FWTS Chapter 109 Cheating Songs and Learning by Experience
In recent years, besides live streaming, another hot term that has emerged is IP.
This IP doesn't refer to IP addresses, but rather Intellectual Property, which is the cornerstone of the content industry! Especially in the entertainment industry, IP has become incredibly popular in recent years, gaining momentum in the Chinese film and television industry with both deliberate and unintentional promotion. In short, IP can be understood as "hit products + entire industry chain." Hit products refer to the content, while the entire industry chain involves subsequent development based on that content. From novels to screenplays, movies, television, audio-visual products, publications, games, animation, dolls, peripherals, celebrities, fans, and communities, completing such a comprehensive ecosystem is the ultimate goal or, shall we say, the ideal goal of every IP!
It's worth noting that there's no strict order to establish such a comprehensive ecosystem. However, in today's Chinese market, it generally starts with novels as the source content. With the boom of IP, there have been many hits in recent years, whether in television dramas, movies, or games, all showing remarkable performances. Especially in television dramas, the highest-rated shows in the past two years have almost all been adaptations of major IPs.
It's precisely because of the IP boom that authors in the internet literature community, which can be considered the largest content supplier in the mobile internet era, have seen their incomes rise steadily in recent years. The various copyrights of the novels they create can also fetch increasingly high prices, breaking the image of the "poor scholar" that has persisted for thousands of years and achieving wealth through literature.
The influx of capital has also made the competition for major IPs increasingly fierce. As a result, many people have set their sights on the potential IP under development. In the eyes of many investors, the "Sword Master" series is undoubtedly a potential IP, and a high-quality one at that! Whether it's the novels or the comics, they enjoy immense popularity and rave reviews. Furthermore, the author himself is also a high-quality potential IP!
During this time, there have been many discussions and negotiations at the headquarters of Qiyue Publishing regarding the copyrights related to "Sword Master." The prices offered are absolutely tempting, but the Copyright Department of Qiyue has been tight-lipped all along, evidently intending to hold out for higher prices, at least until the completion of the series, which is also the stance of Hou Muyun.
After the release of "The Legend of the Sword Sovereign," another batch of individuals or companies rushed to the headquarters of Qiyue Publishing. Although "The Legend of the Sword Sovereign" only has 100,000 words so far, it has garnered a lot of interest from various parties.
The copyrights of spin-offs like "The Legend of the Sword Sovereign" are all in the hands of Hou Muyun after the renegotiation, but he has entrusted Qiyue Publishing to handle the operation. In Hou Muyun's view, as the saying goes, let professionals do professional things; he only needs the final say. This also saves him from a lot of phone harassment.
At noon, Shi Shiwu got up and had lunch together with Hou Muyun before heading to the rehearsal room. Shi Shiwu still needed to prepare for the recording of "Double Annual Summit." Although they already had a selection of meticulously arranged songs, Shi Shiwu didn't slack off.
While Shi Shiwu was busy, Hou Muyun decided to host the live broadcast in the rehearsal room. Besides creating a humorous atmosphere by teasing Shi Shiwu, they had set up the rehearsal room in a way that made the live broadcast more interesting for the viewers. Apart from singing, Hou Muyun also spontaneously formed a band with Shi Shiwu and other staff members, and they had a great time jamming together.
This live broadcast set a new record for online viewership, reaching over ten million viewers by the end!
This success was partly due to teasing Shi Shiwu and partly due to the recent broadcast of the final of "The Singer."
After the broadcast, Shi Shiwu reciprocated by dragging Hou Muyun into reworking several songs and then rehearsing them again. They enjoyed themselves during the rehearsal. Both Shi Shiwu and his studio members loved to "play." Overall, Hou Muyun felt very happy when he was with this group of people, except for Shi Shiwu's chronic indecisiveness.
During their playful sessions, Hou Muyun also learned a lot.
Afternoon passed, and the songs for "Double Annual Summit" were ready. Shi Shiwu breathed a sigh of relief and invited everyone to have dinner. Besides the studio members, they also invited Zhai Nan and Professor Yu. Considering the setup, it was evident that there would be a fierce battle after dinner! Fortunately, Shi Shiwu had a rehearsal tomorrow morning and a recording session in the afternoon, so the fun didn't last too long. However, it wasn't until around 11 p.m. that they finished.
