Perfect Superstar

Chapter 165 - Definitely Bought

Cui Zhengzhislept soundly.

For morethan half a month, he has been running notices in different cities, and at thesame time promoting his albums. His daily schedule was always full. He was physicallyand mentally exhausted and was in urgent need of a good rest.

His album“Provocation” has finally been officially released on the Internet,and its sales results were obviously optimistic, so he finally was able to geta good night’s sleep and raised his spirit to cope with the next work tasks.

He didn’twake up until 9 o’clock in the morning.

After ahearty stretch, Cui Zhengzhi put on his coat and ran to the bathroom to wash.

There was nonotice scheduled that morning, so he didn’t need to worry.

“Big Sister!”

After washingup, Cui Zhengzhi sat down at his desk outside and turned on the computer.

At the sametime, he called his sister, “I’m up. What’s for breakfast?”

The computerwas booting up.

Cui Zhengzhicouldn’t wait to see the sales results of his album and browse a few more blogposts while he was at it.

Heunbuttoned his shirt to reveal his chest and prepared to take two selfies andpost them with a few words of exclamation. He believed that it would cause hisfans to scream and then he would ask his fans for their support.

Of course,he didn’t forget to thread on his competitors. He considered what words hewould use, and decided that it was best to be humorous.

A smileappeared on Cui Zhengzhi’s face.

Fans havelong been used to calling his smile "An angel’s smile", which he has practicedthousands of times.

Even ifthere was no one around.

“Coming!”

Just as thecomputer system entered desktop, Cui Xiuyin walked in with a dish: “I sawthat you were sleeping soundly, so I didn’t call you. Have you been exhaustedthese days? Try your favorite abalone porridge. It’s been simmering for twohours.”

Cui Zhengzhiwas in a good mood and said with a smile, “Put it here. I’ll take a lookat the sales results first.”

“Uh...”

Cui Xiuyinhesitated for a moment, then put down the dish and said, “Let’s havebreakfast first and look at it later.”

Cui Zhengzhiwas very sensitive. He could hear from his big sister’s voice that there wassomething wrong. He frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Cui Xiuyin forceda smile. She replied. “Nothing. Eat your breakfast.”

“No!”

Cui Zhengzhishook his head and said, “There’s definitely something wrong...”

He thoughtof something, “Is it related to the sales of my album? is the result notgood?”

Cui Xiuyin hurriedlysaid: “No, your sales are higher than Lu Chen!”

There’ssomething not right with that statement!

Cui Zhengzhiwas not a fool. It was very normal for the sales of “Provocation” tobe higher than that of Lu Chen, so why should it be specially emphasized?

Even his bigsister’s expression showed that something was not right.

He didn’tcontinue asking questions. He opened the browser with the mouse, and quicklylanded on QQ Music’s website.

Cui Zhengzhifirst saw the weekly sales list on the home page, and “Provocation” wasranked first.

Although it wasonly released on Tuesday night, his debut album has been selling very well. Hisalbum has been on sale for a total of 14 hours, and the sales has reached 47,852!

In just halfa day, nearly 50,000 copies have been sold, and a big sale was a foregoneconclusion!

Domestically,QQ Music has the largest number of genuine downloads. Over 100,000 paiddownloads was considered as a hot sale, and 300,000 was considered as a bigsale. With over 50,000 paid download in the first day, hitting 300,000 totalsales wouldn’t be a problem at all.

A smileappeared on Cui Zhengzhi’s face again.

A falsealarm!

But in thenext moment. His smile froze instantly, as if he had been petrified.

That was becauseCui Zhengzhi saw that Lu Chen’s album “You Who Sat Next To Me” wasranked below him, with sales of 40,970!

There wasonly a gap of less than 7,000!

How couldthat be possible?!

Cui Zhengzhicouldn’t believe his eyes. He couldn’t help but stretch out his hand and rub them.He suspected that he was hallucinating.

In his opinion,it was normal for Lu Chen to sell 10,000 copies on the first day, and it wouldbe amazing if Lu Chen’s album could sell 20,000 copies. But only 14 hours havepassed, how can he break through 40,000 copies and catch up with him?

Cui Zhengzhisuddenly thought of a problem. He asked, “How much did the company buy forme?”

Buying listis nothing new. In order to create the illusion of a hot sale, entertainmentagencies often spend money on sales a few days before singers release their albums,and treat it as a promotional fee. (TN: Buying list - Buying sales to be in thelist.)

Because themoney spent was real money, any music website will not manage the behavior ofbuying list, and even the China Music Association acquiesced in its results,which can be regarded as an unspoken rule in the circle.

After all,the cost of buying list is very high. It costs 5 yuan for a complete album andit would need almost 100,000 to 200,000 just to reach Golden Record. Doing so wouldjust be a stupid act. (TN: I might have mistranslated this. Because to getGolden Record you have to buy 100,000 copies which needs 500,000 yuan. Anyway,it’s stupid to buy list.)

There aresome things to pay attention to in buying list. Some of them are bought on thefirst-day or 72-hour sales, and the others are bought evenly between 7 or 10 days.(TN: Buying sales will not be done in one go, but divided into days.)

Just like ZouBei and Ling Xiaoxiao, who’s albums went on sale a few days ago. They definitelyhave bought sales. Otherwise, how could Ling Xiaoxiao sell 50,000+ in 3 days withhis third-rate level of talent.

Cui Zhengzhisigned a contract with Orange Field Entertainment, which was famous for its wealthin the industry. Millions have already been spent just for publicity of hisalbum. Spending money to buy some sales was an inevitable means.

