"Brother Zhaoyang, do you mind if I call you that?"
Zhang Xincheng smiled.
"Don't be so formal, call me whatever you like." Li Zhaoyang was a little taken aback by the branch office manager's enthusiasm.
“Brother Zhaoyang, since I’m calling you brother, I’ll be frank with you. In a month or two, you should apply to return to headquarters. This branch office is too complicated.”
Zhang Xincheng was very direct, and he genuinely wanted to be honest with Li Zhaoyang.
Li Zhaoyang pondered, "Wanxia Branch will find it difficult to make any progress here?"
Zhang Xincheng nodded: "You heard it just now. We are being slowly suppressed and eroded by the Sihai Group. By the end of the year at the latest, the branch will fall apart."
At this point, he patted Li Zhaoyang on the shoulder and said meaningfully, "With your status, it shouldn't be a problem for you to apply to return to headquarters sooner rather than later... The new director can't handle this mess."
"Hmm." Li Zhaoyang asked the question that concerned him most: "How are Chinese songs doing in the US market?"
"It's alright. If you consider the US music market as a big cake, it's divided into three parts: English songs account for 30%, Korean songs account for 30%, Japanese songs account for 30%, and the remaining 10% is the Chinese music market. Now it's being suppressed. These foreigners don't want them to develop here."
"Now I understand. Before we can establish a firm foothold, we can start by releasing more English songs." Li Zhaoyang already had a plan in mind.
"Huh?" Zhang Xincheng didn't understand what the other person was saying: "Aren't you a bronze medalist? You can write English songs too? Um, what I mean is, Brother Zhaoyang, you don't need to get involved in this mess, it's too deep."
He thought that Li Zhaoyang should understand now that he had said so much.
The other party then made an even more surprising statement: "Has our Sunset branch ever expanded into the English song business? I have an English song in my hand, and I'd like to release it as soon as possible after the supervisor... the director has completed the handover."
Li Zhaoyang understood long ago that the reason why the Sunset Branch was being suppressed was mainly because it had not expanded its English business.
With Chinese songs having such a small market share in the United States, if we want to completely get out of the current predicament, we certainly can't just develop Chinese songs; we need a diverse range of genres.
However, Zhang Xincheng's eyes filled with envy.
have to!
The Crown Prince's thoughts are pure and innocent.
I won't try to persuade him anymore. It's not too late to try after this young master realizes the company's predicament.
The current crown prince is like a newborn calf that is not afraid of tigers; he has lofty ambitions, which is understandable.
"Then, Brother Zhaoyang... once the director has finished handing over his work, you can just send the song to him."
After Zhang Xincheng finished speaking, he called on everyone to prepare for the meeting.
At this moment, the heads of the other departments also arrived.
However, the situation also became chaotic.
Many artists from the contract signing department came with Manager Gou.
"What's going on?" Zhang Xincheng raised an eyebrow when he saw so many people gathered in the composition department.
Supervisor Gou shrugged and gave a wry smile: "Let them talk to the new director. I can't keep it under control."
“This…” Zhang Xincheng looked at Director Zhang not far away.
Zhang Shulan, her emotions concealed, slowly walked into the conference room: "Let's start the meeting."
Instantly, everyone was like they'd been injected with adrenaline, rushing towards the conference room.
Zhang Xincheng angrily pointed at Manager Gou: "You motherfucker, what are you doing sending these artists here? I told you to handle this properly, and this is how you handle it?"
Old Gou lowered his voice to the lowest level: "It's really not my fault. Ever since I spread the news to the signing department, these artists have been clamoring to terminate their contracts with the company like crazy. Look at me, I don't know which bastard slapped me across the face, and it still hurts."
Zhang Xincheng's expression darkened further when he saw the red handprint on Lao Gou's left cheek: "You can't just let them run wild like that, can you?"
"Aren't you coming in for the meeting?" Zhang Shulan's voice came from inside the meeting room.
The managers were so frightened that they quickly ran inside and found seats.
Li Zhaoyang sat in the seat closest to Zhang Shulan.
"Are all these artists from your contract department?" Zhang Shulan stared intently at Manager Gou as a large group of people surged in.
Supervisor Gou trembled and stood up to reply, "Yes... Director, please let me explain..."
“Let them talk,” Zhang Shulan interrupted, picking on one of the artists who had started the discussion and asking, “Whatever your questions are, bring them all up here, and I’ll address them all at once.”
The female artist who was called upon stood up and said firmly, "Director, we heard that headquarters is going to transfer a group of artists here for development. Is that true?"
"yes."
The female artist looked displeased: "Director, the branch office already has very few resources. We artists were living a stable and comfortable life here, but now another group of female artists are coming to compete with us for resources. How are we supposed to survive? We might as well switch jobs."
"Any more questions?" Zhang Shulan asked again.
"Yes!" Another female artist stood up and offered her opinion: "Although the headquarters is going to invest 50 million US dollars in the branch, Director, you may not understand the current situation. With the previous resources, we could have comfortably made money in the branch. Now that a batch of artists have been transferred here, the resources are simply not enough to go around."
"Making money comfortably." Zhang Shulan pondered these words, then looked at Supervisor Gou: "Isn't there a competitive environment in the contract signing department? Why is the word 'comfortable' used in your department?"
Resources are earned; without competition, there is no progress.
It's no wonder that others would target the sunset industry first; the problems stem from internal issues, likely due to lax discipline.
“This…” Manager Gou broke out in a cold sweat.
"What are their names?" Zhang Shulan asked.
“Zhang Wenlan, Zuo Jingqiu,” Supervisor Gou replied.
"Okay, have them sign the termination papers." Zhang Shulan was there to resolve the issue.
Once the person who created the problem is dealt with, the problem will naturally disappear.
"What?" Manager Gou was shocked and lowered his voice to remind him, "They are the two most famous artists in our Wanxia Entertainment. If they are fired directly... the company's predicament will only get worse."
“Yes, we opened it directly.” Zhang Shulan’s tone gradually turned cold.
Zhang Wenlan, with her dyed red hair, was displeased: "Director, how can you fire someone just for asking a question? Don't you know the rules here?"
Zuo Jingqiu chimed in, "30% of the company's total revenue comes from our contributions. Director, you need to think twice before you proceed with the termination of the contract."
The two women were very assertive, standing tall and proud, exuding extraordinary confidence. While addressing the new director as "Director," they actually wanted to teach him the rules of the place.
Li Zhaoyang and Zhang Shulan aren't stupid; it's not hard to tell from their attitudes that they're used to being domineering at the company.
"Smack—"
Zhang Shulan remained calm, slammed one hand on the table, and gave Manager Gou a look.
He was instantly startled and his eyes widened. This director didn't seem to be there to take over a mess, as Zhang Xincheng had said. He seemed more like someone who had come to reorganize the branch office.
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