Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

Chapter 13 Songs Online
"Uncle Higashino is the president of my agency. He should be responsible for the agreement and procedures."

Xia Fan looked as if it was a matter of course.

Yoshihide Higashino and his father have a life-and-death friendship, and he has watched him grow up since he was a child, so he has long been as trustworthy as a family member.

"Ahahahaha, this time it's all thanks to your song that saved my life. If Xingming wins first place in the grand prize this time, our future financial prospects will be limitless. How could your uncle let you suffer a loss?!"

Dongye carelessly stuffed the agreement into his trouser pocket, laughed wildly towards the sky, and habitually launched the "head-patting kill" on Xia Fan.

"What are you talking about, amateur president? It's not that easy to get first place..."

"In the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards, live performance scores only account for 50% of the weight, so you can still rely on your professional level to win. But behind the 50% weight of the online song download rankings is a cruel capital game."

"As far as I know, most of Bethesda's promotional budget this time will be focused on Sakamoto Shuu, as he is the favorite to win the championship and the company has invested heavily in him. Other companies will naturally spend money to promote their top-ranked artists."

"Under this 'head effect', the download volume of the top few and the bottom ones will be more than ten times different, resulting in a huge gap in the ratings. Judging from the results of previous awards, it is common for songs to have low live performance scores and then make a comeback on the download charts."

Tachibana Ryoko, who has been in the entertainment industry for a long time, is obviously not as optimistic as Higashino.

The annual Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards brings together outstanding new singers and original songs cultivated by various entertainment companies, and determines the market direction in the next two to three years.

After all, only a small number of industry insiders, music critics and enthusiastic fans have time to pay attention to live performances. Most ordinary listeners choose songs "blindly" based on the real-time sales rankings on the Internet.

The ranking of online song downloads involves many "manipulable off-site factors" such as exposure, traffic, publicity, public opinion manipulation, fan base, and song audience, and can be regarded as a competition of the comprehensive commercial strength of performing arts companies.

In the brutal war of "traffic" without the smoke of gunpowder, the singer's strength and the level of song production are the least important.

"Anyway, after midnight tonight, the tracks for the Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards will be available for download online, and the rankings over the next two weeks will determine who will win the award."

"Mr. Xia, thanks to your song, Xiaohuajian will receive a small amount of promotional support from the company and should have a chance to make it into the top ten."

Tachibana Ryoko suddenly changed the subject and enthusiastically held Xia Fan's hand, winking coquettishly: "Tell me, how can I thank you?"

"How can you thank me... I'm short of money. If there is a part-time job like advertising shooting with a good salary, please introduce it to me."

Xia Fan thought about it and answered seriously.

……

As soon as midnight passed, the songs participating in the "Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards" were released online on time and available for paid download.

At this time of year every year, there will be a small number of music enthusiasts who stay up late waiting to be the first to listen to the songs online.

"I patrolled the night for a few days, but didn't find any 'toilet paper lady'. I only purified a few trapped earthbound spirits..."

In a small convenience store in Shinjuku district, the Jinguji shrine maiden sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and stretched.

Today, she was not wearing the red and white witch robe, but a black coat, looking like an office lady who had just finished overtime.

"Hmph, the results are out on time... Just like every year, there are fifty songs in total?"

She stuffed fried chicken nuggets into her mouth with one hand and fiddled with her phone with the other.

Her slender fingers swiped across the phone screen, and she generously downloaded all the 50 new songs that had just been released by the "Tokyo Newcomer Music Awards", the most expensive "ultra-clear master sound quality version", for a fee.

"Which song should I start listening to?"

Pushing his long hair behind his ears, Jinguji put on a pair of small silver earplugs.

If there are any music lovers here, they will definitely recognize that this is the AKG iron ring hybrid earphone specially made for "crazy music enthusiasts" and priced at more than 60,000 yen.

"This year, there doesn't seem to be any songs that catch people's eyes... If we look at Sakamoto Shu's song as an 'actor', maybe we can barely give it a good review." After listening to a few songs casually, the interest in Jinguji's eyes faded a little.

"Can't a monster come to cheer us up?"

As a music enthusiast, for her, browsing new songs, of varying quality, is more about finding the pleasure of "Taobao".

Just as she was sighing, the music in her headphones had already automatically started playing the next song...

"I have been waiting for the day when I can meet you again, on the road where cherry blossoms are dancing, I will wave to you and call out your name."

"Because, no matter how painful it was, you always smiled like that, which made me feel that no matter what setbacks I encountered, I could continue to work hard."

The girl's clear and tender voice, like crying, contains reluctance and expectation, which seems to penetrate the soul.

"Oh?"

Jinguji turned up the volume slightly and closed his eyes.

"In the scenery illuminated by the sunset, I seem to be able to hear the song of that day. Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms, blooming, right now. I understand my fleeting fate. "

"Goodbye, my friend. At the moment of separation, I will leave you my unchanging feelings. Now..."

"I don't know if I can say those unadorned words to you right now, the real words that pray for your bright future."

My mind drifted with the song, and I felt as if I was in a valley full of cherry blossoms, with my bare feet stepping on the rough stone steps.

The stone steps stretch down the mountain, passing through one vermilion torii gate after another, seemingly endless.

Under the farthest torii, there was a vague figure in a red and white miko costume, waving in his direction...

"Mother……"

It wasn't until the song in his headphones finished playing and switched to the next one that Jinguji came back to his senses.

"You clearly said you would come back... liar!"

She wiped away the tears from her eyes and fiddled with her phone.

"The song just now was called 'Sakura'?"

"The singer is Hoshina Hanami... a newcomer I haven't heard of. An idol, maybe? His singing skills are a little immature, and his voice is good, but he sings with great devotion and can be given full marks for his emotional expression..."

"What's really amazing is the song itself... Lyrics, composer, composer... I've never heard of this stage name..."

Jinguji opened 2CH, the largest online forum in District , entered the pop music section, and searched for the name "Xiafan", but there were no results.

"Hoshina Hanami-san is so cute, and her live performance is so romantic, I recommend it for first sight!"

"The song is available for download. The studio version is different. It doesn't have the outgoing emotions as the live version, but more of a restrained sadness. Listen to it now!"

"Hanami-chan sings well, but the real highlight is the quality of this song. Any mature singer can sing it and it won't be bad."

"The lyrics and music of this song are both called 'Xia Fan', does anyone know who this person is?"

"Looking at the name, he seems to be a newcomer, but can such a down-to-earth and mature commercial work really be produced by a newcomer? Could he be a pseudonym of some music mogul?"

On the contrary, someone raised the same question as her in the discussion thread about "Sakura".

(End of this chapter)