Chapter 165

God of Music Chapter 165 . Black Music Suits No One (3)

“This place has an awesome atmosphere, whew . ”

Lee JunYeol spoke as though he was drinking beer and looked around the studio of World Entertainment . He saw a headset that was hanging on a stand and fiddled with it .

KangYoon smiled and put down the score he was holding .

“It did change quite a lot . ”

That score was the same title song that Park TaeSung had given Lee JunYeol . The introductory part that KangYoon had advised had changed to be easy on the ears, and the melody lines in the middle and towards the end had also changed .

‘I guess there’s no more black light then? At least it should be grey . ’

He didn’t feel like that composer would be that bad . Though, grey made him uncomfortable as well…

KangYoon inputted the melody into the computer and pressed enter . When he did, the speakers inside the studio all started producing music .

Lee JunYeol spoke with a satisfied expression while listening to the music .

“How is it? It’s much better than before right? This is it . It’s more stable compared to before . Moreover, it can be varied according to the voice of the singer as well . Though, I’d have to see the final version to be completely sure . ”

Lee JunYeol seemed very satisfied while listening to the piano sounds .

‘White light . ’

The music notes from the speakers combined and created white light . Although the white light wasn’t strong due to this not being the final version, there was no hint of black or grey .

After the song ended, KangYoon spoke .

“That’s a good song . Looks like you got your words through to the composer?”

“No way, bro . Why are you doing this? I know everything . ”

“You know everything? What do you mean?”

When KangYoon asked back, Lee JunYeol grinned .

“I heard you gave some advice to the composer . I know everything so you don’t have to hide it from me . Wow, my bro has a great personality as well . I really like this song . Looks like I’m indebted to you again . ”

“Oops . ”

KangYoon shrugged his shoulders .

He wasn’t planning to reveal the fact that he gave advice . After all, there may be negative effects on his reputation if news spread that Park TaeSung was advised by someone much younger than him .

However, since he had revealed it all… he felt very thankful at the same time respecting him for not hiding this fact .

Lee JunYeol took the score and stood up .

“Anyway, bro . Thanks . I’m indebted to you so I’ll definitely pay it back . Call me when you need me . ”

“Okay . Good luck . ”

KangYoon saw Lee JunYeol out . At the entrance, Lee JunYeol’s manager, Yoo SeungCheol scolded him for being late, but as always, Lee JunYeol said nothing and just got on the van .

After he left, KangYoon headed to the office . When he entered, Lee HyunJi was currently giving instructions to Jung HyeJin .

KangYoon asked Jung HyeJin immediately .

“Have you prepared the materials to give to FinesTalk this afternoon?”

“Yes . It’s on your desk . ”

KangYoon had a look at the file on his desk . This was regarding the results of the collaboration of Eddios with FinesTalk during the past month .

After confirming that there was nothing missing, KangYoon left the company in order to head to FinesTalk HQ located in Gasan-dong .

“If you calculate it like that, it’s going to give an error . Look here, you should… . ”

Having arrived at FinesTalk HQ, KangYoon was led by an employee to the president’s office . On his way, he could see some employees teaching other employees . KangYoon was glad to see that they had some leisure .

“Welcome, President Lee . ”

When he entered the office, president Ha SeYeon greeted him . KangYoon also greeted back before the two exchanged some formalities .

Drinking some tea, KangYoon gave the file he brought over to president Ha . She perused through the report and smiled . The report mentioned the results of their collaboration during the past month was very satisfying to read .

President Ha had a look at the papers for a while before she put them down and spoke .

“Thankfully, World Entertainment is also having good results through Channel Eddios . We’ve also gained many users thanks to the promotion . It’s good to see that we are synergizing well with each other . ”

FinesTalk was also getting promoted thanks to Eddios . She felt like kissing up to KangYoon since she was able to gain both money and promotion .

KangYoon also had a smile on his face .

“I’m glad to hear that FinesTalk is doing well . I hope we can continue to be like this in the future . ”

“Likewise . ”

Both KangYoon and president Ha thought of the same thing .

Drinking tea, their next topic of conversation was about FinesTalk’s next course of action . KangYoon’s most recent interest was in music streaming service . As president Ha SeYeon showed interest in this last time, KangYoon also researched deeply into this, and he came prepared .

The results were in president Ha’s hands .

“…Enabling users to listen just by plugging their earphones in? There’s no problem software-wise . The problem is distribution . Distributing so much to the singers and the composers? Wouldn’t we have too little for ourselves?”

President Ha SeYeon tilted her head . The distribution rate for the company was only 25% . The rest were distributed to the creators and the singers . This was an even smaller rate than similar music sites of other countries .

