Even after being reborn, you're still in the entertainment industry?

Chapter 166: Album sells like hotcakes, joins the cast of "Investiture of the Gods"!
This scandal has blown up so much that it has become the hottest news in the entertainment industry.

A host of entertainment reporters sprang into action. Those without much personal connection even resorted to staking out the two individuals, Sheng Yunxuan and Liu Tianxian, like paparazzi, relentlessly pursuing them.

Meanwhile, entertainment reporters with connections and acquaintances directly called Sheng Yunxuan and Liu Tianxian's management teams to inquire about the situation.

Qin Qianrong, Sheng Yunxuan's agent, faced an interview with a familiar reporter, but with a stern face, she criticized him:

"The so-called relationship exposure is utter nonsense! The two are friends. They came to help Yunxuan release her album MV."

"Some media outlets are making baseless accusations and spreading rumors based on photos of the two filming a music video. This kind of fabrication for the sake of clicks is unacceptable!"

"Yes, if Yunxuan were really in a relationship, he would definitely announce it openly, but for now it's just an album release!"

"We at Yunxuan have poured a lot of effort into our first album, 'The Signature of the Clouds,' and even invited our friend Jay Chou to help write songs and Liu Yifei to appear in the music video. So we hope that the public will focus more on Yunxuan's work!"

"..."

Judging from her righteous and indignant demeanor, Qin Qianrong seemed to be genuinely troubled by this, but in reality, this hype was entirely her doing!
As for the paparazzi who was innocently scolded?
He had already stated in advance that he would clarify, and he's already made a killing from this wave of attention, so what's wrong with getting a few criticisms?
If given the chance again, this paparazzi will definitely be the first to appear...

In response to inquiries from netizens online, Sheng Yunxuan directly posted a clip from the music video on his account.

The editor's title is "My first album, 'The Signature of the Clouds,' is coming soon, stay tuned!"

Click on the video, and you'll see Sheng Yunxuan singing the melody of "You Damn Tenderness" in a gentle voice. In the video, Liu Tianxian has a bright and radiant smile, looking at Sheng Yunxuan with eyes full of affection.

The visuals are beautiful and quite pleasing to the eye. Combined with the catchy melody, it's very captivating!

The outfits worn by the two in the music video are exactly the same as those in the photos that have surfaced online, supposedly revealing their "relationship".

This directly responded to the uproar over the controversy.

Within hours of the video's release, an astonishing number of visits flooded into 6du.com, pushing the MV clip's views to over a million!

In other words, most of the money raised previously was invested in upgrading equipment hardware and bandwidth; otherwise, the website would probably have crashed again...

A large number of comments also appeared below the video.

"Oh, it's a music video! I was wondering why they were suddenly in a relationship!"

"Holy crap, I checked, and the title track of this album was written by Jay Chou!"

"Sheng Yunxuan really has a lot of connections. Jay Chou wrote a song for him, and Liu Yifei starred in his music video..."

"Of course, Sheng Yunxuan's character is widely recognized in the entertainment industry!"

"The two of them seem to be really good friends, and they were even willing to come and film the music video. The rumors online about their discord were definitely just made up!"

“When Sheng Yunxuan made a video to refute the rumors before, some people didn’t believe it. But when I looked at the way the two of them were talking, I knew that they had a really good relationship!”

"It's clearly just filming a music video, but the paparazzi are making it out to be a relationship reveal. Don't they have any bottom line?"

"Come on, the news about their falling out during the filming of 'The Return of the Condor Heroes' was all over the place, but it turned out to be just Zhang Dahuzi's prank. This is the same old publicity stunt, probably just to sell albums. The entertainment industry is all the same old thing..."

"Well, to be honest, I'm actually a little disappointed. I really think Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu are a perfect match!"

"Not a match at all! How could Sheng Yunxuan possibly be worthy of a fairy-like beauty like you?"

"I object! It's clear that Liu Tianxian is not good enough for our Sheng Yunxuan!"

"..."

In the comments section, some people realized that this whole farce was just a publicity stunt.

But his voice was quickly drowned out.

Instead, male and female fans on both sides started hurling insults at each other, with a small number of CP (couple) fans mixed in, and the chaos completely distorted the comments section!

……

Sheng Yunxuan browsed through 6du.com and various news websites, watching this farce unfold from beginning to end, and couldn't help but click his tongue and shake his head.

