Chapter 165. Black Music Suits No One (3)

Translator: Chamber

Editor: Illidan

“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….”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

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.