However, KangYoon spoke with confidence .

“The current structure of the music market is not good at all . The other music sites are monopolizing 40% of the profits so there’s too little benefit for the musicians and composers . It’s them that are creating the content that runs this industry, so there’s a problem with that . ”

“You say that, but I must say You’re giving too much consideration to the music market . ”

“I have some aces up my sleeve, and one of them is music quality . ”

“Music quality?”

KangYoon spoke strongly when she asked back .

“I’m planning to differentiate the price according to the quality of the music . We should also be able to provide almost lossless audio . Internet speeds will keep rising in the future and I believe there are no technical limitations . ”

“Differentiating price according to quality, huh . I think people will definitely use it if there’s a clear difference in quality . A difference according to service… You really are knowledgeable about this . ”

KangYoon smiled awkwardly at that remark .

They concluded that they should look at the long-term in regards to music service . The objective of FinesTalk was to connect all of the people to the network . KangYoon also knew of the power of a messenger app that replaced the normal phone messaging services, so he didn’t have any complaints there .

Grabbing president Ha SeYeon’s hands, KangYoon spoke .

“Looks like we’ll see each other quite often . Please take care of me . ”

“Please don’t be like that . Next time, I’ll visit World once . Even though we are collaborating with Eddios, I’ve never seen them once . That’s rather embarrassing . ”

“Okay, I’ll try to prepare a suitable schedule . We should eat together next time . ”

The two shook hands firmly .

This was the start of the music streaming site that would flip over the industry .

***

President Yoon HwanSung of Sace was a huge colossus that single-handedly created the biggest web portal in the country . He both had the wits for business as well as the knowledge of software, so he was one of the brainiacs of the country .

However, even he had his regrets .

“…Looks like this collaboration was a huge loss . ”

Having a look at the report that director Gi SeungHwan brought, he heaved a deep sigh .

“The promotion effect of Hello Tint is quite small . I thought that it was more effective to collaborate with stars from big companies… if I knew the results were going to be like this, it might have been better to collaborate with Eddios . ”

“……”

Director Gi SeungHwan did not say anything . There was no way he would feel better even if he heard those words now . Actually, he was one of the people that was opposed to collaborating with MG Entertainment . However, he was in a position where he had to listen to orders .

“A showcase, live streaming, and even a server . Compared to the investment we put into this, the promotion we got was too little . They are at 2nd place after Eddios in all of the music charts, and even on TV programs, they are always ranked after Eddios… Haa, this is appalling . ”

President Yoon HwanSung grabbed his head . Now that it was a month in, Hello Tint’s achievements weren’t bad, but they got the ‘2nd place’ tag on them .

The reason he was having a headache right now was that he himself had let go of the 1st place, Eddios, and that same Eddios collaborated with a rising IT company and were hugely successful .

The true loss lay here . Despite the promotion from a huge company, they got the image that ‘they were never going to be the top place’ . The effect they got from working with Jung MinAh last time had all vaporized into nothing .

“Director Gi . ”

“Yes, president . ”

“…Haa . Nothing . It’s my mistake . ”

President Yoon HwanSung was about to say something, but he just grabbed his head and smashed his face into his desk .

***

Director Kim JinHo’s expression wasn’t that good these days .

This was because Hello Tint was getting a lukewarm reaction compared to Eddios despite the fact that he decreased Hello Tint’s rest period by one month and made them create a comeback stage . Moreover, considering the album production costs and collaboration costs with Sace, the monetary profit wasn’t good either .

“Lee KangYoon and Eddios, they keep getting in my way…”

(T/N: Dude, it was you that got in their way this time… and STILL failed . )

Inside his office, he was clenching his teeth . Despite the fact that Hello Tint had more activities than Eddios whether it was participating in events or appearing on TV programs, there was a thick shadow of Eddios over them .

“…It should have been the other way round…”

He pulled ahead of the date of the comeback precisely to do that, but he was defeated instead . He took away their promotion strategy, made the date of their comebacks to be the same, but the shadow of Eddios pressured Hello Tint endlessly .

Boom!

Director Kim JinHo slammed his desk . He was so angry that he couldn’t endure it anymore .

“Uugh…”

Thankfully, he restrained his anger as much as possible, but just then, someone got past the restraints of his secretary and entered . It was unexpectedly Min JinSeo .

“Hello . ”

“J, JinSeo?”

Director Kim JinHo tidied himself immediately and ordered his secretary to get her some tea . Min JinSeo was a delicate topic at the company . Due to her film shoot in China being over, she was frequently traveling between Korea and China recently .

She spoke without reservations as soon as she sat down .

“I’m going on holiday . ”

“Holiday? JinSeo, where to?”

