China Entertainment started from Nortel 96

CHAPTER 283 GREAT CONDITIONS

The day after the concert at the Arena, Zhang Weiping and Lao Mouzi came to visit again.

Qi Wei prepared a little and then met with Japanese investors together with them.

"This is Mr. Kazuo Morita, executive vice president of Sony Columbia, and Mr. Wu Yue, vice president of Sony Records Asia, and I am sure you are familiar with this, Zhang Weining, the current director of Sony Music and the head of China Region," Zhang Weiping introduced helpfully.

Qi Wei nodded. He was indeed no stranger to Zhang Weining.

Zhang Weining is a well-known record producer in the Mainland. He has produced albums for well-known domestic singers such as Zheng Jun, Xie Dong, Sun Yue and Jing Gangshan. He has also produced and arranged songs by Tu Honggang, Yu Jiang and others.

Of course, one of his most famous identities is that he is the agent of Tian Zhen, the popular mainland diva.

The past few years since Qi Wei's debut were at a time when major international record companies such as Sony and Warner were entering the mainland to recruit new talent.

Facing the "invasion", local record companies in the mainland were simply unable to resist. It was at this time that many popular singers in the mainland were poached by these large international record companies.

For example, Tian Zhen is now a singer under Sony Music.

As Tian Zhen's manager, Zhang Weining was naturally "a man who can ascend to heaven" and soon became the person in charge of Sony Music in the Mainland.

After exchanging polite greetings, Zhang Weining said straight to the point:

"Mr. Qi's concerts have been wonderful. I am shocked by how much you are loved by your fans. I believe that Mr. Qi will become a leading figure in the Chinese music scene in the next ten years. There is no doubt about this. We at Sony are very happy I value Mr. Qi and hope to help Mr. Qi’s career.”

The meaning of this statement has been made very obvious.

Sony Records wants to poach themselves.

Qi Wei had already guessed this situation from the very beginning when he met these Sony executives.
Looking at these people, Qi Wei couldn't help but frown, and after thinking for a while, he said: "I'm very grateful to Sony for paying attention to me, but you should know that the reason why my concert was so successful was because of Universal Music's great efforts , I am very happy to cooperate with them, and I have no plans to end the cooperation for the time being.”

Qi Wei's refusal seemed to be expected by them, and they didn't care at all. Sony Columbia Executive Vice President Kazuo Morita said with a smile:

"What Universal Music can provide, we at Sony can also provide. What Universal Music cannot provide, we at Sony can also provide. Mr. Qi must have heard that Universal Records is in crisis, right?"

At this time, not only the domestic record market began to decline, but actually the global record market was in recession.

This is not just because of the rampant piracy, but also because of the rise of the Internet, free music sharing is gradually eroding the traditional record market.

This has also caused many foreign record companies to be on the verge of bankruptcy.

In order to survive, many record companies can only sign up for a group to keep warm. This is why mergers and acquisitions by foreign record companies have been so frequent in recent years.

Universal Music spent tens of billions of dollars to acquire Polygram, one of the six major record companies, which immediately made Universal Music the world's largest record company.

Behind the seemingly infinite scenery are many crises.

Whether it is Universal Music or PolyGram, they have a lot of internal negative equity. After the successful acquisition, although Universal Music has a high market value, it is only artificially high, and the bubble inside is very big.

Although the bubble is huge, if Universal's boss can rectify the business and develop it seriously, the situation can still get better.

But the boss of Universal still wants to play bigger. He is negotiating a merger with another company.

But the market value of that company is even more fictitious, and the bubble inside is even bigger.

Universal has actually been beaten by the hyenas of Wall Street.

They are secretly promoting the merger. Once Universal merges, they will immediately pop the bubble and then eat Universal.

Of course, it is impossible for Universal to fail. The most that can be done is to change the boss.

But no matter what, Universal has definitely been in a period of turmoil in recent years, and there is no way it can provide more resources like Sony or Warner.

"There is a saying in China that good birds choose trees to roost in. Mr. Qi is a smart man and should think more about himself. I know Mr. Qi is still hesitant, but you might as well listen to our conditions."

Then Kazuo Morita said to Zhang Weiping and Lao Mouzi: "I heard that you plan to invite Jet Li to star in "Hero". Jet Li is a Chinese star that I like very much. If you really invite him, we at Sony can give him The investment in this drama is 500 million yuan."

