All joking aside, Shinichi Iwahashi really feels that although he is nominally acting as an agent for Miwa Yoshida, in fact, their current model is more like partners fighting side by side for the same goal.
This makes their relationship different from the simple manager-musician relationship between Fengdao and Mimi Club.
The day after the recording ended, Mineshima called Iwahashi Shinichi and told him that there was a special performance and asked him to come over and help. Iwahashi Shinichi answered the phone, and after work the next day, he went to see Mineshima and helped with odd jobs.
Today's performance is a punk band called "Abnormal". Iwahashi Shinichi and his band moved their equipment into the car, and a member of the band reminded them: "Please be careful, please."
"Understood." Iwahashi Shinichi replied.
Just handle it with care. We all know the truth. How to maintain a good relationship with your musicians is also the responsibility of the manager. To this end, you must try your best to meet their requirements. Of course, don’t hide yourself out of fear of offending them.
You must speak out your true thoughts and everything that needs to be said. This is the model that can continue to operate healthily.
In addition to the equipment, the band's self-produced records, which are to be sold at the venue, are also carried onto the vehicle. Selling self-produced records is a very important source of income for underground musicians.
The term "journeyman" is not wrong at all. The work of managers in the underground music industry is very trivial, and contact work is just basic. At this time, everything that comes into view may be your own work.
Iwahashi Shinichi feels like an intern following an old-timer, and everything starts from the most humble place.
When they arrived at the venue, Iwahashi Shinichi followed Mineshima to confirm the venue. Not only that, Mineshima also introduced him to the person in charge of the livehouse. For Iwahashi Shinichi, this was the most precious part of the trip.
Tokyo, a city with a developed underground music culture, has countless places to perform. Even so, there are thousands of doorways, and no one will guide you and you don’t know how to get there.
Compared with running around and bumping around on your own, having an older person leading the way will save you a lot of detours.
Abnormal's popularity is very high, the livehouse is filled to capacity, and the fans are extremely enthusiastic.
Mineshima told Shinichi Iwahashi that it was a very hassle-free job to arrange performances for a popular band like Abnormal, because the band itself has its own popularity and can save a lot of effort in publicity and promotion.
"Moreover, because the band itself is popular, it is easy to apply for prime time, and the box office share is also good. The band can get about 60%, and there is no guarantee."
If a not-so-popular singer wants to perform here, the livehouse will set a target in order to protect its capital. For example, the amount of ticket revenue will belong to the venue. Only the ticket revenue that exceeds this line can participate in the share.
"Prime time periods like weekends and holidays are basically sung by popular singers. If you are Yoshida-san, you have no other choice but to rent this place and be responsible for the profits and losses, but this is meaningless. So, you might as well start with Monday and Tuesday
, starting from a deserted period like Thursday, slowly gaining popularity. When doing business, don’t think about making money at the beginning, although the ultimate goal is to make money.”
No matter how precious and important musicians regard music, performance is inherently a business. If we cannot have such a clear understanding, then we will not be able to go mainstream unless we stay underground as amateur bands from now on.
Iwahashi Shinichi worked with Mineshima for two days, and his knowledge gradually increased. Not only that, after he fully experienced the world of underground music, and clearly and intuitively understood what he was doing, his initial motivation was purely ideal.
Subtle changes also occurred.
The ideal is still there, but compared to the beginning, it is less passionate and more sober. For him, there is no need to be passionate all the time. The enthusiasm only needs to be strong enough to support him to persist. The rest is seriousness and restraint.
.
Just in time, the studio called him and told him that the half-finished song he had recorded was out. Shinichi Iwahashi put down the phone and called Miwa Yoshida. The two arranged a meeting place and went to the recording studio together in the evening.
After listening to their half-finished product, Miwa Yoshida didn't speak for a while. She pondered for a long time and pointed out a few places that she thought needed modification. She didn't know any musical instrument, so she could only describe it roughly through dictation. Iwahashi Shinichi was also there.
To help, a group of people gesticulated back and forth like they were playing charades. After struggling for a long time, they finally settled on it.
After waiting for another two days, the finished product finally came out.
Shinichi Iwahashi couldn't do the arranging work, and he felt that the final product was not satisfactory. For example, I originally planned to have my clothes made to measure, but in the end I didn't. Instead, I went to the mall to try on one and came back.
The clothes are good, but compared to what the tailor would measure for you personally, there is something missing.
He told this idea to Miwa Yoshida. Miwa Yoshida was silent for a moment, nodded in understanding, and said slowly: "Just right is not that easy."
There is something mysterious and mysterious between lyricists, composers, arrangers, and singers. There is a chemical reaction between certain songwriters and singers.
Otherwise, why did Yumi Matsutoya (by mistake) marry the arranger Masataka Matsutoya in order to have someone to arrange her music? Miyuki Nakajima felt that she and Seo Kazuzo's arranger aura was compatible, and they collaborated for dozens of times in one go.
Year.
As for songwriters and singers, there are Fang Wenshan, who is in love with Jay Chou, and Yang Qianfa, who sings about Lin Xi's worries.
The record company selects a few suitable songs for the singers from hundreds of songs in the music library. The reason why the members of the underground band are repeatedly changed is that, in addition to the high mobility of this industry, this change is also about the search for the kind of songs.
resonance.
However, this kind of "just right" is really rare. If you can encounter it, you are absolutely lucky.
Both of them knew this in their hearts, so they didn't mention it again.
At nine o'clock on Saturday morning, Miwa Yoshida came to see Iwahashi Shinichi at his apartment.
These days, I have been living a life of working during the day and doing odd jobs at night. On a rare holiday, Shinichi Iwahashi took a late nap. When Miwa Yoshida knocked on the door, he was still lying on the bed, keeping his eyes open.
, but the consciousness has not yet awakened, and the thoughts are empty.
It wasn't until he heard the knock on the door that Shinichi Iwahashi remembered that he had an appointment with Miwa Yoshida today. As soon as his mind cleared, he immediately got up as if he had a Snickers bar.
In order to prevent her from knocking outside for too long and causing dissatisfaction with the landlord, he opened the door first and said to Miwa Yoshida, "Wait for me a moment."
"Aren't you up yet? Iwahashi-san." Miwa Yoshida said, her eyes falling on the pattern on the shoulders of his pajamas.
"Well, it'll be fine soon." Shinichi Iwahashi replied. Seeing Miwa Yoshida nodding in understanding, he closed the door again.
Then he put the bed into the closet as quickly as possible, changed out of his pajamas, put on regular clothes, washed his face with cold water, brushed his teeth, and went to open the door for her without shaving.
