195-197

Chapter 195: The Final Step 

In the era of the internet wave, SongCast provided independent musicians with a special platform for distribution and showcasing. 

For most independent musicians, they might just want to test the waters and see what kind of reaction their music gets. Or they might simply be looking for a platform to sell their music and attract the attention of more record labels. 

Clearly, the self-promotion methods of the internet age have undergone many changes. 

In the past, the channels for self-promotion were very narrow. Sending demo tapes to record companies, seeking opportunities to audition in front of top producers, waiting outside record company doors hoping for a lucky break... These were the ways grassroots artists actively promoted themselves. 

So, when talent shows like "American Idol" emerged, they easily gained immense popularity. Later, "The Voice" provided a platform for professional singers to showcase themselves, or perhaps it could be seen as a second chance to gain the confidence of record companies. 

Nowadays, social networking platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have opened up a whole new world. And then, the full rise of short videos further expanded the limits of the online world, allowing everyone to showcase themselves freely in a colorful and dazzling way. 

So, how to present oneself to the public, how to present oneself to professionals, has become a subject of study— 

There is definitely a difference between the two, but ordinary people have no concept or idea. SongCast provides such a solution. 

SongCast is an online music distribution company, comparable to traditional distribution companies. Independent singers can upload their music to the website at any time for release. Then, the website handles tasks like file format conversion and artwork formatting, and subsequently completes the distribution to various online music sales websites, including all major platforms like Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. It only takes one upload to complete everything. 

Moreover, even the strict detail requirements of companies like Apple are not a problem for SongCast; they can handle everything in one package. 

At the same time, SongCast is also an important showcasing platform. Unlike the needle-in-a-haystack approach of YouTube, the website is more professional and more segmented. Many big-name producers or record companies use such platforms to find potential singers and cast a wide net to discover new talent. 

Although the decline of the entire music industry has been very obvious since the 21st century, the industry's demand for new talent has never declined. 

Thus, SongCast has become a kind of treasure market, and then record companies actively come to browse and slowly select, which reverses the roles of active and passive. 

For record companies, they can save ineffective review time and focus on the selection process. For independent musicians, it's a one-time effort; they just need to upload their songs to SongCast, and then the rest of the work can be left to the website. It's a more convenient choice for both parties. 

SongCast is not the only company currently offering music distribution services, but it is one of the most mature and successful companies currently operating. 

For the One Day King band, this is indeed the best choice right now. The Lumineers' "Ho Hey" was also released through the SongCast platform. 

So, why didn't One Day King do this before? 

Because, ultimately, showcasing oneself through the SongCast platform is still hoping to sign with a record label or management company. The promotional channels and resources are still in the hands of large companies, just like Justin Bieber and The Lumineers. And at that time, One Day King had a manager and was looking for a suitable record company, everything was on the right track, so they naturally didn't need SongCast's "help." 

Until... 

Then, the band started researching SongCast, and now they had to hurry. 

Creating an account, uploading music, recording song titles and descriptions... Maxim sat in front of the computer and skillfully completed all the preliminary work. Firstly, because the website's steps were indeed very simple, and secondly, because Maxim had done his homework in advance. Then, his movements stopped. 

"What's wrong?" Cliff was the first to notice Maxim looking up. He had just washed his face in the bathroom and was now fully awake. 

Ollie, who was sitting next to Maxim and craning his neck to look, also raised his head from behind the computer screen. "Cover art. If the upload is successful, we must have cover art." 

Previously, Maxim had researched SongCast, so he had mentioned the cover art to the band members— 

Whether it's a single or an album, SongCast requires cover art. And, interestingly, cover art is different from a singer's profile photo. The singer's photo can be a system-assigned avatar, and it doesn't matter if they don't show their face. But a single/album must have clear cover art. 

This is also a user-friendly design of SongCast. 

Considering that singers like Daft Punk use helmets as their trademark, and more and more singers have unique ideas about their image, SongCast allows the singer's avatar to be "empty," but single/album cover art must be uploaded— 

Because the cover art itself is part of the single/album, just like music videos, album design, inner page design, etc., it's all a systematic concept. 

However, the events of the past few days had happened too quickly and too intensely. The band simply didn't have time to discuss in detail how to design and produce the single's cover art. They had already sprinted all the way to this point. Only one piece of cover art stood between them and a successful song upload, and now they were stuck here. 

