Chapter 80
“You’re really saying you’ve only been learning guitar for a year?”
“Um… well. That’s true.”
Day Two of the festival.
The truly storm-like performance that had taken place during the 6 p.m. slot on Day One.
And the 7 p.m. [Yoon Hyunjun Band], which had tried to whip up the heat somehow by encouraging the crowd and offering fan service, saying, “I don’t usually do this kind of thing…”; and Jo Woohyun, leader of Day One’s headliner [Merkish’d], who had pulled out his finishing move by shouting, “Everyone who came to see today’s show isn’t getting home in one piece!!”
Other bands that, spurred on by that performance, had played desperately to protect their pride.
The Day One bands that had given it their all and the Day Two bands were laughing; the bands yet to perform were suffering under the pressure; and the bands who had received guest passes despite not performing were thinking, ‘I want to put on such a passionate performance too!’…
A question tossed out at such an evening gathering. No, “scream” would be closer than “question.” And Suyeon replying awkwardly.
They should have been getting used to it by now… but people continued to be staggeringly shocked, nearly fainting, whenever they heard the answer from Suyeon.
Of course they were. The [Group Sound] performance at 6 p.m. on Day One had unquestionably been astonishing.
Drums, keyboards, and bass backed by solid fundamentals. And the guitar dancing across the top of it all. A blues performance imbued with such feeling that even someone with decades of experience would have found it difficult to play.
Yet when the questions came afterward, Suyeon answered…
“How long have you been making music?”
“A year.”
“How long has it been since you started the band?”
“Not even a few months.”
“How long have you been composing?”
“Not even a few months.”
“Did you happen to play music when you were younger?”
“I’m already young. And no, I didn’t.”
She gave the same answers every time. Even before considering whether they were true… was it really possible to play music of that caliber with less than a year of experience? Was this what genius looked like?
With those thoughts in mind, people continued hovering around Suyeon, paying little attention to Choi Iseo, the bass-playing girl who seemed to have ‘quite a decent talent.’
“Oh, right. I heard you learned from that guitarist, Seo Myeongjeon.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Some people asked, “Who’s Seo Myeongjeon?” Several guitarists looked dumbfounded as they talked. How could anyone not know Seo Myeongjeon? Did they at least know who Chae Hokeun was? Such exchanges continued around them.
“Suyeon, do you have any dates you’re unavailable? I’m looking for an opening band for my next tour, and I was wondering if you’d like to give it a try.”
At Cheolyeon’s words, everyone let out an impressed “Ooooh~.” Participating in the Bytailored Festival and opening for the Tailored Tour were clear signs that Tailored, a company with enormous influence over Korea’s rock scene, was backing the band.
“Uh… I’m not sure yet. I think I might be entering that audition program… Invasion or whatever it’s called.”
More exclamations rang out. Half of them sounded like they could not believe an indie band would turn down Tailored’s offer. The other half sounded surprised that they were entering the band audition program Invasion from Seoul.
“Oh, I was planning to enter that.” “You’d get eliminated immediately if you did.” “I shouldn’t tell the other bands. They need to get knocked down a peg too, kekkek.” Such comments passed among them…
‘Are those guys getting in my way again?’
There was one person thinking that. Jung Woojin, the leader and vocalist of the modern-rock co-ed band [Ullim Stones].
He was the person who had anonymously tipped off the judges about Ha Suyeon’s school-bullying allegations during the government-supported [Band Pioneer] project, leading to [Group Sound]’s elimination. And despite that, he had still failed to make it to the finals.
“They’re those kids from back then, right?” “Seems like it.” “Then should we just give up on the audition?” “Do we really need to go that far?” His bandmates were having exchanges like that beside him.
After [Band Pioneer], where they had been eliminated despite taking out a strong favorite to win, the members seemed to have lost their youthful fire. Woojin disliked seeing them that way. Couldn’t they simply try again?
“We have to enter the audition. And we’ll have to eliminate those guys too.”
“What?”
One of the band members looked at Woojin as though asking what he was talking about. But Woojin ignored them and continued.
“Anyone we can eliminate should be eliminated as soon as possible. Isn’t it an advantage to reduce the competition by even one?”
“Oppa. I heard that was just some rumor without much basis… And those girls are genuinely good, so what’s the point? It’d be better to leave them alone even if we enter together.”
“Hey. Are you going to leave a school-violence perpetrator alone? A bully is a bully forever. And I’ve thought this through. I’ve got information too…”
Despite his bandmate’s attempts to stop him, Woojin refused to listen and instead grew angry. As though being swallowed up by his own words, he muttered so quietly that no one around him could hear.
“What do you mean, where? Everyone’s taking this seriously. And she’s acting all cocky because she’s only been at it for a year. Does she think music is a fucking joke? It’s because assholes like that exist that I can’t make it big. Fucking bitch…”
* * *
“Hey, isn’t this fucking incredible? There was a reason I used a good selfie stick. You know your big sis didn’t spend tens of thousands of won on it for nothing, right?”
“Oh, give it a rest. How many times are you going to say that?”
Watching Seyoon’s footage, Sehyun scolded her. Another smack landed on his back. But Sehyun’s senses were focused on the screen rather than the pain.
“The girls are seriously pretty.”
“Told you.”
