As a former trainee who returned to China in her previous life to pursue idoldom but failed, and a former idol manager who now works behind the scenes for idol teams, Su Yin has long pondered a question:
Why is it that after so many years, there are so many talent shows, idol groups and idol artists in China, but there is still no relatively complete idol industry chain?
Why is there still no complete set of exposure models and market rules for idols?
There are ready-made templates from many countries to learn from, so why haven’t we done it yet?
When Su Yin first returned to China as a trainee, like many others, she assumed the overall level of the domestic idol industry hadn't caught up. The low standards of both the artists and the staff behind the scenes were contributing to the industry's slow development, and that the corresponding industrial system would take time to develop.
It was not until she actually entered the domestic circle and became an idol agent, watched the birth of one talent show after another, and witnessed with her own eyes some people trying hard to produce music programs, strive to improve the quality of idol artists, and try their best to build a relatively complete idol training and operation chain that could only be confined to a very small range, that Su Yin realized that she had thought too easily before.
This is definitely not because they can't even copy, but because for the idol industry, the domestic environment has too many difficulties and mountains that are difficult to cross and move.
Obstacles from objective factors such as departmental regulations, industry standards, and even market environment are not easily overcome.
Therefore, Su Yin used to only wonder when the domestic bosses would be able to come up with some operating methods suitable for the local market to maintain the idols’ exposure and life cycle?
Coming to this world unexpectedly, especially when Su Yin discovered that people here were very accustomed to paying for music and purchasing genuine music, and there were no relevant restrictions, an idea kept lingering in Su Yin's mind: to build a relatively complete idol exposure mechanism and model in this world.
It is very unrealistic for most idols to rely solely on evening party performances to gain exposure.
In Su Yin's view, the two most common and important links in the previous world - music shows and idol variety shows are indispensable in the entire idol industry chain.
In the previous era, idols in their own country didn't have many opportunities to showcase their talents in public, nor did they have a comprehensive marketing model. Without exposure, their popularity naturally declined, and with it, their income. It's only natural for them to turn to the film and television industry, which offers higher exposure and returns.
The foundation of an idol artist’s career is ultimately the singing and dancing stage. Without a stage, idols will have no vitality.
Of course, the distorted concepts and order of some fans and artists, as well as the impetuousness of the entire industry, have also made it increasingly difficult for the domestic idol industry in the original world, triggering various controversies and complaints, and even becoming a synonym for something not so good, which cannot be ignored.
With the continued popularity of Moonlight Boys and Mysterious Girl, more and more entertainment companies have entered the idol industry. A large number of idols and idol trainees have been born or are being nurtured.
Although, there have been some investors who only want to quickly recover their capital and lack long-term planning. They rely on constantly consuming the popularity of idol artists to make money in a short period of time and then replace them with a new group of idols. This has caused a certain period of chaos in the idol market in this world.
However, as time went on, the audience became less and less receptive to this type of idol artists. More and more idols with strong abilities and good images who had undergone professional training and long-term cultivation began to emerge.
Although the world's reserve of idol artists cannot be said to be sufficient, the conditions are still in place to support a weekly program.
Su Yin also felt that after these years of hard work, she had gained some strength and qualifications to communicate and negotiate with all the stakeholders involved.
It is about time to come up with such a plan and truly participate in creating better industry rules.
The entertainment companies that had just concluded their previous industry conference were invited back to participate in a discussion related to the idol industry after a few months, leaving many puzzled. Even before the meeting began, many were privately discussing what Yuexiang Entertainment, the main organizer of this event, was up to.
The letter sent to their company only stated that the theme of the meeting was a large and vague concept: to jointly discuss the market model for the development of the idol industry. The invitation letter also stated that entertainment companies that already have idol artist businesses or are interested in the idol industry in the future are invited to attend the meeting.
Yuexiang Entertainment Company first sent invitation letters via email, and then asked staff to visit the companies directly to explain the situation, so that all the relevant companies would participate as much as possible.
Some companies don't want to buy into Yuexiang Entertainment, and are too lazy to discuss vague things like industry development models with their competitors. They simply refuse or just send a small clerk to participate.
However, most companies that have already developed idol artists and idol trainee businesses and entertainment companies interested in this industry still attach great importance to this conference invitation.
