For the virtual idol group a-soul and the audience, May 14 should be an ordinary Saturday. According to the usual plan, this evening should be the same as most previous weekends, with the participation of all members. However, this group, which has not yet become a national idol, suddenly rushed to the top of the hot search list of microblogging and other platforms. When the live broadcast started on time at 8 p.m., it also showed an abnormality - only four members appeared in the live broadcast room where five members should have been present**
Outside the live studio, a-soul encountered the biggest storm since the establishment of the combination: without warning, it announced that Jiale Carol, one of the five members, would enter "live dormancy" and no longer participate in daily live broadcasting and most idol activities. At the same time, the disputes over the salary distribution, working hours and privacy protection between the operator and the portfolio members have become the fuse to send a-soul to hot search.
We hope that through the perspective of three viewers who love (or loved) a-soul, we can lead readers to understand the process and controversy of this matter from some perspectives.
The strongest virtual idol was born like this
In the eyes of the outside world, a-soul is an Internet Project born with a golden spoon. Behind it, there are top Internet manufacturers and Lehua entertainment affiliated to popular male idol Wang Yibo. Lehua also mentioned the relevant contents of a-soul in the prospectus. According to public information, a-soul is currently subordinate to the Jiangnan studio of Chaoxi Lightyear, which is a project under the byte game business**
In the context of a-soul, virtual idols performed by 3D characters in animation style are the collection of idols and virtual anchors. The group members receive artist training provided by Lehua entertainment and operate in the idol mode of Japan and South Korea. They also have to perform, interact and communicate with the audience in the live broadcasting room through a unique image like the virtual anchor who has gradually become influential in the live broadcasting industry.
At the beginning of the announcement of a-soul, there were five members: Xiangwan, Beira, Jiale, jiaran and Nailin. The external image of Jiale, who is good at singing, is vocal. In terms of business achievements, this is by far the most successful virtual idol combination: at station B, "what to eat today" account is the top 100 up owners in 2021 with 1.64 million attention, and "Jiale Carol" is the strongest fleet of live broadcast in 2021.
The 2021 broadcast of "Jiale Carol" is the title of the strongest fleet of the year, which means that this account related to Jiale Qiang is the anchor with the largest number of voyages at the same time Grand navigation is one of the subscription payment modes of the live broadcasting service of station B, which is divided into three stalls: 138 yuan (198 yuan), 1998 yuan and 19998 yuan. The payment sharing of the live broadcasting platform is also the main source of revenue outside the commercial endorsement cooperation of a-soul.
Although the name of the virtual idol has the word "virtual", it is actually played by real people as the virtual anchor. The five members of a-soul correspond to five real actors respectively. Their performance is an important factor for it to become the first virtual idol in fact Because it is a 3D image, in addition to the vivid and hard performance of actors, the operator's optimization, development and organization of image and live content are also very important
A-soul may not have brought much positive book income to byte beating, but it is almost a "miracle" in the industry. At the beginning of his debut, he was burdened with the question of "big capital swallowing the minority market", but he was recognized beyond expectations through the distinctive performances and interactions of the five members, which made it impossible to underestimate the Internet industry or the entertainment industry. He kept coming out of the circle and vaguely had the momentum to go to the public.
Ma Kai, who has been at home for several months and hasn't been able to return to campus after online classes, Xu Xunyi, who just graduated from school recruitment enterprises last year, and Lao Zhang, a social man with many years of idol consumption experience, have become a-soul loyal audience because they are moved by the bits and pieces shown by the members in the live broadcast They also believe that the five girls with dreams will have a better future
What has happened in the past week is based on this seemingly imminent peak
Girls, gossip and hidden privacy
Early in the morning of May 9, Xu Xun, who was fishing at the station, watched the aftertaste of the live broadcast of the previous day and talked with his group chat friends who were also a-soul viewers. In the days when there is no live broadcast or video content release, the audience is keen to discuss the performance, interaction, speech and other topics of members. However, a new news broke the calm - a large number of members' personal information was leaked.
