"So, what do you guys have a good opinion about?"

With Kenji Kitano's inquiry, everyone in the conference room began to meditate.

A moment later, the first to speak out was Universal Music's artist director, Kamikawa.

"We can send our singers to stop him!"

This suggestion seems to be a very good one.

However, if it is clearly recognized, and the enormous influence that Kiyoshi Sakamoto has, knows that this is a bad idea.

Especially for Universal Records.

You must know that Kiyoshi Sakamoto, who has monopolized the annual album list of the public trust list for three consecutive years, is already a new force in the music world that is very close to the king of the music world.

To block such singers, in addition to offering several big singers in the music world, such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Hikaru Utada, Namie Amuro, or top singers at the level of SMAP and GLAY, can have some effect.

However, the remnant is that there is no such person under the umbrella of Universal...

No!

Yes, there are.

Masaharu Fukuyama, and DREAMS COME TRUE.

However, these two groups of singers are unlikely to take action against Kiyoshi Sakamoto.

Masaharu Fukuyama, needless to say.

As Kiyoshi Sakamoto's teacher, and, because Kenji Kitano refused, his relationship with Kiyoshi Sakamoto on a collaborative single, and the relationship between Masaharu Fukuyama and Universal are deteriorating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Let him make a move to stop Kiyoshi Sakamoto?

No way!

DREAMS COME TRUE, which joined Universal in 2003, is one of the most famous groups in the 80s and 90s, and DREAMS COME TRUE can be said to be a well-known band in Japan.

This is thanks to their peak in the late 80s and early 90s, when they released singles and albums with catchy and positive lyrics, which led to the fact that DREAMS COME TRUE has achieved the prestige of the fifth best-selling Japanese artist in the total sales chart.

In 1989, the second album "LOVE GOES ON...", and the third album "Onder3" were both released and sold more than one million copies.

The fourth album "MILLION KISSES" to the eighth album "LOVE LIMIT∞ sold more than 2 million copies, and in particular, the fifth album "The Singing Star" released in 1992 became the first record seller in Japanese history to exceed 3 million copies.

One can imagine how prosperous the record market was in the heyday of the Japanese music scene in the 90s.

However, after such an orchestra entered the new century, the old music style and the rise of various new forces in the music scene also made it a victim of the torrent of the times.

In addition, in October last year, the death of the husband of the band's lead singer Miwa Yoshida caused Miwa Yoshida to stop all musical activities.

So,The only two groups of singers who can pose a threat to Kiyoshi Sakamoto,For various reasons,Can't make a move.。。。

However, even so, as soon as this suggestion came out, everyone could clearly see that Kenji Kitano's eyebrows were stretched a little more than just now.

This is a signal.

On behalf of Kenji Kitano, I am interested in this proposal.

As mentioned earlier, as a "puppet" elected by the board of directors, Kenji Kitano is just a very capable layman in management and finance.

is not an insider who knows a lot about the record side and the entertainment industry.

If he were an expert, he would definitely not think that the "blocking" plan proposed by the artist director had any operational possibility...

And this director of Kamikawa is also a cronie cultivated by Kenji Kitano after he took office.

The inaugural artist director, because he is the confidant of the former president Ichiro Yamazaki, therefore, Kenji Kitano, who has taken office as the new official, will inevitably purge his subordinates.

This is also the reason why everyone did not have any rebuttal when they heard the suggestion made by Director Kamikawa.

Because, the people sitting in this conference room are either newcomers who were brought up by Kenji Kitano's hands, or old courtiers left by his predecessor Ichiro Yamazaki, and Kenji Kitano is not easy to clean.

The former will definitely not refute the people of his own faction, and the latter, although he knows that this suggestion is unreliable, has no intention of reminding Kenji Kitano.

After all, if Kenji Kitano hits a nail on Kiyoshi Sakamoto, they are also happy to see it for them, old courtiers.

They can't wait for Kenji Kitano, a layman, to plant a heel on Kiyoshi Sakamoto, and then be fired by the board of directors...

Therefore, it was such a coincidence that Kenji Kitano rashly prepared to attack without clearly understanding the enemy's strength.

Such a planless plan seems to have seen the end ...

。。。

"Go on. ”

Director Kamikawa, who was encouraged by the big guy, continued.

"Recently, our company is preparing to release three groups of singers with new songs: mihimaru GT, perfume, and GReeeeN. ”

"We can mention the date of the release of the new single by the singers of these three groups to the premise, and release the film at the same time as Kiyoshi Sakamoto, so as to attract the public's attention to these three groups of singers. ”

As he spoke, the director of Kamikawa showed a rather smug expression.

