The collapse of idol's house caught off guard, which not only hurt the endorsement brands and fans, but also implicated the investors behind the scenes. When it becomes more and more intense, it seems to provide a new urgency for the development of "never collapse" virtual idols. A-soul, a virtual women's group, is considered the most successful virtual idol in China. In just two years, a-soul has gathered millions of fans in station B and Tiktok; While winning attention and reputation, he once tried to lead a business and technology experiment.
However, the dream suddenly ended on May 10, 2022.
That afternoon, a-soul officially announced that Jiale, one of the five members, would suspend its daily live broadcast and go into sleep from this week. Four days later, the government announced again that it would terminate the contract with the person behind Jiale (referring to the real person who manipulated the virtual anchor to broadcast live) 14 months in advance.
This move is like dropping a deep-water bomb in station B and virtual idol world. Speculation, disclosure and condemnation have not subsided for a long time, and anger, reluctance and regret continue to spread. Some people were simply discouraged and de powdered, while others organized a QQ group of 2000 people to support a-soul members and "crusade" all kinds of capital behind them through control, evaluation and drainage.
For a time, the views of officials, fans and passers-by were intertwined into an information vortex, and a virtual Idol "luoshengmen" was being staged. The huge tension between dream and reality also casts a shadow on the business prospect of virtual idols.
Peripheral brands, entrepreneurs and service ecology are now in hesitation and hesitation, forward or backward? Will the building collapse or a new beginning? In the future, will capital raise the salary of Chinese people, or accelerate the replacement of technology? If accelerated technology replaces people, how much imagination space is there for virtual idols?
01
The man in the left
Virtual Idol Top stream fate changes
"If your throat is injured and your thoracic spine hurts, it will have a great impact on dancing. Don't sacrifice your health for work. You will be very anxious."
"When I entered the room the day before yesterday, there was no sign that I wanted to renew the contract. If I didn't sign, I couldn't get a raise. I said in rhythm that I was a real person, and then I was left."
"Record that today's mobile fishing suit cut half a leg. The body was too cold to find it at the first time. It was found in the bathroom that the blood strip began to bleed and really hurt."
This is the content published on the social account by the people of Jiale in the house collapse incident. The text is full of depression and gloomy mood. It reveals that there are hidden dangers in the company's coercion and inducement, poor health, still adhering to work and mobile capture (measuring, tracking and recording the motion trajectory in three-dimensional space) equipment, all of which affect the hearts of fans.
But soon, on May 11, a-soul officials "refuted the rumors" of the uproar on the Internet.
In fact, this is not the first "open box" crisis of a-soul. Previously, another a-soul member was suspected to have been exposed to the public, which triggered a discussion boom. Since then, open box information about a-soul has emerged one after another, and finally has not formed a great influence. The reason is nothing more than the lack of decisive evidence.
But this time is obviously different.
The social account that released the information this time is called "bought foie gras for the baby", which is highly similar to the dynamic released by jiaran account on station B. At the subsequent a-soul conversation, Jiale also admitted that it was indeed its own private account.
In just three days, the official released three response articles in succession.
On May 14, a-soul officially issued its third written statement:
Through consultation, the a-soul Production Committee and the actor completed the termination of the contract 14 months in advance
The a-soul Production Committee promises not to add new characters. Jiale is always one of the members of a-soul, and no other actors will use Jiale characters for live broadcast in the future
Due to the change of contract termination, 520 "Jiale dormant concert" cannot be held according to the original plan
From dormancy to termination means that both parties completely tear their faces.
"The artist contract is generally three years. The official announcement of dormancy may be for snow hiding, that is, during the dormancy period, although the Chinese people do not participate in daily live broadcasting activities, industrial and commercial activities can still be carried out normally." An entertainment practitioner told Yibang power, "before, artists' Graduation 'would take away a large number of fans. The company made this bad decision in order to minimize the loss."
