The Voice of Great Xia

The Tianmei Building had been built twenty years ago by Shangguan Yan, the founder of Tianmei Group, at a total cost of over two billion Great Xia currency units. It had ninety-eight floors and stood 453.8 meters tall, making it the third-tallest building in the entire Capital.

At that moment, Chen Ze stood beneath the towering, magnificent building, as tiny as an ant!

"Hello, Sister Ting! I'm downstairs at headquarters."

"Wait a moment. I'll have Xiao Li come down and get you."

Led by Xiao Li, Chen Ze arrived at the president's office on the eighty-eighth floor.

He pushed open the door to find two women sitting inside, discussing something.

One of them was Zhang Ting, and the other was Shangguan Mingyue, the president of Tianmei Entertainment Company.

She wore an office lady uniform, her long black hair falling loosely around her shoulders. She had delicate features, an oval face, and willow-leaf brows. Beneath her shapely, upturned nose were lips painted with burgundy gloss, while her deep-set eyes occasionally gave off a chilly look.

Her skin was pale and cool-toned, her long, straight legs were clad in black stockings, and she wore a pair of red high heels. With her curvaceous figure, she radiated the allure of a woman in uniform!

If you thought she was nothing but a pretty vase, you were sorely mistaken! Shangguan Mingyue had displayed extraordinary business talent when she took over Tianmei Entertainment at the age of twenty.

She suppressed her rivals, courted allies, and poached talent. Although she could be somewhat unscrupulous in her methods, that was also a quality a leader ought to possess. In just three years, she had crushed what had once been Tianmei Entertainment's biggest competitor until it could no longer hold its head up.

Under her leadership, Tianmei Entertainment's market value had multiplied several times over, putting it in a leading position throughout the Great Xia Nation!

Normally, a newcomer like Chen Ze, who had just signed a C-tier contract, would not have had the chance to meet the president. But his immediate superior, Manager Wang, had been sent abroad and was currently developing the overseas market, so President Shangguan Mingyue was temporarily overseeing Chen Ze's department.

"Come, Xiao Chen, let me introduce you. This is the executive president of our Tianmei Entertainment Company," Zhang Ting said.

"Hello, President!" Chen Ze was a little stiff. This woman's presence was too overwhelming, and he felt inexplicably nervous in front of her.

"Chen Ze, eighteen years old, and you've only just graduated from high school?" Shangguan Mingyue asked mildly as she looked over his file.

"Yes!" Chen Ze said.

Shangguan Mingyue closed the file and said to Chen Ze, "Tell me why you turned down our B-tier contract and chose a C-tier contract instead."

"Because I want to keep the copyrights in my own hands," Chen Ze said.

"As far as I know, you've only written one song. Even if you owned the copyright, you wouldn't make much from it. Our B-tier contract, on the other hand, would give you a fifty percent share of the revenue," Shangguan Mingyue said.

"I'm confident I can write more songs!" Chen Ze said.

"Oh? Songs that can rival 'My Old Classmate'?" Shangguan Mingyue asked with interest.

"Of course, and more than one," Chen Ze said.

"There are very few singer-songwriters like you these days. If you can write at least two more songs that rival 'My Old Classmate' within the next year, I can give you an A-tier contract, or even an S-tier contract. Are you confident you can do it?" Shangguan Mingyue asked, her expression serious.

Chen Ze said confidently, "Rest assured, President. Two songs won't be a problem for me." For Chen Ze, who had the system as a cheat, not to mention two songs, even twenty would be no problem at all.

Hearing Chen Ze make such a boast, Shangguan Mingyue felt inexplicably displeased. She had always hated people who did nothing but talk big.

"In half a month, Capital Television Station will hold a music variety show called 'The Voice of Great Xia.' I'm sure you've seen it before. Over the next half month, the company will promote you and build up publicity. You'll take part when the time comes. If you can't place in the top three, the company will terminate your contract immediately, because I don't like people who do nothing but talk big. Do you understand?" Shangguan Mingyue said coldly.

Chen Ze naturally knew about "The Voice of Great Xia." It was held once a year to seek out outstanding singers among the public and was very similar to a certain music show from his previous life.

Chen Ze nodded and said, "Rest assured, President. I'll do my best to place in the top three." If he couldn't even make the top three, Chen Ze would be too ashamed to stay.

"Mm, you may go. Manager Zhang, show Chen Ze around the company," Shangguan Mingyue said to Zhang Ting.

Zhang Ting showed Chen Ze the company's various departments and procedures.

Tianmei Entertainment Company had a wide range of operations, with its core business mainly divided into artist management and project planning and production. The main artist management processes included: 1. Artist scouting and recruitment: finding promising newcomers through online and offline channels, such as following internet celebrities on social media and holding in-person talent contests. Once a prospect was found, their looks, talents, personality, and other qualities were assessed. If they met the requirements, a contract was negotiated.

