Hong Kong's singer-songwriters are relatively scarce, and many singers only win the love of fans because of their singing skills. But the songs they sing are either covers of hits by other singers, or they are written and composed by professionals.

In comparison, there are many singer-songwriters in Taiwan, such as the godfather of the music scene, Luo Dayou, Li Zongsheng, Zheng Zhihua, Jay Chou, etc., who are talented and their songs are widely popular.

The reason why Xu Guanwu asked his record company to focus on launching some singers with excellent singing and songwriting is to establish a new wind in the record industry and give some opportunities to singers who are not very star-like, but have creative talent and singing skills. He knows that singer-songwriters are far more popular in Europe, America, Japan, South Korea and other places than singers who only know how to sing.

Because the songs they write are different from those created by professionals, the songs they create have more personality and their own characteristics. Songs written by professionals, because anyone can buy and sing, will be very competitive for singers.

Xu Guanwu wants them to launch more singer-songwriters, just to avoid the appearance of singers of the same type and the phenomenon of their own people beating their own people. The three people launched this year were selected from nearly 1,000 applicants by Yisheng Records.

In fact, there are many singer-songwriters in Hong Kong, such as the Daming faction, such as BEYOND, such as Xu Guanjie, etc., but Hong Kong record companies are generally very impetuous. Because if a singer-songwriter wants to pay attention to quality, the preparation of a record is more than a year, and he has to create and select songs, record and edit, and so on.

Such a slow pace naturally does not meet the profitability requirements of record companies. A record is released in a year and a half. Even if he sells a million copies. The amount of money you make is very limited. On the contrary, if you change to a singer with good singing skills, and release three records a year and a half, even if each record only has 400,000 sales, the record company can make a lot of money. In this comparison, natural singer-songwriters are not welcomed.

And Taiwan, Japan, the United States and other places, because of the large number of people, so the market is huge. Songsongwriters can also sell relatively good results, and they can have enough material to support them to pursue their ideals. Compared with singers who only have good singing skills but lack creativity, music fans who really love music still prefer the songs released by singer-songwriters. Although the songs they write will have some shortcomings compared to professionals, they also have their own unique charm, which is enough to cover up other shortcomings.

With Hong Kong's barren market of millions of people, it is indeed not conducive to the survival of singer-songwriters, but Xu Guanwu still wants to try. Because in the future, although singers with good singing skills can also be popular, in the final analysis, singer-songwriters are more popular.

It's like Jay Chou. In the case of a depression in the record industry, ordinary singers can open champagne to celebrate when they sell more than 10,000 records. He can still sell millions of copies, and he has grown from a small singer to a superstar in Taiwan's entertainment industry early. It's because of his outstanding musical talent.

On the other hand, in Hong Kong, except for the older generation of singers who continue to stick to the popularity accumulated before, there are basically no more influential singers, which is a very sad thing. In the 90s, the Hong Kong music scene once pressed Taiwan, and countless Taiwanese musical talents went to Hong Kong to develop.

Xu Guanwu doesn't want to rely on singers to release records frequently, get a ticket in this upcoming golden age of records, and then wait for 20 years to die. He now wants to establish a new atmosphere for the Hong Kong music scene, focusing on discovering musical talents with creative ability.

Of course, this work is a long way to go, and it is also a thankless task. It is very difficult to pay equal attention to beauty and wisdom, how many singers can be like Ah Sam Xu Guanjie, handsome, talented and know how to act, so rich in star temperament?

And a singer with handsome appearance and good singing skills, or a singer with creative talent but sorry appearance, which one is more popular, it is naturally self-evident. Pushing a singer-songwriter to the top and pushing a singer with handsome appearance and good singing skills to the top requires at least twice as much energy, and the harvest is not as good as others. This leaves the record company without help.

However, knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, it is also what Xu Guanwu has always done. If he was just to make money, he wouldn't have the energy to toss any record company, and he would make more money by speculating in real estate and land. The reason why he is still paying attention to the record business is to make the Hong Kong music scene more innovative.

Not so that after the new century, except for a few veteran singers, there are almost no newcomer singers who can get their hands on it, launch one to die one, push one to die another, clean and crisp. The Hong Kong music scene, which was originally one of the troika of the Chinese music scene, was weak and weak, and the mainland music scene was in chaos, and finally the Korean wave occupied the market by the sticks. It's a very scary thing.

……

The three groups of singer-songwriters launched by Yisheng Records in the first half of the year are not very popular today. Record sales have not been boosted, only a few thousand records have been sold, and the reputation is not high, and many music critics call it a mess.

There are also people within Yisheng Records who complained, saying that they would make money and efforts to produce these records, but no one cheered and was scolded, and they knew that Lu Dao would simply learn from the singers who promoted handsome men and women last year, and a record can sell at least twenty or thirty thousand copies, and if it is well publicized, it can also sell forty or fifty thousand copies, which can make the company make a good profit.

Regarding the voices of injustice within the company, Xu Guanwu also saw them in these newspaper clippings. Regarding their short-sighted statement, Xu Guanwu disagrees with one hundred and twenty people.