Perhaps the most important question for fans nowadays is whether a-soul can make a final decision when people in yoga leave?
A senior fan of a-soul, who has paid attention to it since her debut, said that the five girls have different personalities. Jiale is positioned as a masculine "cool guy" (homonym), and fans affectionately call her "big brother". Since its height and popularity, Jiale has left now. As an indispensable part of daily interaction among members, it is a fatal blow to all kinds of fans.
The avalanche effect caused by the departure of Chinese people has long been a precedent.
Trip love, the world's first and most famous virtual youtube, landed on YouTube as a stupid and cute image, and soon captured the hearts of tens of thousands of fans. With the concerted efforts of the team, trip love has become the ceiling of the virtual idol industry.
In May 2019, people in the early generation left due to pressing and other problems, and activi8, the company affiliated to tripping love, launched the "four tripping love". Activity8 ignored the feedback from fans and forced to find three other people to separate. No. 2 and No. 3 took turns to replace chunriwang in the early generation, and No. 4 was used to deal with Chinese audiences.
Under the protest and resistance of fans for a year, the stumbling love that should have been transformed stalled, even retreated, and was overtaken by other virtual anchors. Once the leader of that era, the light is dimmed.
Will a-soul repeat the mistake of tripping love and disappear from the public? In the long run, it is full of variables, but at present, a-soul seems to be in a crisis.
The virtual idols faced by the audience can be said to be highly industrialized subculture symbols. Leather covers and facial expressions are based on industrial production, and the timbre is also processed by technology. However, the emotional connection between people and fans can not be replaced by technology for the time being. Even if it can be replaced, it is not cost-effective.
Emotional connection may be hidden in a playful action, or in the process of continuous improvement of dance and singing skills, or in personal values and preferences undoubtedly revealed in chat; It's as simple as members just share what they do every day, which can give fans a full sense of pleasure.
For this reason, not only fans, but also insiders are pessimistic about the future of a-soul. "Under the strong emotional connection of virtual idols, it is difficult to maintain without anyone in the group." A professional told Yibang power, "although everyone wants to reduce the influence of Chinese people on the planning, it is undeniable that under the virtual idol system of to C, the departure of Chinese people is a disaster."
As of May 11, the account number of station B of jiaran, one of the five members of a-soul, had dropped 59400 powder in a single day, surpassing the national V qihainanami to set a record of dropping powder in a single day. The other four members of a-soul also occupy 2-5 places on the pink list.
02
Two big problems make fans angry
Idol cruel stories make the game unbalanced
In November 2020, the virtual idol women's group a-soul made its debut in China. The five members are Bella, Carol, Eileen, Diana and Ava.
As a virtual idol launched by Chaoxi Lightyear and Lehua entertainment, it has been collectively criticized by fans in the virtual anchor circle once it was born. Previously, most of the virtual anchors were operated by individuals. They worked freely and had relatively few resources. Their fans were mainly engaged in self entertainment and hobbies in a small circle.
In their eyes, what is stained with "capital taste" is the original sin, not to mention the rice circle represented by Lehua entertainment, which is unacceptable. Along the way, a-soul is accompanied by endless abuse and ridicule.
A year ago, jiaran's house dance was popular for 20 consecutive dances. The sincerity and technical strength of a-soul members have greatly changed the attitude of the virtual anchor circle. A barrage even said, "the first thing after national V (virtual anchor) is not that you and I don't recognize it". Since then, residents of different subcultures have been attracted and become fans of a-soul.
Ironically, a-soul, which was strongly opposed by the national V circle on the grounds of "capital dominance", was accused of blood sucking planning two years later.
According to the prospectus of Lehua entertainment, due to the development of a-soul and other businesses, the pan entertainment income related to virtual artists in 2021 was 37.87 million yuan, an increase of 16 million yuan over the previous year, a year-on-year increase of 79.6%, and the gross profit margin increased from 56.5% to 77.7%. Considering that it is necessary to share with byte beating, the total revenue of a-soul in a year may far exceed 16 million yuan.
