Damn Idol - Chapter 192



Only Noblemtl

Fucking Idol Episode 192

* * *

In the past, you couldn’t know what songs were in an album before it was released.

So if you wanted to listen to the album, you had to wait for the release date, buy the physical album, and then go home and listen to it.

That was the time when some people called it the analog era, and others called it the romantic era.

But now it’s different.

In most cases, the song is first registered on a music site, then promotions and other activities begin, and then the actual album is released.

This isn’t limited to idols or famous K-pop singers.

The same goes for indie singers.

Of course, there are cases where additional music is released to match the actual album release, and there are also cases where hidden tracks are not released at all.

But this was just a special occasion.

however…….

Surprisingly, Sedalbaekil brought forward the release of the physical album ahead of the release of the sound source.

In other words, the sound source was not released online, but the physical album was available offline at the album sales outlet.

The timing was also right for those who pre-ordered the album to receive it.

Although you may not be able to receive it all at once, we will do our best to receive it on the same day.

However, there was no choice for islands and mountainous areas including Jeju Island.

There were two reasons for this decision.

Firstly, the unit albums Side A, B, and C are still alive and well.

It’s not just the album of the unit On & On, consisting of Han Si-on and On Sae-mi, that was released last.

Masked Robber’s album, which is entering its 6th week of release, and Choi Jae-sung’s solo album, which is entering its 5th week of release, are also going strong.

Of course, the songs included in the Sedalbaekil unit album are not at number one on the daily charts.

Among the big singers who released songs at the beginning of the year, there were many who achieved great results.

However, a ‘first team’ was formed.

It’s not even been two months since 2018 began, but people are already saying that 2018 will be the year of weight classes in the music industry.

If you look at the daily or weekly charts, the top 5 to 20 are still filled with songs from Sedalbaekil.

The short form of Choi Jae-sung’s chorus, which seemed like it would be a passing fad, is still popular, and other entertainment companies are being influenced by it and trying similar things.

Although the buzz and issues surrounding the song released by Masked Robber may have decreased, it was still receiving tremendous support from R&B fans.

There were so many people who said they would buy the physical album as soon as it was released.

On & On’s , released with only one guitar accompaniment, is not easily boring.

Even though these songs were released not long ago, they began to be used in entertainment programs whenever guitar playing was required.

This is in line with the interests of broadcasting stations, but when foreign music sources are used in entertainment programs, problems often arise with overseas exports.

The reason broadcasters signed contracts with overseas music distributors was because they were for domestic use, and separate worldwide contracts had to be made for exports.

But, it is very expensive.

For songs that rank high on the Billboard Hot 100, tens of millions of won must be paid even if they are only on the charts for a few seconds.

But if you use On & On’s sound source, such unfortunate incidents will not occur.

Does that mean the quality of the sound source is low?

Absolutely not.

It is not lacking compared to songs from overseas.

No, I think it’s even better.

Han Si-on’s guitar playing shocked the guitarists who were flying and soaring in South Korea.

They also knew about Sedalbaekil and Han Si-on’s songwriting skills.

However, since it was known that the guitar riffs for the first regular album were created with the help of Eric Scott, it was difficult to evaluate how much of Han Si-on’s skill was involved.

There was a scene in the video of the color show where he played the guitar, but it was too short and flashy.

So guitarists couldn’t help but be astonished when they heard it.

I never imagined that Han Si-on would play the guitar this well.

A flashy performance can be produced through post-production, but a dull depth cannot be produced through post-production.

It’s hard to believe, but the depth that Han Si-on’s guitar shows is superior to that of any other guitarist in Korea.

It was so good that there was even talk that it would be the music college guitar entrance exam song for the next five years.

In this way, the sound sources of Side A, B, and C were still alive and well and were freely available on music sites.

And people called this ‘the boundary’.

-The barrier is so tight lol

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋI thought I would make it through a few of the singers who released albums this week, but I got pushed back again by the weight class difference.

-Tch, is that a barrier?

-I’m so pissed. Three months and a hundred days. Why do crazy people make albums….

-The victim has appeared again lol

-It doesn’t work with streaming attacks right now lol

-Come prepared for your weight classㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Lighter than us??? Go down

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

To rise above the sound barrier formed by three months and one hundred days, you must have the proper weight class.

Of course, it is possible to line up on real-time charts at dawn thanks to the fandom’s streaming offensive.

No matter how good the sound source of Sedalbaekil is, it can’t stop this.

But when the day starts again, the songs that were lined up on the real-time charts are pushed out without a trace.

In order to break through the barrier set by Sedalbaekil, good music and a wide range of light fans were needed.

In this situation, the public was also talking about how the quality of music sites these days is good.

Because all the songs that made it to the top 5 of the daily charts after breaking through the 3-month-100-day barrier were good songs.

What would it be like if the sound source of Sedalbaekil’s second regular album was released in this situation?

There is a high probability that the vitality of Side A, B, and C will be gathered to detonate the Spirit Orb.

It could have been a wondrous gem that would be remembered for a long time in the music industry, but Han Si-on didn’t want to do that right now.

I wanted to wait until the members could fully enjoy this success and naturally lose energy on the unit album.

