The three albums "The Velvet Underground and Nicole", "Presley Elvis" and "The Master of the Seven Keys" have been released for more than three months, and the sales trend of decline is very obvious.

In fact, for [Quantum Music], the series "Rock Bible" is almost over.

The rest is the responsibility of local distributors.

However, according to the plan, before the ["Rock Bible" Tour] starts, the entire "Rock Bible" series will also undergo a large-scale reissue and promotion campaign, and a "fifteen-in-one" promotional gift package will be launched.

The main purpose of the latter is not to promote new sales, but to re-heat the popularity of this series and build momentum for the tour.

However, packaging the fifteen albums in the "Rock Bible" series into a promotional gift package and selling them at a lower discount price can still promote some sales.

From the earliest "Bohemian Rhapsody" to the present, the "Rock Bible" series has gone through fourteen years.

Among the entire series, the best-selling one is "Psychedelic Rock: The Dark Side of the Moon" released in 2005.

Since this album was released relatively early, the contract signed with the distributor has not yet been changed to the current contract, which is settled according to the retail sales. Therefore, in [Quantum Music], the sales statistics are sold to distributors.

The merchant’s “shipments” amounted to 66 million copies.

As for retail sales, the only thing that can be determined is that it must be far lower than this number. However, as the distributor refuses to provide detailed data reports, we can only estimate the specific number: 35 million to 35 million.

Between 40 million.

As for more accurate figures, there is no way to calculate them.

Since "Dark Side of the Moon", the sales of the entire "Rock Bible" series have shown a steady downward curve, with each book selling less and less.

The main reason for this is the impact of digital music on the traditional physical record industry. Especially after the rise of the Spotify model, digital music has gradually transformed from the past buyout system to the current mainstream membership system, which is charged according to the "number of times the paying user has requested."

model.

This model has a great impact on "sales figures".

A member who costs more than ten dollars a month can listen to thousands of songs for free. Naturally, fewer people are willing to spend money to buy out a song.

In fact, this pattern has had a disruptive impact on the recording industry to a large extent.

In the past era of physical records, it was easy for any moderately famous star to earn a large sum of dollars.

Not to mention too high sales volume, as long as an album can sell one or two million copies, the singer's own income can reach millions of dollars. In addition, with the fame brought by it, he can participate in some music festival performances.

By accepting a few advertising endorsements and so on, it is very easy to earn an income of 10 to 20 million US dollars a year.

With an annual income of 10 to 20 million U.S. dollars, in Hollywood, only the richer second-tier stars can earn this level of income.

But in the record industry, a third-tier star can achieve this number.

This is why, more than a decade ago, the recording industry was far more prosperous than Hollywood.

But what now?

How many people can still sell millions of albums?

Not to mention, due to various reasons, album profits are often lower than ten years ago with the same sales volume.

The main income of music stars has shifted from album sales in the past to current tour income and music copyright income.

The latter two often have little to do with the small stars at the bottom. Only big names with certain commercial appeal can afford them.

With the impact of digital music on the physical record industry, today's record industry has shifted from overall prosperity in the past to a "winner takes all" pattern.

The big-name superstars who stand at the top of the pyramid still earn as much or even more than they did in the past, but the income of the vast majority of middle- and lower-level stars has shrunk significantly, even to the point of being unsustainable.

Of course, such changes, at least so far, have had almost zero impact on top celebrities.

Almost all big-name celebrities do not rely entirely on one income.

Income from record sales is low? It doesn’t matter. If you do more tours and receive more endorsements, you can make up for this income from other sources.

For record companies, the impact is not big.

A middle- and low-level starlet brings less income? It doesn’t matter, just sign a few more.

The only ones who are affected are actually the middle-level and lower-level starlets, as well as newcomers who have just debuted.

Especially the latter, often need to have another job to ensure an income sufficient to support themselves.

It’s difficult to support myself just by relying on income from albums and the like.

In the long run, this will be detrimental to the development of the recording industry.

But let alone now, in the past life, until Roger traveled through time, no one seemed to have thought of a reasonable and effective solution.

Roger and others don't have that much compassion. Anyway, as the old saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how the record industry declines, it will still be the most important player in the entertainment industry for at least a few decades.

force.

Maybe, in a few years or more, new changes will occur and the record industry will flourish again?

