Chapter 99 Chapter 99
After leaving Yang Hyun-suk's office, Lia went to see Bo-hyung again. She had already finished reading the list of potential overseas musicians that Ha Ji-hye had given her.
Collaboration between YG and international musicians is nothing new. Teddy and his team have long maintained a stable partnership with European and American musicians, collaborating beyond technical aspects like arranging and mixing, sometimes also involving concept development or co-creating tracks.
However, these works are almost always used in albums or singles by YG artists and rarely flow outside the company system. She is unsure whether additional permission would be required for such international collaborations, or what the specific process would be.
He Zhihui couldn't make the decision on this matter, so she decided to go directly to Baoheng for confirmation. Baoheng was on the phone in the office when he heard the knock on the door. He nodded at her and asked her to come in and sit down. Lia nodded in agreement.
He sat down in the chair opposite her and put aside the hard drive he had brought back from Yang Xianshi's office. Baoheng quickly ended the call. She put down the phone and asked with a smile, "I heard from Zhihui that you took a week off?" "Yes,
"I gave myself a break." Lia answered truthfully. Seeing that Baoheng's eyes were dark blue, as if he hadn't rested well, she asked with concern: "Has Ouni been busy lately?"
Bao Heng shrugged, somewhat helplessly: "I'm still the same. There are some new people in the company recently, so I'm a little busier than before." "Tell me, what do you want to see me for?"
Lia didn't beat around the bush and briefly talked about the collaboration invitations she received after opening her YouTube channel.
"I don't have any specific artists under my control right now, and most of the people who contact me are niche independent musicians. If the cooperation goes forward, the work may be released through overseas platforms. So I want to confirm,
Does the company have any specific restrictions in this regard? Bao Heng listened and tapped her fingers twice on the table. She had heard He Zhihui mention this matter a long time ago. At that time, she keenly realized that
This might be related to the company's future overseas plans. So, the week after Ha Ji-hye's report, she brought this up as a potential direction to Yang Hyun-seok at a company meeting.
To her surprise, Yang Hyun-seok was supportive.
"The process for this kind of collaboration you're talking about isn't exactly easy," she said. "You don't have an independent production budget right now, and you're not under any project team. Any external collaboration requires filing a report first."
"If the collaborating partner is an independent musician from overseas, regardless of whether they have an agent or not, the company will first conduct a basic review." "A&R, legal affairs, overseas business department... Once the project is officially launched, these departments will all be involved."
She paused and added, "The company currently assumes that YouTube channels are a showcase for your personal creations and will not interfere for the time being. However, if you start co-creating with external musicians or involve content that may be released, you will also have to go through the company's procedures."
"Display is one thing, cooperation is another. As long as it involves signature, copyright, and revenue, the company cannot stay out of it." Lia sighed, feeling that her nerves, which had just relaxed not long ago, began to tense up again.
"...Isn't there a simpler solution?" she struggled desperately. By the time the process was complete, those cooperation invitations would have long since disappeared into the sea of people. Unexpectedly, Bao Heng thought for a moment and actually nodded.
"It's not completely impossible. If you just want to exchange some creative ideas with the other party first, and don't involve distribution yet, the process can be simpler."
"First, write a simple statement of intent, outlining the purpose of the collaboration, expected content, and the other party's basic information, and give it to Wisdom. She can help you file it in the A&R department's temporary collaboration file."
"The prerequisite is that you do not sign any binding contracts, and there is no payment or copyright confirmation involved. You must keep a good record of your communication, especially the communication traces with timestamps, to prevent any disputes about ownership in the future."
"Once we have a finished product worthy of release, we will make it a separate project and go through the formal approval process." Although YG has always been known for its "musician-oriented" approach, this freedom is based on the premise of serving the company's artist projects.
In reality, YG maintains a very strict control over content and copyright. Even though producers have considerable creative freedom within a project, few can independently lead external collaborations.
In such a system, Lia's approach is unusual, but the timing of her proposal is particularly delicate: YG is in the midst of a restructuring.
Japan remains the main target market, but beyond this, the company is also trying to find a development path that is more suitable for the North American market.
However, the expansion of the North American market is still in its early stages, and cooperation mostly remains at the level of media exposure and platform distribution. The music creation and output mechanism is not yet mature and is far from forming a stable system.
Teddy and his team were busy with major projects for core artists, leaving new producers yet to mature. The company was actually seriously short on content production. Lia's proposal, to some extent, played right on the edge of this system.
For the company, she is not the main producer, nor does she have any major resource ties. Her attempt is a low-cost exploration: if it fails, the company will suffer almost no loss; but if it succeeds, the company can integrate the results and take over again at any time.
Lia hadn't anticipated the underlying considerations behind this. After hearing Baoheng's words, she breathed a sigh of relief. This matter had gone much more smoothly than she had expected, even smoother than the album production proposal.
She nodded and thanked Bao Heng earnestly. "Have you decided on a partner?" Bao Heng asked. "Yes, there is one, Isaac Kim," Lia replied. Seeing that Bao Heng seemed interested, she introduced him a few more words:
"This guy is Korean-American. He used to work as a vocal producer for an indie label, and now he's an independent musician living in Los Angeles."
"I first heard some of his work on SoundCloud, and his style is quite compatible with what I'm creating now." Lia paused, "He's the most suitable person I can contact right now."
Baoheng looked at Lia with a hint of approval in his eyes.
She had watched Quan Zhilong grow up, and now she was watching Lia grow up. Surrounded by these talented and hardworking people, even though she had almost adapted to their terrifying growth rate, she would still sometimes marvel at their judgment and ability to act.
... When she left the company, it was almost evening. Before leaving, she went to the company gym.
She hadn't been to this place for a long time. The last time was when she was a trainee. The company arranged physical training twice a week, so that dancing would not affect her breathing and her basic physical strength could keep up with the stage performance.
She was on her way to see Lee Hi—she had just signed a contract and was currently undergoing systematic training. Although she wasn't an idol in the traditional sense, the company still managed her according to the standards of an artist: vocals, dancing, language, and body.
Baoheng said that, apart from the classes arranged by the company, she spends most of her time in the gym to ensure she looks photogenic after her debut. Lia didn't mention the album.
She knew that Lee Hi felt close to her, and this feeling might affect her judgment at certain moments.
She hopes that if she is really chosen to make this album one day, Lee Hi will accept it because the work itself is good enough, rather than out of some kind of trust projection. But she will not deliberately avoid it because of this.
They chatted briefly about the weather, diet, and training progress. After leaving the company, she went to the convenience store and bought a simple dinner: a plate of creamy pasta and a bottle of grapefruit sparkling water. After heating it up briefly, she sat at a table by the window and ate.
The weather was beautiful, and the setting sun painted the sky a soft orange-gold. The aroma of cream rose in the air, and as she ate, she pondered how to write the statement of intent she would give to Ha Ji-hye, watching the sun sink into the horizon.
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