The studio is located in an office building not far from the city center, but their studio is only for receiving clients, so it doesn't need to be too big.
When Mu Li arrived at the studio, there wasn't even a front desk, which clearly indicated it had just been rented and they hadn't had time to hire anyone yet.
Upon entering, there was an employee work area, and besides that, there were two other rooms: a meeting room and the boss's studio. Mu Li and Wu Yao wouldn't usually come over, so this amount of space was sufficient.
"A Li, you're here!" Sister Liu heard the movement outside the door, opened her office door, and finding it was Mu Li, invited him in.
The office was mostly set up, with a simple coffee table and sofa, an executive chair and desk, and two small cabinets nearby for documents.
"The studio is almost ready. We just need to hire a few people, and then we can officially start operations," Sister Liu reported concisely.
Mu Li nodded and smiled, "Sister Liu, you work fast. I only mentioned it to you two days ago, and today the place is already prepared."
"Isn't it mainly because I want to quickly seize this wave of traffic?" Sister Liu said, "It's graduation season recently, and your song is incredibly popular. If we can capture this wave of traffic, we'll be on the right track immediately."
"By the way, is there still enough money?" Mu Li inquired.
"The current funds are the startup capital provided by Wu Yao's father. For Kuaoyin, I've spoken with Director Wang. Although your appearance fee can't compare to Chichi and Deng Fei, I've still managed to secure 5 million for you," Sister Liu said.
Upon hearing the appearance fee, Mu Li couldn't help but be startled: "5 million? That much?"
Sister Liu smiled, "It's quite a lot, indeed. This is similar to Fan Yizhi's performance fee. However, this should be a special favor from Director Wang, given your former Champion status. Once this money arrives, our studio will have more than enough funds."
5 million seemed like a lot, but after taxes and the studio's cut, the money that eventually reached Mu Li's hands was estimated to be less than 2 million, and this was still because it was a job Mu Li took on himself.
However, because the studio was just starting, Mu Li also let Sister Liu deduct a portion directly from this money for the studio's operations.
As for Wu Yao, he currently had no income. Even the right to play this male second lead was something his father paid for, so they couldn't rely on him for now.
"Oh, by the way, Director Wang invited me to participate in another one of his shows—Wonderful Life. The recording time is two weeks from now," Mu Li remembered that he hadn't mentioned this to Sister Liu yet.
Sister Liu couldn't help but widen her eyes: "Wonderful Life? Director Wang is too generous, isn't he? Those are his two ace variety shows."
Mu Li couldn't help but smile, "We get along quite well, I suppose."
Sister Liu nodded, "Director Wang is indeed very good to you. However, there are still two weeks until you go to record Wonderful Life. Do you have any thoughts about taking on another variety show?"
Mu Li was startled: "I don't have any problem with it, but I also need to record an album during these two weeks. If I go to another city to record a variety show, wouldn't it be a bit too rushed?"
"I've considered that. I happen to have a resource for a live-streaming variety show," Sister Liu explained. "This variety show is broadcast in two parts. One part is the live stream, and the second part invites some celebrity guests or family members of the participants to watch the show and record their reactions, which are then broadcast along with parts of your live content. It's a life observation type of show."
"Life observation?" Mu Li's mouth twitched, "My life is very boring."
"People nowadays love to watch these things. This show is quite popular, and each time it invites a mix of newcomers and already famous celebrities to participate."
"Most importantly, a portion of this show is live-streamed, which is very important for you right now."
"I've calculated that it will take about a month from recording to broadcasting for Wu Ha. During this period, you'll have a blank period online. A live-streamed variety show like this can perfectly fill that one-month gap."
"Moreover, this show is recorded at your home, so it won't affect your music recording or anything else. It's very suitable for you."
After listening to Sister Liu's introduction, Mu Li also felt that this show was practically tailor-made for him at the moment.
"But, I'm a bit worried that my life is too bland. What if no one watches?" This was Mu Li's main concern. Even he found his own life very boring, let alone the netizens.
"You don't understand fans," Sister Liu laughed. "If they like you, even watching you sleep would be interesting to them."
This made Mu Li think of many streamers who broadcast themselves sleeping. His own life couldn't possibly be more boring than theirs, could it?
"If it really doesn't work out, you can invite some friends over for dinner and a chat. Isn't Chichi good friends with you? He's in Magic City. If he's free, you can invite him."
Mu Li nodded. That was certainly possible. Although he didn't have many real-life friends in Magic City, he did have some online friends he'd met through gaming.
"Alright, I'll follow your arrangements." Mu Li finally agreed. As for the show's effect and such, he'd let the production team worry about that.
After confirming the new recording work, Mu Li followed Sister Liu to the recording studio for this session.
"We don't have a partnered recording studio right now, and I'm not very familiar with this area, so I just went directly with the previous company I worked with," Sister Liu explained. "Later, song promotion and everything will also be handled by their company."
The two arrived directly outside a small villa.
"This is the company I used to work for, Jiayu Entertainment Company," Sister Liu introduced. "Jiayu Company primarily focuses on singer management, but in recent years, it has shifted towards idol groups."
