It will take Luo Lin eight years to become famous. During these eight years, he travels around Xinjiang to collect folk songs and enrich himself.
Without these accumulations, there will be no future soaring success.
But the prerequisite is that Luo Lin has the financial means to travel to various parts of the new province to collect folk songs.
To travel all over the province on foot is almost an impossible task.
If just wearing down the soles is easy to deal with, then you still need to eat and stay in hotels, right?
His meager income from the nightclub was insufficient to cover such expenses.
"I founded an audio company called Haiyun Audio Company."
Luo Lin turned around, picked up a cassette tape, and waved it in front of Liang Liang.
“I saw it and bought two copies. When I saw the name of Haiyun Audio-Visual Publishing House, I guessed it was yours because your company is either called Haiyun or Haiyun.”
That's true.
"It's even better that you know. Now that we've started a record company, we naturally need singers. I'm planning to sign you. Do you have any objections?"
Luo Lin did not answer immediately.
"I offer two types of contracts for singers. One is a buyout, where the signed singer earns a salary through my company. They can receive a small percentage of the revenue from album releases and concerts. Of course, whether or not this percentage is given is entirely up to me; I can give it or not. That's the first type. The second type of contract is a revenue-sharing arrangement. This means that you don't receive a salary when you sign with my company. All your income comes from a share of the album releases and concert revenue. Depending on the singer's fame, we offer a revenue-sharing arrangement ranging from 20% to 40% of the profits. Are you interested?"
Luo Lin thought for a moment before replying, "I'm very interested in signing with your company, but I'm a little undecided about how to sign. I might not be able to release any albums in the next two or three years."
"How about a buyout contract? I'll give you a minimum of 2,500 a month. You just need to produce two songs a year. I don't have any requirements on the quality. In other words, you can just give me two songs to fool me for a year, and I'll pay you 30,000 yuan, plus pension insurance. And you can stay in Urumqi. I won't force you to go anywhere else."
In 1996, an annual salary of 30,000 yuan was enough to shock countless people.
Liang Liang clearly remembers that before 2010, the salary of both workers and civil servants did not exceed 1,500 yuan.
In 1996, he paid Luo Lin a salary of 2,500 yuan with no performance requirements. This was not just a windfall, but a golden opportunity.
Luo Lin clearly knew this was a good thing.
What are you trying to achieve by doing this?
"I'm betting on your future by selecting all the songs you'll release."
"Sigh! Xiao Liang! I'm already twenty-five or twenty-six this year. Do you think I still have a future?"
"What's wrong? Have you forgotten what I said? You still have an era that hasn't even begun yet, how come you're already so deflated?"
"To be honest, I lack confidence in myself."
"Didn't you also discover that there's potential in music in Singapore? Why don't you go out and explore Singapore first, enrich yourself, and when you're fully prepared, good pieces will naturally emerge, and that's when you'll reap the rewards."
"You're just waiting for me to become famous? What if I don't become famous for eight or ten years?"
“I firmly believe that day will come. I trust my intuition. When you become famous, I will change your contract to a revenue-sharing arrangement and give you the highest percentage of the profits.”
"If you put it that way, would I be a fool if I didn't sign?"
"Of course! And he's the biggest fool in the world! Sister-in-law, do you understand?" Liang Liang asked Luo Lin's girlfriend.
"I won't get involved in his career matters," Luo Lin's girlfriend said.
"Sign it! Only a fool wouldn't sign it. At least with this salary, I won't have to worry about money when I'm out collecting material in the new province. Bring me the contract!"
"I didn't bring the contract!"
"Huh! You didn't bring the contract? You're just trying to fool me!"
"Hahaha! Don't rush, I still have something to say. Our second music festival will start at the end of next month, and I'd like to invite you to attend. Before you sign a contract, I'm just inviting you to attend, but once you sign, I'm ordering you to attend. You'll get 1,000 yuan per performance, and I'll cover your round-trip airfare."
Luo Lin agreed to participate in the music festival without any hesitation.
"When you go to the music festival, sign the contract while you're at it. I'll give you an advance of a year's salary."
On his first day in the new province, Liang Liang swiftly and decisively resolved Luo Lin's contract and music festival performance issues.
After discussing these matters, it got dark, and Luo Lin took Liang Liang and the other two to eat Xinjiang barbecue.
After finishing their barbecue, Liang Liang, having nothing else to do, went with Luo Lin to a nightclub where he sang.
At this time, Luo Lin was a keyboardist in a band called Desert Wind and Sand.
This band has a very beautiful female lead singer.
Huang Shan!
Huang Shan is 21 years old this year. In Urumqi in 1996, she was much more famous than Luo Lin.
At that time, she and Luo Lin were friends, but ten years later she became Luo Lin's apprentice, which is a bit far-fetched.
It seems that Liang Liang arrived at the wrong time tonight, because as soon as she entered the backstage area, she felt that the atmosphere seemed a bit tense.
Judging from the number of people backstage, it's clear that there wasn't just one band, but at least two.
"Manager Yu! What do you mean by this? Why did you bring the jujube trees here?" A pretty young woman in her twenties was glaring at a man in his forties.
This girl is Huang Shan.
"What do you mean! What do you mean? Don't you understand yourselves? Your band's songs have been getting worse and worse lately, and the audience has all left. If I let you stay here, my red rose will turn yellow. Now pack your bags and get out of here! Go wherever you want!"
"Manager Yu! Is this how you do things? Why didn't you tell us during the day? Now you're telling us to leave, where are we supposed to go?"
"What does it matter to me where you go?"
Huang Shan was furious: "Fine! You'll regret this, you surnamed Yu!"
"I don't regret it at all. Inviting your band is the thing I regret the most. Get out of here right now, or I'll call security to kick you out."
Before Liang Liang could figure out what was going on, she and the Desert Wind and Sand Band were kicked out of the door in a daze.
"Xiao Liang! I'm sorry, I was planning to show you the dance hall in Urumqi tonight, but I didn't expect to encounter something like this."
"Brother Luo! What's going on?!"
"Don't even mention it! The owner of this nightclub has a complicated background. A week ago, there was a fight here one night, and several people were stabbed. You mentioned the assault, so it's normal for the number of people in the nightclub to decrease, right? But this old guy is blaming us for it. We're more wronged than Dou E."
Liang Liang understood. This was like blaming the ground for not being able to poop, or blaming the wind for not being able to go up to the sky.
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