“I’m staying at home . Give me 3 days . ”

No star in MG Entertainment requested leave like JinSeo did . However, Min JinSeo was very firm in her attitude as though all of that had nothing to do with her .

Director Kim JinHo stuttered .

“Uh, uhm, MinSeo? You still have your activities…”

“I already saw that I’m free from Tuesday to Thursday in two weeks . Don’t get anything scheduled at that time . I came here because talking to manager-oppa did nothing . ”

“……”

“Then would you please . ”

(T/N: Not sure if it’s a typo from the author, or because of stuttering, but yes, the raws says ‘MinSeo’, not ‘JinSeo’ . )

Min JinSeo stood up from her seat as she had nothing to say . The tea on the table was still hot .

“JinSeo, why don’t you have a seat . ”

“It’s fine . I have to go back to China . Please take care of it . ”

She gave a slight bow and immediately left .

Left alone, director Kim JinHo shivered in anger .

“Uuugh… . even she is… . ”

He was a director at MG Entertainment and not just a small company . However, he was sad that he wasn’t able to do anything to Min JinSeo despite his position .

“Secretary Kang! Hey! Secretary Kang!”

He chose his secretary to vent his frustration on . The secretary only had fate to blame for bad luck .

***

“25% huh . Wouldn’t this make the others turn against us?”

Listening to the distribution rate of music, Lee HyunJI looked at KangYoon with a worried gaze . Yes, this would be much better for the musicians, but it may also make the huge telecommunication companies into enemies, giving them a lot of losses in the future .

However, KangYoon had confidence .

“It won’t be easy . However, once the service starts and it becomes able to provide high-quality music, I think everyone else will follow suit with that distribution rate . ”

“The intent is good, but there will be many obstacles . You should be prepared . Wow, I feel like we’ve become revolutionaries . ”

“Hahaha . ”

KangYoon made an awkward smile .

He told her that this was a long-term project, and Lee HyunJi replied that she would get things set up accordingly . She also didn’t object that much to KangYoon’s thoughts .

They were talking when a knock sounded on the door . Jung HyeJin answered the door, but she was shocked stiff when she saw who it was .

“M, Miss JinSeo . ”

“Hello there . ”

Min JinSeo smiled and greeted Jung HyeJin . Jung HyeJin was still not used to the unreal beauty and was flustered . However, she soon went to the preparation to brew some tea .

KangYoon greeted Min JinSeo .

“Welcome, JinSeo . ”

KangYoon offered Min JinSeo a seat, and Lee HyunJi stood up saying that they should talk about this later .

Min JinSeo appreciated the fragrance of green tea that Jung HyeJin bad brought and smiled gently .

“Uhm, sir . ”

“Yes . How is your work going?”

“The movie isn’t doing bad, and I’m getting ready for my next work . Though, I’m a little worried that the frequency is a little too high…”

“The frequency is high? Do you not get proper rest?”

“A little . Oh, yes . How many people work here?”

Due to the rather sudden question, KangYoon started counting the artists and staff at his company . It was around 20 people .

“More than twenty I think, why do you ask?”

“Have you all had your summer holidays? There’s a good place I know… should I introduce one to you?”

Lee HyunJi interrupted when she heard those words .

“Holiday? Where, where is it?”

KangYoon chuckled when he saw that Lee HyunJi’s eyes were shining . Although she didn’t express it much, he could clearly see that she was exhausting herself .

“It’s Jeju-do . There’s a summer house I know over there, and it should be able to accommodate around 20 people . Don’t worry about the costs either… Do you have any thoughts on that?”

It was from someone trustable (Min JinSeo), it was in Jejudo, and there was no worry about money . It couldn’t get any better than this . Lee HyunJi grabbed Min JinSeo’s hands desperately .

“Yes, yes . Please do . ”

“… . . ”

KangYoon shrugged his shoulders when he saw Lee HyunJi act so child-like .

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Author’s note

The real distribution ratio of music sites are…

Music streaming company, telecommunication company 46 . 5%

Music production company 40%

Copyright holder 9% (Composer 4 . 5%, lyricist 4 . 5%)

Musician 4 . 5 (Singer 2 . 25%, instrument player 2 . 25%)

If there are multiple singers or multiple instruments, they will get shared within that percentage .

This is managed by the Korea Music Power Project .

(As of May 2009 . )

In terms of foreign countries…

Itunes:

Apple 30%

Music production, artists, 70% (Detailed split are different according to how they are negotiated . )

In the case of Itunes, Google Play Music, and Amazon, they are very different .

Also, Itunes doesn’t have a streaming service .

(T/N: This chapter was uploaded on December 27th 2015 so the facts may have changed . )