Morita Kazuo glanced at Qi Wei and said: "You have just heard that Qi Wei is a talent that Sony attaches great importance to. If you can arrange a very important role for Qi Wei in "Heroes", we at Sony can give him another The investment in this drama is 500 million yuan."

Then he said to Qi Wei: "This is a meeting gift from Sony to you."

Sony attaches so much importance to Qi Wei. They must have investigated Qi Wei in detail. It is impossible not to know that "Hero" is a joint project between Qi Wei and Er Zhang, and it is also impossible not to know that Qi Wei will participate in this drama.

The reason why Morita Kazuo said this was to tell Qi Wei: It is because of you that Sony is willing to double its investment.

1000 million yuan, converted into about 8000 million.

In addition to the 5000 million promised by Qi Wei, "Hero" has already raised more than half of the funds.

As the saying goes, only after the squire donated did the common people follow suit. With Sony's investment as an endorsement, it was not easy to raise the remaining investment.

Hearing this, Zhang Weiping and Lao Mouzi were immediately happy and looked at each other.Thank you again and again.

But Qi Wei is different from them, there is not much change on his face.

Because Qi Wei knows in his heart that if Sony wants to invest in "Heroes", whether it has its own existence or not, it will definitely increase its investment.

The reason is simple. Sony is a Japanese company, but Sony Columbia is a Hollywood film company.

If Sony invests, it must buy out the distribution rights in Japan and North America. The price for the distribution rights in these two regions must be higher.

Of course, 1000 million US dollars is indeed very high. Li Eu's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" found so many connections through Jiang Zhiqiang that it attracted more than 700 million US dollars of investment from Hollywood.

Just like Kazuo Morita said, this was just a meeting gift. Seeing that Qi Wei seemed unmoved, Sony Records Asia Vice President Wu Yue said:
"I wonder if Mr. Qi has the idea of ​​entering the fashion industry. If Mr. Qi has this idea, I can just help. I can help Mr. Qi get the opportunity to be the spokesperson of Dior."

At this time, Zhang Weiping whispered in Qi Wei's ear: "He used to be an executive of the LVMH Group and served as the managing director of Dior's Chinese business. Sony poached him because of his connections in the LV Group. He said If I can help you get the chance to be the spokesperson for Dior, you will definitely get it."

Qi Wei nodded and couldn't help but look at Wu Yue.

In fact, even in later generations, endorsement opportunities for luxury brands like Dior are not something that just any celebrity can get.

Especially now, although the mainland's economy is developing rapidly, the luxury goods market has only just emerged.

Although foreign high-end luxury brands have noticed the domestic market, they have not attracted complete attention due to their small scale.

Even if they choose spokespersons, they tend to prefer more famous Hong Kong and Taiwan stars rather than mainland artists.

For these proud and luxurious brands, it is almost impossible for mainland artists to get brand spokespersons at this stage if no one recommends them.In this era where foreign monks are fond of chanting sutras, if they can become the spokespersons of these high-end luxury brands, they will definitely cause a sensation and be of great help to Qi Wei's career.

Of course, in China, Qi Wei's popularity has almost reached its ceiling, and the endorsements of high-end luxury brands are just the icing on the cake.

Therefore, Qi Wei's face only changed slightly, and he didn't show too much excitement.

Wu Yue went on to say: "It's just a piece of cake to help Mr. Qi win the Dior brand endorsement. Mr. Qi is so popular in China and his image is so outstanding. I believe Mr. Qi has no shortage of endorsement opportunities.
In fact, we at Sony also want to ask Mr. Qi to endorse him. If Mr. Qi is willing, we are willing to give him more than 500 million yuan in endorsement fees.
Of course, if Mr. Qi is not satisfied, the endorsement fee can still be negotiated."

Hearing this, Lao Mouzi couldn't sit still.

He now only gets 300 to [-] RMB in remuneration for his hard work in making a movie, and sometimes he even gives a discount as a friendly price.

More importantly, Zhang Weiping often defaults on part of his debt for various reasons.

After all, they are his friends. They are still in the honeymoon period, and Lao Mouzi is too embarrassed to ask for debt.

And now, in order to win over Qi Wei, Sony is actually willing to offer Qi Wei more than 500 million yuan in endorsement fees.

Plus the Dior treatment.

The endorsement fees for high-end luxury brands are always high, at least several million.

The total value of these two endorsements is at least tens of millions.

