HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 25 [025] Damn it, no wonder your wheat field didn't grow big.

Over the next three days, more and more people came to the record store to buy Qi Yuan's self-titled album.

Another group of high school students entered the store, and Lao Liu skillfully spoke before the students: "You want to buy Qi Yuan's self-titled album, right? It's on the second shelf on the right in front, just take it yourself."

The boss's smile was harder to suppress than an AK.

After tasting success, he not only played Qi Yuan's songs every day to attract customers, but also put up Qi Yuan's posters at the store entrance.

"Boss, you're lying. There are no Qi Yuan records on the second shelf."

The students couldn't find the records they wanted on the shelves and came back to complain to the owner.

“How could there not be one? You must have come to the wrong shelf.” Old Liu decided to help these students look for it himself.

He went to the second row of shelves and blinked several times, thinking he was seeing things.

No, where are his goods?
Because Qi Yuan's records sold so well, he put all his inventory on the shelves yesterday.

The shelves are completely empty today?
All of Qi Yuan's cassette tapes have sold out?
Only three days, no, today is only the third day.

Before the third day was even over, all 280 cassette tapes were sold out.

You should know that his shop is located in a rather remote area, not a very good location.

All I can say is that this young man named Qi Yuan is incredibly popular.

Old Liu apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, Qi Yuan's cassette tapes sold so well, they're all sold out. We still have CDs, with music videos, 58 yuan each, do you want them? That's all we have left in the store."

The students discussed it for a long time, with one contributing ten yuan and another eight yuan. Finally, they gritted their teeth and crowdfunded to buy a disc.

The remaining ten or so discs wouldn't last until noon.

Customers who couldn't buy cassette tapes in the morning bought all the remaining discs.

Old Liu was stunned.

This level of popularity reminded him of Richie Jen at the beginning of the year, when people would pay extra to buy CDs if they couldn't buy cassette tapes.

After lunch.

The things that left Lao Liu dumbfounded continued to unfold.

"Boss, do you have any records by Qi Yuan? Cassettes or CDs are fine, money's no object."

Although Lao Liu really wanted to do this business, all his inventory was sold out, and he could only regretfully say, "Sorry, it's all sold out."

"Damn it, why are you still playing Qi Yuan's songs after you've sold out? I went to five stores and they didn't have any. I only came in to ask because I heard your store playing his songs. You wasted my time." The young man glared at Old Liu and left, cursing.

"Boss, Qi Yuan..."

Do you sell Qi Yuan's records?

"May you be blessed..."

“Qi…”

Old Liu was completely stunned. All afternoon, he kept telling everyone he saw, "It's all gone, Qi Yuan's records are sold out. I've already called to urge them to restock."

By the end of the day, he had developed a conditioned reflex.

He couldn't wait to call the supplier.

He has urged the supplier several times today, but they still refuse to give him an answer and won't say when the goods will be delivered.

It's incredibly frustrating to be unable to do business or make money.

Damn, if there's a good supply, he could make two or three hundred yuan a day in profit.

Two or three hundred yuan! That's a lot of money, his money!

Old Liu dialed the supplier's number again, his anger flaring: "Can you even supply the goods? Do you know how many customers have wanted to buy Qi Yuan's records since noon today? A full forty-eight! I've lost money from forty-eight people."

“Bear with it. We’re also in contact with Wheatfield. You’re not the only one wanting to get the goods. I’ve received no fewer than thirty calls today from record stores urging us to deliver.” Upon hearing this reply, Old Liu was so angry his Fenghua accent came through: “Damn it! The head of Wheatfield is an idiot. They gave you a chance to make money, and you couldn’t handle it. Qi Yuan’s records are so good, and you only prepared 100,000 copies? Do you even know how to make money? No wonder you can’t grow big.”

Across the country, many audio-visual store owners have sent their greetings to Song Ke; Lao Liu is just one small example.

……

Wheat fields in Beijing.

Song Ke was both in pain and enjoying it. Downstream suppliers kept calling him, asking for goods as soon as they opened their mouths.

"Ah Yuan's records are selling so well. According to the suppliers below, on the 10th alone, more than 60,000 cassette tapes and discs were sold."

Starting the next day, music and video stores in various cities sold out, and all the stock was gone.

Although the factory has been recording records in two shifts, the supply can't meet the demand; there simply aren't enough to sell.

Ai Da followed Song Ke to report on the situation below.

Song Ke didn't say anything, but just slapped herself hard.

"Old Song, don't do this, don't do this..."

Ai Dajin quickly tried to dissuade him.

"This is not your fault. It's just that A-Yuan is too amazing. Who would have thought that his record, as a newcomer to the music scene, would be so popular?"

Song Ke's face turned red on one side; he was really ruthless to himself.

He hated it. According to the laws of the record market, a week after a best-selling record is released, a large number of pirated copies will flood the market and begin to squeeze the survival space of the genuine copies at a lower price.

In other words, a record only sells best in its first week; after that, it becomes a domain of piracy.

If he had stocked up on 200,000 sheets at once—no, 300,000 sheets—he would have made several times more money.

Fortunately, it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost.

On the second day of sales, he received numerous calls from downstream suppliers urging him to deliver the goods, at which point he realized that Qi Yuan's record was selling better than he had anticipated.

So, on the second day after the sale started, he urgently contacted several new factories.

In just two more days, the records produced in the new factory will be available on the market.

In other words, in the last three or four days of the first week, one can sell a large quantity of genuine copies before the pirated versions hit the market.

……

Qi Yuan, who was sleeping in his dorm at Beijing Film Academy, received a call from Song Ke: "Yuan, you're famous now. Your debut album sold over 123,600 copies in the first two days after its release, especially in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Your records sold particularly well. Sigh, I misjudged the situation. If I had stocked up more early on, the sales figures would have been even better."

In Hong Kong, a legitimate record that sells 50,000 copies is considered a platinum record.

Qi Yuan's debut album achieved double platinum status within two days of its release.

Of course, Hong Kong has a very small population, only a few million, which means their record market can't compare to that of the mainland.

Qi Yuan was somewhat surprised when she heard the result.

He hadn't even started doing anything yet, he hadn't even started promoting his albums, and they had already sold 100,000 copies.

The power of radio chart rankings was much greater than he had imagined.

The mainland record market is also much more dynamic than he imagined.

This is related to his fan base. His self-titled debut album mainly features R&B, and young people are more receptive to this new type of music.

Many of these young people are college students or white-collar workers.

These people are willing to spend money, which is why his record sold so well as soon as it was released.

(End of this chapter)