Even in the idol industry that completely turns itself into a commodity, the personal information of artists needs to be strictly protected to avoid being harassed or targeted by criminals. When it comes to virtual anchor / idol, it has evolved into an unwritten rule - unless officially announced or admitted by yourself, you can't explore who the actor playing the image is, let alone obtain personal information that is private to everyone**
It is nothing new in the virtual anchor / Idol industry for good people to discover the true identity of actors and make them public. Most viewers will be tolerant because they know more about the actors they already like. The disclosure of personal information encountered by a-soul this time is different. It not only finds out the actors' personal social accounts and photos, but also exposes their school experience, ID number and other privacy.
At this moment, Xu xun1 didn't take it to heart. He thought it was just a malicious slander on his favorite idol. Even if it was true, it wouldn't change any view. He wouldn't have more ideas about the real virtual idol. In July 2021, the exposure of a member's account caused an uproar. Five people skillfully resolved the crisis and grew steadily in the live broadcast.
The accident broke the original peace
On the afternoon of May 10, the accident came.
After the official live broadcast of "official yoga" will be held on May 20, all the audience wonder why there will be no announcement from the "official yoga" live broadcast of "official yoga" by ul-a.
*In the field of virtual anchor / idol, both "dormancy" and "graduation" refer to the same meaning. The image will no longer perform publicly *, and the actors (people in aka) will also leave the group. The news of Jiale's departure shocked all a-soul viewers. Even though the audience had expected that the five girls could not exist for a long time, they would eventually usher in the day when they were no longer virtual idols.
Lao Zhang, who has witnessed countless idol graduations, soon realized the problem of Jiale dormancy. When Japanese and Korean idols or virtual idols often want to quit, they often leave a long time to make public news and appease the emotions of audiences and fans . Tripping love, a popular virtual anchor all over the world, announced that it would go into sleep three months in advance, and then held the final concert on February 26 this year.
The news of Jiale dormancy is only ten days away from the public to May 20. Obviously, this should not be the due action of the performing arts project in normal operation. It is also inconsistent with the known official activities of a-soul. There is no hint in any form in the recent live broadcast or announcement. So suddenly, the audience guessed what had happened and asked Jiale to leave the group as soon as possible. A storm was brewing.
Is she a virtual idol or an actress herself
The personal account of the exposed Jiale actor (hereinafter referred to as 33) instantly became the vortex center. The life details, training pain and overtime practice mentioned by the members in the past live broadcast were originally considered by the audience as part of the performance content rather than absolute reality. 33 the content shared from time to time in the account can be matched with the live broadcast speech one by one, making the audience begin to doubt whether the members have been treated fairly.
Ma Kai especially hopes to do something for Jiale or 33. A-soul has brought him a lot of happiness, and the few months he has to stay at home have become his few spiritual support. Ma Kai found several netizens who were also concerned about it. While searching for the member's personal account to collect information, he recorded all kinds of mistakes of the operator and all kinds of Jianghu rumors, trying to string together to find an answer.
So the spearhead began to point directly at the operator, some voices on behalf of the audience thought it was the operation omission, which led to the lack of proper protection of the members' personal information, so that the girls who supported the popularity and love of the project did not get their due salary , suffered possible workplace bullying, and even had to work overtime for the effect of the program. Under pressure, the live broadcast on May 11 was changed into a special communication meeting.
Before the broadcast, the official account published an open letter signed by Su Shi (head of Chaoxi Lightyear Jiangnan studio). He said that the project had only 100000 fans and hoped to carry out exploration and research at the technical level. The popularity in 2021 exceeded expectations and also changed the goal. Su Shi acknowledged the lack of confidentiality and denied the questions of abusing members and unreasonable income.
At the beginning of the live broadcast, Jiale talked to the audience about her experience in a-soul, and indirectly verified the authenticity of her personal account in the form of answering questions. She also mentioned the two persons in charge who have the most frequent and direct contact with the outside world. Before that, the government has never recognized their existence, and the five girls just call them "tool people". She seems to be dealing with all this as 33.
After that, the content of the four members was even more strange: jiaran and Nailin tried to control their emotions and build trust with the audience, but the slightly excited state did not have a positive interaction with the repeated barrage; Xiangwan and captain Bella are more like revealing the truth. Xiangwan is not good at covering up her true feelings. Bella said that she has no home to go back to when facing the requirements of "dissolving the group to protect members".