In the entertainment industry, although Yuexiang Entertainment's overall strength is not among the best, it is indeed an industry leader in idol artists.
Furthermore, after the incident where Yuexiang Entertainment’s popular variety show opened up its invitations to guests, many companies have cooperated with Yuexiang Entertainment and have a good impression of them.
While Yuexiang Entertainment may be a source of envy, it has actually driven the development of the idol industry and expanded the market. Many companies have also learned from Yuexiang Entertainment and shared in its success.
In addition to the momentum of Yuexiang Entertainment, they heard some vague rumors that not only did the main leaders of many small and medium-sized companies come to participate, but many big-name entertainment companies also sent more important senior management to attend the meeting, wanting to find out what was going on.
After arriving at the scene, I saw the size and level of the people present, and then saw the name cards of several people in charge of TV stations, video websites, and music websites placed on the seats.
Many people are more aware that today's meeting is definitely not a trivial matter. Yuexiang Entertainment has already reached a certain degree of agreement with many platforms and forces in advance.
What kind of thing made these various types of platforms send people to attend, and even invited the vice president of the current largest music website - Mengyin Music.
Today, this industry conference led by Yuexiang Entertainment is likely to produce a historical event that will change the overall development of the current industry.
It didn't take long before Su Yin came in with people from multiple platforms and capitals, happily talking about something.
At this time, the participants from small and medium-sized entertainment companies increased their attention and expectations, wanting to listen carefully to what these people were discussing and whether it would affect them.
Some forces that boasted of their strength but did not receive advance notice were unhappy, but they suppressed their emotions and waited to see what the other forces were up to.
However, some people inevitably think: This Yuexiang Entertainment Company always wants to do something shocking to challenge the industry order, and it has really allowed it to rise step by step by relying on these ties with large platforms.
Although today's meeting was led by Yuexiang Entertainment, there were many protagonists today. Su Yin naturally would not steal the limelight from the big guys, and humbly let the vice president of Mengyin Music speak first.
The vice president of Mengyin Music announced an industry plan to jointly launch idol music programs with Kangle TV, Hongxiu TV, Strawberry Video, Guangming Video, Yuexiang Entertainment Company, and Douyin Platform.
Immediately, the crowd started to talk.
"A music show? What does that mean?"
"Mengyin means that they are about to cooperate, and she came to inform us?"
"Didn't we say we were going to discuss this together? What are we discussing now?"
"Are we being excluded? Can you explain the situation clearly?"
After Li Chang, the vice president of Mengyin Music, finished explaining the decision and rough plan, he asked Su Yin to discuss the details of the plan with everyone.
When it was Su Yin's turn to speak, the venue became a little quieter. Everyone knew that the thing they were most concerned about might be about to happen.
As expected, Su Yin then gave a more detailed explanation of the plan that Li Chang of Mengyin Music had just mentioned, and answered many people's questions.
"I believe many people here are aware that the idol industry has developed rapidly and vigorously in recent years, but there are also many objective problems and bottlenecks that have curbed the overall development of the idol industry."
"If these problems aren't resolved, and if idols aren't given a more comprehensive exposure mechanism and operating model, the idol market will never be able to truly unleash its potential and achieve healthy and long-term development."
"Nowadays, after an idol artist or group debuts, it's almost impossible to secure exposure outside of their own promotional channels. Just like some lesser-known singers, there's no way to promote their songs to the public. And the most important visual aspect of an idol's stage performance can only be showcased and exposed in music videos and certain evening parties. Their influence is still too limited, and stage appearances are highly sought after by everyone in the industry."
"Therefore, Yuexiang Entertainment started to have an idea last year: to produce a music show specifically for idols."
When Su Yin said this, no matter what everyone present was thinking, they had to admit that she hit the nail on the head and touched everyone's pain points.
Large companies are better off because they have more resources and a wider network of contacts. They can increase exposure for their idol artists through various well-known artists, advertising, endorsements, and variety shows on some TV stations and video platforms.
But so far, the rewards received from idols are mostly fees for peripheral products and endorsements.
This creates a problem: producing songs for idol groups is a paradoxical situation where it is not profitable but cannot be avoided.
Although fans are willing to buy idols' albums and other music works, and the company can also collect fees from various ancillary peripherals of the album and live events, the production costs and direct revenue costs of the songs are definitely not profitable, and may even lose money.