And even if it declines, it will not affect the band's own interests in a short period of time.

Therefore, the band's attention is still focused on the band itself, and almost most of the energy is devoted to the upcoming tour and the promotion of the "Rock Bible" series.

Oh, by the way, there is also Roger, who still spends his extra free time playing "Twelve Movements of Dusk".

It's just that the progress of this work is not very smooth, there is a feeling of stumbling, and the progress is very slow.

Roger was not in a hurry. The copyright had been obtained anyway, and the agreement between the two parties did not impose any clear restrictions on the time of adaptation and release. It was entirely up to the band themselves to decide when to release the album.

If the "Rock Bible Tour" is still not completed after the tour ends, then continue to postpone it.

If four years is not enough, then five years; if five years is not enough, then ten years.

Anyway, one day, this album will be completed.

…

In this state of fishing and paddling, a year passes quickly.

During this year, "Twelve Movements of Twilight" only completed the "main plot" and the creation of two songs.

In terms of plot, Roger referred to the creative ideas of the album "Avalon Fantasyland", but in terms of setting and story content, it was based on the theme of "Twilight of the Gods".

Moreover, since the songwriting aspect was not perfect yet, Roger just wrote a very brief summary, similar to an outline.

As for the specific perfection, after the composition of a song is completed, the lyrics will be written according to the melody.

This is Roger's own habit.

There is no fixed order for writing lyrics and composing music.

There is no problem in either writing lyrics according to the created melody or composing music to accompany the created lyrics.

Of course, there are some that are done simultaneously, but in most cases they are still created separately, even if the lyrics and music are both written by the same person.

Roger's own habit is to first compose the main melody, or even a complete musical score for each instrument, and then write the lyrics.

It took a whole year, but Roger only completed the complete lyrics and music of two songs, as well as the main melody of one song.

Of course, this is not the result of Roger alone.

Like the song "Can't Say Goodbye" on the [Birth] tour, all the creation of the album "Twelve Movements of Dusk" was completed by the band.

Roger was more responsible. In addition to the concept of the album itself, it also included the "main outline" and the first draft of the main melody of each song.

The work of Annie, Fatty and Jason is based on this basis to improve, modify and fill in the first draft of the main melody of the song, and supplement it into a complete song.

Of course, Roger will also be involved in this process.

The large number of people did not make the creation process of "Twelve Movements of Dusk" confusing.

On the contrary, because the four members of the band have been cooperating with each other for more than ten years and have a very good understanding, this collaborative creative process went smoothly in the hands of the band.

Although the progress is relatively slow, the quality of the completed songs is quite outstanding.

Over the course of a year, the band completed the complete creation of the first opening track "Weakness" and the twelfth closing track "Yan Jia", as well as the main melody and part of the lyrics of the second "Ageing".

Finishing the first and last songs first is also to further define the framework of this album.

The theme of the entire album is the famous Western myth and legend "Twilight of the Gods", which is also to fit the word "Twilight" in the album name.

However, Roger did not copy the legend of "Twilight of the Gods", but made certain magical changes on this basis and added a small number of human characters.

Follow the official account: Follow and you will receive cash and coins!

There are two main characters, a pope who masters the "Great Prophecy" and stands on the side of the gods, and a necromancer who represents the ultimate "evil".

——These two characters also come from the novel with incorrect views. Anyway, the copyright has been purchased, so it will be in vain if you don’t use it.

At the beginning of the first song, it tells the story of the decay and weakness of Aslot, as well as the story of the giant wolf Fenrir and the world snake Jormungandr teaming up to attack the kingdom of gods Aslot.

(Note: Aslot is the residence of gods in Nordic mythology, similar to the heaven in Chinese legends. In Nordic mythology, the giant wolf Fenrir and the world snake Jörmungandr’s attack on Aslot is considered to be the

The beginning of the divine twilight.)

And in the last song "Yan Jia", it tells the apocalyptic scene of stars falling, the world tree collapsing in the fire, and the earth sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Of these two songs, the former adopts an operatic metal style with strong symphonic elements, starting with a grand and epic chapter.

The last song, based on traditional blues rock, leaves a meaningful aftertaste to this story.

With the beginning and the end, all that's left is to fill in a rich "musical story" between the two, completing the entire album.

This is not an easy task, but it is a very meaningful "challenge" for Roger.
To be continued...