Ma Kai didn't care so much. He only saw that Jiale admitted everything inside and outside the live studio and saw the difficulty of the girl along the way. He hoped that the operator could publicly admit her mistakes and compensate her for everything she deserved for playing Jiale. Ma Kai began to brush the bullet screen in the live broadcast room, began to express his views on microblog Douban and other platforms, and began to contact influential we media.
Ma Kai's mother saw her son's excitement and roar in the past two days. She couldn't understand why her son's online class became like this. She thought she couldn't go to school to meet the girl she liked and got lovesickness. Xu Xunyi, who has been paying attention to this matter since two days ago, is also having a heated discussion on group chat and online platform. He can't accept the sudden changes. There should be five girls in the a-soul he recognizes.
After the storm, idols and fans have changed
The live broadcast, which instinctively resolved all guesses and contradictions one by one, did not solve many problems. In the view of many viewers who have been paying attention to the five girls, the response of only members for more than two hours just verified the injustice they suffered. Xiang night and Bella even acted as if they had lost the right to freely grasp their destiny and take the initiative to choose to leave. The audience tried to get the topic out of the circle and let the public know.
As a result, we all know that from May 13 to May 14, a-soul related topics began to appear in the reports of the head we media and mainstream media, and the discussion points directly pointed to whether the five girls were paid, oppressed and bullied in the workplace. Even netizens claiming to be employees of byte jump said that many colleagues contacted the person in charge of byte game business to reflect this matter.
33 personal accounts did not respond to the crazy shower outside. They just watched the attention of the official a-soul and the accounts of the five members decrease with the spread of the event. Correspondingly, several accounts, including a virtual anchor, claimed that they had a close relationship with the members themselves and were able to provide the news most expected by the audience, which attracted a lot of attention and supporters at one time.
The original live broadcast plan is still going on as usual, but the live studio has changed back to the state of four people again, which is slightly new to many new viewers. In 2021, Jiale had a three-month holiday and didn't return to multiplayer live broadcasting until July. During the discussion, some viewers said that the interactive state of the four members was like a return to that time. Jiale did not never appear, but leaving would not cause too much trouble.
Lao Zhang sees all this in his eyes. He has not been without waves in his heart, but he is not surprised by what happened to the idol group and the virtual anchor. It is not uncommon for members to fly alone or even dissolve the group. But Ma Kai was still. He couldn't believe that the members who showed deep feelings in the live broadcast could be so calm after one of them left. He was angry that they didn't speak for Jiale.
As soon as Xu Xun slowed down the speed of hitting the keyboard and learned more about the 33 hidden under Jiale, he also learned more about the other four girls. Everything they shared in the live broadcast is real. They also worked hard before becoming a-soul. Watching the Chinese people dance restored by netizens, they recalled the moment when this combination moved him again.
No winners, no losers
On the afternoon of May 14, the series of time around a-soul seemed to come to an end. The operator disclosed some new information: the original opaque member salary structure was determined as 10% of the total flow of monthly fixed income + bonus + live broadcast, which was much higher than the rumored one. After internal and external investigation, there is no "bullying and squeezing" in a-soul planning.
As for where Jiale will go, the operator said that it had terminated the contract with Jiale actor (33) 14 months in advance on May 14, and would pay the termination fee to him within 7 working days, and the dormant concert originally scheduled to be held would be changed accordingly. The role of Jiale will always be a member of a-soul, but no other actors will play Jiale in the future, and the operator also promised not to add new roles.
The audience's life continues. Xu Xun is no longer angry. A-soul should bring him happiness rather than pain. Jiale's departure is really regrettable, but the remaining members are equally important. Ma Kai couldn't agree with these changes. He wanted to continue to do something for the Yoga he loved and the 33 that formed the image soul. Lao Zhang didn't say anything, but opened the live studio as usual.
At 8 p.m. on May 15, the live broadcast of a-soul team was carried out as usual. This time, jiaran, Xiangwan and Nailin played games together. The three performed songs and dances, played games, interacted with the audience and shared their daily life as usual, as if the recent events did not exist, and brought relaxed and happy programs to the audience as usual**