Chapter 165 - Definitely Bought

Cui Zhengzhi slept soundly.

For more than half a month, he has been running notices in different cities, and at the same time promoting his albums. His daily schedule was always full. He was physically and 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 get a good night’s sleep and raised his spirit to cope with the next work tasks.

He didn’t wake up until 9 o’clock in the morning.

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

There was no notice scheduled that morning, so he didn’t need to worry.

“Big Sister!”

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

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

The computer was booting up.

Cui Zhengzhi couldn’t wait to see the sales results of his album and browse a few more blog posts while he was at it.

He unbuttoned his shirt to reveal his chest and prepared to take two selfies and post them with a few words of exclamation. He believed that it would cause his fans 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 he would use, and decided that it was best to be humorous.

A smile appeared on Cui Zhengzhi’s face.

Fans have long been used to calling his smile “An angel’s smile”, which he has practiced thousands of times.

Even if there was no one around.

“Coming!”

Just as the computer system entered desktop, Cui Xiuyin walked in with a dish: “I saw that you were sleeping soundly, so I didn’t call you. Have you been exhausted these days? Try your favorite abalone porridge. It’s been simmering for two hours.”

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

“Uh…”

Cui Xiuyin hesitated for a moment, then put down the dish and said, “Let’s have breakfast first and look at it later.”

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

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

“No!”

Cui Zhengzhi shook his head and said, “There’s definitely something wrong…”

He thought of something, “Is it related to the sales of my album? is the result not good?”

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

There’s something not right with that statement!

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

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

He didn’t continue asking questions. He opened the browser with the mouse, and quickly landed on QQ Music’s website.

Cui Zhengzhi first saw the weekly sales list on the home page, and “Provocation” was ranked first.

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

In just half a day, nearly 50,000 copies have been sold, and a big sale was a foregone conclusion!

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

A smile appeared on Cui Zhengzhi’s face again.

A false alarm!

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

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

There was only a gap of less than 7,000!

How could that be possible?!

Cui Zhengzhi couldn’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 would be amazing if Lu Chen’s album could sell 20,000 copies. But only 14 hours have passed, how can he break through 40,000 copies and catch up with him?

Cui Zhengzhi suddenly thought of a problem. He asked, “How much did the company buy for me?”

Buying list is nothing new. In order to create the illusion of a hot sale, entertainment agencies 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 the list.)

Because the money spent was real money, any music website will not manage the behavior of buying 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 and it would need almost 100,000 to 200,000 just to reach Golden Record. Doing so would just be a stupid act. (TN: I might have mistranslated this. Because to get Golden Record you have to buy 100,000 copies which needs 500,000 yuan. Anyway, it’s stupid to buy list.)

There are some things to pay attention to in buying list. Some of them are bought on the first-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 Zou Bei and Ling Xiaoxiao, who’s albums went on sale a few days ago. They definitely have bought sales. Otherwise, how could Ling Xiaoxiao sell 50,000+ in 3 days with his third-rate level of talent.

Cui Zhengzhi signed a contract with Orange Field Entertainment, which was famous for its wealth in the industry. Millions have already been spent just for publicity of his album. Spending money to buy some sales was an inevitable means.

Cui Xiuyin was silent.

An unknown anger rushed to Cui Zhengzhi’s head, in which a string called reason was instantly broken.

He suddenly reached out his hand and heavily slam on the table and shouted harshly, “Say it!”

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

10,000!

Cui Zhengzhi’s face suddenly became ugly.

After deducting the number of 10,000 from buying the list, then the real sales of his album “Provocation” was less than 40,000!

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

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

Was that really the case?

Cui Xiuyin spoke without confidence.

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

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

Is Lu Chen that stupid?

Cui Zhengzhi seemed to have seized a life-saving straw and said, “Yes, he must have bought sales!”

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

He definitely bought!

…….

“No!”

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

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

What a joke!

Lu Chen also wanted to make a profit in album sales, at least to recover the cost. How could he spend money to such pointless things?

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

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

With that, he very quickly cut off the call.

“Hello!”

Lu Chen had no time to ask any more questions. He could only resentfully tuck his cellphone back into her pants pocket.

But it sounded like a good thing!

He couldn’t help laughing. Then he started to run towards the building where the studio was located.

Back at the office, 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 with a smile.

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

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The next moment, with three muffled pops, three party poppers were pulled open by Li Feiyu, Chen Xiang and Li Mubai at the same time, and a fluffy colorful stripe hit the ceiling and fluttered down.

Floating on Lu Chen’s head and body!

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

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

Lu Chen smiled, “Is it selling well?”

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

Including getting up in the morning, Lu Chen didn’t even turn on the computer, and just directly went out to exercise.

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

It doesn’t matter whether he succeed or fail. He has done his best, so he has no qualms in his heart!

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

Who dislike making a lot of money!

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

Lu Chen said with a smile, “Thank you everyone.”

When he received an inquiry call from Chen Jianhao earlier, he had a guess, and now it has been confirmed.

“You Who Sat Next To Me” was selling well!

“It’s not only good, it’s definitely a big sale!”

Li Mubai hurriedly pulled him to the front of the computer, pointed to the screen and said, “Look!”

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

More than 40,000!

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

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

It looked like it doesn’t seem to be that much, but it should be known that most singers sell albums on the Internet, and to be able to earn back the promotion cost was already a success for them.

Even for big stars like Tan Hong and Chen Fei’er, although their albums will certainly sell well, the cost of production and promotion is often extremely high, and they will not rely on this to make a profit.

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

So, there was every reason to celebrate!

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

After paying so much, it’s finally time to harvest.