For byte beat and Lehua entertainment, this income may be insignificant, but in the national V circle, it is almost the current ceiling. In the face of such a considerable income, the salary of middle-aged people is a little eye-catching.
To the dissatisfaction of fans, the salary standard of people on the Internet is so low, that is, 11000 base salary + 1% commission. According to public information, the monthly flow of Jiale in station B exceeds 2 million yuan. Even excluding the income from brand cooperation and peripheral products and services, such huge economic benefits are far from the actual salary.
A person close to the recruitment of people in project V, the predecessor of a-soul, told Yibang power that the salary spread on the Internet was not much different from the actual salary at that time.
In the cooperation of a-soul, Lehua entertainment is mainly responsible for the external public relations and publicity costs of the five people, while it bears the costs related to team personnel and technology.
Obviously, byte hopping is bearing the cost of a larger head. More than one relevant employee told Yibang power that a-soul invested at least one million yuan. Behind a virtual idol, there is a team of technicians serving it, including operation, R & D, art, editing and directing, planning, etc. the personnel salary is undoubtedly an expenditure second only to the technology cost.
Su Shi, the person in charge of the project, responded that a-soul was still at a substantial loss. Under anger and pressure, fans and a-soul officials stick to their own words and don't believe each other. For example, someone asked: if the previous team goal was only 100000 powder, the loss was certainly expected. Since the task was overfulfilled, why is it still unable to provide a competitive salary for the middle-aged people?
Yibang power survey found that compared with the people in a-soul, the technology development team has a better salary. For example, the monthly salary of unity3d developers can reach 25000-50000 yuan.
*Development salary of a recruitment website unity3d
The contradiction between the two sides is mainly concentrated in two aspects. In addition to salary, the other is workplace squeeze and PUA.
In Jiale's Zhongzhi social account, it is mentioned more than once that the dance training is too long and too late, resulting in occupational diseases such as loss of voice, deafness and thoracic dislocation. A-soul responded that the training time was flexible and detailed the records of late night training.
Whether it's the difference in salary, workplace squeeze and PUA, it's the cruel story behind the virtual anchor. In the operation mode of virtual idols, real people stay behind the scenes and never show themselves in real images - which virtually gives capital greater control and reduces the bargaining power of the people in it.
For the management, the internal motivation is to depersonalize and gradually replace people with machines. Human assisted virtual anchor may be just a transitional form. As for the people in the, who they are is actually not so important.
In their view, this is a technical and commercial experiment. The really important elements are data, algorithms and systems, not people. Therefore, this is destined to be an unbalanced game.
"Byte people have high confidence in technology. In their eyes, people in China have some meaning of tool people, and leaders always treat people in China with a superior attitude." A person close to a-soul said.
But for fans, it's not so much to fight for low pay as to be angry at being cheated. Whether it's live delivery or fans' reward, fans are paying for a living person, emotional comfort and connection.
Initially, a-soul was broadcast live on both platforms at the same time. Although the government made great efforts to invest a lot of resources in Tiktok, the effect was not good, so they had to give up Tiktok and go deep into station B.
Entering station B is a successful step for a-soul, but at the same time, a new huge question arises. Byte jump and station B are competing with each other. Why do you want to make wedding clothes for others?
From the open letter of Su Shi, the project leader, admitted that at the beginning of the project, the expectation for a-soul was only 100000 powder, mainly hoping to do more art / technical exploration, including rendering technology, dynamic capture technology, live interactive technology, etc. This is consistent with the consistent value of "technology first", but the car overturned this time.
03
Technological evolution to the left and emotional attachment to the right
After the "Jiale incident" broke out, another member Nailin's video spread like wildfire.
In the video, Nailin lies prone in the bright bedroom and tells the story slowly with light and soothing music. Suddenly, Nailin's face became bare, her dark purple pupils flashed strange light, and her chest was blocked by a mess of lines.
