A Single

"How did you guys even survive until now?" I asked, with a bit of a sarcastic tone and genuine wonder. The fact that they survive without ever getting a single penny is beyond me.

"How rude! We've been getting donations from a generous donor!" Honoka exclaimed.

"My family." Maki said with a deadpan tone.

Ah, I see. I heard that Maki's family is quite wealthy and they're the ones who helped them bought this building in the first place. "But even then, it'll be better if you guys can self-sustain from your own profit instead of solely relying on Nishikino's family or third-party donations." I held up my chin. I suddenly remembered that they have a video-sharing account on YouTube and NicoNico, "Don't you guys ever monetize any of your videos?"

"We weren't able to monetize them yet. And making a new video is pretty time-consuming too, so we don't really prioritize it that much..." Hanayo said to me while showing their YouTube account. Indeed they reached the threshold for subscribers count, but not for views... But I really think that they should try using the social media to their advantage, seeing that people really like to connect through them.

"Hm... Why don't you guys try uploading just an audio?"

"You mean just our songs? What about the music video, then?" Honoka tilted her head to the sides.

"No need. Just upload the song alongside an album cover. A music video isn't really a top priority when it comes to songs, after all. That way you guys don't have to make a video and can just focus entirely on the song." They can also upload other kinds of content like talkshows for their fans, but that will come later.

Hanayo nodded, "I see. I didn't even think about it. Do we have a song ready?"

"I already made the lyrics. It's all up to Maki for the rest." Umi said while looking at the red-haired girl. Maki, in response, nodded. "Yes, I will have the composition ready by tomorrow, then we can all record after that."

I nodded, and the rest of the girls get to work in preparing.

Roughly two weeks later, the song, 'Baby, maybe koi no Button', is finally uploaded onto Youtube and NicoNico. It was quite well-received and it even became a milestone as the song that finally reached 100,000 views on just the first three days. Asides from that, we landed a deal with a radio company to air µ's songs on it. Now we're finally able to make some profits. It may not be much, but it's a start.