Cui Xiuyinwas silent.

An unknown angerrushed to Cui Zhengzhi’s head, in which a string called reason was instantlybroken.

He suddenlyreached out his hand and heavily slam on the table and shouted harshly, “Sayit!”

Cui Xiuyin’swhole body trembled and said in a low voice, “10,000.”

10,000!

CuiZhengzhi’s face suddenly became ugly.

Afterdeducting the number of 10,000 from buying the list, then the real sales of hisalbum “Provocation” was less than 40,000!

If Lu Chendidn’t buy sales, it means he lost to the other party on the first day!

Cui Xiuyinsaid: “Lu Chen must have bought sales, otherwise it wouldn’t be so high.it’s simply impossible!”

Was that reallythe case?

Cui Xiuyinspoke without confidence.

Lu Chen isdifferent from Cui Zhengzhi. Lu Chen is an independent artist. He didn’t haveany company behind him, so he opened his own small studio. He was reluctant tospend money even on publicity. How could he spend a lot of money to buy sales?

If he wantedto beat Cui Zhengzhi purely by buying list, how much will it cost?

Is Lu Chenthat stupid?

Cui Zhengzhiseemed to have seized a life-saving straw and said, “Yes, he must havebought sales!”

How could LuChen not have bought sales? How could he sell more than him!

Hedefinitely bought!

.......

“No!”

At the same moment,Lu Chen, who had just finished exercising in the park of Creative Park, lookedpuzzled and said into his cellphone, “Why would I buy list, and how can Ihave so much money to burn?”

It was ChenJianhao who called Lu Chen. The bar owner unexpectedly asked him if he hadspent money on QQ music to buy list, and he flatly gave a negative answer.

What a joke!

Lu Chen alsowanted to make a profit in album sales, at least to recover the cost. How couldhe spend money to such pointless things?

If he hasthe money, he would spend it on publicity and promotion. Wouldn’t the effect beten times better than that of buying list?

Chen Jianhaolaughed, and said on the phone, “I believe you, but some people don’t. Theycalled me to inquire, so I called you to ask. Since there’s no such thing, thenit is all right.”

With that,he very quickly cut off the call.

“Hello!”

Lu Chen hadno time to ask any more questions. He could only resentfully tuck his cellphoneback into her pants pocket.

But it soundedlike a good thing!

He couldn’thelp laughing. Then he started to run towards the building where the studio waslocated.

Back at theoffice, Lu Chen just entered the door. He saw all his colleagues in the studio,including his sister Lu Xi and Li Mubai, standing in a row, looking at him witha smile.

Lu Chen wassuddenly stupefied: “What’s the matter with you?”

Bang! Bang!Bang!

The nextmoment, with three muffled pops, three party poppers were pulled open by LiFeiyu, Chen Xiang and Li Mubai at the same time, and a fluffy colorful stripehit the ceiling and fluttered down.

Floating onLu Chen’s head and body!

Lu Chen saidwith a smile, “What is going on?”

Li Mubairushed up and gave him a big hug. He said with a smile, “Brother Chen,congratulations on your album sales!”

Lu Chensmiled, “Is it selling well?”

After “YouWho Sat Next To Me” was put on the shelves last night, he didn’t payattention to its sales. He just did what he should do, and appealed for himselfon the live broadcast of [Whale TV] and on his blog.

Includinggetting up in the morning, Lu Chen didn’t even turn on the computer, and just directlywent out to exercise.

Lu Chen hasa good mindset. No matter whether the sales volume is high or low, and whether thecost can be recovered in the end, he didn’t pay attention to it, let aloneworry about it.

It doesn’tmatter whether he succeed or fail. He has done his best, so he has no qualms inhis heart!

But now thathe has gotten this pleasant surprise, Lu Chen was nevertheless very happy.

Who dislike makinga lot of money!

Lu Xi saidwith a smile: “Everyone has been waiting for you for a long time, waitingfor you to come back to celebrate. Feiyu specially went to the supermarket tobuy some party poppers to give you a big opening!”

Lu Chen saidwith a smile, “Thank you everyone.”

When hereceived an inquiry call from Chen Jianhao earlier, he had a guess, and now ithas been confirmed.

“YouWho Sat Next To Me” was selling well!

“It’snot only good, it’s definitely a big sale!”

Li Mubaihurriedly pulled him to the front of the computer, pointed to the screen andsaid, “Look!”

Lu Chenimmediately saw it on the weekly sales list of QQ Music. His album was just belowCui Zhengzhi’s, and the current sales volume is 41,137!

More than40,000!

Such a largenumber was sold in less than 24 hours. It was absolutely right to say that it wasa big sale.

Because ofthis achievement, there was a good chance to hit the 300,000 red line of sales!(TN: Red line - insurmountable or difficult to reach)

And if 300000copies were actually sold, then the total sales will reach 2.4 million, 50% ofthe share is 1.2 million, and after deducting 10% of the sales income tax andproduction promotion costs, there will be at least 600,000 profit!

It looked likeit doesn’t seem to be that much, but it should be known that most singers sellalbums on the Internet, and to be able to earn back the promotion cost was alreadya success for them.

Even for bigstars like Tan Hong and Chen Fei’er, although their albums will certainly sellwell, the cost of production and promotion is often extremely high, and they willnot rely on this to make a profit.

Earning hundredsof thousands of yuan from online sales, that’s really going against heaven’swill!

So, therewas every reason to celebrate!

Lu Chen tooka deep breath and allowed the joy to drown his whole body.

After payingso much, it’s finally time to harvest.

_____________

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