Gu Chen never thought that Gao Mingyang would have such an experience on his music creation journey.
But this seems to be the only way for every original singer.
All of Gao Mingyang's original songs are based on his own life, so the lyrics are very immersive, making people listen to the songs like listening to stories.
Gao Mingyang opened a small refrigerator and took out some bread that he had chewed for a few bites, as well as two boxes of milk.
Throwing one of the boxes to Gu Chen, Gao Mingyang also asked casually: "Have you had breakfast?"
"I've eaten." Gu Chen took the milk thrown by Gao Mingyang and put it aside casually.
Gao Mingyang was sitting on the bedside, eating breakfast in a daze, and muttered:
"Actually, that girl is my motivation to stay here. Otherwise, given my personality, I would have already held my guitar and continued my wandering life."
"Where is that girl now?" Hearing what Gao Mingyang said, Gu Chen was also a little interested.
Gao Mingyang gave a wry smile and shook his head: "I've already left. I left quietly."
"Why?" Gu Chen asked.
Gao Mingyang shook his head: "I don't know why? Maybe it was because she had too much hope and wanted to stay in Jiangnan City, but later she discovered that she was too ordinary, and being ordinary made her feel inferior."
"When hope is shattered, maybe it's time for her to leave."
"Then are you willing to give up?" Seeing Gao Mingyang's moist eyes, Gu Chen knew that there seemed to be a very close relationship between this southwest girl and Gao Mingyang.
Gao Mingyang rubbed his face and shook his head silently: "Of course I can't let it go. She is the most special girl I have ever seen."
"Actually, when I was 16 years old, I lived in Jiangnan City with my relatives who came to work in Jiangnan City."
"When I was 17 years old, I held my guitar alone and started singing in the underground passages of Jiangnan City. A year later, I became a bar singer in Jiangnan City."
"But if you were singing in a bar, you also know that back then, you might only get 150 to 200 a night, which was very little."
"Also, the bar owner sees me as young and often lowers the price. Even if I sing better than others, I'm sorry, you are only seventeen or eighteen years old, and they think you are too young, so they can only give you this price."
"But I don't like the feeling of singing in a bar."
Gu Chen nodded silently: "Just like you said directly into the microphone after singing the second song yesterday... you have no ideas, you don't understand music?"
"Haha." Seeing Gu Chen teasing him again, Gao Mingyang nodded with a wry smile and said truthfully:
"You have met me. In fact, I often do this. If I don't like it, I won't sing. At most, it doesn't cost me any money."
"I face a bunch of customers who don't understand music all day long, and they yell at you. To be honest, if it weren't for the money, I would have stopped singing."
"I felt at that time that the environment in this bar was too hypocritical, that many of the people there were fake, and that their income was very unstable. These were all things that I couldn't stand."
Glancing at Gu Chen, Gao Mingyang added: "So what you saw last night is the real me. I did this when I was 18 years old."
"Haha." Seeing Gao Mingyang's self-deprecating look, Gu Chen and him looked at each other and both laughed.
Gao Mingyang also burst into tears with laughter and said, "You can't believe it? It's going round and round. I'm already in my thirties, but I'm still the same."
"Then have you always stayed in Jiangnan City?" Gu Chen asked.
Gao Mingyang shook his head: "Of course not. When I was 18, I started singing in bars in Jiangnan City. At that time, I sang other people's songs, but I always wanted to sing my own songs."
"So, I used all the money I earned at that time to pay for tuition, and learned how to compose and sing with a music teacher in Jiangnan City."
"Gradually, I began to learn to write songs by myself, but later I discovered that as a singer-songwriter, my own lack of experience also made me, who was young at the time, eager to enrich myself."
"So, when I just turned 20, I finally made up my mind to leave Jiangnan City and start my career as a wandering singer."
"So you left Jiangnan City when you were 20 years old?" Gu Chen said.
