The vocal music class "カナリヤ" in Shinsencho is not only open to members of the public, but also has classes for those with special talents, and of course, the special classes are more expensive.

Just finished today's class, Kazuyo Kawamoto came out of the classroom and met Yuki Uemura who was waiting outside the door.

"Kamimura-san?"

"Ye Zhaosang asked me to come and wait for you, I have something to say next. ”

"What's the matter?" Kazuyo Kawamoto said with an interested, yet somewhat worried, expression.

Yuki Uemura smiled kindly, "Anyway, it's a good thing." ”

In the Genghis Khan restaurant in Shimokitazawa, Ye Zhao told Kazuyo Kawamoto about Sony's agreement to sign a contract with her, "The specific contract content will be negotiated in person after that, but it is roughly an ordinary record company newcomer contract, and as for the contract period, it should still be five years." Timing is fine, right?"

“…… Of course there is no problem!" Kazuyo Kawamoto was excited, and asked cautiously: "Ye Zhaosang, does Sony Records really want to sign me?"

"Am I bored enough to lie to you about this?"

"That's right. Kazuyo Kawamoto nodded, and after confirming that signing with Sony was an established fact, he became excited again, "If you enter Sony, will you be able to see Sweet Dreams Come True and JUDY AND MARY-SAN?"

"Possibly, because you're probably going to have to sign under their label. ”

"It's exciting!" Kazuyo Kawamoto's eyes showed a look of fascination.

"By the way," Ye Zhao asked casually, "The record company is going to sign, have you decided whether you are going to debut under your real name or your stage name?"

"It's already decided!" Kazumichi Kawamoto, "I thought about it myself for a long time, and I also asked my friends and family for their opinions, and finally decided to make my debut under a stage name." ”

"What stage name?"

"Makoto Kawamoto!"

……

On the first Wednesday of May, Ye Zhao took Kazuyo Kawamoto to the Sony building to complete the signing of the record contract. Sony prepared a basic five-year contract for Kawamoto and Yoyo, and Sony even invited a professional lawyer to explain the content of the contract for Kazuyo Kawamoto one by one - it is said that this is a necessary part of their contract when signing a new company.

Kazuyo Kawamoto, who had already gotten the tone from Ye Zhao, had already made considerable preparations for this, so he didn't hesitate much, signed and sealed the contract, and officially became a singer under Sony.

Regarding Kazuyo Kawamoto's debut single, the title song has been finalized as the song "Love の Talent", and as for C/W, Kazuyo Kawamoto's own original work is chosen. Although the songs provided by Ye Zhao are the main songs, Kazuyo Kawamoto's positioning is still a singer-songwriter, according to Ye Zhao's plan, he will only give her the first few singles and albums to provide songs, and when her popularity slowly stabilizes and her personal style is formed, she will slowly turn into a full-song singer-songwriter.

"The official debut date is agreed to be around October, and during this period, I will ask Miss Kawamoto to prepare for the recording of the single while taking music lessons, Ye Zhaosan, and Miss Kawamoto's production, please pay more attention. Tadao Okazaki said.

"Please rest assured. Ye Zhao agreed.

……

Out of the Sony Building, Ye Zhao quipped: "Miss Kawamoto, from now on, you don't have to report to Shenquan's classroom." ”

"Yes. Kazuyo Kawamoto seemed to have not come back to his senses, and echoed softly. After a while, he slowly smiled, "How to say, it feels like the most important step in my life." Ye Zhaosan, although I studied at a music university and dreamed of becoming a professional musician, before that, I often thought that maybe I would return to Fukui soon, and even if I stayed in Tokyo, I would probably just be a music teacher or something. ”

Speaking of this, Kazushi Kawamoto was grateful, "It's all thanks to Ye Zhaosang." ”

"You have that talent, even without me, as long as the right opportunity arises, you can seize it immediately, so I didn't do anything, at most I paid 0.1. Ye Zhao smiled, "It's just that my road is a little wider than yours, so even if the opportunity doesn't appear, you can take the initiative to find an opportunity." ”

Kawamoto and Dai wanted to say anything more, but Ye Zhao had already interrupted first: "Whether it is me or Sony, they are very optimistic about you, so please come on, Miss Kawamoto, if you really want to thank me, make a good achievement." ”

……

The surface of the grilled chicken skewers that had just been served was glowing with an attractive light, and a layer of tender cabbage was spread under the plate, and Oda Tetsuro had just reached for the wine bottle on the table, Ye Zhao grabbed it first, filled the glass in front of Oda Tetsuro with wine, and then poured it for himself.

