40: Chapter 40 Rebirth

The "drama" crew wrapped up filming.

It took less than three months, which was quite efficient. Director Yang Yang told Lin Chuyan about this on WeChat and asked him to cooperate by posting on Weibo.

As for the premiere date of the show, Director Yang Yang said that editing was a huge project and couldn't be rushed, so he didn't say anything more.

Aside from his fixed daily routine of reading, practicing martial arts, and playing the "Guitar", he was putting all his energy into recording songs.

Thanks to the system's support, the whole process went very smoothly.

However, this smoothness seemed very abnormal in Zheng Hai's eyes—have you ever seen a small "Singer" record an album without needing pitch correction?

The live performance was so stable? Who are you? A national treasure-level veteran artist?

That's not right, you were clearly just a small idol a few months ago...

This isn't right; it's not scientific.

How could a flesh-and-blood throat sing every song so accurately? Without a single flaw?

He couldn't figure it out, he really couldn't.

In the end, Zheng Hai could only use four words to describe Lin Chuyan: A natural born Singer.

He originally thought it would take at least a month to record, but Lin Chuyan finished the first three songs in the first week and finished recording "dear" in the second week.

Although Zheng Hai gave a lot of guidance, such as making some adaptations to the studio versions of these four songs based on his vocal timbre, so that Lin Chuyan and the songs themselves were more harmonious...

The speed was still terrifying.

The remaining work, such as mixing and mastering, just needed to be handled by Zheng Hai. Lin Chuyan was only responsible for the final approval—he didn't understand it anyway, so it was better not to expose himself.

The contract negotiations were also almost finished. Following Ruan Xingyu's advice, Lin Chuyan had Wu Yue find a lawyer to help, and the final result left Wu Yue very satisfied.

If an old fox like Wu Yue was this satisfied, then it definitely couldn't be wrong.

First, there was the 100,000 advance payment.

Tianxing would pay Lin Chuyan in the first week after signing the contract.

However, it didn't really matter if this money was given or not, because it would be deducted from the various incomes after the album was released.

Of course, if the album failed miserably, the money would just be given, and they wouldn't ask Lin Chuyan to pay it back.

This was considered a small perk set up by Tianxing to keep him.

Secondly, there was the most important royalty split.

This part was divided into two sections: for physical record sales, Tianxing would take 80% and Lin Chuyan 20%; for online digital album sales and platform streaming revenue, it was the other way around, with Lin Chuyan taking 80% and Tianxing 20%.

The reason Lin Chuyan could get such a high share was simple—he alone handled all the "Songwriting" for this EP.

However, Tianxing wasn't stupid. Firstly, digital albums were basically guaranteed to be released for free, and secondly, the reason for conceding profits was also because the contract included that Tianxing had the priority right to cooperate with Lin Chuyan in his future music merchandise and performance activities.

As for how they would cooperate, that would be a separate contract.

In recent years, Tianxing had started to become dissatisfied with its original business, and this could be considered one of their moves to constantly explore outward.

The last clause was an industry consensus: after the EP was released, all initial income generated would belong to Tianxing, and the profit sharing would only begin after all costs were recovered.

"Brother Zheng Hai, happy cooperation."

"Easy, easy. I can already imagine how many fans you will have by then."

"Are you that optimistic? Actually, being scolded a bit is also quite good."

Lin Chuyan's logic was like this.

You can't praise someone "every day", right? Praising them once in a while is enough; but when you hate someone and that anger wells up, you can really manage to scold them several times a day...

Isn't it obvious which one gives more dynamic traffic value?

Unfortunately, Zheng Hai couldn't grasp this spirit.

"Haha, you can rest assured when Tianxing does things; the promotional plan is already done." Zheng Hai smacked his lips, still feeling regretful, "If you were willing to reveal Lin Mo's identity, how good that would be."

This point was also requested by Lin Chuyan to be written into the contract. If Tianxing used Lin Mo's identity for hype, they would need to pay a sky-high penalty.

As for Wu Yue, he expressed understanding of his concerns about choosing not to reveal Lin Mo's identity, but Wu Yue had his own thoughts on this aspect:

"There is a saying about suppressing before promoting. I actually hope that after these songs are released, everyone will praise Lin Mo and scold Xiao Yan until he's drenched in dog's blood—that would be good. In that case, the day Lin Mo's identity is revealed, hehe, hehehe."

What an old fox.

Zheng Hai no longer dwelled on this point: "Since the recording work is so smooth and we have also finalized the contract, let's continue to push forward."

Whether it was promotion or production, Tianxing was textbook-level in the industry.

Zheng Hai fully respected Lin Chuyan's opinions at every stage, but frankly speaking, every step provided by the Tianxing team was more professional than his own. At most, he was just choosing his favorite from options A, B, and C.

For example, the name of the first EP.

The Tianxing team gave him three choices.

The first option was the more conventional approach, naming it after himself, "Lin Chuyan".

The second option was to use the title track given by Tianxing, and the title was more catchy, "I Am a Fish".

But Lin Chuyan still chose the third option given by Tianxing without hesitation—"rebirth".

Purely literal, it meant that Lin Chuyan had finally broken free from the events of that year, a bit like being reborn from the ashes.

Immediately after, he received the system's notification sound.

Ding!

[Congratulations to the host for officially embarking on the path of a "Singer"]

[Long-term mission unlocked]

[The system will issue different rewards based on the achievements unlocked during the mission]

...

That night, Tianxing's promotional methods went into action.

The official account posted a somewhat baffling "Weibo":

"EP: 'rebirth'

Lyrics: Lin Mo

Composition: Lin Mo

Arrangement: Lin Mo

Vocals: Unknown"

For this move, Lin Chuyan silently gave a thumbs up in his heart.

As expected of Tianxing, they immediately whetted everyone's appetite. With just a few short words, there were simply too many things that could be interpreted and misunderstood.

"What the f*ck, what's going on?"

"Lyrics, composition, and arrangement are all by Lin Mo... Hey, why does this name sound a bit familiar?"

"I know him! He wrote a song for Ruan Xingyu! 'Similar to Love' is what he wrote!"

"'rebirth' is what meaning? 'rebirth: I Am a Singer on Blue Star'?"

"Is it possible that Xingxing is going to release a new song again? No way, no way?"

"The person above is overthinking it. If it were Ruan Xingyu, they wouldn't be playing mysterious games in the Singer column. Writing 'Ruan Xingyu' would be enough to get on the trending list, okay."

"Hehe, Tianxing is an old riddle-maker. Based on my many years of experience, the Singer is definitely a newcomer. Nothing worth paying attention to. It won't be too late to check the quality after the EP is released."

"The person above hit the truth, but I still want to say one thing: don't underestimate Lin Mo. This person is very mysterious. The only time he took action, he gave it to Ruan Xingyu, and now he's come with a big project. I don't believe it can be that bad."

"Stop bragging. At the end of the day, it's just one song. Can it compare to He Xi and Wawa?"

...

The "Songwriting" circle was actually also discussing this matter.

"This Lin Mo is now completely tied to Tianxing... The new EP is probably the 4 songs he registered on "Aiyue.com"?"

"Tianxing took them all in one go, what does that mean? It means the song quality is really high... Awesome."

"Still no one knows which god Lin Mo actually is?"

"@Wawa Calling Master Wawa! What did Zheng Hai say?"

Wawa: "He won't say... He said this is Lin Mo's own request, refusing to reveal his identity to outsiders."

"Damn, it wouldn't be some fugitive, would it?!"

"...Your brain circuits are truly amazing."