Gao Mingyang took a bite of bread, took another sip of milk, nodded silently, and said with a teasing smile:
"Of course, I left Jiangnan City when I was 20 years old. For four years, I carried my guitar on my back and visited many western cities and went to the plateau area."
"Then we followed the Yunnan-Tibet Highway all the way to Lijiang."
"Those were my happiest times. If there was no fare, I would hitchhike. If I couldn't get a ride, I would leave. If I couldn't walk, I would stay."
"When it rains, I sing in the rain. When it snows, I write poems in the snow. If nothing happens, I just open my mouth and continue."
"But don't you feel bitter like this?" It feels like Gao Mingyang has been living like an ascetic in these years. You know, Gao Mingyang was only 20 years old at that time.
Gao Mingyang smiled and shook his head: "Bitter? Is this considered bitter? Let me tell you Gu Chen, I feel that these things are not the hardest thing for me in this industry. I feel that whether it is wandering or in the underground passage,
Or maybe singing in a bar."
"These times are... particularly good for me. The only thing that makes me feel miserable is that when I have no inspiration to write, when I don't know how to create, this is the bitterness."
"So, it was after such a journey that my passion for music was almost completely released."
Holding his throat with his hand, Gao Mingyang reminded Gu Chen: "Gu Chen, you have to know that my voice has always been clear and clear, but it was also the moisture of tobacco, alcohol, wind and snow that made me vicissitudes of life and deep.
"
"When I returned to Jiangnan City after four years of wandering, I began to enter a period of high productivity in creation."
"At that time, if nothing else, everyone who was working in the independent music circle in Jiangnan City didn't know me, Gao Mingyang."
"Gradually, I became somewhat famous in the Jiangnan City music circle."
"But as a musician, I know that I can't always be so content with the status quo. I have to stand up and start yearning for a bigger stage."
"So?" Gu Chen asked.
Gao Mingyang looked out the window in confusion. The sunlight shone on his face, making him look so pale and haggard.
Gao Mingyang grinned: "So? So I need a beautiful stage to show off my singing voice."
"In those years, I signed up for many singing talent shows, especially the most popular competitions in China. I signed up for the Jiangnan and Yangcheng competitions, and eventually made it to the top 30 in the country."
"Unfortunately, when I advanced from 30 to 18, I ended up with a difference of 4 votes."
"At that time, I thought I was almost successful, but the door to my dream opened a crack, only to be closed to me again."
"Do you regret it?" Gu Chen asked him.
"I don't regret it." Gao Mingyang shook his head and said with a forced smile: "What do you regret? This shows that among the strong, there are strong ones. If you don't participate in the competition, you don't know your true level at all."
"And I prefer to write something real, including my lyrics, every word is true."
"These are my real experiences. If the next performance is my last song or the last performance, I will return to Jiangnan City and make an album of my own."
"I want more people to know that China's original music is actually very good and sincere."
"Perhaps I was born for music in my life, and I am the one who needs to continue walking on the path of original music."
"Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa!"
Listening to Gao Mingyang's impassioned speech in the dilapidated hut, Gu Chen felt proud of his persistence.
Although he was so poor that he could only eat bread and live in a dilapidated hut, Gao Mingyang's passion for music seemed to have no intention of fading.
Gu Chen couldn't help but applaud him as an encouragement.
After a while, he said again: "Gao Mingyang, your spirit is commendable, but you are always acting like this, can you make money?"
"Just take the night you sang in the bar yesterday. You should have earned a few hundred yuan. If you add in the rewards from the guests, it shouldn't be too bad. But if you just stop performing like this, wouldn't you be depriving yourself of it?"
A way to make money?"
"Haha." Listening to Gu Chen's words, Gao Mingyang nodded silently and echoed: "Yes, I cut off this way of making money myself, so what?"
"At least make some money and improve your life, right? Don't you want to release your own music album? It should be quite expensive, right?"
