Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

Chapter 8 Tape Song Selection
Holding the letter of introduction given by Chen Xiaoqi, Zhou Ziheng walked out of the China Record Company compound, feeling a little melancholy.

When I came here, I thought I would be valued by China Records, signed, recorded, and then published.

Unexpectedly, such an accident happened in the meantime.

Now, he basically cannot join the planning department of China Records.

but……

He glanced at the letter of introduction in his hand.

The results are actually pretty good so far.

In the 90s, mainland music was booming, and the heyday of the tape market also led to the reform of several major record companies.

Pacific Audio and Video may not be as good as the planning department of Zhonglu Records, but it is not much worse.

Moreover, Chen Xiaoqi gave him a plan that he would never dare to think about normally.

Produce your own records and then have them distributed by Pacific Audio & Video.

This is a dead end for other singers, because without money and talent, it is impossible for them to guarantee that every tape of theirs will sell well.

If the tapes didn't make money, it would be like a business that lost money because it invested too much money up front to make the records.

But this is not a problem at all for Zhou Ziheng.

He has countless future classic songs in his mind, what he needs is a channel and an opportunity.

Now, Chen Xiaoqi made it convenient for him to record tapes in the recording studio of China Records for free.

As long as this tape is successful, Zhou Ziheng will be able to seize this opportunity and quickly gain momentum.

Li Chunbo's tape has already entered the vision of the planning department of China Records, and they are currently discussing whether to release it.

He had a lot of things to do in the planning department today, so Zhou Ziheng didn't wait for him, but took the bus back to the Friendship Hotel.

After returning to the hotel, Zhou Ziheng did not go out to sing on the street again.

Just like Chen Xiaoqi said, a tape must not have only one song.

If I want to have this tape published and released, it must have no less than ten songs.

Since he is not signed to a record company now, naturally there is no record company to recruit songs for him or plan the style of his records.

Therefore, he needs to complete all of these by himself.

Sitting at the old wooden table in the room, Zhou Ziheng's thoughts were racing, and the names of songs similar in style to "Wandering Song" emerged one after another.

After a while, Zhou Ziheng came up with an idea and wrote down the song selection and layout of the entire tape on paper.

Wandering Song

Outside the Window

"Wandering" (originally named "Wandering Brothers")
New Worker Song

The Child Away from Home

So-Called Life

"Wine on September 9th"

It's Time to Go Home

"Looking Back Home"

"Nine-nine Daughter Red"

The songs selected on the entire tape are not all wandering songs.

It's like telling a story.

"Wandering Song" is the theme.

"Outside the Window" is the beginning of a story about a wandering protagonist. He once had someone he liked and had thought about confessing his love to her countless times, but he could not give her a good life, so he chose to leave home and work hard.

"Wandering", "New Migrant Worker's Ballad" and "The Child Who Left Home" are about the difficulties faced by the protagonists who are wandering outside.

"The So-Called Life" expresses that no matter how hard or tiring the life is, the protagonist will grit his teeth and bear it, and will only feel sad when he is alone.

"Wine on September 9th" is about the September of each year, when the protagonist misses his hometown again.

"It's Time to Go Home" means that the protagonist has decided to go home.

In "Looking Back at Hometown", the protagonist embarks on the journey back home, and his hometown is vivid in his mind.

"Jiujiu Daughter's Red Wine" is the end of the story, echoing the girl in the previous "Outside the Window". It can also be regarded as a beautiful blessing, blessing everyone who is wandering outside, and when he returns home, he will be greeted by a happy and perfect future.

Looking at the names of the ten songs reflected on the paper, Zhou Ziheng took a deep breath.

Each of these ten songs sparked a wave of popularity in the 1990s.

If these ten songs are not enough to make him famous in the mainland music scene.

Needless to say, he can pack his bags and head to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and other places immediately.

After confirming that his song selection was generally correct, Zhou Ziheng did not hesitate and began to memorize the tunes and lyrics of the songs from memory.

After all, dictation is dictation, not rewriting. The lyrics and music of the ten songs did not take Zhou Ziheng too much time.

It took him about two hours to finally finish writing the entire song.

After writing the song, Zhou Ziheng thought for a while and then quickly walked out the door.

He went to the accommodation building opposite his and knocked on one of the rooms.

