Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 119

Music Monster Overnight! Episode 110

The trainee recruitment wasn’t just limited to Korea; it extended to Japan as well.

Auditions were held in both countries.

-The Second K-Pop Star Audition?-

-Trainees who upload the most engaging videos each month will receive 10 million won in support for each category!-

-Largest scale ever! In collaboration with Cable A in select categories!-

-Video voting will be through ‘YC Revolution’! One vote per person, issued daily! YC artists will host live broadcasts on ‘YC Revolution,’ including social network chatting and shopping!-

You might wonder why they’re going to such lengths just to recruit trainees. But as the article title, ‘The Second K-Pop Star Audition,’ suggests, this was an audition disguised as trainee recruitment.

They’re investing over 100 million dollars in promotion and securing audition facilities, which seems excessive from an outsider’s perspective.

But the reality was different.

Securing talent was practically a bonus.

They wouldn’t need to make such a fuss to recruit trainees; industry hopefuls would flock to YC Entertainment with just a whisper.

So, there was another reason for spending so much money and manpower on promotion.

As you can see in the article, it was the platform called ‘YC Revolution’ that they were blatantly promoting as a voting system.

YC Entertainment, which was pouring money into distribution, couldn’t ignore the importance of social media.

If a social network service (SNS) that could independently provide music, videos, etc., successfully established itself in both Korea and Japan, global expansion wouldn’t be difficult.

Of course, service quality was crucial, but that wasn’t an issue either.

This ‘YC Revolution’ was created by acquiring the entire SNS company called Revolution in the United States.

Revolution launched in the second half of 2017 and, in less than six months, gained a market share of nearly 6%.

You might think it’s just 6%, but in this field, early adoption is crucial, and the later you are, the higher the barriers become.

To overcome these barriers, you needed groundbreaking ideas or technology, or an absurd amount of capital.

Revolution’s case was the former.

They targeted teenagers and young adults in their twenties, who are highly active on social media, and their strategy was short-form video blasts.

Like T company’s social media, they mainly shared short videos, but Revolution allowed users to send video blasts to nearby members with the app installed, thanks to easy-to-use production tools.

For teenagers and young adults who love being trendy and playful, there was no better toy.

In addition, the SNS functions were very well-developed, and the algorithm was surprisingly advanced for a startup.

It’s perhaps natural that Youngchan thought of Revolution when considering distribution.

Given Revolution’s potential, their future path was obvious.

“They would have been absorbed into other social media platforms with a high probability.”

Youngchan believed the outcome was predictable without much thought.

No matter how good the ideas and technology, growth is limited without capital.

Conversely, in an industry where profitability changes significantly with even a slight increase in market share, the emergence of new competitors is unwelcome.

In that respect, it was natural for global blue-chip companies to acquire them.

Of course, the acquisition price would be astronomical.

In that sense, acquiring Revolution in 2015 was like picking it up for almost nothing.

Fortunately, Rainey, the main developer of Revolution, was a huge fan of YC and was happy to be under his umbrella.

Youngchan knew that Rainey was the core of Revolution, so he acquired Revolution for $10 million, leaving her with a 10% stake.

Afterward, an additional $100 million was invested, and with such massive funding, the completion of Revolution was surprisingly fast.

It was brought forward by almost two years.

Of course, it wasn’t just funding that made it possible to shorten the time.

“…You’re designing it in this form? And, why are you looking at me like that?”

“There really are geniuses in the world. No, I know the CEO is a genius, but… still, this is a different field.”

“…Ahahaha.”

Youngchan could only awkwardly laugh at Rainey, who seemed to be falling in love again.

That’s because what he was talking about was merely recalling the Revolution that Youngchan in his memories had seen.

Anyway, thanks to that, they were able to speed up the process, and as a result, they were able to launch such a big event in both Korea and Japan first.

‘Legends of Rock’ was becoming more popular with each season.

One of the reasons might be the increased interest in rock bands due to YC and Marvin’s collaboration on Painkiller.

However, fundamentally, it was because most of the teams that made it to the finals in ‘Legends of Rock’ were gaining some fame.

In particular, the winner and runner-up were considered top-tier in the rock band scene.

Among them, the most successful team was the G1 band, who were the runner-up in Season 1.

Back in Season 1, they had more amateurish qualities than professional ones, which led to strong likes and dislikes, but now they had become true professionals without any such reservations.

That’s because their actions after receiving so much attention in Season 1 were truly amazing.

When you receive such great popularity, it’s common to try to ride that wave.

This is evident when you consider that popular idols are often more influenced by their visuals than their singing or dancing.

In fact, the visuals of the G1 band were comparable to those of most idols.

So, it’s common to ride this popularity and engage in activities such as variety shows and events, but the G1 band was not an ordinary band.

Well, they were YC’s disciples, so the word ‘ordinary’ had nothing to do with them from the start.

Was that why?

The G1 band abandoned the honor and wealth they could have obtained by simply reaching out and started over from the bottom.

Starting in the Japanese band market, which is a much larger market than Korea, they succeeded in going major in less than a year.

Many people said that YC was behind it, but even considering that, it was a tremendous achievement.