"So, Miss Kawamoto signed in to Sony?" Tetsuro Oda asked slowly, taking a sip of shochu.

"Yes. Ye Zhao lowered his head and drained the chicken on the bamboo skewer with chopsticks, "The contract period is five years, and the label signed is EPIC (Epic Records), and the debut time is agreed to be in October." (Note 1)

The so-called label, if explained simply, can be understood as a subsidiary of a record company, and the main meaning of its existence is to put singers with similar styles on the same label, which is more convenient to plan and manage. When the singer releases the film, the record label will plan and produce it for them, and then the record company will distribute and promote the record through their resources and channels.

As one of the world's three major record companies (the other two are Universal and Warner), Sony naturally has a lot of labels, and EPIC is one of the biggest names. EPIC was originally a subsidiary of Columbia Records in 1953, and in 1991, when Columbia Records was acquired by Sony, it was transferred to Sony.

BY THE WAY, ALTHOUGH YE ZHAO BELONGS TO BEING IN GENERAL TERMS, BECAUSE BEING IS ACTUALLY A RECORD PRODUCTION COMPANY, HIS RECORD IS PLACED ON BEING'S B-GRAM RECORD COMPANY. This is also the reason why he can always meet Sakai Izumi in the recording studio, because he is a junior of Sakai Izumi's direct company.

"EPIC. Tetsuro Oda said with some regret, "I thought I could let Miss Kawamoto come back to Ai." ”

"Miss Kawamoto's own wishes are like this, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Ye Zhao drank the wine in the cup in one go, picked up the wine jug again, poured it for Oda Tetsuro first, and then poured it for himself.

"You're really good at drinking. Oda Tetsuro shook his head a little helplessly, "It's just that in this case, she and Misaki will be opponents in the future." ”

"Even if they are in Ai Hui, aren't they also competitors?" Ye Zhao smiled, "Besides, it would be a good thing if Miss Kawamoto and Miss Misaki could always be opponents." ”

At least, if they can compete with each other, it proves that both of them still have a decisive weight in the music world. Oda Tetsuro made up for the unspoken words of Ye Zhao in his heart, and after that, he laughed as if relieved. "That's right. ”

"Then again, in an era I've lived through, the music industry has never been more inclusive, and all kinds of musical styles have been able to succeed commercially. Tetsuro Oda said, "It may seem tacky to associate music and business, but I don't think it's bad." At the end of the day, the commercialization of music is a natural process. It would be ridiculous to divide even music into three, six, nine and so on. ”

Tetsuro Oda's tone paused until he left, "In the future, the music scene will only become more and more inclusive, and there will be more and more singers with personalities, so I've never been worried about whether Misaki and Miss Kawamoto will become popular." ”

"However," Ye Zhao picked up a sweet shrimp, "When this kind of personality becomes more and more intense, the selling point of the singer is no longer just 'music' itself, and the audience's requirements for singers will slowly increase from music to other parts, and the traditional music market will also be impacted." ”

Speaking of this, the two looked at each other, and they both saw the unspoken words in each other's eyes: BEING is in danger. This conclusion silenced both of them at the same time.

Not to mention Ye Zhao, a guy who is in BEING but violates BEING's business policy everywhere and "does not do his job", even Oda Tetsuro, the company's veteran, has already retired. No matter how strong and solid the alliance is, it is tiresome to be firmly tied to the same ship for more than ten years.

Nagato Daiyuki's dictatorial voice in BEING has made the differences between the two in music more and more obvious with the development of the company. Now, the appearance of Nanase Aikawa has allowed Tetsuro Oda to find a completely different path from being in BEING, and his last attachment to BEING has disappeared.

In fact, although Tetsuro Oda is still BEING, he has long stopped providing new songs for BEING, and his songs used by BEING now are all from the previous stock.

Tetsuro Oda lit a cigarette, and when Ha Zhao saw this, he gently pushed the ashtray on the table to his side. After taking a few hard breaths, Tetsuro Oda sighed, "The times have never developed so rapidly as they do now, so the huge wave it brings will be more powerful than ever." Under such a strong impact, no one can guarantee that they will be able to survive, so before being knocked down by this huge wave, it is better to just do what they want. ”

"That's right. Ye Zhao smiled, reached out to take the wine bottle, and shook it, only to find that it was empty. waved his hand and beckoned to the waiter: "Nissan (little brother), please give us another bottle." ”

……