But if they don’t release any songs, fans will definitely get bored of their idols’ unchanging performances.
It is indeed difficult for these songs to "go viral". Some songs are of good quality but they do not get exposure, and the artists' charm does not have the opportunity to be fully displayed, and larger-scale fan conversion and profit conversion cannot be achieved.
The situation has arisen again where idol artists have to train, spend a lot of money on training, but get little return.
Su Yin looked at everyone present. Since the matter involved everyone's interests, they were also getting anxious.
Indeed, before she could finish, someone had already spoken up, "So what exactly is the purpose of Yuexiang Entertainment producing a music show and bringing so many companies and platforms together to discuss it?"
Su Yin was neither anxious nor impatient. Instead, she asked the people below to help her display the key points she was going to say on the big screen.
"If we simply create a stage show variety show where each idol or group performs once and then it's over, it would be difficult to sustain such a program and it wouldn't become a stable mechanism."
"Who paid for the costumes, props, and set design for the last time an artist performed on a variety show?"
"The variety show producers pay for each company? Impossible. Let each company pay just for a performance? Are you willing?" Su Yin glanced at the people below and directly raised the most crucial question.
If you want to present a good-looking stage performance to the audience, it is normal to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It's impossible for variety show producers to shoulder this responsibility. This isn't something that can be resolved with just a few performances. Relying solely on advertising fees and the current viewership, which is solely driven by fans, variety show producers can't recoup their costs, nor can they provide free publicity for the artists.
The entertainment companies under it naturally understood the costs and profits involved and remained silent.
Yes, it's not like no one has thought of a similar show before. Yuexiang Entertainment has produced a special stage video before, so could they bring all the artists together to create a small variety show?
But the plan was rejected at the beginning because there were not enough artists, not enough works, and not enough profits.
Entertainment companies are businessmen after all. No one will do such a thankless job if the profits are insufficient.
Of course, everyone was even more curious. Since Yuexiang Entertainment was leading this discussion today, they must have come up with some solution.
Some people looked at the vice president of Mengyin Music who spoke first, and vague ideas immediately came to their mind. Could it be?
"Therefore, relying solely on a performance-based variety show cannot guarantee stable exposure for the entire idol industry. I have contacted TV stations, video platforms, and Dream Music, and today I have brought together all my seniors and colleagues, hoping to solve this problem with everyone's strength."
When Su Yin said this, the person in charge of Star Entertainment couldn't help but say, "Boss Su, please get straight to the point."
He had already sensed the importance of today's meeting, and he could hardly suppress his anxiety and irritation. How could Yuexiang Entertainment have taken the lead again?
He has also thought that Yuexiang Entertainment is likely to take this opportunity to once again deeply bind with major platforms and capital, participate in becoming one of the rule makers in the idol industry, and completely consolidate Yuexiang Entertainment's industry position.
However, this ultimately involves the real interests of Star Entertainment, and they have no way to stop the other party. It seems that they may not be able to stop it at the moment.
We can only try to find and gain more room for greater benefits for Star Entertainment through further understanding.
Su Yin did not lay the groundwork any further. If she did not explain the interests involved, the many companies and forces present would not be able to calm down and listen to her carefully.
"The basic plan we have come up with is to use Dream Music's music charts to promote songs, and then use other advertisers, live tickets and other methods to ensure the long-term operation of the program."
"The general rules are that there's a weekly idol song competition, with idol artists performing live. The program team develops a scoring system based on data collected from online music sales, social media popularity, online fan votes, and on-site voting. The ranking of the songs on the show is determined and announced on the spot."
"All participating idol artists can gain exposure and accumulate performances by appearing on variety shows to promote their songs. This music program can also produce more ancillary products and programs in the future."
"By then, Yuexiang Entertainment will also produce a pure idol variety show to provide a platform for these idols who lack exposure to showcase themselves."
"Today's discussion meeting is to collect specific opinions from various companies and jointly formulate this rule."
Su Yin explained the main processes of the entire process and several general ways to make profits, but she did not go into more detailed rules and methods.
To build such a promotion mechanism that can expand the scope of the entire idol industry is not something that Yuexiang Entertainment Company can do alone.