Tens of millions is enough for Lao Mouzi to make a movie.

Even so far, Lao Mouzi has not accumulated a net worth of tens of millions.

Thinking of this, Lao Mouzi really wanted to help Qi Wei agree.

Qi Wei's current brand endorsements, except for his own personal clothing brand, add up to more than 1000 million.

Most of the endorsement fees are just over 100 million, with the highest being 200 million from Wahaha.

However, Wahaha's endorsement contract is expiring this year and the contract needs to be renegotiated.

The endorsement fee will definitely increase, but no matter how much it is increased, it cannot reach the 500 million level.

Therefore, for Qi Wei, two endorsements can earn tens of millions of endorsement fees, which is indeed very attractive.

Although Qi Wei is worth hundreds of millions, no one would think that he makes too much money.

He was a little excited, but the change in Qi Wei's expression was still not obvious enough. He frowned and thought for a long time, and then slowly said:
"I think you should know that I still have a two-album distribution contract with Universal Music."

"It's just a two-record contract. With Mr. Qi's ability, he can just write a few songs and get rid of it. Of course, we know that Qi Wei attaches great importance to reputation. If Mr. Qi is willing, we can help Mr. Qi buy out the rest of the contract." contract."

"The contract for two records costs 800 million."

In order to strive for cooperation with Qi Wei, Zheng Donghan gave Qi Wei a signing bonus of 1000 million yuan in the five-album release contract.

That’s 200 million for a record.

The contract stipulates that Qi Wei himself can buy out the contract at any time, but he must pay double the liquidated damages.

There are still two albums left. If the contract ends early, Qi Wei will have to pay 800 million.

"It's only 800 million. Even if it's 8000 million, we at Sony are willing to pay it for Mr. Qi."

"But now I am very satisfied with the way of cooperation with Universal Music. I can keep my creative achievements.",

Qi Wei was talking about music copyright. These major international record companies are very persistent in music copyright. Not everyone can make concessions like Zheng Donghan.

"How Mr. Qi cooperates with Universal can also cooperate with us at Sony, as long as Mr. Qi agrees to cooperate with us."

A great deal of concessions were indeed made.

It can not only meet Qi Wei's conditions but also propose more favorable conditions, which is indeed difficult for people to refuse.

But after Qi Wei thought carefully, he finally refused: "Mr. Kazuo Morita, I know that you Japanese people attach great importance to contracts, and I also attach great importance to them. I don't want to be a person who breaks his word, so I decided to complete the contract." Remaining contract with Universal Music Group."

After all, it has been a pleasure to work with Zheng Donghan in the past few years, and he has nothing to feel sorry for, so there is no need to break the contract at this time to make him dissatisfied.

This is not because Qi Wei is afraid of him. After all, Qi Wei's base is in the mainland, and if he really falls out, the impact on him will be relatively limited.

But it's really not necessary.

There is no need to become enemies if you cannot be friends, and it is not impossible for people to break up peacefully when their contracts expire, so there is no need to turn into enemies.

Besides, if Sony can provide such favorable conditions, it’s not like Universal Music can’t provide them.

Although Universal is currently in a period of turmoil, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse after all.

At that time, we will see what conditions Universal can provide before making a decision.

The snipe and the clam compete for the fisherman's profit. Qi Wei still understands this principle.

Although Qi Wei did not agree, he did not reject it so thoroughly, which meant that there was still a chance.

Morita Kazuo was not angry, but said: "We understand what Mr. Qi means. Although it is a bit regretful that we cannot cooperate for the time being, I hope that we will not regret it for the rest of our lives. I hope that we can cooperate in the future. We will do our best to strive for success with Mr. Qi." cooperative”

"I also hope to cooperate in the future." Qi Wei agreed.

Kazuo Morita nodded, squinted his eyes and suddenly smiled: "Mr. Qi will probably stay in Tokyo for a few more days. The concert is over, and Mr. Qi should relax. There are many fun and interesting places in Tokyo.
We know that Mr. Qi may not be happy if he is unfamiliar with the place, so we at Sony specially arranged a guide for Mr. Qi.”

As he spoke, he clapped his hands, and the door opened and a woman in kimono walked in.

But I already have a guide.

When Qi Wei was thinking about how to refuse, when he saw the woman's appearance clearly, he immediately put the idea of ​​refusal behind him.

"Sister Quanshui, it's you. I didn't expect us to meet so soon."

(End of this chapter)