"Oh, how about this..." Cliff immediately understood and was about to speak, but then stopped. 

"How is it?" Ollie pressed. 

Cliff originally thought he had a solution: a temporary photoshoot. But then he thought of the problem. If they went to take photos temporarily today, putting aside the time issue caused by disrupting the rehearsal schedule, they would also need makeup artists, hairstylists, stylists, and photographers. Otherwise, would taking a cover photo with bare faces continue their simple style after the "Rolling Stone" magazine photos? 

That didn't seem right, did it? 

So, Cliff closed his mouth. "Ronan, do you have any ideas?" 

Ronan, who had just finished the last piece of fried chicken, had a satisfied expression on his face. "It's simple," he replied. All eyes focused on him, but Ronan slowly picked up his cup and began to drink his cola, completely ignoring the murderous gazes around him. 

Glug, glug. 

The sound of bubbles from the cola sliding down his throat revealed the coolness and refreshment of midsummer, so much so that the watching eyes couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva. 

Chapter 196: Single Cover 

Glug, glug. 

Glug, glug. 

The slightly fizzy sparkling water slid down his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. He finished off the entire can of Coke in one satisfying gulp, letting out an involuntary sound of contentment. "Ah..." It felt like every cell in his body had just opened up. 

Then, Ronan noticed the sharp gazes being directed his way. If those looks were arrows, his entire back would be riddled with them, the kind that could be fatal. This prompted a bright smile from Ronan, who innocently asked, "What? You guys want one too?" 

"Ronan!" Cliff felt like his veins were about to explode. 

"Haha. Hahahaha." Ollie burst into laughter again, the exaggerated sounds slowly subsiding under the combined stares of Maxim and Cliff. He leaned back a little sheepishly. "What Ronan means is, relax, there's no need to be so tense. Rushing things isn't going to solve anything..." 

But his voice trailed off because Ollie realized that Maxim and Cliff weren't misunderstanding Ronan's point, but rather annoyed by his teasing. His explanation was just adding fuel to the fire. He strongly suspected Cliff's brain was currently putting on a firework display of exploding blood vessels. 

Ronan chuckled softly, defusing the situation for Ollie and drawing all attention back to himself. "We can just use one of the photos we took as the cover. We can design it a little, it's not a big deal. After all, it's not the concept for the whole album, just the single cover." 

The complex and urgent situation was instantly... downplayed by Ronan's words. 

It wasn't that Ronan wasn't anxious, but when a person loses their hearing and their vision starts to deteriorate, even the most urgent matters have to slow down. Rushing only leads to greater difficulties, eventually being swallowed by frustration and fear. The only way to escape the predicament is to remain calm. 

In the past, Ronan's personality was just like any other young person. In the fast-paced and fragmented digital age, he became increasingly impatient and anxious. Then, his life was forcibly put on pause. There was no other choice but to either be consumed by darkness or to calm down and seek a glimmer of hope. 

So, at this moment, Ronan slowly wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth. "I remember we took a lot of photos in Colorado. There was one series that would be perfect for the 'Chasing Light' single cover. Hold on, let me wipe my hands first." 

Cliff, however, couldn't wait any longer and immediately started searching through his phone, his mind still full of questions. "You mean, Colorado? The ones Alice took, or the ones you took? I don't think we took any photos there, did we?" 

"Ollie probably took them... right? Alice was mostly holding the video camera... and Ronan isn't really interested in taking pictures..." Maxim said hesitantly, his voice filled with uncertainty. 

But the fragmented words sparked an idea in Ollie's mind. "Ah, ahhh!" He slapped his thigh hard, wincing slightly from the unexpected force, but his expression remained excited. "I remember now! Was it that series Ronan took? The one with the road, where one side was sunny and the other was cloudy? We were all stunned and pulled over to take pictures. Don't you guys remember?" 

"Yeah, that's the one," Ronan nodded at Ollie. "I remember taking a whole series there. We just need to pick the best one." 

The most magical and special thing about road trips is that you're constantly on the move, always encountering different people and things, and seeing different landscapes. Among them, the experience in Colorado was particularly unique, something Ronan hadn't experienced in either of his lifetimes. 