Now the record market is gradually getting better with the development of Hong Kong's economy, and only top singers have sold more than 100,000 copies in Hong Kong, but now first-tier and second-tier singers can reach this sales. The rapid growth of Hong Kong's economy has also strengthened the export of Hong Kong films, giving it a great advantage in the economically underdeveloped Taiwan and Nanyang areas. Therefore, Hong Kong's records have good sales in both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Economic superiority will bring cultural superiority, which is an inevitable law of economic development. It's like the early days of reform and opening up. Because of the rapid economic growth of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. People are proud to be able to speak Hokkien. Later, Shanghi's economic development surpassed that of Shenzhen. People are proud to talk about it.

In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, Hong Kong's economy far surpassed that of Taiwan, Nanyang and other places, so the economic advantage led to the cultural advantage, and the strong were naturally worshiped and admired. Therefore, at that time, Hong Kong movies sold well in East Asia, and they rarely met opponents.

But then with the rise of the economies of East Asian countries. Hong Kong's economic superiority was wiped out, and Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and other economies soon surpassed Hong Kong, making it lose its leading position in East Asia. And Hong Kong, which lost its leading position, was also knocked off the throne and became a mortal.

The economic boom of Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and other places has also brought more self-confidence to their people, not only in life and career. I also have confidence in my country's culture, so Hong Kong movies represent Hong Kong culture. Music, naturally, has lost people's popularity.

At that time, Hong Kong's cultural industry was hit hard, a group of popular stars became passers-by, and the film companies that originally dominated East Asia closed down.

But in the new century, Hong Kong's own stars have been cut off, and the annual election of Miss Hong Kong has also changed from the spotlight to the carnival of Hong Kong people, alas!

Xu Guanwu naturally didn't want to turn around and become such a rotten appearance after working hard for a long time, so he had to resist the pressure no matter what.

The newly launched singer is not famous, so he will appear on more TV shows and more newspaper and magazine pages. The record didn't sell, so let's do a little more publicity. Records are all about money, and it's important to put them in the most prominent position. The reputation is not good, then spend money to hire a few music critics to praise it, as long as there is money to make, you are afraid that he will not write?!

As for the problem that it is difficult for singer-songwriters to survive, Xu Guanwu also has his own plans. Raising the copyright fee is undoubtedly the best choice, but the copyright tax is set by the government, and it is impossible for Xu to make the decision unilaterally. However, Xu can give a little more copyright fee when receiving songs. And you can also introduce them to do more work, such as sounding commercial songs, holding small fan parties, and so on.

has increased their income, so that singer-songwriters have no worries, so that they can continue to create. Otherwise, if you are hungry and pursue your ideals, even if you can persist mentally, you can't stand it physically.

And after such a strong support, if the singer-songwriter can create a good income, then it can attract other record companies to also work hard in singer-songwriters, so that a virtuous circle will be formed.

In the next one or two decades, if we can dig deep into creative talents like Xu Guanwu, at least the Hong Kong music scene will be able to hold on for another one or two decades in the future, holding most people's jobs from being smashed.

This is a good thing for the Hong Kong music scene, and Xu Guanwu intends to continue to push it.

……

In addition to Yisheng Records, Xu's Xinghui Art School still recruits a lot of students, and has also opened a film special effects major. The teacher in charge of the class is the assistant George. The students who Lucas filmed "Star Wars." They spent two years in the United States, where they were personally involved in the special effects design of Star Wars, and learned a lot of useful knowledge and accumulated a lot of experience.

Xu Guanwu opened a major in film special effects to improve the visual effects of Hong Kong films. Although Hong Kong filmmakers make steel by local methods, some of the special effects pondered by them are even breathtaking to European and American filmmakers, such as the big tongue made of sponge in "A Chinese Ghost Story" that can still dance; For example, in "Mr. Zombie", Lin Zhengying's various Taoist techniques, etc., can be regarded as representatives of soil special effects.

However, compared with the exquisite movie special effects in Europe and the United States, Hong Kong's special effects are still a little rough, only pursuing low cost and ignoring the audience's feelings. As soon as the European and American film special effects blockbuster "Jurassic Park" came out, the whole Hong Kong audience was attracted by Hollywood's vivid computer special effects, and the earth special effects still used by Hong Kong filmmakers were naturally outdated compared to them.

And the audience originally liked the new and hated the old, since the story on people's side is good, the effect is good, and the ticket price is the same, they naturally go to watch Hollywood blockbusters. Over time, Hong Kong has lost even the local film market.

Therefore, in order to open up too big a gap between the ministry and Hollywood, Xu Guanwu instructed Liu Tianci to avoid this film special effects class and recruit twenty students at the beginning. And after one academic year, outstanding students will be selected to go to the United States Industrial Light & Magic Special Effects Company for further study.

Being able to go to school here for free, and also having the opportunity to go to the United States for further study, naturally attracted many young people to sign up. However, because the special effects major is more difficult to learn, many times it is necessary to use both hands and brains, plus you have to go to the United States for further study, and it is not okay to not know English. Therefore, the selection of materials is particularly strict, which makes a group of students who apply for the examination feel miserable. (To be continued......)