After grabbing some supper, on the way back to the hotel, Hou Muyun brought up the issue of song production.
"Do you want to learn how to write songs?" Shi Shiwu raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried that my songs are too expensive?"
Hou Muyun nodded and then chuckled, "On one hand, I'm afraid your prices are too high, but on the other hand, I am indeed interested in learning about songwriting. I haven't had any formal training, so I thought I could learn from your experience."
"You're worried about my songs being too expensive, but aren't you afraid that the tuition fees for learning might be even higher?" Shi Shiwu pondered for a moment. "But writing songs, sometimes it really depends on talent. I haven't taught anyone before... How about this, I'll recommend some relevant books for you first. Once you're familiar with the basics, you can jump right into practical experience! It just so happens that I'm preparing a new album for one of my junior sisters. You can shadow me as an assistant, observe, learn, and participate in the entire song production process. This way, you'll have a more intuitive understanding of the entire process. Songwriting is definitely a lengthy process and often depends on a burst of inspiration. It can't be rushed; take it slow."
At first, Hou Muyun thought Shi Shiwu was making sense, but then he gradually caught on, "The more I listen, the more it sounds like you're trying to recruit me as a free laborer!"
Shi Shiwu laughed heartily, "Love it or leave it!"
Hou Muyun gestured with two fingers, "Two songs as payment."
Shi Shiwu retorted, "Do you think I'm selling cabbages here?"
"How about just one?"
"I'll give you half price at most."
"Who knows if your half price is double the original price!"
"It's a market, after all!"
"No bargaining allowed!"
...
The next morning, after finishing writing, Shi Shiwu went for rehearsals in the morning and had recording sessions in the afternoon. Hou Muyun took the keys and went to the studio alone. All the instruments and equipment were there, and Hou Muyun planned to use his existing attribute cards and skill cards to experiment with some things in advance.
He ordered some food for lunch and continued tinkering with various instruments and equipment during a live broadcast here. After the broadcast ended, he continued experimenting.
With these cards and an intelligence score of 7, it wasn't too difficult to get the hang of it. And with composition and lyric writing both at 8, plus an inspiration score of 11, after messing around for a while, Hou Muyun unexpectedly came up with the outline of the first song he wanted to write!
He hurriedly jotted it down! Ready to polish and refine it later!
Shi Shiwu finished recording around 6 p.m., and then he and Hou Muyun flew from Changsha to Hangzhou together, accompanied by the duo Er Zhang and Xiao Yu. They were going to Hangzhou to record a new episode of "War of Music." The three of them were curious why Hou Muyun was also going to Hangzhou, and they asked if Shi Shiwu had dragged him along to accompany or something. Later, when they heard that Hou Muyun wanted to learn music production, they all laughed.
"Monkey, don't just learn from Shi Shiwu. We welcome you here too!"
"That's right! We've been preparing for a concert recently, writing songs, rearranging, rehearsing. It's much more lively than just recording."
"Monkey King, I'm forming a band and preparing for a comeback. I'm making new songs every day! And here with us, it's definitely more fun than there!"
The three of them became more and more enthusiastic, talking endlessly. The reason was the same as Shi Shiwu's—to recruit Hou Muyun as a free laborer!
Of course, with proficiency in playing three musical instruments, someone like him would be extremely helpful in music production! Moreover, the three of them knew about Hou Muyun's wild ideas in arrangement!
Of course, the premise was that the three of them genuinely admired Hou Muyun and were willing to get to know him better.
"Alright!"
Hou Muyun naturally accepted these invitations. There was no faster or more direct way to gain experience than this kind of hands-on learning. He chuckled, "Shi Wu Ge promised me five songs, how many will you guys offer?"
Shi Shiwu pretended to be angry, "Didn't we agree on ten songs? How come there's someone else now, and you're not satisfied with me writing for you?"
Zhang Fan laughed, "You already have ten songs, so we won't join in."
Hou Muyun felt like crying, "Shi Wu Ge, are you trying to block my path to getting songs?"
After some banter...
Zhang Quan asked, "Monkey, do you really plan to release songs?"
Hou Muyun nodded, "I have ideas. Isn't it too expensive to ask you guys for songs? So, I thought I'd learn to write my own."
Zhang Quan boldly declared, "Never mind the cost, we'll help you put together an album, bros!"