giants of the era

Chapter 120 I want to sue it! (seeking subscription)

In early March, on a very unusual night, many people were watching TV dramas at home.At around 3:[-] p.m., the TV series ended and it was time for commercials.At this time, Apple's Walkman commercial video began to play on the TV.

ABC TV station and NBC TV station are two of the three major TV stations in the United States, with wide coverage and very high ratings.

As soon as the advertisement was aired, many families naturally saw it.

People couldn't help being surprised.

"Oh, what is that, such a small one, that you can carry it with you and listen to music?"

"Walkman? Is it a portable music player?"

"Is this a new product from Apple?"

"..."

An ad ended and it got a lot of attention!
During the prime time of the night, there was this advertisement every time it entered the advertising time. People were quickly attracted by this Walkman product, especially the young people in the United States, who showed great enthusiasm.

The next day, many schools in the United States discussed Walkman on a small scale.

"Do you know Walkman?"

"What it is?"

Another student exclaimed excitedly: "I know, I know! It's a small and exquisite music player that can be carried anywhere. Not only can you listen to songs with headphones, but you can also play them directly through speakers! It's so cool! If With it, you can listen to music anytime, anywhere!"

"Oh, there is such a product, what does it look like?"

"You turn on the TV at night and watch the commercial on ABC."

"There's an ad on NBC, too, and that's what I learned about it from an ad on NBC."

"Really? The company that produces the Walkman is quite powerful. How could it advertise on ABC and NBC at the same time?"

"I saw Apple's LOGO, it should be their latest product!"

"That's great, let's go to Apple's flagship store after school!"

"it is good!"

White-collar workers in many companies are also discussing, how can such a fashionable and interesting product not attract their attention?After lunch at noon, discussions started in the office.

It didn't take long for Apple's phones to ring out, almost all asking questions related to the Walkman.

Apple's flagship store ushered in a lot of people, but unfortunately, they couldn't buy the Walkman, and the sales staff told them that the product would not be officially released until April 4st.However, you can experience it in advance here.

Ever since, Apple's flagship store was full, and many people made a special trip here to listen to music.

However, Walkman also exposed some problems at the same time. There were too few songs on the tape, and many customers expressed that they wanted to listen to other songs.The employees of the flagship store had no choice but to say that Apple is negotiating with the record company, and once successful, other songs will be put on the shelves immediately.

As time passed, the Walkman attracted more and more attention.Apple's flagship store is full almost every day!

This situation has caused concern among record companies.

Led by Warner Records, it began to contact other record companies to form an alliance to boycott the Walkman tape player.Soon afterwards, Universal Music, EMI, BMG Records, CBS/Sony Records, etc. joined the "Anti-Walkman Alliance".

Without him, the rise of the music cassette would surely hit the market for vinyl records.

Li Zetian may not know that when Sony first launched the Walkman, it also encountered opposition from major record companies, but Sony has its own record company, and it opened up the situation more easily than Apple. The existence of Walkman not only impacts Sony's record company, but also the global vinyl record market, but Sony can make a fortune from tapes. Naturally, other record companies will not sit back and watch Sony make money, so they have no choice but to join in.In addition, when Sony launched CD records, it was once again strongly opposed by record companies, because CD records have a more serious impact on vinyl records than magnetic tapes. The defects of magnetic tapes are obvious, the sound quality is not good, and the storage capacity is small. Musicians will still buy vinyl records, but the effect of CD records is only slightly worse than that of vinyl records. If you are not a music enthusiast, you will generally not be able to hear the difference.

At this moment, Li Zetian felt a headache, it seemed that the record companies were all targeting him, against him!

Apple's investment in the Walkman is huge, and if it fails, it will deal a great blow to Apple.

Li Zetian resolutely does not allow the existence of failure!
He thought for a while, then came to Tian Shuai's office, and said in a deep voice: "The major record companies have joined forces to boycott us, but there are still some small and medium-sized record companies whose record sales are not large in the first place, so they should be easy to win over. We can promise to help them promote the music tapes of their record company when selling Walkman, and even carry out bundled sales! In addition, we will temporarily give them the profits of the music tapes, let’s open the situation first and then talk about it!”

"Okay, that's the only way to go." The matter of the record company was very difficult, so Tian Shuai could only nod his head helplessly.

Li Zetian patted Tian Shuai on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, it will get better!"

In the following period of time, Apple gave olive branches to many small and medium-sized record companies. Their sales of records were not large, and they happened to catch the popularity of Walkman, and they might be able to make a lot of money on tapes!
As a result, some small and medium-sized record companies have joined Apple's camp.

But soon, rumors spread that the "Anti-Walkman Alliance" headed by Warner Records issued a banning order, and anyone who dared to help Apple would ban the record company.I don't know if this news is true, but in short, it made some small record companies stand still and even retreat.In this era, many small and medium-sized record companies do not have their own song distribution channels and rely on large record companies to survive.Once blocked, they have to establish their own distribution channels.You know, building channels is not that simple. How can a small company have such financial resources?This is not the future Internet era, with very cheap online distribution channels...

Regarding the immoral behavior of the "Anti-Walkman Alliance", Li Zetian was very angry, his eyeballs almost burst into flames, and then he came to Apple's legal department and asked: "The 'Anti-Walkman' Alliance uses its monopoly position to engage in illegal activities. Competition, can we sue them?"

"If the banning order is indeed released by the anti-Walkman alliance, we can indeed prosecute them! However," the Minister of Justice nodded and said, "First of all, we have no conclusive evidence, and this kind of case can usually be delayed for several months or even a year." More than a year, and our Walkman will be released soon, I'm afraid..."

"No matter how long the lawsuit will delay, suing them will show our attitude of Apple! Otherwise, the other party will think that we are easy to bully, so they will make more progress!!!" Li Zetian said coldly.

"Okay, Mr. Li, then I will start preparing materials and collecting evidence now!"

"Ok!"

When Li Zetian came out of the Ministry of Justice, the anger in his heart subsided a little.

Right now, there are still some record companies that are not afraid of being blocked. They have their own record distribution channels. Although they are small, they don't need to be exploited by large record companies like other small record companies.Moreover, it is beneficial for these small record companies not to join the Apple camp, because they can get more promotional resources from Apple.

(End of this chapter)