Gu Chen's words seemed to poke Gao Mingyang's weakness again.
Gao Mingyang was suddenly silent for a few seconds, then he walked over and opened the drawer, found an old notebook with yellowed pages, and flipped through it directly in front of Gu Chen.
He also muttered: "Making music albums now is much better than when I did it."
"Nowadays, the copyright fees for music albums mainly come from the lyrics and music. I can handle this myself, let alone sales. The sales of professional singers are very poor now."
"Otherwise, if you look at Mr. Wang, who doesn't make the headlines every time, and only sells 100,000 albums, he should be considered the top in the music industry."
"As for concerts, except for the previous generation of singers who can hold concerts, there are still a few traffics. Basically, most professional singers cannot hold a concert."
"So, I still rely on doing variety shows to make a living, but I still get scolded by fans."
"Then you should know a lot about these things. You can make them yourself, and the cost should be saved a lot, right?" Gu Chen didn't know much about these things, so he said casually.
After all, Gao Mingyang seems to know a lot about music and is looking forward to producing his own album.
Therefore, Gu Chen felt that he should be a well-established singer.
But Gao Mingyang snorted coldly and smiled self-deprecatingly: "Gu Chen, you are right, I can make my own album."
"And you can do everything yourself. It is free of charge, but the prerequisite is that you must know how to arrange music, know how to use computers to produce, and how to publish your own works."
"Take a buddy of mine as an example. He has released three EPs and two official albums this year, but they are all shoddy."
"If you don't know how to do it, it depends on what price you want. The higher the cost, the better the production."
"At the very least, if you have a friend who is willing to help you do it for free, or you know how to make it yourself, then there is really no cost, and you can still do pretty well."
After a pause, Gao Mingyang continued to gesture with his hands, and sat down with Gu Chen to communicate face to face: "I can do all these things myself, including lyrics, music composition, and arrangement."
"But the accompaniment instruments are all midi and sound library, and the recording costs 300 to 500 per hour. I calculate that you only need to record and sing for one hour, and the recording is done for 300 yuan."
"Finally, I'll post the mixing master tape and find a cheap one. It costs 500 yuan, so the cost of one song won't be very high. If you do it in batches, you may get a discount."
"But, again, the quality is far from guaranteed."
"What if we want to make it exquisitely?" Gu Chen asked again.
"Exquisite production?" Gao Mingyang hesitated and replied with a smile: "If it is done well, it is estimated that the cost will be around 20,000 yuan per song, and it is estimated that it will be of publishing quality."
"If you can sign with a company, then you don't have to worry about it. The company will pay for it. You don't have to worry about how much money the company is willing to spend on making songs."
"Anyway, if it's better, you have to pay more."
"The first is the production cost, including the copyright of lyrics and music, producer, arranger, recording, mixing, and mastering."
"The second is the cost of producing CDs, and this production cost is too complicated. Take the copyright of lyrics and music as an example. If you write the songs yourself, then there is no need to worry about this."
"If you are looking for other people's songs, the current market price is that a song by a well-known author will cost almost 100,000, and a song by a less well-known author will cost tens of thousands."
"As for an album, it has to be calculated as 10 songs, and the copyright is probably between 100,000 and one million."
After a pause, Gao Mingyang added: "In addition to these costs, there are always producer costs, right?"
"With the copyright of lyrics and music, it is up to the producer to decide the final style of the song, how to arrange it, etc."
"Big-name producers usually charge tens of thousands of dollars per song, or they can package the entire album for between hundreds of thousands to one million."
"If you know your own business, you can omit these things yourself."
"The second is hardware recording, which includes the cost of the recording studio, the cost of the recording studio, and the cost of the musicians. Generally speaking, a song costs less than 10,000."
"As for the mixing, it should be within 10,000, and the mastering process should be within 2,000."
"Calculated in this way, if it requires sophisticated production, the production cost of the entire album ranges from about 400,000 to more than 2 million."
