I became a music industry godfather by writing confidantes.

Chapter 014 Hourly Wage: 13.59

Let's go back to Thursday night at 8 PM, when the single was officially released.

In the office of manager Hong Jie at the headquarters of Jinshi Music, a certain...

A rich garlic flavor.

Those were garlic crayfish that I brought back from a private restaurant.

Yang Du, wearing disposable gloves, was enjoying his meal immensely.

The bright red shrimp meat, after being dipped in the garlic broth, is simply divine when popped into your mouth.

Compared to his leisurely demeanor, the other two people in the office seemed somewhat anxious.

Tao Cheng, in particular, walked back and forth in the office, her high heels clicking crisply on the wooden floor.

"Senior, are you really not going to eat something? This place's garlic crayfish is absolutely amazing. You need to be full to have the energy to wait for the data." Yang Du peeled a crayfish and placed it on a disposable plate.

Tao Cheng swallowed hard, then shook her head with great willpower: "I'm not eating. I need to maintain my figure. I'll just have a salad instead."

She returned to her desk, picked up the plate of lush green grass, poked at it a couple of times, then put it down and continued pacing around the office.

"Sister Hong, hasn't the backend data come out yet?" Tao Cheng couldn't help but ask.

As one of the three major music giants in China, Jinshi Music naturally has extremely high authority, possessing a dedicated back-end channel for the label, allowing it to view sales data and play counts on various platforms in real time.

Sister Hong reassured her, "What's the rush? It's only been online for five minutes."

He then joked, "Back when I first entered the industry, I didn't know anything. I thought all this data was compiled by the platform and sent over in Excel format."

Yang Du couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Hearing the laughter, Sister Hong rolled her eyes and looked at Tao Cheng, who was still spinning around, and said, "No wonder she's nervous, this girl is worried about the second major curse."

There's a saying in the industry: the curse of getting a second major.

It's quite normal for newcomers to become famous overnight with their first album. There are many newcomers in the industry who are just a flash in the pan and disappear in a few years. They become famous for their songs but not for themselves, and eventually disappear from the public eye.

Subsequent works will be the true test of whether one can make a living in the music industry.

Although this release is just a single, it is Tao Cheng's first work after her first album, and its success will be revealed soon. It is also a touchstone, and with the time coming, she can't help but feel a little anxious.

"Ding-dong—"

Suddenly, Sister Hong's WeChat rang.

When Hongjie opened it, she found that it was a message sent by Fang Lei.

She glanced at it, then suddenly looked up: "The data for the past ten minutes is out! Downloads: 22!"

"It's a sure thing, Orange, these numbers are definitely in!"

It's worth noting that during her first album's run, Tao Cheng's best-performing single was called "Falling Snow."

The song garnered 39 downloads in its first hour and eventually reached an astonishing 380 million downloads, earning platinum single certification and topping the charts for two weeks.

It has already garnered 22 downloads in just ten minutes. Even if the data crashes later, the number of downloads in the first hour will definitely be on par with "Falling Snow".

But Tao Cheng was still a little uneasy: "But Sister Hong, fans always rush to buy singles first, so the initial data will definitely be very impressive..."

It would be bad if it started strong but then declined.

Time passed by, and Yang Du gradually slowed down his eating of crayfish. At 8:20, Fang Lei sent another message.

Total downloads: 36!

Tao Cheng finally relaxed completely and let out a scream: "Ahhh—!"

Yang Du shook his head, feeling a bit of tinnitus. Anyone who didn't know better would think there was a loudspeaker that had come to life in the office.

"Junior, thank you so much! I really have to thank you this time!"

Tao Cheng turned around excitedly and gave Yang Du a big, firm hug.

"Hey, senior, watch out for the lobsters—"

Yang Du is still eating lobster.

He was startled and quickly raised his hands, which were covered in chili oil and minced garlic, afraid that he might accidentally smear the oil stains on the other person's clothes.

Sister Hong also breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the two of them with a smile.

Once I felt relieved, time seemed to speed up, and soon the data for the first hour was ready.

Number of electronic downloads: 55!

Streaming playback data: 680 million!

Although Yang Du had absolute confidence in the song "Flammable and Explosive," he still had a lingering unease before seeing the solid data, though others couldn't see it.

What if... I don't adapt well to the new environment?

What if... I betray Tao Cheng's trust?

Now that we see the data, the stone has finally landed safely.

This is not just a business achievement, but also a real benefit.

Looking at the extremely excited Tao Cheng and Sister Hong beside him, Yang Du quickly did some calculations.

In China, a single song typically costs 3 yuan.

The 55 downloads in the first hour translates to 165 million in sales.

According to industry practice, of this 165 million, the platform (Tencent Music and NetEase Cloud Music) will directly take 30% as channel fees, and the remaining 70% will belong to the music company.

According to the previously signed contract, Yang Du, as the lyricist and composer, is entitled to a 10% share.

That is to say, 165 million * 70% * 10% = 11.55!

This is not over yet!

The single's commercial success includes not only digital downloads but also streaming.

Streaming media, simply put, is online playback. It can be playing music, movies, or TV shows online. It's a technology that allows you to watch or listen without downloading the complete file to your local device.

It is completely different from electronic downloading.

Digital downloads are more like paying for a house outright in one go; users pay to download a single song and permanently save the audio file to their local device.

Streaming is more like renting a house; users don't buy or download individual tracks, but rather subscribe to the platform and pay monthly fees.

During their membership period, users can listen to all songs on the platform.

However, this is only the right to use the service. Once the membership expires, the right to listen freely will no longer be available.

Based on the industry's streaming media per-play price, the production company can earn approximately 0.03 yuan in net profit per play for a single song.

Yang Du will also receive a 10% share of this portion.

680 million * 0.03 * 10% = 2.04!

In other words, Yang Du could earn 13.59 yuan in just the first hour after the single was released!

Of course, this is pre-tax income.

After mentally calculating the score, Yang Du couldn't help but smack his lips.

This was because it was his first time serving as a producer. As a 21-year-old junior in college, he was too inexperienced to earn any producer points.

Otherwise, according to industry norms, producers usually receive 3% of the revenue, and senior producers can get even more.

If those 3 points are included, Yang Du could earn at least 17 in the first hour!

However, you have to eat one bite at a time.

"I'm earning $13.59 an hour now, even if it's only temporary."

Conservative estimates suggest that the single "Flammable and Explosive" could bring Yang Du a net income of millions.

Yang Du couldn't help but sigh, no wonder so many people are desperate to get into the entertainment industry.

That's a really fast way to make money.