Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 964 A Quick Slap in the Face

For every person who praises someone, there's someone who criticizes them. Although Xia Yuxi paid a penalty to leave, in the eyes of certain capitalists, "Since you're someone I nurtured and can no longer make money for me, then you're just someone I can't afford to ruin. I won't let Xia Yuxi benefit anyone else."

In the past, they would have been somewhat confident in banning Xia Yuxi. However, their adversary was Rock Records, a record company from a different industry that didn't play by the rules. They were afraid that instead of successfully banning her, they would be retaliated against by Rock Records. So, they could only engage in small-scale actions, inciting their already fervent fans to boycott and criticize her.

Therefore, under the guidance of capital and public opinion, Xia Yuxi's haters began to stir up trouble.

Gradually, the comment section of Bilibili's "The Big Band" almost turned into a battlefield between Xia Yuxi's fans, both sides. Then, fans of other celebrities who had previously clashed with Xia Yuxi joined in, making the situation so chaotic that the Bilibili staff didn't know how to handle it.

Delete the comments. If you don't delete those that are beneficial to Xia Yuxi and "The Big Band", the backlash will only be more serious. It might not be as simple as just the comments section. It might start to spread to the bullet comments and even these idiots might report the website.

The staff at Bilibili weren't afraid, but they didn't want any more trouble, so they reported it to Chen Bing. But to their surprise, Chen Bing said, "What's there to be afraid of? We at Bilibili have never been good at balancing things. We're clearly not afraid at all. Let them make a scene!"

"What if they negatively impact the experience of other users?"

Faced with such a stubborn question from the staff, Chen Bing replied directly: "Is it that they post faster or you delete faster?"

Then the haters discovered that Bilibili, which claims to be the Rolling Stones' headquarters, is utterly unfair. Especially after some rock music fans joined, they felt despair and had no choice but to switch their battleground to other platforms.

Returning our focus to Kunming, Niu Boyi and Qin Ge, who were having a drink and gathering with all the musicians, smiled with mixed emotions as they watched Xia Yuxi's video generate two trending topics.

A year ago, the band "Unique" had Xia Yuxi as a big name in terms of popularity, but who knew that Bian Lang would ruin it and force them to leave the internet. Now, a year later, the show has changed, and these people have reunited, but the show's effect is no longer the same.

Finally, with Bianlang being blocked, it was Xia Yuxi who jumped out to fill the traffic gap...

Qin Ge, holding a glass of wine, went to Xia Yuxi, who was already mingling with the rock musicians, and raised his glass with a smile, saying, "Teacher Yuxi..."

"Director Qin, you're too kind. How could I possibly be worthy of being your son? Just call me Xiao Qin..." Xia Yuxi interrupted Qin Ge, but then touched the glass in her hand to him, before taking it back and drinking the wine in one gulp.

Faced with this scene, Qin Ge smiled, finished his drink, and then said, "I really have to thank you for tonight's video. Bianlang was banned, and judging from the data on Bilibili, the number of users who made reservations has dropped a lot compared to previous programs. But after your video was released, the reservations immediately increased."

That's true, but Xia Yuxi isn't naive enough to think that he's the biggest highlight of the last two episodes.

Guo Sichu's domestic stage debut as the lead singer of Rolling Stones is the biggest gimmick the production team can use: "Director Qin, you're exaggerating. Isn't what I did the duty of everyone participating in the show? Besides, Sister Chuchu is the main focus of the publicity, isn't she?"

"That's true, but now that you've made a good start, the pressure to promote your work later will be less."

Xia Yuxi sensed something was off about those words, and then tentatively asked, "There's not much pressure from the censors, is there?"

Faced with this question, Qin Ge smiled confidently and said, "Don't worry about that, there won't be any major problems. Don't underestimate the influence that Rolling Stones has created abroad. Right now, quite a few countries in Europe want to invite Rolling Stones to perform, to boost cross-border tourism and consumption among the surrounding Chinese communities."

Qin Ge wasn't exaggerating; entertainment companies from Southeast Asian countries have indeed contacted Rolling Stone through diplomatic channels in Yunnan Province to arrange performances there. Just as predicted, since Bian Lang can't perform domestically, performing in Southeast Asian countries is no problem.

Especially for those tourist destinations bordering China, during the off-season after the National Day holiday, the cost for music fans to travel is not much higher than flying to their domestic destination.

Upon hearing this news, the clever Xia Yuxi just wanted to laugh out loud. He could already imagine the expressions on the faces of the publicity officers in the cities where Rolling Stones planned to tour, once this news got out.

Just then, the person in charge of the program's external publicity rushed in looking a bit flustered, as if something urgent had happened.

But when he got to Qin Ge's side, he made no attempt to hide anything from the others and said directly, "Xia Yuxi's haters and Liu Xingwu's fans have teamed up to start all sorts of smear campaigns against the program on Weibo..."