"And if the CD of the album is to be released next, the production part, first of all, is the cost of the ISBN number. Generally speaking, it can be purchased within 2,000, and the CD master disk is within 1,000."
Looking through the various costs recorded in his notebook, Gao Mingyang continued to explain with distress:
"There is also this, pressing. It depends on the material. It ranges from 1 yuan to a few yuan per piece. Let's take the cheapest one as 1 yuan per piece. It is also a big expense."
"Then there are packaging boxes, which range from 2 yuan to more than ten yuan. It depends on the material. Let's go with the cheaper one, which is 2 yuan each."
"Cover and back cover printing also depends on the material. Calculated as cheap, it's about 3 yuan per album."
"Calculated in this way, based on the cheapest calculation, if 1,000 CDs are published, the approximate cost will be less than 10,000 yuan."
"But that's not the most important thing. If you want everyone to know that you have released an album, you have to spend a lot of money on promotion."
"If you want to spread the publicity network across the country and save a little money, probably... 2 million."
"Oh my god!" Gu Chen took a breath after listening to Gao Mingyang's introduction: "The production cost of this music album is so high? Can it make money?"
"Haha, making money? You're overthinking it." I felt that Gu Chen was a layman after all, and Gao Mingyang regarded him as a friend, so he would naturally reveal something to him, so he explained directly:
"Actually, assuming that all 1,000 copies are sold, if calculated as 80 copies, the sales volume will be 80,000. Not counting promotion expenses, your album will lose at least 300,000, right?
Gu Chen nodded silently: "Then if you have Li Ronghao's equipment and skills, then you can only spend a little on electricity, right?"
When asked by Gu Chen, Gao Mingyang was stunned for a moment.
After a moment, he nodded slightly: "It would be much better if I had a master-level talent like his. After all, they came from professional courses, and I am just a grassroots student."
With a faint sigh, Gao Mingyang also felt helpless and said: "Actually, the audio of a finished song requires lyrics, arrangement, recording, harmony, post-production, etc."
"To create a work of good quality, the production cost will be 10,000 to 20,000 yuan."
"It is said that you get what you pay for, and today's pop music is very messy. New songs are emerging one after another, but there are fewer and fewer songs that can be left behind. Most of them are commercialized. If they can be popular for a while and make enough money, it's OK."
"You can write your own songs, or even spend some money to make a similar demo. If it really becomes popular, a company will be willing to pay you to make a high-quality song, but the chances are slim."
Waving his hands, Gao Mingyang explained helplessly: "When we release an album, singles usually have one song, EPs usually have 2 to 5 songs, and albums usually have 6 to 12 songs."
"To put it simply, if the cost is optimized according to my creative level, if a song needs help from someone to optimize the preliminary work, lyrics, composition and arrangement, then the minimum cost will be about 2,000 yuan, and the distribution level starts at 5,000 yuan.
"
"The next step is to go to the recording studio to record. The recording starts from 200 yuan. After the recording is completed, it is repairing and mixing. Sometimes it is free of charge. Some recordings are given as gifts, and then there is a finished audio product."
"However, I can publish the music I have made on major music platforms, which is free."
"But to make others hear your music, the promotion fee ranges from a few hundred yuan to hundreds of thousands. For example, "Desert Camel", which was a hit before, cost 400,000 yuan and ranked first in the short video music list.
"
"And if a singer like me wants to have his songs heard by the public, he can only upload them to major music platforms."
"You can also shoot your own MV. If you want to save money, it's best to shoot a version of your own live performance, such as at a small event or bar."
"I have made some recordings before, but because I didn't spend any money on promotion, the results were very poor."
After sighing with emotion, Gao Mingyang also smiled helplessly: "I'm not afraid to tell you that in any industry nowadays, involution is very serious. It's almost impossible to get exposure without spending money. If you want to rank high, then
You have to spend a lot of money."
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