blue from bottom to top, from dark to light. At the bottom is the speaker, and at the top is the stylus and transparent cover. There is also a special design for playback.
"Turn off the light."
Although it was still daytime, it was almost dark after turning off the lights and lowering the blinds. Yuan Xiao let the room fall into darkness and turned on the player.
As the record turned, the small player gently lit up, and thousands of tiny points of light sprayed out, projected onto the wall, and slowly turned with the music.
Yu Le said "Wow" out of courtesy.
In a scene like this, it would be quite romantic if all the songs played were theirs.
Yuan Xiao didn't let the little gift show for too long. She touched the texture of the player's shell and asked, "What is the current cost control?"
"84.6 yuan," the employee in charge of liaising with the manufacturer reported. "Because we've added lighting control, and as you said, we need to ensure that the service life is at least three years, it really can't be lower."
Yuan Xiao was a little worried: "It's still too high."
When she made the decision, she knew that the addition of this player would at least double the price of the album, but if the final overall price exceeded two hundred, it would bring some financial pressure to some fans.
Yuan Xiao doesn't mind fans who want to buy in multiples, so the album is released in a limited time but not limited quantity model, but it's unnecessary to have a price so high that it would have to eat into fans' living expenses.
"Then let's stick with the plan we discussed before, and release two versions, one with a record player and one without."
This was contrary to Yuan Xiao's original intention. She was a little hesitant as to whether to launch the version in stages or reduce some other configurations.
While she was silent, the five people who had been listening silently exchanged a few words. Yu Le raised her hand: "Sister Xiaoxiao."
"Can our portion be a little less? Then can we price it lower?"
Young people are always innocent and sincere. They know that this will make a lot of money, but it is more important to let more people hear their songs.
Yuan Xiao raised an eyebrow, "I appreciate it, but you kids should not worry about these things, just focus on making your music."
"Let's see the manufacturer if we can lower the cost a bit, or remove the rechargeable battery and replace it with a USB port. You can remove everything except the lights and speakers, or just connect the reader and then use Bluetooth to connect to a phone or computer for playback. Can you confirm what has the lowest cost? It would be best if we can keep it below 50." Yuan Xiao only needs this thing to sound professional, have a sense of atmosphere, and be sturdy and durable. It doesn't matter how to use it.
She still decided to make a version of the album with a record player. Seeing Stary and the others' attitude, they also liked the concept of the record player because it allows people to really hear their songs, so that's why she chose this.
"If it doesn't work, just cut the marketing budget a little bit, it won't be a big problem."
The person in charge of the publicity department was suddenly called. They had been relatively relaxed during this period and had come to the meeting just to listen and take notes that might be used for publicity later. When they were called out of the blue, their expressions went blank.
Whose budget?
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