"Who is it?" After knocking a few times, a response came from inside.

"Brother Liu, it's me, Ah Heng!" Zhou Ziheng replied.

Hearing his voice, Liu Jianguo inside seemed to mutter a few words, but still opened the door.

"Aheng, is there anything wrong? So early in the morning!" Liu Jianguo asked while yawning.

Zhou Ziheng looked up at the sky.

The sun has risen to the middle of the sky, shining brightly on the earth.

It’s already past one o’clock, still early in the morning.

But Zhou Ziheng also understood him.

Working in a karaoke bar means doing night work, especially in a band. Although the income is good, you have to accompany the guests from beginning to end.

According to Liu Jianguo's usual schedule, he should have gone to bed around four o'clock last night, so now is the perfect time for him to have a good sleep.

For him, it is indeed early morning, his early morning.

"Brother Liu, I heard that your band usually takes on some accompaniment recording work. Are you still doing it now? I have a few songs here and I would like you to help record the accompaniment dubbing."

Zhou Ziheng didn't say anything more and directly stated his purpose.

Although Chen Xiaoqi opened the recording studio of China Records to Zhou Ziheng and asked him to record.

But Zhou Ziheng needs to handle the accompaniment band, other mixing, mastering and other work himself.

Zhou Ziheng naturally couldn't afford to hire a big band, so he thought of Liu Jianguo's Tell the Truth Band.

The band Tell the Truth is not the best band in the country, but after all, they have been in the band for many years and are very experienced.

In addition, they are familiar with Zhou Ziheng, so asking them to help with the accompaniment and dubbing recording can not only help them find ways to get a discount, but also facilitate communication.

"Record the accompaniment? Record the two songs you sang last night?"

Liu Jianguo did not let Zhou Ziheng enter the house, but just leaned against the door and asked.

"Yes!" Zhou Ziheng didn't mind that he didn't invite him in.

Everyone in the entire karaoke bar knows that Liu Jianguo is old but charming.

He would often hook up with the female dancers in the nightclub or have sex with the guests when they come back.

According to Zhou Ziheng's estimation, there was most likely a woman lying in bed in the room at this moment.

"You can record the accompaniment, but Ah Heng, I have to say something first, our band charges a lot.

Three hundred yuan for the accompaniment of a song, is that acceptable to you?"

Liu Jianguo didn't play any tricks and gave a direct quote.

"Brother Liu, look, we are so familiar with each other, this price..."

When Zhou Ziheng heard the price was 300 yuan per song, his heart sank.

This is so damn expensive.

Ten songs cost three thousand yuan.

Three thousand yuan was not a small sum of money in the 1990s.

Even though Zhou Ziheng's daily income used to be around a hundred.

But after deducting expenses and the money to send back to repay debts, he simply cannot come up with that much money now.

"Ah Heng, we are familiar with each other, but this is the rule of this business, and we don't accept bargaining.

I know you are in trouble, but I don’t believe you can’t do it.

You earned more than 700 yuan last night. If you sing a few more nights, you will have the money, right?
Since we are all friends, others pay in advance, but you can pay after the recording is finished."

Liu Jianguo had no intention of bargaining and spoke directly.

Hearing this, Zhou Ziheng made a rough calculation.

He currently has about fifteen thousand on his body.

Still halfway there.

If he were to be paid after the recording, and if he did a few more street performances during this period, combined with the income from the nightclub, it wouldn't take him long to earn that much money.

Confident that he could make a profit, and as Liu Jianguo made it clear that he would not bargain, Zhou Ziheng could only nod helplessly.

"Okay, I'm going to record ten songs and start tomorrow. Brother Liu, please get ready and come with me to the China Record Company to record tomorrow morning."

"You're really good! You've recorded ten songs. Have you contacted a record company? Do you want to publish them?"

Hearing Zhou Ziheng's words, Liu Jianguo asked in surprise.

"Not yet, I just want to record the song first like Chunbo brother."

Zhou Ziheng did not mention that he might give the tape to Pacific Publishing for distribution.

There is no clue about this matter.

Also, it’s better not to talk too much about some things.

Nowadays, there are many people who can't stand you living better than them.

When it is time to be low-key, it is better to be low-key so as not to attract jealousy.

(End of this chapter)