The highly praised comment on the video wrote that there was a feeling that a familiar good friend was hollowed out by a puppet master and made into a puppet. Senior Fan Xiao Zhong confessed his psychological state to Yibang power. He said: "at first, he felt strange and terrible, but then he felt cheated. His mood was very complicated."
Officials did not deny the authenticity of the video. In Su Shi's open letter, he said that at present, there are some screenshots and videos of the so-called AI live broadcast function on the Internet, which may be suspected to be related content. They will be synchronized after subsequent verification.
In fact, byte beating and Lehua hope that AI interactive live broadcasting is not a novelty. Du Hua, CEO of Lehua entertainment, once said in public that a-soul will be used in e-sports, live delivery and other scenes. "In this way, no one will complain anymore, because our women's group will never collapse, never fall in love, always love Duma, and then work 24 hours."
Since the outbreak of a-soul house collapse, there is a view that someone is using the data provided by AI and Chinese people to train virtual anchors. An Internet developer countered that if you make a doll without interactive nature, it is basically equivalent to advanced first sound future + Advanced MMD, and the market prospect is very suspicious.
Fans point the finger at the official a-soul and hope to get a more specific and sincere response. In their eyes, a-soul did not collapse, but the company behind it collapsed.
Fans of a-soul are mainly college men. They have heavy academic pressure and general physical depression. They belong to the group most severely disciplined by morality, family and other regulations. The Internet provides a relatively low-pressure environment. The lovely two-dimensional virtual idols actually pass on men's real love desire and are highly respected.
In jiaran's early live film, it can move a group of people who resist a-soul, which is precisely the sincere emotion transmitted by the people in the. Jiaran was reading the day of a worker created by a netizen. The content was gloomy and gloomy. The only comfort was that she could see jiaran's live broadcast in her spare time. The content of the small composition touched the people in jiaran. She turned and cried silently.
"Virtual idols don't cry because there is no sadness in the emotion module." One fan sighed. In Xiao Zhong's memory, there was almost no negative emotion in the group on the screen. Even if the members stepped on their feet by mistake, they just paused for a while and covered up the past with laughter.
Virtual idol is not only a further alienation of people, but also a further challenge to people's value. A person familiar with the Japanese Idol industry said that virtual and idol are binary opposites.
Real idols focus on growth and empathy. Growth means pain and frustration. Although idols were once discouraged and lost, they still rallied and grew up, and fans also received spiritual comfort. The virtual idol directly skips the "Scar" to show the exquisite live image.
"We can't know from the live broadcast that the people in Jiale have scratched a big hole in their passive catching clothes." If virtual idols are attractive, they need a large number of people's cores to show, because it is only "people", not leather cases, that make fans empathize.
However, after the a-soul incident, will the management raise the salary of the Chinese people? Or, accelerate the process of replacing people with AI technology? The latter is not impossible.
In June 2020, after openai burned $12 million and trained about 200 billion words, gpt-3, the most powerful AI model in history, quickly became popular. It can write novels, make scripts, type codes... It can also answer questions with falsehood.
In most scenes, people can be tool people. In fact, most modern workers are people hiding behind computers and systems. In the special scene of idol, people represent beauty, wisdom and emotion, which seems difficult to be replaced. In the future, with the development of computing power and the decline of cost, super virtual idols representing beauty, wisdom and emotion may be developed.
In the business field, whether primary virtual human or human assisted virtual idol, although there are many problems, they are swallowing Li Jiaqi's business. From a longer-term cycle, the substitution from the edge to the center is not impossible.
However, even if large-scale language models are trained in a variety of data modes, they can really overcome the difficulties of language. The real dilemma lies in the difficulty of aligning the model objectives with human values. If a virtual human dominated by data and algorithms, full of beauty, wisdom and emotion, enters your emotion and value system and thinks about the ripening of big data, it makes people shudder. (Yibang power network)