To be honest, if you're truly skilled, why resort to hype and sensationalism?

It was at this moment that Qin Qianrong found Sheng Yunxuan with a look of surprise and said:

"The initial 50,000 albums have all been snapped up by record stores across the country, and there are even many places where we can't get any at all."

"Furthermore, based on sales feedback from distributors across the country over the past few days, the company estimates that your first album will sell at least 250,000 copies!"

Back then, online shopping wasn't popular yet, and singers' official albums were still sold through local record stores.

Local record stores will receive an initial batch of albums, usually only twenty or thirty copies, and then will order more depending on sales performance.

However, because Sheng Yunxuan generated so much buzz for his new album, it has attracted a lot of attention.

In order to make money, record stores in various places would order at least fifty copies at a time, which is double the number of ordinary singers, so the initial 50,000 albums were simply not enough to go around!
Moreover, the album received fairly good reviews.

Songs like "Elimination" and "Damn Tenderness" are enough to secure Sheng Yunxuan a comfortable retirement in the music industry.

Hu Haiquan is a professional musician, and the album he produced himself is of high quality. The other eight songs, while not exceptionally good, are at least passable and not too bad.

An album of this quality will naturally sell well!
In order to verify the actual sales of Sheng Yunxuan's first album, some entertainment reporters went to stake out several record stores in Yanjing.

Statistics show that the three record stores that the entertainment reporters were staking out sold a thousand copies of Sheng Yunxuan albums in just one day.

Nowadays, there are thousands of legitimate audio-visual stores in Beijing and Shanghai alone.

Although not every store may have such exaggerated sales due to factors such as store location and size, it is wrong to simply assume that at least tens of thousands of albums can be sold every day.

But this also proves that Sheng Yunxuan's first album was indeed a huge success...

The projected sales volume of 250,000 copies is even considered a bit too conservative.

The initial batch of 50,000 albums sold out before even reaching the first week.

Due to shortages in various regions, the distribution company was even forced to release a total of 15,000 copies of the "Collector's Edition" and "Glory Collector's Edition" albums in advance to temporarily fill the gap... That's why everyone is so keen on "acting well and then singing well" these days.

Even with rampant piracy, selling albums is still very profitable!

Based on the minimum estimated album sales of 250,000 copies, it should sell at least six million copies.

After deducting album production costs and company revenue sharing, Sheng Yunxuan will likely receive around two million yuan.

In addition, mobile ringback tones are a major part of the business these days.

Take the song "Damn Tenderness" for example. Because of its catchy melody, it became a hit everywhere and made tens of millions of yuan!

This was in 06, before the pay levels in the entertainment industry had risen significantly.

Sheng Yunxuan has been in the industry for almost three years and has only earned this much in total, but he made it all back with just one album that sold reasonably well.

If it's Jay Chou, whose albums sell two or three million copies, his income is even more staggering...

As album sales gradually increased, Sheng Yunxuan also secured a considerable number of commercial endorsements.

He secured eight endorsement contracts in one go, and they weren't from unknown, third-rate brands; they were all quite famous brands, including international brands like Mercedes-Benz.

Compared to celebrities' film and television salaries, endorsement fees are significantly higher and easier to earn!

Currently, the price for a two-year endorsement contract with Sheng Yunxuan is uniformly between four and six million.

After deducting the company's share and taxes from the endorsement fees of these eight contracts, Sheng Yunxuan received more than 19 million yuan!
Sheng Yunxuan, who had been frugal for almost three years, had never had so much money in his pocket before.

After thinking it over, Sheng Yunxuan decided to take out the money to buy a house.

When he didn't have any scheduled activities, he would either stay in the company dormitory or spend a few days at the homes of Li Xiaoran, Gao Yuanyuan, and Liu Tianxian.

But now that I'm becoming more and more famous, it's a bit inconvenient to keep going to their house. Who knows when I might get photographed?

Moreover, because this scandal with Liu Yifei has caused quite a stir, Li Xiaoran and Gao Yuanyuan are clearly somewhat unwilling.

This annoyed Sheng Yunxuan, so he simply bought a house to avoid having to "live under someone else's roof" anymore...

Besides, you can't lose money buying a house now, so why not buy it while you can!
Living in Yanjing, one should logically buy a courtyard house.

But these days, the price of courtyard houses has also risen to about the same level, so buying one is not as cost-effective as it was a couple of years ago.