No matter what you say about K-pop, Japan has a strong tendency to reject anything that comes from abroad.

“And… they even conquered Billboard in the end.”

Kang Cheol-soo muttered while looking at the G1 band poster.

Then his gaze lingered on the face of Jiwon, the mascot of the G1 band, for a long time.

At that moment, a woman with a large guitar case and striking orange hair entered.

“Ugh~ you little punk. You’re going to wear out the poster. Don’t tell me… you even kissed it?”

“W-What are you talking about!”

He changed the subject, perhaps feeling guilty about something.

“More importantly, why are you so late? Where are the others?”

“Part-time jobs, what else? I just finished mine and came here.”

“Seriously! With that mentality! If you had saved up in advance like me! You wouldn’t have to waste time on unnecessary things during this important time.”

“Hey! You live in Seoul!”

“???”

Hye-young barely stopped herself from delivering a righteous blow to Kang Cheol-soo’s face, who couldn’t understand what she was saying at all.

As she said, just living in Seoul had tremendous merit.

It alleviated the worry about the ever-increasing deposit [key money] and monthly rent.

‘If only he wasn’t the vocalist.’

To be exact, Hye-young thought that if he had just a little less skill, she would have assassinated him, but she swallowed her anger and sat down in her seat.

Soon, two friends who were in charge of bass and drums arrived at the practice room at the same time.

They were walking weakly as if they could barely walk after finishing their labor work, and Hye-young gave them bottled water and said.

“Did everyone practice?”

“…Isn’t it normal to ask if we’re okay first?”

“Your blood must be cold!”

The sight of a muscular giant weighing 100 kg whining wasn’t a pretty sight, but Hye-young didn’t bat an eye and approached him and asked.

“Did you practice?”

-gulp-

Young-ho, whose muscles were useless, nodded silently, as if he was afraid of her, who was less than half his size.

“Good. Then. I’ll look forward to it.”

“No, you don’t have to look forward to it.”

“No~ I will look forward to it. And you too! I’ll look forward to it.”

“Okay.”

Man-woo, who was watching the witch beating up the muscular fatty while holding his breath, nodded.

Kang Cheol-soo, who lacked tact, was also silent for now.

That’s because the time to upload the video was approaching.

Only a month had passed since the audition was announced.

In the meantime, YC Revolution was increasing its market share at an explosive rate.

The market share in Korea reached 12%, which was a monumental figure considering that the main age group using YC Revolution was teenagers and those in their twenties.

But it was nothing compared to Japan.

Japan had a market share of 20%.

Originally, N company in Korea had solidified its position with a huge market share, but YC Revolution grew without paying attention to that.

This happened because the unique closed-off nature of the Japanese disappeared as they knew that the SNS they were using was Korean.

Above all, the most special thing was the unique video bomb feature.

By sending pre-made introduction videos in places like bars, people could join tables without feeling burdened.

This video bomb was especially popular because it was automatically deleted after a certain amount of time.

In addition, this video bomb could create events such as belatedly detonating videos while maintaining a relationship under the name of Revolution.

That’s why even in the United States and Europe, where they haven’t started promoting in earnest, people were using this YC Revolution.

They were planning to start promoting in earnest next month, saying that they were already showing a market share of over 1%.

As it was so hot, many people uploaded videos for this event.

Most of them uploaded to increase their Revolution numbers or other SNS numbers, but among them, there were definitely real talents suitable for this event.

The protagonist of the video that already exceeded 100,000 likes last month became a trainee of YC Entertainment along with 10 million won.

Those who entered in that way made vlogs while walking around the 20-story YC Entertainment building that was completed last year and uploaded them to YC Revolution, which became a hot topic.

Having seen those scenes, the Red Witch team led by Hye-young had no choice but to feel impatient.

In order to stand out even more in the videos that were rapidly increasing day by day, they had to upload the video as soon as possible.

However, the process was not easy as everyone except Cheol-soo came from the countryside.

“Hey! You said you practiced!”

“Oh… I’m, I’m sorry.”

Young-ho, whose lie was exposed, hurriedly begged, but Hye-young’s eyes were already half-turned [glaring fiercely].

“When are you going to practice, and when are you going to film and upload the video like this!”

“Tsk~ what a mess.”

Cheol-soo was also impatient.

That’s because he also wanted their video to be on the best video list and enter the YC headquarters as soon as possible.

‘And meet Jiwon-nim [term of respect used for someone of higher status or someone you admire].’

The bright future where he might even be able to take a picture together was clear.

That’s why Cheol-soo comforted Hye-young, who was not easily calmed down by the betrayal, and continued practicing again.

“…I didn’t know it would go this well?”

“Hahaha. CEO, you’re so funny. You’re good at making jokes.”

Youngchan just scratched his chin at the head of the department, who thought his sincerity was a joke.

From experience, he knew that he couldn’t convey his true feelings no matter what he said here.

‘It’s not bad to be misunderstood either.’

Anyway, there were concerns as they had poured in a huge amount of money, but as this hit a jackpot, each media outlet was already praising Youngchan’s business acumen.