After entering, Sister Liu skillfully greeted various staff members: "I worked here for seven years, starting from the year you participated in the Olympics. This place is like my second home."
Mu Li nodded, somewhat puzzled: "Then why did you leave here?"
Sister Liu retorted, "Because Old Wu always gave too much."
Seeing Mu Li stunned, Sister Liu couldn't help but laugh: "Just kidding, actually, Old Wu has a very good relationship with Jiayu Company, so he asked me to specifically mentor Wu Yao. I just didn't expect to have you added to the mix, but overall, I haven haven't completely left Jiayu Company. We'll have many opportunities to collaborate with them in the future."
Mu Li understood. Whether it was the entertainment industry or the Pokémon competitive scene he was previously in, ultimately, the essence of these circles was the same. The top people in these circles would always have some connections, making it difficult to draw clear distinctions between them.
After entering the company, Sister Liu directly led Mu Li to the recording studio, but at that moment, another singer was recording inside.
"This song isn't new, is it?" Mu Li felt the song being recorded sounded familiar but wasn't entirely sure.
Sister Liu's mouth twitched, and she looked at Mu Li somewhat doubtfully: "This is 'Lost City,' a golden oldie from over a decade ago. You haven't heard it? Are you even in music?"
"Haha..." Mu Li gave an awkward laugh, "I actually rarely listen to music..."
Sister Liu couldn't help but roll her beautiful eyes: "I don't know how you manage to compose your songs."
Mu Li could only grin foolishly, trying to get by: "Who's singing in there?"
"Oh, that's Xu Yunyi, one of Jiayu's top artists. I used to manage him," Sister Liu immediately recognized the voice.
Xu Yunyi?
Mu Li had heard that name. Although he didn't listen to music much, he watched variety shows!
Xu Yunyi, who debuted through a talent show, frequently appeared on singing variety shows, usually as a mentor. He had probably been active for over a decade and was considered a veteran.
He had been consistently lukewarm before, but then five or six years ago, he suddenly became popular again and rapidly developed within those five or six years, becoming a first-tier singer.
"Isn't he a mentor on an idol variety show recently? Is this the song he's preparing to perform?" Mu Li asked curiously.
"Probably, you seem to pay quite a bit of attention to him."
As the two spoke, the recording inside finished. Sister Liu knocked on the door and pushed it open without waiting for a response.
"Little Liu, you're here." Two people were sitting in front of the recording console, one a middle-aged man and the other looking to be in his twenties.
"Sister Liu," the young man quickly greeted.
Sister Liu nodded, acknowledging the greeting: "Kim, I've brought the person. I'll leave him to you today."
Sister Liu had previously introduced Mu Li to Kim Shiming, Jiayu's gold-medal producer, who would be recording his songs this time. Kim had produced many classic tracks.
"Kim, just call me A Li," Mu Li greeted him proactively.
Kim Shiming had no airs about him and always wore a smile: "You're here, just finished up."
As they spoke, Xu Yunyi also came out of the recording studio.
Suddenly seeing so many people, Xu Yunyi was visibly stunned for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face: "Sister Liu!"
Sister Liu rolled her eyes: "I told you, don't call me Sister Liu. You're several years older than me, okay?"
Xu Yunyi shrugged with a smile, clearly not bothered by Sister Liu's complaint, and his gaze went directly to Mu Li: "And this is?"
Sister Liu introduced: "My boss, Mu Li. He's a new singer. Isn't he here to record a song today? How about it? Want to listen?"
Hearing Sister Liu's introduction, Xu Yunyi couldn't help but take another look at Mu Li. After a slight hesitation, he replied, "Sure, I don't have anything else to do anyway."
Mu Li handed the pre-made accompaniment to Kim Shiming and then entered the recording studio.
Jiayu Company's recording studio was clearly much better than the Yangcheng Conservatory of Music's. Mu Li looked around, finding it quite novel.
The song he was recording today was "like you as a friend." Although the accompaniment for this song was ready, it didn't have a proper audio source yet.
He had recorded a version at school before, but that version was too rough, with hardly any mixing done.
Kim Shiming listened briefly to the accompaniment from outside, raising an eyebrow: "This song is good."
Xu Yunyi also agreed: "It's really good. Who wrote this song?"
Kim Shiming gestured towards Mu Li with his chin: "The one inside wrote it himself."
Xu Yunyi raised an eyebrow, smiling as he looked at Sister Liu: "Sister Liu, your boss is quite good, an original singer."
Sister Liu smiled proudly: "Of course, how else would he catch my eye? This song was performed once at the graduation ceremony of the Yangcheng Conservatory of Music, and now, its playback count on Kuaoyin is almost breaking 10 million."
This surprised Xu Yunyi. He had thought it was just an original song by a new singer, but he hadn't expected it to be so popular already.
"Impressive, right?" Sister Liu smiled, "But this also rode the wave of the graduation season to achieve such an effect. After a while, it won't have this kind of traffic."
Xu Yunyi nodded. He had originally stayed to see how good the new artist Sister Liu was managing was. Now, he was genuinely interested in Mu Li.
After Kim Shiming finished the adjustments, the recording officially began.