This was the first reason for pre-releasing the sound source as a physical album rather than through a music site.

The second reason was a bit more abstract.

I wanted to create a ‘culture’.

Every platform, marketplace, and content seller puts in a tremendous amount of effort to get the first payment.

Originally, the first impression is important in all purchases.

Even people who have never bought bottled water in their entire lives will no longer feel aversion to it after buying it just once.

Even for those who don’t understand spending money on games, once you make a purchase once, the barrier to entry becomes lower.

This is because once a person crosses the psychological resistance line, he or she does not feel resistance to the next action.

Even crime is like that.

Han Si-on wanted to lower the barrier to purchasing a ‘real album’.

It is true that Sedalbaekil’s first regular album sold a lot.

Even if we only look at domestic sales, it has surpassed 1 million copies.

But that doesn’t mean that 1 million people actually bought the first album.

Among the 2nd generation of TT, there are those who bought tens or hundreds of albums, believing that the cutoff line for fan signing events would be determined by album purchases.

There are also those who buy the album “Sedalbaekil” in order to have a CD player, and then listen to it only a few times.

Although the sales location is domestic, there are many overseas buyers from countries such as China and Japan.

In that case, the number of people who bought the Sedalbaekil album in Korea was at most 600,000 to 700,000.

Hanseon, which had to sell 200 million copies, could not be satisfied.

So, for this second album, we adopted a promotional strategy to create the joy of purchasing a physical album for the public.

The composition of the album was also solid.

There are plenty of goods for fans, but a lot of effort was put into the album cover design and inside pages.

Even though time was limited, we hired a famous French designer and gave him full authority.

So that even after you’ve listened to the album until you’re sick of it, it can still be used as an interior decoration.

What’s more, this time it also comes with a CD player.

However, it was only planned to be included in the all-package product that was sold together.

So that the proceeds from the unit album sales can be returned in full to the members.

In this situation, the physical copies of Sedalbaekil’s second regular album and Side A, B, and C were finally released.

And this is… … .

Created a trend.

* * *

HR Corporation CEO Andrew Bryant and Management Chief Manager Alex Pereia are joined together.

While having a light conversation over coffee, the two people’s story came to be known as ‘Album’.

“Have you heard?”

“Yes. I heard it a little early. Eddie got it beforehand.”

“It’s amazing. How can so many songs come out of one person’s head?”

“I couldn’t understand the use of genres more than songs. Except for , there isn’t a song that uses only one specific genre.”

“It’s just tied to the big framework of rhythm and blues, isn’t it? It’s free?”

“Don’t you add the rest?”

The topics the two discussed were Side A, B, C of 세달백일 and the regular album.

Actually, it was a bit absurd.

HR Corporation was a huge corporation that had occupied a portion of the billboard for decades.

The fact that the CEO of such a company and the ace of the management team are talking about the album of a Korean singer who has not even made it overseas.

But in a way, it was natural.

The music industry is ultimately about selling music that makes money.

Sometimes, a singer’s image and story are sold more expensively than the music.

But the core of the business itself is selling music.

And now, a gem that few people know about has been born in Korea.

“The distribution contract has been signed coolly, but the timing is a bit ambiguous. We have to push.”

HR Corporation has decided to push forward with all its might for Sedalbaekil’s first regular album.

And we were really aiming for 10 million copies.

But this wasn’t a bet that Sedalbaekil’s music would sell 10 million copies in the United States.

HR Corporation and Andrew Bryant are betting on Billboard and Grammy heavyweights.

Eric Scott, Jankos Greenwood, Mary Jones, etc… … .

The Avengers, who were stars of the past, represented an era, and now represent a genre, have gathered together.

It was Han Si-on who brought them together, but it ended with only one album.

It has not yet achieved platinum status in terms of sales in the United States.

Andrew Bryant wanted to re-record it in English and sell it properly.

This was because they were confident that they would be able to sufficiently capture the wallets of middle-aged white people, who were HR Corporation’s purchasing base.

But in order to do that, the image of Se-dal-baek-il must be blurred.

Sedalbaekil is the singer, but the ones who wrote the song should be the masters of Billboard and Grammy.

That way, American buyers won’t feel rejected.

It’s a very stupid prejudice, but American consumers still have the prejudice that foreign content is inferior to their own.

“It should take three months and a hundred days to become faint, and it should take three months and a hundred days to become intense.”

“It might have been better if the second album was released a little later, but my opinion is that we should focus on the first album right now.”

It’s not up to Andrew Bryant and Alex to decide, but that’s what they’ve tentatively concluded.

Of course, since I was in charge of overseas distribution for Sedalbaekil, I had to do the basics.

If you want to maintain good relations in the future, shouldn’t you do at least more than what other overseas distributors can do?

So HR Corporation came to a conclusion, and it was a decision that would lead to a very interesting future.

* * *

“… … ?”

“… … ?”

“Is today April Fool’s Day… …?”

I just sat there with the members and blinked stupidly.

Everyone was making stupid faces, even me.

Chief Seo Seung-hyun told us about the album sales for Side A, B, and C… … .

It far surpassed any sales I could have imagined.

“How much?”