And to be honest, living in a courtyard house isn't very comfortable. It's cold in winter and hot in summer, and you need to be careful about dampness. If you want to be comfortable, you have to spend time, energy, and money to renovate it.

Even if you renovate your own yard, there's still a large tenement next door and a public toilet right next door.

Most importantly, Sheng Yunxuan's celebrity status means that he is not suitable to live in a courtyard house, as privacy is a major issue!
Pop diva Wang Fei has been living with Li Yapeng in a courtyard house lately, and she even got photographed by paparazzi while emptying the chamber pot, making headlines...

After consulting with acquaintances, Sheng Yunxuan finally decided to buy a villa in the Western Hills of Yanjing.

In recent years, many luxury villa projects have emerged in the Xishan area of ​​Yanjing. They are basically villas with a land area of ​​six or seven hundred square meters and an additional private courtyard of eight hundred square meters.

It offers good privacy, has property management, and is conveniently located near Yanjing Airport, making it a perfect fit for Shengyunxuan in every way.

Sheng Yunxuan was quite decisive. He went there to take a look, chose a suitable apartment, and then immediately had people start preparing for the renovation.

During this renovation period, Sheng Yunxuan can join the film crew to shoot a movie!
The film crew I joined this time was the one for "The Legend of the Gods: The Phoenix's Cry in Qishan".

Given Sheng Yunxuan's current fame and status, he cannot be too hasty in choosing scripts.

After finally becoming famous for acting in serious dramas, it would be too beneath them to go and film some period idol dramas!

Of all the scripts Sheng Yunxuan is currently able to access, only "The Legend of the Gods: Phoenix Cries in Qishan" is suitable in terms of both investment and prestige.

Most importantly, Sheng Yunxuan really wanted to know if he could gain any advantages by acting in this kind of mythological drama through his cheat code!
If he had a choice, Sheng Yunxuan felt he should probably play roles like the Three Pure Ones, Jiang Ziya, or Yang Jian.

However, nowadays celebrities are only allowed to play roles that match their status, otherwise, doing whatever they want will affect their career development.

This film is about the first half of the Investiture of the Gods story, with King Zhou as the main character, and Sheng Yunxuan can only play King Zhou!

However, to be honest, Sheng Yunxuan was quite interested in King Zhou, a complex and multifaceted character he had never played before...

After Sheng Yunxuan became interested, Qin Qianrong took the initiative to contact the production team.

However, at the beginning, the production team was clearly not optimistic about Sheng Yunxuan playing such a tyrannical character as King Zhou.

Unfortunately, Sheng Yunxuan usually projects a very gentle and upright image to the public. The production team felt it was a bit incongruous to have him play a character like King Zhou; they simply couldn't imagine it!
Their preferred candidate is Ma Jingtao, the "Roaring Emperor".

Unfortunately, the actor who plays the Roaring Emperor asked for too high a salary, which the production team couldn't accept.

Sheng Yunxuan's pay is relatively low, only 80,000 yuan per episode.

And because he has recently become a huge star with two consecutive hit dramas, he is at the peak of his fame.

Moreover, Sheng Yunxuan portrayed completely different characters in these two hit dramas, showcasing his amazing acting skills and convincing the production team that he could play the role of King Zhou well.

Okay, the most important reason in the end is that Sheng Yunxuan only needs to pay 80,000 per episode!
Considering his current fame, this price can only be described as "good value for money".

After considering various factors, the production team ultimately chose Sheng Yunxuan!

Actually, even without Sheng Yunxuan, the production team would have eventually chosen Ma Jingtao to play the role of King Zhou.

However, the two sides eventually had a major conflict over the issue of salary.

The production team said that Ma Jingtao initially offered to lower his fee by 300,000 yuan to get the role, but he suddenly ran away halfway through filming and threatened the production team to make up his salary.

Ma Jingtao, however, claimed that after joining the production team, he was suddenly pressured to reduce his salary by 500,000 yuan. After arguing his case, he only managed a reduction of 200,000 yuan. But the production team kept delaying paying the remaining 300,000 yuan, which is why he resorted to this tactic…

As to who is right and who is wrong, everyone has their own version of events, and it's hard to say for sure.

However, now that Sheng Yunxuan has intervened and obtained the role of "King Zhou", he has helped to avoid this dispute, which can be considered a good deed!
(End of this chapter)