Su Yin didn't want to be limited to a small circle and entertain herself, so she had to get the recognition and approval of all her peers and establish a complete set of processes, methods and rules to truly implement this plan.
This matter is indeed serious, involving the interests of too many entertainment companies and the capital behind them. It will even directly affect the direction of the industry in the next few decades. It cannot be discussed and determined in a short period of time.
There are countless people who have fought for their interests and suffered heavy losses. Su Yin can only pray that this thing can really take root in this world with the help of her proposal.
From the very beginning, what she wanted to do was to build an idol kingdom of her own. It was not just to launch some of the most popular idol groups in the world, but also to lay the basic rules and facilities of the industry and connect the upstream and downstream of the idol industry chain.
Provide soil and environment for all those who dream of becoming an idol and are working hard to become a high-quality idol to realize their dreams.
It also fulfilled my dream when I was a trainee.
After the meeting, people from various companies stood up. Many of them surrounded Su Yin, the vice president of Mengyin Music, and the heads of Strawberry Video and Kangle TV, hoping to learn more about the situation and quickly get in touch.
More people were already at the meeting, recording all the discussions between Su Yin and others with pens or recorders in real time and sending them back to the company. Now they also had to hurry back to inform the top management of the situation and its importance.
Regardless of whether the fixed song promotion mechanism that everyone is discussing today can play such a big role and enable the entire idol industry to operate more smoothly, this is undoubtedly a great historical opportunity.
It’s okay to fail, but you can’t be the one left behind while watching others succeed.
For a time, the entire idol industry was turned upside down by Su Yin, not to mention the various undercurrents surging within it.
The deputy director of Kangle TV Station was also discussing the plan proposed by Su Yin with the director Zhong De.
To this day, the senior executives of the TV station have to admire Zhong De's courage and vision at the time, who generously allowed Su Yin to invest in the TV station and participate in some major decisions on the direction of the TV station.
Today, Kangle TV and Guangming Video, which boldly accepted Su Yin, have greatly improved their overall ratings and influence thanks to several variety shows produced by Yuexiang Entertainment and clearer program purchasing ideas and innovative positioning.
For the benefit of the TV station itself and out of trust in Su Yin's vision, Director Zhong De was very supportive of Su Yin's plan to produce a music program.
If Su Yin wanted a prime-time program, Zhong De couldn't give it to her.
But Su Yin had no such need, and it was just an attempt to produce one episode a week. In Zhong De's opinion, he could bear the consequences even if the ratings were not good.
You know, Yuexiang Entertainment's "The Adventure of Keep Moving Forward" alone has brought countless advertisers to Kangle TV.
In addition to the title sponsors and sponsors of the entire program, as well as the brand resources of each idol artist and the support of music websites proposed by Su Yin, Zhong De believes that even if the program does not have a large audience, it will not cause the TV station to lose too much money.
Furthermore, the plan Su Yin proposed sounded feasible and had a good return rate. Helping Su Yin further establish her foothold in the idol industry and entertainment circle and enhance her voice would also be a good thing for Kangle TV.
"I'm just worried that Miss Su and her Yuexiang Entertainment Company won't be strong enough, and they'll be kicked out by others and become a burden for others."
In the deputy director's opinion, Su Yin was considered one of Kangle TV's own. The potential for this to affect the development of an industry was incredibly complex, and the variables and risks involved were unknown. He couldn't help but worry about Su Yin's potential failure.
Zhong De smiled and shook his head. "No, you're underestimating her. Not to mention her established leadership in the idol and variety show production industry, do you think a plan like this can be launched just by having an idea and a prototype? I think Su Yin has a clear mind. She's already thought of many details, she's just not talking about them."
"No one is stupid. Su Yin dared to put it out there for everyone to discuss and formulate together. She must have her reasons."
"If others want to kick Su Yin out, it depends on whether they have the ability to run the game well. Money and status have to be shared among everyone, so naturally they should go to the most capable people."
“Whoever can make the most money has the capital and everyone’s support.”
"We'll just have to wait and see."
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution between 2021-08-20 11:54:44 and 2021-08-21 12:00:23~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: CHIMAY?1;
Thanks to the little angel cc for irrigating the nutrient solution (20 bottles); Yunshu (10 bottles); Little Cute (3 bottles); f a little peaked girl and Yue no Kon (2 bottles);
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