Chapter 50: Business Opportunity

The fan meet officially began, and fans who had been waiting outside the exhibition center rushed in like a wave, creating an impressive scene.

Although Lin Entertainment had declined somewhat, it was still a B-tier entertainment company, with a considerable number of artists under its wing. Even accounting for overlapping fans, the total number of followers was enormous.

“Xiaoxi-sama, I’m your fan—!”

The first to rush to Lin Xiyue and Xia Jinnian’s booth was a bespectacled young girl. She looked quiet, but fans like her could be the most fervent.

A quick note: the title “Xiaoxi-sama” was entirely Bai Lulu’s invention. She had started using it across major forums, and it caught on, with fans following suit.

Compared to other honorifics fans used for idols, this one struck the perfect balance — respectful and affectionate without feeling distant.

“Hello~”

Since it was her first face-to-face encounter with fans, Lin Xiyue gave it her all, extending her hand for a handshake — only to be stopped by a nearby staff member.

“Miss Lin, according to company policy, for safety reasons, artists are not allowed direct physical contact with fans—”

“Oh… I see?”

Lin Xiyue smiled sheepishly. She hadn’t thought of that — once she allowed it, every fan would expect a handshake or hug, which would be unmanageable.

So she signed a photo herself, and Xia Jinnian added her own signature. They handed it to the fan, who then turned for a photo and happily accepted the signed picture.

However, after glancing at the photo, her expression subtly changed. She looked meaningfully at the two girls in front of her.

“You two must be partners for life! I’ll do anything for that!”

After sending the fan off, Lin Xiyue relaxed, only to realize she had underestimated her fanbase’s loyalty — the line stretched endlessly behind her.

“Oh no… signing photos all day, my hand’s going to cramp…”

The rest of the event followed a formula: signed photos, selfies, words of thanks.

Though tedious and exhausting, both Lin Xiyue and Xia Jinnian felt genuinely gratified.

Being an idol wasn’t about fearing a large fanbase or fervent fans — the real fear was empty halls and nobody caring.

Of course, for health reasons, not every fan could get a personally signed photo. Lin Entertainment limited the first 500 copies to autographed editions; the rest used stamped signatures.

“Hey, why’s the girl next to us selling physical albums? We don’t have that here.”

During a lull, Lin Xiyue glanced at a neighboring artist’s booth. She recognized this performer as one of the top-ranking artists in Lin Entertainment.

Her secretary, Xiao Li, was with her and explained:

“According to FanStar Network regulations, a physical album must include at least five songs. You don’t have five songs yet, so the company didn’t prepare physical albums for you.”

“Oh~”

Lin Xiyue nodded, understanding. Another lesson learned today.

She observed the neighboring booth’s prices. That physical album contained just five songs, packaged in a gift box with a few printed signed photos, bookmarks, and badges, and sold in tiers of 128, 198, and 298 yuan. Fans still scrambled to buy them. Lin Xiyue raised an eyebrow.

Wow, isn’t this just like our anime merchandise strategy? Cardboard sleeves, a metal case, a few cardstock prints — selling for over a hundred yuan with costs below ten? Way more profitable than selling digital singles online for three yuan.

“Miss Lin, by the way, fans in our entertainment market are very enthusiastic about physical albums, sometimes even more so than digital singles. Some artists’ physical album sales exceed online sales.”

Xiao Li’s words excited Lin Xiyue. She realized she needed to gather five songs and release a physical album to test the waters.

After the morning’s signing session, Lin Xiyue took a quick break to the staff restroom.

“How many people did you hire? Your booth always seems crowded.”

“Shh, keep it down. I hired 500 people this time, letting them come and go to fill the scene so it wouldn’t feel empty.”

“I only hired 300, but it cost tens of thousands. Adding the signed photo sales, we’ve already made over a hundred thousand.”

“Well, that’s necessary. Company resources are allocated according to these rankings.”

“True. If it were any other year, it might not matter. But this year, Miss Lin has incredible potential. Lin Entertainment could rise again, and the allocated resources will likely pay off.”

“And the crowd in front of her booth is huge — real fans, not paid actors. I haven’t seen a single duplicate.”

Listening to this gossip, Lin Xiyue quietly washed her hands and left.

She hadn’t expected this — many artists were spending money to hire people to inflate appearances and boost sales to secure company resources.

She didn’t plan to stop them, but she sensed a business opportunity.

This type of competition generated revenue and boosted fan activity. But paying for appearances and then recouping it through company resources seemed inefficient.

What if the money came entirely from the fans? The company wouldn’t spend a cent but could still rank artists, generate massive revenue, and strengthen fan loyalty and engagement.

Lin Xiyue immediately thought of online voting. She had seen the scale of network voting in Piggy Music competitions.

Competitions with tens of thousands of votes couldn’t be manipulated by individual artists’ finances. It forced them to compete fairly, boosting their skills and attracting real fans.

Online voting would allow more fans to participate, creating more engagement and income — much better than primitive offline methods.

“If we release a group album regularly, attach a unique code to each copy, and allow one vote per code, we could rank artists by votes. This would prevent vote manipulation, generate huge revenue, enhance fan loyalty, and motivate the artists to improve, right?”