I became a music industry godfather by writing confidantes.

Chapter 066 A New Storm Has Appeared

Saturday, April 7.

Although it's the weekend, for producers like Yang Du, the concept of a two-day weekend doesn't really exist.

At this moment, in the listening room on the first floor of the Kingstone Music headquarters, Yang Du was sitting on a wide and soft leather sofa. Next to him was a manager from the artist and production department, and not far away, a specialist was operating a computer.

This setup looks like they're reviewing some kind of trade secret.

In reality, Yang Du was just there to listen to the demo.

The overall concept and five main tracks for Tao Cheng's second solo album, "Swallowtail Butterfly," have been finalized.

However, a complete studio album that meets industry standards usually requires ten songs.

How do we fill the remaining five vacancies?

If they have enough money and time, record companies will usually spend a lot of money to invite songwriters, composers, arrangers, and producers in the industry, charter a plane to bring them to a resort hotel, and hold a closed music creation camp.

These musicians are randomly grouped into groups of three or five, locked in a room, and write day and night according to the album concept. The next day, the group order is shuffled to continue to spark ideas and squeeze out inspiration until they are completely drained, and finally a few suitable songs are selected.

This is what the industry commonly refers to as "raising Gu".

But Yang Du was not prepared to do that.

Firstly, they didn't want to waste the precious 250 million yuan budget, and secondly, the album's song selection emphasized that even a beautiful flower needs green leaves to set it off.

"Swallowtail Butterfly" already has five high-quality singles. The remaining five songs need to be accompanied by some catchy tunes that don't overshadow the main tracks, serving as a smooth transition.

The simplest and most direct way to find supporting tracks is to go directly to Jinshi Music's demo library and search for gems.

As one of the top three music companies in China, Jinshi Music boasts an incredibly vast music library.

This collection contains nearly 600,000 demos collected from all over the country, with the earliest batch dating back to the 1980s.

These are Kingstone Music's most core commercial assets.

To protect these assets from being leaked, this dedicated listening room has an extremely high level of security.

Before entering the listening room, a confidentiality agreement is signed, and all electronic devices are confiscated. Apart from the internal dedicated listening player, no other software is installed on the computers in the listening room, and the USB ports of the computer hosts are physically sealed off.

When Yang Du came in to listen to the demo, the artist and a manager from the production department accompanied him throughout. This was partly to show that Jinshi values ​​Yang Du and is ready to answer any questions he might have, and partly as part of industry practice to supervise and protect him.

Another staff member was responsible for operating the computer, while Yang only needed to do one thing—listen to music.

Listening to demos is a very energy-consuming activity because most demos are produced very roughly, some of which simply have a melody without any lyrics.

The producer must use their keen intuition and experience to imagine the final effect that the demo might present after being polished and rearranged, based on this raw material.

Yang Du initially sat upright on the leather sofa, listening intently.

Half an hour later, he changed his posture, resting his chin on one hand.

An hour later, he was lying in a relaxed, reclining position.

An hour and a half later, he was lying on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.

For two whole hours, all sorts of strange and wonderful melodies kept playing in the listening room.

Some melodies are so corny they're practically cheesy, like a trip back to the early 2000s ringtone era; others are pure technical showing off, with melodies that go on and on until your head aches...

Occasionally there are one or two melodies that are somewhat pleasant to listen to, but they don't quite fit the overall feel of "Swallowtail Butterfly".

Yang Du's head was buzzing; he couldn't find a single song that suited his taste.

"Let's pause for a bit." Yang Du got up from the sofa, stretched, and said, "I'm going out to rest for a bit, have some water, and clear my head."

The supervisor smiled and agreed, "Listening to demos can indeed cause auditory fatigue. Producer Yang, why don't you go to the lounge next door and rest for a while? I'll have someone make you a cup of coffee and send it over."

Yang Du picked up his phone, went to the lounge, and drank half a cup of coffee, which finally made him feel a little more relaxed.

I took out my phone and opened Weibo.

As soon as he refreshed the page, a message caught his attention.

[YunGe Music makes a major announcement! Tang You's second album is officially launched, with renowned musician Jiang Yinglan joining as producer!]

Jiang Yinglan?

Upon seeing this name, Yang Du raised an eyebrow.

He was a student at the Beijing Conservatory of Music and has now entered the music industry, so he is naturally familiar with this name.

Jiang Yinglan is a typical academic, having graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music and still serving as a visiting professor there. She crossed over to create the theme song for the movie "White Snake," winning the Golden Bell Awards for Best Arrangement and Best Original Soundtrack.

Yang Du instantly realized that Yun Ge Music's move was clearly aimed at Jin Shi Music, or more precisely, at Tao Cheng and "Swallowtail Butterfly".

In today's Chinese music scene, female singers born in the 00s are divided into three groups: Tao Cheng of Jinshi, Sun Qingning of Century, and Tang You of Yunge.

In the recent music chart battle, Sun Qingning of Century Music suffered a setback, being attacked from both sides by Jiang Yan's "Painting Heart" and Lin Xu's "Red Rose". She was weakened and is now lying low.

Now, Yun Ge has made a high-profile announcement of Tang You's second album plan, and even invited a veteran like Jiang Yinglan to protect her. This is no longer just a clash between two albums, but a battle for the title of the new generation's number one female artist!

"That's interesting."

As Yang Du watched the fans arguing in the comments section, his phone screen suddenly flashed, displaying a call from Wang Shihui.

"Hello, Teacher Wang?"

Wang Shihui asked mysteriously, "Yang Du, I have a question for you. You... didn't offend Jiang Yinglan before, did you?"

"ha?"

Yang Du was completely bewildered: "I'm a student at the Beijing Conservatory of Music, and she's a visiting professor at the Central Conservatory of Music. We've never even met before, how could I possibly have offended her? What happened?"

"I've heard that Jiang Yinglan came directly for you this time."

"Really? What have I done to deserve this?"

"Hahahaha!" Wang Shihui couldn't help but laugh. "Yang Du, Yang Du, you've finally met your match."

"To be honest with you, given Jiang Yinglan's personality, she would never have taken on a pop music album. However, the higher-ups at YunGe took a different approach and used a provocation tactic."

"Yun Ge first played 'Flammable and Explosive,' 'Painted Heart,' and 'Red Rose' for her. Just when she felt that the pop music scene had finally produced a good talent, she showed her your emotional masterpiece on Weibo."

"It is said that Jiang Yinglan fainted on the spot after reading it, saying that it was simply absurd, that you had willingly fallen into depravity, gone astray, and ruined your future, and that she would definitely teach you a lesson."

"No..." Yang Du was baffled. "What did I do to deserve this? This is blatant prejudice!"

This is truly an undeserved disaster.

"Hahaha!" Wang Shihui was still gloating and watching the joke unfold.

"Wait a minute, Teacher Wang," Yang Du suddenly realized something was amiss. "Your information network is far too extensive. You even managed to find out inside information about Yun Ge and Jiang Yinglan?"

"Ugh, what do you mean by asking about inside information?" Wang Shihui's tone was a bit disgusted. "Jiang Yinglan is my wife's cousin, a relative we eat at the same table during holidays."

"Her temper was so bad. She looked down on everyone, was rigid and domineering, and loved to lecture us pop music people. She always put on airs and bossed us around. She was really annoying."

"She signed the contract yesterday, and then posted a long message in the group chat, talking about how young people these days, blah blah blah. My wife showed me the screenshots of the chat."

Yang Du: "..."

This circle is sometimes so small it seems ridiculous.