182 Sponsorship Contract
When she first started singing that bad song, neither the company nor she herself had much hope. So the company didn’t do any packaging, just posted the song “Good Little Brother” online, along with those crudely made internet dance songs.
However, it unexpectedly became a hit.
The domestic music scene back then was right when physical album sales began to shrink. “Good Little Brother” didn’t release a legitimate album at all, but made a fortune selling ringback tones.
Greatly encouraged, the company arranged a series of similar ‘explosive dance songs’ for Chang Wen, the more brainwashing the better. And with the fame of the first hit song, starting from the second song, they could also shoot MVs for her.
It was just that due to the style of the song, she wore cool and even revealing clothes in the MV, wore hot makeup, and danced hot dances. And the company even arranged plastic surgery for her for this purpose.
Once the MV was launched, it exploded instantly. Videos spread for free on the internet certainly couldn’t bring any direct income, but borrowing this fame, she could tour around and make money from commercial performances. Although a considerable amount of the income was taken by the company, Chang Wen’s own annual income reached millions.
After that, it was one ‘divine tune’ after another, allowing her to gain a firm foothold in places like square dances and big sales…
Chatting up to here, Chang Wen smiled bitterly. “Ten years ago when I first started to get popular, I argued with the company executives, wanting to change my singing style and sing songs I wrote myself. I still remember what that executive said. He said I was just a little girl who hadn’t grown up, couldn’t see the height of the sky and the depth of the earth, and couldn’t understand market demand. He also said he wouldn’t blame me for contradicting him to his face, because I wouldn’t be so childish in the future and would apologize to him.”
Pei Ningle couldn’t help but ask, “Then did you apologize to him?”
Chang Wen nodded. “When I got the share of the ringback tones, that million-yuan check, I apologized.”
Wang Heng didn’t speak, just felt a little heavy. And the atmosphere in the rest area seemed to become much more depressed.
Chang Wen suddenly took out a pack of high-end cigarettes, pulled one out, held it in her mouth, and lit it with a lighter.
She took a drag and continued, “I really can’t blame them. After seeing the money, even I made the same choice. Writing songs is tiring, really tiring. And what I need to do in the company is just sing bad songs written by others, dance nightclub-style dances, and then sit and collect money. Even running around the country for commercial performances is very easy. I don’t need to worry about any singing effect, and it doesn’t even matter if I lip-sync. Not many people care about this. Everyone just wants to hear the hottest and most popular divine tunes, see the person singing the divine tunes, take a picture to show off, that’s all.”
Pei Ningle suddenly asked, “Then do you regret it now?”
Chang Wen stared at the smoke rising from her hand and whispered, “Talking about regret or not is meaningless now. What they said was indeed correct. The music market back then was like that. The most popular was Hong Kong and Taiwan music, followed by the craze of talent shows. I’m not from Hong Kong or Taiwan, and I didn’t catch up with the talent shows. If I wanted to stand out, I could only sing divine tunes. Being played everywhere on the streets was success. If I didn’t do this, I would starve to death. There was no other choice.”
Pei Ningle: “Then do I have other choices now?”
Chang Wen looked at this petite girl and suddenly smiled. “To be honest, I don’t know. I feel that the wind has changed a bit in the past two years. More fans are paying attention to original music, which is why people like Yansheng write articles. Ten years ago, this kind of self-media focusing on independent musicians couldn’t exist at all.”
Wang Heng interjected, “There was no self-media ten years ago either. Although there were blogs, the audience was too small.”
Chang Wen nodded, her gaze still fixed on the girl’s face, and continued, “I don’t know if you will have a day to stand out if you continue to sing, but I hope you don’t give up. Even if there is a shortcut in front of you, don’t give up, don’t leave your own songs behind. Of course, it seems a bit selfish for someone like me who killed my original intention to persuade you to stick to your original intention…”
“I don’t think it’s selfish,” Pei Ningle interrupted, “and no matter what you say, I was going to continue anyway.”
Chang Wen was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed. “When I argued with the company executives back then, my eyes were the same as yours now.”
Pei Ningle blinked and didn’t speak. The girl felt that although the Queen of Divine Tunes in front of her refused to admit it, she must have regretted it countless times over the years.
It was just that those regrets couldn’t withstand the power of checks.
Chang Wen took another deep drag of the cigarette, then exhaled slowly. “So, I want to sponsor you. Don’t be polite with me. This is not charity, I just want to see a stubborn girl persist.”
Pei Ningle tilted her head. “Why should I be polite with you? You’re giving me money, why should I refuse?”
Chang Wen was stunned for a moment, then slapped her leg and laughed loudly. “Hahahaha… well said, that’s how it should be!”
**
Chang Wen left.
She had a commercial performance scheduled for the next day, so naturally, she couldn’t stay in Rongdu for too long. And what she left in Rongdu, for Pei Ningle, was ten thousand yuan in a bank card, and a contract with almost zero binding force.
She was already a follower of Yansheng’s official account, and now, she also followed Pei Ningle’s NetEase Cloud Music account. In the future, as long as Pei Ningle released a new song, she could hear it.
There was also an agreement in the contract that for every new original song Pei Ningle released in the future, she could get five thousand yuan from her.
For a Queen of Divine Tunes like Chang Wen, a mere expenditure of five or ten thousand was just a drop in the bucket. However, for an original musician like Pei Ningle who was just starting out, this sponsorship contract was like sending charcoal in snowy weather.
After settling the contract, Wang Heng returned to school and continued to tutor his roommates in math.
And in her own room, looking at the freshly baked contract and the transfer text message on her phone, Pei Ningle, filled with joy, made two calls.
After all, good things should be shared with friends!
The first call connected, and Pei Ningle said happily, “Hello, is this Little Xuan? Have you returned to Rongdu… Oh, you arrived the day before yesterday. Let me tell you, I am now a sponsored musician too!”
Han Yixuan on the other end of the line was a little baffled. “Sponsored? Did Wang Heng give you money to support you again?”
Pei Ningle: “He is the manager, not the sponsor. You definitely can’t guess who the sister sponsoring me is…”
Not knowing which ‘sister’ she associated it with, Han Yixuan’s voice instantly became tense. “Who is it?”