2. Artist training: tailoring courses to each artist's characteristics, including professional training in vocals, dance, acting, and other skills, as well as courses in posture and etiquette, verbal expression, and image management to improve their overall abilities.

3. Artist promotion and marketing: drawing up publicity plans, posting daily updates on social media to attract followers, arranging media interviews and appearances at fashion events to raise the artist's profile, and building popularity through releases and stage performances.

4. Commercial partnerships and event arrangements: liaising with brands and event organizers to negotiate collaborations, including advertising endorsements, commercial performances, and variety show recordings. Once a deal was settled, schedules were arranged and events were followed through to ensure they ran smoothly.

5. Fan management: establishing fan clubs and organizing fan events, such as meet-and-greets and birthday parties, to maintain the relationship between artists and fans and strengthen fan loyalty.

Zhang Ting was responsible for managing this part of the business.

The project planning and production process included: 1. Project planning and selection: keeping track of market trends and audience preferences, developing ideas for film, television, music, variety shows, and other projects, discussing and assessing their feasibility internally, and deciding on a direction and preliminary plan.

2. Scriptwriting and content planning: bringing screenwriters together to write and refine scripts, deciding on musical styles and song selections, and planning variety show segments and procedures, so that the project's content was completed and was of high quality and eye-catching.

3. Project preparation: assembling a production team and inviting directors, actors, camera personnel, music producers, and others. Drawing up filming schedules, arranging locations, equipment, and props, and preparing and securing budgets to ensure filming went smoothly.

4. Filming and production: filming according to plan, with the director overseeing quality and the various departments working together. After filming, the project entered postproduction for editing, visual effects, scoring, dubbing, and other work to polish the finished product.

5. Project publicity and distribution: drawing up publicity and distribution plans, using trailers, posters, and other materials to promote projects through social media, news outlets, and in-person events. Coordinating with distribution channels and arranging broadcasts and releases.

Another manager oversaw this area, and multiple departments had to work together to keep such a large company running normally.

It was not until the afternoon that Chen Ze gained a preliminary understanding of the company's various operations and work.

Chen Ze walked out of the building and was about to hail a taxi home when a system notification suddenly sounded in his mind.

"Ding~ Congratulations, Host, on completing the mission. You have received 10 points to allocate to any attribute and 10,000 empathy points. The rewards have been sent to the system inventory."

"Ding~ 10,000 empathy points deducted. Host still owes this system 85,020 empathy points."

Hearing the notifications, Chen Ze remembered that he had almost forgotten he still had a college entrance exam mission. He recalled that it seemed to require him to achieve excellent results. It looked like the exam results were out. Chen Ze opened the website and entered his personal information to check.

656 points! Chen Ze's scores across all subjects added up to 656. Even in his previous life, that score would have made him an academic ace, able to take his pick of 985 and 211 universities.

"Looks like my grades haven't slipped much!" Chen Ze murmured.

"System, put all my attribute points into temperament."

"Ding~ Allocating points for Host. Allocation completed successfully!"

Chen Ze's whole temperament seemed to undergo an instant transformation. Where he had looked like an ordinary person before, he now looked more like a young master from a wealthy family. No one who saw him would think he was an ordinary person. That was the benefit of improving his temperament.

For the next half month, Chen Ze's work consisted mainly of studying, including professional training in vocals, dance, acting, and other skills, as well as courses in posture and etiquette, verbal expression, and image management to improve his overall abilities.

Half a month later, the auditions for "Great Mansion's Voice" officially began. The auditions lasted seven days, but because Chen Ze had the company's resources behind him, he skipped them and went straight into the official rounds.

Unlike a certain music show from his previous life, "The Voice of Great Xia" had no blind audition stage. Instead, a total of one hundred contestants selected through auditions in various regions across Great Xia competed in elimination rounds.

The competition was divided into three stages. The first stage was the auditions, which selected one hundred outstanding contestants from across the country;

The second stage was the elimination rounds, which consisted of three rounds. Fifty contestants were eliminated in the first round, the field was reduced to twenty-five in the second, and the third round was a revival round;

Everyone from the earlier rounds had one chance at revival. The mentors would vote to revive five of the seventy-five previously eliminated contestants, who would advance directly to the third stage;

The third stage was the finals, which consisted of four rounds. In the first round, the thirty contestants who had advanced drew lots, and the two people who drew the same number competed against each other. The mentors and audience then voted to decide the winners.

In the second round, the fifteen winners from the previous round drew lots. Again, the two people who drew the same number competed against each other, but this time one person received a bye.

In the third round, the seven winners from the previous round and the one person who had received a bye paired up into four teams and drew lots to compete. The two winning teams advanced to the fourth and final round to vie for the championship.