"These three groups of artists, their respective music audiences are different, which will inevitably make the shelves in the CD store have three more choices, which will undoubtedly make buyers hesitate to think, if you add the effect of hype, it will definitely be able to achieve the goal of reducing the sales of Sakamoto Kiyoshi's album!"

This Kamikawa is also well aware of the information of his singers, and obviously investigated this meeting in advance.

He is not like Kenji Kitano, who is only blindly annoyed and targeted at Kiyoshi Sakamoto.

After some investigation, he felt that with Sakamoto Kiyoshi's current momentum, he was almost invincible.

However, he is also a very ambitious and confident person.

In his opinion, this is a task ordered by the president.

If he can achieve the effect of blocking, not much, even if it is only a little, he can explain it to Kenji Kitano.

Therefore, after careful consideration, he came up with such a solution that is not a solution:

Since there are not enough coffee seats, let's make up the quantity!!

As long as there are more singers singing at the same time, it will inevitably distract the public's attention, coupled with hype and doing something big, it will definitely divert the public's attention from Kiyoshi Sakamoto to some extent.

That's what he thinks!

And this idea is very much in line with Kenji Kitano's appetite.

In his opinion, no matter how powerful Kiyoshi Sakamoto is, he is just a young man who has debuted for four years.

In front of Universal, one of the world's four largest record labels, just an ant.

Now, if I want to suppress you, you can only be obediently suppressed by me.

He was even thinking, "I have sent three groups of singers to block you, which shows how much I value you, in this case, you will also lose convinced... ”

However, he also didn't want to think that it would be an impossible task to stop Kiyoshi Sakamoto, who was only one step away from the king, with the three groups of singers mihimaru GT, perfume, and GReeeeN.

I have to say that Kenji Kitano, who specializes in the art industry and was born in finance, was pushed out by the board of directors of Universal, and from the beginning, he did not have the ability and courage to become the president of a record company.

。。。。。。

After the meeting, just as Kiyoshi Sakamoto's album was on sale, Universal Music made a move!

In just a few days, three groups of singers under Universal have released their latest singles and albums.

On March 28th, mihimaru GT, which once caused a sensation with a song "Homecoming Song", released its sixth album "mihimarise"!

On March 29th, the electronic music group perfume, known as a "near-future electronic synthesis music group", released their first album "GAME"!

On March 31st, the last day of March, the mysterious harmony group GReeeeN, which debuted only one year ago, kicked off Kiyoshi Sakamoto VS Universal with its seventh single "キセキ"!

At a time when many singers have avoided and postponed the release period, and even the pre-sale sales of Sakamoto Kiyoshi's album have exceeded 1.5 million copies.

Such a big move by Universal is undoubtedly telling the world that I am targeting Kiyoshi Sakamoto.

This has made the entire Japanese music scene focus on the two industry giants Sony and Universal.

They are all very much looking forward to seeing how Kiyoshi Sakamoto and Sony will respond to the move of the world?

Is it Kiyoshi Sakamoto, who has already gained momentum, to ignore any resistance and targeting, and continue to sweep the music scene, or is it a setback under the big moves of the world?

However, before the two record companies went head-to-head, Kiyoshi Sakamoto's first-week album sales figures were released...

。。。

April 1st.

Tuesday night.

The sales figures of the weekly list of the public trust list are generally released on Tuesday afternoon.

On this day, Kiyoshi Sakamoto was not waiting for his first week of sales at Sony Music, but in the studio of Fuji TV, recording "SMAPxSMAP".

Since the end of 2006, Genesy and Sony began to befriend, and the relationship between the two artists has gradually become familiar.

Like Kiyoshi Sakamoto and Arashi Goko, as well as SMAP, they are all quite good friends.

In particular, Takuya Kimura, the "Death Star Man If You Don't Surf", in a conversation, Kiyoshi Sakamoto inadvertently expressed his interest in surfing, and since then, every time he goes surfing, he will call Kiyoshi Sakamoto.

Kiyoshi Sakamoto was also curious, so he went with him a few times.

This undoubtedly makes Takuya Kimura even more fond of this young man who can be his son at any age.

No, after learning that Sakamoto's fresh album was about to be released, he asked the program team of "SMAPxSMAP" to invite him to the show to promote.

During the break, Kiyoshi Sakamoto drank water and asked Uncle Ishida, who was standing beside him, "Ah! By the way, is today the day of the public trust list?"

"yes, I was just going to tell you about it... Uncle Ishida took out a small notebook from his trouser pocket, "I received a call from the company when you were recording just now. ”

"Oh, what is the sales volume?" Although Sakamoto Kiyoshi knew that judging from the sales of his pre-sales, the sales in the first week would definitely not be bad, but the actions of the global side couldn't help but make him a little more worried about his first-week sales.

"Sales are... ”