It was an endless plain, and they drove for nearly forty-five minutes without seeing a single sign of civilization. The only companions for the band were the occasional small animals that appeared on either side of the road, as if they had entered another world. 

To the left of the road were barren rocky mountains. The massive red rocks were bare, without any vegetation. The deep red color looked like it was soaked in blood. Dry cacti and shrubs stubbornly grew in the sand, scattered sparsely across the desolate gravel. Their roots held firmly onto the endless yellow sand and red soil, as if no other life could be found, like the surface of Mars. 

To the right of the road was a deep valley. Lush and resilient low shrubs grew on the dark red soil. The faint outlines of lizards or rattlesnakes could be seen winding their way through them. The landscape stretched towards the horizon, the green becoming increasingly vibrant, eventually forming a dense, dark green that seemed to echo with the sound of water from the mountain streams in the abyss, reflecting the blue sky above. 

Such a peculiar and magnificent scene could not be described by imagination alone. Nature simply and quietly displayed its own magic. 

At a certain moment, the straight, straight road rolled out from under the wheels, endlessly stretching until it touched the sky at the horizon, connecting the earth and the sky. The vertically extending road seemed to split the sky in two. 

The sky on the left instantly turned blood-red, with a hint of deep brown. Sand and dust raged across the desolate plain, the sky looking precarious, as if it might collapse at any moment. The end of the world couldn't be any more terrifying. The sky on the right, however, was as blue as if it had been washed clean, the cloudless blue clear and bright. You could even see the lingering contrails of a plane that hadn't completely dissipated, drawing out a few leisurely strokes. 

Extreme chaos and extreme clarity were strangely divided by the road, clearly separated and then intertwined like the Tai Chi symbol. In an instant, all thoughts in their minds came to a halt. All they could do was sigh in awe, prostrating themselves before nature with reverence and fear, silently looking up. 

Faced with such a miraculous sight, although the strong winds on the left were brewing a storm, Cliff's nerves were on edge, urging everyone to leave quickly. But everyone else agreed to pull the car over to the side of the road and started taking pictures, hoping to capture the grandeur of the moment with their cameras. 

At this moment, Ronan was referring to the photos taken that afternoon. He quickly found the photo he had in mind on his phone and showed it to his teammates. "I think this one will do. It's perfect. We just need to adjust the colors and filters a little." 

All eyes gathered, but everyone's expression was a bit confused. After looking at it carefully for a moment, Maxim tentatively asked, "Is that... Ollie?" 

Chapter 197: Uploaded! 

"Is that... Ollie?" 

Maxim's voice was full of hesitation, and his furrowed brow clearly showed his uncertain confusion as he leaned closer. 

The person whose name was called also leaned over to take a look, simply took the phone, zoomed in, and looked closely. In the end, he still looked at Ronan with bewildered eyes. "Is that me?" 

"Hahaha." Ronan didn't answer, he was having too much fun. 

In the photo, a black dot the size of a palm was running frantically on a highway with its back to the camera, just like Forrest Gump running across America in "Forrest Gump." He was running head down, completely absorbed, his all-out posture seemed to be fighting against the strong wind, stubbornly crashing towards the end of the world. You could vaguely see the tension in his back muscles, and power and passion burst forth, showing the intense emotions before destruction. 

A silhouette, running, a natural wonder. 

The simplest photo composition burst forth with a wonderful power. The photo itself had already completed the narration, as if... that figure was chasing the light, even if he was bloodied, even if the sky was falling and the earth was cracking, even if the world was destroyed, he was stubbornly and frantically running towards the light at the end. 

Indeed, the powerful impact of the flat image had leaped onto the paper, rushing towards you. This was a perfect combination with the artistic conception of "chasing the light." 

Cliff took the phone back from Ollie again, looked at it for a long, long time, squinting his eyes like a blurry-eyed old man. In the end, he still shook his head. "I can't tell who it is at all. How is it possible to tell? It wouldn't be a problem if you said it was Maxim or Ronan." 

"Why not say it's yourself?" Maxim immediately retorted, taking the phone back in the process. 

Cliff ruthlessly elbowed Maxim – judging from the ratio of height to weight, there was indeed a difference between him and his other three teammates. Even just from the back view, it was still obvious at a glance. Maxim's words were clearly mocking him. 