Iseo was dressed in something resembling menhera fashion. Seoha was dressed so clearly as a metalhead that there could be no mistaking it, while Hyuna wore a neat outfit. And Suyeon, at the center of the performance, seemed to be dressed in a somewhat retro style befitting the music… Black slacks and dress shoes. A white shirt with one button undone. A slightly oversized, one-button jacket draped over her shoulders.
“The music’s fucking insane too. Did they perform like this at Paradox?”
“Nope.”
Sehyun turned on his phone and looked through an online community. Only a few days earlier, those communities had been filled with comments like, What the hell even is Group Sound? Aren’t they just a total parachute job? What did they do for Kim Cheolyeon to get this kind of treatment?…
[Founder of Korean Rock.jpg]
(Group Sound performance video)
If you agree, smash that upvote lol
- Instant fucking upvote
- For real lol
- There they go overreacting again lol
ㄴ You don’t know Group Sound? Fuuuuuuuck
- Honestly, putting aside the overreaction, the performance itself was fucking insane. The guitar was fucking amazing—I thought John Mayer had descended.
ㄴ Who the fuck is Mayer? The guitar hero of this era is ‘Ha Suyeon.’
[Hey, Eric, why aren’t you starting the meeting?]
(Four Great Sages meme)
‘Ha Suyeon’ has not arrived yet
- Rolling Stone’s choice for the best guitarist of the 21st century: ‘Ha Suyeon’
- Honestly, if Ha Suyeon plays better than some senile old man, smash that upvote lol
ㄴ Being better than Antibaekseo is just an undeniable fucking fact, though?
Beyond that, even on Twitter and other social media, glowing reviews were pouring in. Complaints were not merely outnumbered ten to one or a hundred to one; they were almost nonexistent.
“Hey, hurry up and look at this. We need to check whether you edited it well or not!”
“I mean, you can just handle it yourself, so why are you making such a fuss?”
Despite answering his older sister’s nagging that way, Sehyun looked at the screen. It was true that he wanted to sabotage everything this goddamn ‘noona’ did, but when it came to anything related to [Group Sound]… he could never do that.
* * *
Let’s take a moment to look at how revenue from album sales is distributed in Korea.
First, once taxes are deducted from the final consumer price, 90 percent of the money remains. Then a “normal” distributor takes about 50 percent, while the agency takes around 30 percent. The remainder is divided between the performers and the copyright holders.
However, there is no agency for Group Sound’s EP. There are no wholesalers or retailers either, and the distributor signed an exceptionally generous contract. (At this point, readers may learn the lesson that it pays to have good parents.) And the performers and copyright holders are the same entity: [Group Sound].
After the Bytailored Festival performance, Group Sound recorded EP sales astonishing enough to shake the indie scene. They sold around 2,500 copies, including standard albums and limited-edition collector’s vinyl, which was nearly an impossible record for a debut band. So how much revenue would actually return to the band?
“About ten million won?”
“That’s right.”
Myeongjeon slurped down his coffee through a straw and spoke while looking at the children’s stunned faces.
“Of course, that ten million won isn’t going straight into your pockets. I’m the copyright holder, so the proceeds will be divided accordingly. Typically, the revenue split between copyright holders and performers is 10:6. So, to begin with, about one million won per person will be distributed…”
The three girls let out cheers at that. But Myeongjeon raised a hand to stop them and continued.
“Of the remaining six million won, 2.4 million goes to me first. And 2.4 million to Iseo as well.”
“Huh? You’re giving me another 2.4 million?”
“Lyrics fee.”
Iseo cheered again. Leaving the girl to celebrate, Myeongjeon said, “The remaining 1.2 million is divided among you at 300,000 won each. So that makes about 1.3 million won for Seoha and 1.3 million won for Hyuna.”
“Uh… I’ve never seen a band receive this much album revenue before.”
“Really?”
“Usually, an indie band gets maybe 100,000 won from selling an album? That’s about the level.”
Seoha muttered that and answered Hyuna. After all, these days physical albums had given way to streaming, making it difficult to expect much in the way of album revenue.
‘So my share is about four million won.’
Setting album sales aside, it could be called a large sum of money. Four million won was certainly a considerable amount. But if the money earned after working themselves bloody on album production and paying recording costs came to only four million won?
Objectively speaking, it was undeniably disappointing. Myeongjeon alone had already earned well over four million won from session work. If he had spent all that time doing sessions full-time? He would have earned several times more, without a doubt.
“What should I do with this money?”
But what could they do? That was simply what music was like in Korea. And seeing how happy the girls were as they discussed what to spend the money on kept him from thinking that way. It was even more so because they were happy despite the money not amounting to minimum wage for their work.
“Everyone should buy instruments.”
“I was already thinking about switching to a Fodera. I hear Fodera’s amazing…”
“Can you even buy a Fodera with four million won?”
At Hyuna’s words, Iseo’s expression fell. Seoha laughed and suggested that they go on a trip. Wouldn’t it be fun for the four of them to travel together? It did sound fun, of course, but…
“Let’s think about it after this year ends. We have college entrance exams coming up, and other important things too.”
“Is there something important?”
“There is.”
Myeongjeon recalled the words he had spoken in front of everyone on the second evening of the previous Bytailored Festival.
He also recalled Ms. Lee Hyein’s face. She rarely asked him for this or that, but she had more or less forced him, saying, “Could you at least do this one thing?” And he remembered the reputation-improvement work he had done to fulfill that request.
“It’s finally time for us to go on the audition program.”
The audition program scheduled to air on cable, [Invasion from Seoul]. That was Group Sound’s next destination.