Chapter 130: Shanghe Records

Cheng Xiaoyu walked from the underground parking garage toward the elevator, beads of sweat rolling down his face. Today was his first day as an intern at Shanghe.

The July heat in Shanghai was oppressive. After running only a few steps, Cheng Xiaoyu’s white shirt was already soaked through with sweat.

The headquarters of Shanghe Records was located on the 66th and 67th floors of the Shanghai World Financial Center, a landmark skyscraper in the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone. As of now, it was the tallest building in China and the fifth tallest in the world. The tower stood 492 meters high with 101 floors above ground. It consisted of shopping malls, office spaces, and the Park Hyatt Hotel. Floors 94 through 100 were dedicated to sightseeing and observation facilities, a must-visit for anyone coming to Shanghai.

The World Financial Center accommodated 100,000 people, managed over 3,000 access points, and recorded more than 3 million control logs daily. Most of the tenants in the building were Fortune 500 companies.

Shanghe Records also owned its own professional recording studio in the suburbs of Shanghai, which, of course, did not just record songs for its own artists, but also for smaller record labels.

Getting involved in the production of Su Yuxi’s record was not as easy as Cheng Xiaoyu had imagined. No professional company would let a wet-behind-the-ears seventeen-year-old lead a project simply because he was the boss’s son. Moreover, Su Changhe had never even heard Cheng Xiaoyu’s music.

It wasn’t as if Cheng Xiaoyu hadn’t tried. He had recorded demos of the three songs he had selected for Su Yuxi’s group and passed them to the A&R (Artists and Repertoire) department through Su Yuxi, but they vanished as if into a bottomless abyss. He had also handed a demo to his old man personally, but still received no response. With Su Yuxi’s group set to debut next month, Cheng Xiaoyu had no choice but to take a roundabout approach, telling Aunt Zhou he wanted to intern at Shanghe to see how a record company actually operated. He knew that even the most fortified stronghold is often best breached from within.

Cheng Xiaoyu had been squeezed into an internship at Shanghe by Aunt Zhou under the guise of being a student from the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Every year, many such interns came from various colleges. Most were juniors or seniors nearing graduation. Generally, such internships were unpaid, but to satisfy school internship requirements and gain experience at a major company, many students flocked to them. Getting in, especially at a prestigious firm, was difficult without connections.

With the intern badge Aunt Zhou had given him hanging around his neck, Cheng Xiaoyu stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the 66th floor. It was the morning rush hour, and the car was a bit crowded. Most people working in this landmark building dressed like industry elites. In reality, while there were indeed many high earners, there were even more who were poorly paid; many were not as polished or glamorous as they appeared.

Because the World Financial Center used the world’s fastest double-deck elevators, which traveled at 10 meters per second, Cheng Xiaoyu did not have to endure the crowded environment for long. He soon reached the 66th floor. As he squeezed out of the elevator, the silver stainless-steel lettering of "Shanghe Records," which exuded a sense of high-tech sophistication, came into view. The girl at the front desk was quite pretty, but after glancing at Cheng Xiaoyu’s "Intern" badge, she didn't bother to look at him again, her expression remaining blank. Anxious, Cheng Xiaoyu walked up and asked, "Excuse me, where is the Human Resources and Administration Department?" It was only a few minutes before nine, and he didn't want to be late on his first day.

The front desk girl didn't even offer a mechanical smile. Too many interns came to Shanghe every year, yet most would never join the company; only a tiny fraction of elites managed to squeeze into this top-tier record label. Naturally, she wasn't going to be enthusiastic toward a passing face in her life. She casually pointed toward the right side of the corridor and said in a flat tone, "Walk to the end and turn left."

Cheng Xiaoyu politely said "Thank you" and hurried off to the right while checking his watch. By the time he found the conference room for the HR department, seven or eight young people wearing intern badges like his were already seated—a mix of men and women, though mostly women. It appeared he was the last to arrive. Cheng Xiaoyu bowed and apologized, "I’m sorry I’m late."

The meeting was chaired by a spinster in her thirties who looked sharp and calculating. She had a pointed face, a high forehead, piercing eyebrows, and her hair pulled back into a bun. She wore a black pencil skirt and a white blouse. The woman scanned Cheng Xiaoyu from head to toe and said slowly, "Although you are all interns, I hope you approach this with a rigorous attitude. If you have the mindset that you're just here to play around, I will not give a good evaluation in your internship report. Very well, come in."

Cheng Xiaoyu walked in under the pitying gazes of the others. Aside from his family, no one knew he was the crown prince of Shanghe. This was exactly what he wanted, as it was the only way to gain a deeper understanding of the company.

Cheng Xiaoyu carefully pulled out a chair from the oval table and sat next to a boy who had brought a notebook and pen. This made Cheng Xiaoyu feel a bit awkward; it was his first time working at a record company, and he had arrived empty-handed. At the front, the woman used a black marker to write the company structure of Shanghe Records on a whiteboard.

First was the Production Department: recording studio management and operations, music copyright management, producer management and collaboration, music production, record production, graphic design, and post-production. This was the core department of any record label.

2. Planning Department: A&R, scouting, signing, managing, and training artists (both new and veteran).

3. Distribution and PR Department: Public relations, promotion, and marketing. Broadly speaking, this also included working with distributors to release records (approvals, licensing, and retail placement).

4. Artist Management Department: Handling the affairs of artists under management contracts or full contracts, such as endorsements, commercial performances, and charity events (one of the company's revenue sources).

5. Performance Department: Projects that the company invests in and hosts, or co-hosts with other partner companies (another source of revenue).

6. Copyright Department: Managing music represented or owned by the company, collecting royalties or buyouts through collaborations with wireless music operators like China Mobile or China Telecom, and various other partnerships (another revenue source—if one is particularly skilled at producing catchy hits, the returns can be quite substantial).

7. Celebrity Merchandise Department: Producing posters, figurines, and other peripheral products.

8. Human Resources and Administration Department: Primarily responsible for recruiting, evaluating employees, and providing administrative support to other departments.

The woman led Cheng Xiaoyu and the other eight on a grand tour of the Shanghe offices, introducing the location of each department and briefly mentioning the primary managers. She then led them back to the conference room.

During the tour, Cheng Xiaoyu heard many people enthusiastically calling the woman "Manager Tao," and only then did he realize her name; he must have missed the introduction because he had arrived late.

Next came the assignment of departments for each intern. Cheng Xiaoyu naturally wanted to go to the Production Department most, or at least the Planning Department, but that was clearly wishful thinking. He was ruthlessly assigned to the Human Resources and Administration Department under Manager Tao.

Manager Tao’s full name was Tao Bihua. She was the manager of the HR department and had worked at Shanghe for nearly a decade, making her a very senior employee. New intern assignments were always under her jurisdiction because she had a sharp eye and her own unique approach to training and managing newcomers.

The reason she kept Cheng Xiaoyu in her own department wasn't just because he was late; it was because when this clean-looking, slightly chubby boy entered the conference room and she scanned him, he had met her gaze without the slightest hint of guilt. In Tao Bihua’s eyes, such interns were either troublemakers or well-connected young masters here to play around and meet stars. Both types were thorns in her side, and she had to keep Cheng Xiaoyu under her thumb.

If Cheng Xiaoyu was the former, she would strip away his arrogance. If he was the latter, she would make him find the work too difficult and cause him to quit the internship on his own.

Cheng Xiaoyu was still fretting over how to transfer to the Production or Planning departments, completely unaware that his life as an errand-boy intern was about to begin.