"Ah." Maxim let out a strange cry, dodged, and then carefully zoomed in on the photo again, looked at the details, and finally said with certainty, "This is Ollie. The running posture is Ollie's habit, but the most crucial evidence is this T-shirt." 

Putting down the phone, Maxim roared at Ollie, "Isn't it this one? This one! Ollie, I know you really like this white T-shirt, but you've been wearing it for three years. The T-shirt is already deformed, the shape is wrong. There's no need to keep insisting on it." 

"White T-shirt?" Cliff was full of question marks: This works? Aren't all white T-shirts the same? The four of them usually wear white T-shirts. 

But here, Maxim was already tugging at Ollie's white T-shirt, just like a "CSI" officer, holding onto the evidence, causing Ollie to protest repeatedly. 

At this time, Alice finally had a chance to pick up the phone and carefully examine it. She turned her head and asked Ronan, "This is Ollie, right?" 

Although it was a question, her eyes were very certain – people who were truly familiar with the band could still capture clues and ultimately confirm the identity. 

Ronan nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, it's that guy. At that time, I asked Ollie to walk around to present a natural state and capture the moment of taking a photo. As a result, he was as slow and uncoordinated as an old car. Then Maxim shouted 'Rattlesnake' next to him, and Ollie was so scared that he ran away frantically, crying as he ran... Hahahaha... That scene was so funny... I took a photo as a souvenir, but it's a pity I didn't record a video." 

Because there was a strong wind at the time, Alice didn't go out to film with them in order to protect the equipment. Instead, she used a video camera to record inside the vehicle, so she didn't have a detailed understanding of what happened outside. Now, with Ronan's explanation, the missing puzzle pieces were connected. 

Alice picked up the laptop that Maxim had thrown on the table, quickly uploaded the photos from Ronan's phone to the computer, and then began editing. 

"Shhh!" 

At this time, Ollie, who was still full of question marks about the photo's subject, repeatedly gestured to the two guys who were wrestling. 

"Shhh! Quiet! Alice is starting to work." 

Then, Maxim and Cliff both became obedient, trying to keep quiet and not daring to disturb Alice's photo editing. 

Because they all knew the consequences of disturbing Alice when she was working. Moreover, disturbing Alice was equivalent to annoying the Cooper siblings, and the power of that mixed double was really not something they could bear. What's more, they themselves were very clear about the importance of this cover art. 

So, they fell silent. 

Photo editing wasn't Alice's specialty, but it wasn't difficult for her either. It took her just over ten minutes to complete it smoothly. 

In fact, the composition and color tones were already excellent. The touch of nature was the most perfect. Alice didn't intend to destroy this beauty, so the editing mainly involved adjusting the contrast of some colors to enhance the sci-fi apocalyptic feel conveyed by the entire photo. The atmosphere immediately came out. 

After consulting the band members and receiving unanimous affirmation, Alice directly completed the upload. Then, she returned the computer to Maxim, who completed the remaining work. After all the procedures were completed, it was already past four in the morning. 

Maxim clicked "Confirm," then raised his head and said to his teammates, "Done." 

"...That's it?" Ollie felt a little empty. There were no party poppers or champagne, only a table full of fried chicken bones, and then nothing felt particularly special. 

"What else?" Cliff also retorted, but then trailed off. It was noticeable that he also felt a sense of emptiness. "The internet age is like this. Everything happens in the virtual network. Even if we want to find proof, we can't..." 

Halfway through his sentence, Cliff didn't know what he was saying or what he was trying to express, so his words just stopped there. 

For a moment, everyone fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts, seemingly dragged back into the sadness of the vast darkness of the early morning by their messy thoughts. Finally, Ronan's clear voice rang out again, "Congratulations, congratulations!" His cheerful words were accompanied by his own applause, trying to liven up the atmosphere. 

"We are now a band with a name. Next, let the audience be the judge. Let's see if our music can really move them, or if we are just a concert-limited band, only able to touch the audience face-to-face. The magic moment is about to be revealed." 

The nervous and apprehensive mood melted away in Ronan's lighthearted and humorous words. Because whether it was the former or the latter, the result was positive. One Day King had finally seen a glimmer of dawn in the long dark night. As Ronan said, they had finally reached a turning point. 

This was something to celebrate. Instead of being fearful of the future, it was better to be content with the present.