Since Xia Yuxi wasn't originally part of the publicity plan, there was no preparation to deal with this. The fact that the person in charge of external publicity rushed over to find her in such a panic proves that this matter must be quite large.

Sure enough, when Qin Ge and his friends checked their phones, the third trending topic on the entertainment search list was the one they had created: #Is "The Big Band" a feast for independent music or a chaotic mess?#...

After the commotion escalated, everyone inside Sigu came to investigate. Liu Yao and Guo Sichu walked over, learned what had happened, and without saying a word, immediately pulled out their phones and started stirring up trouble.

The two posts were almost identical, both asking a question related to a trending topic: "Am I a demon or a monster?"

Immediately afterwards, Liu Yao uploaded the ID video she had recorded earlier: "Hello everyone, I'm Liu Yao. Tune in to 'The Big Band' this Friday, and I'll be waiting for you with No. 1 Anxiang Road..."

This wave of discussion immediately brought many unsuspecting rock music fans to the forefront. Moreover, Liu Yao's fans aren't all rock music enthusiasts; she also has a good public image. So, faced with such a pointed question, everyone felt that the person who started this trending topic had gone too far, and they all joined in the debate.

This question is like asking whether athletes can wear makeup, tattoos, or earrings—it's utter nonsense.

However, various reports and complaints, demanding that "The Big Band" be taken down and treated the same way as "Bian Lang," reached their peak.

This was indeed something that the entire production team and Rock Records internally did not anticipate. Calls for "The Big Band" to be taken down had been ongoing since the first episode aired, but they were all scattered voices that were quickly drowned out before they even made a ripple.

But this time it's different. Even a seasoned veteran like Liang Kuan is finding this situation a bit perplexing. "Sister Kuan, do you think this might be intentionally orchestrated?"

Faced with Chen Shuting's question, Liang thought for a while and then shook his head, saying, "Even if they used it, they certainly didn't expect it to go this far. They probably saw that the timing was right, so they poured oil on it, and then it got into this mess. Let's ignore it for now and just follow our own publicity schedule. The content of the program itself can pass the review. Even if they take it to the United Nations, it won't do any good."

Liang Kuan is calm and collected, but that doesn't mean others can be.

Many musicians within Rolling Stone responded to this immediately, and those who know, know what their responses will be like...

Olaf's response was the most intriguing, roughly summed up in Chinese as: "Take it or leave it, DGM will buy it out and run it overseas next year!"

This statement, whether true or not, immediately sent a shiver down the spines of countless television program planners. If it were to come true, it would likely be the first Chinese variety show to export its content overseas.

In the past, whether it was Europe or America or Japan, China always had to "learn" from them or buy their copyrights. When will China have a local variety show format that will be appreciated by others?

If it were on Earth, then it seems there really is such a program, called "Riding the Waves"...

Bian Lang only saw these things because Zhu Wei told him.

Seeing the increasingly heated discussion, Bian Lang was speechless: "What kind of nonsense is this? We're out there fighting for the reputation of Chinese rock, and they're trying to destroy our headquarters..."

Even when Steiger asked what it was about, Bian Lang was too embarrassed to say directly. However, he did ask about DGM's plan to buy the overseas rights to "The Big Band": "Has your head office not given any news yet? It's just about that overseas account on Bilibili, is there any need to worry about it for so long?"

In fact, DGM had this idea during the Rolling Stones' tour. Although they knew that acquiring the overseas rights to the show might not make them much money, it would be very useful in maintaining their relationship with Bian Lang and the Rolling Stones.

However, although Bilibili does not have an overseas version, they have their own accounts on overseas platforms, where they repost videos from "The Big Band," although they only post some clips.

After all, when signing the contract, Chen Shuting had considered all the potential consequences of the collaboration between Rolling Stone and DGM, and the overseas copyright issue had been clearly explained. Therefore, Bilibili didn't go too far, but they just hadn't expected DGM to actually buy it.

Foreigners do take copyright issues very seriously, mainly because of financial interests.

"If I were a user who paid for DGM's content, but there were officially released edited versions available online, I would definitely be furious!"

At this point, Bian Lang became somewhat displeased, feeling that the remark was somewhat veiled. While it's true that Chinese people sometimes lack awareness regarding copyright, are all foreigners truly law-abiding?

Bian Lang is unclear about the situation here, but back on Earth, foreigners not only infringed on intellectual property rights, but also won lawsuits against Chinese companies overseas.

Ubox TV box manufacturers, taking advantage of the high costs and complex procedures for Chinese companies to pursue legal action overseas, blatantly pirate Tencent's popular dramas such as "Chang Xiang Si" and "Xiao Ri Zi". Following the usual script, most companies would probably just swallow their anger, after all, cross-border lawsuits often take three to five years, and the legal fees could buy a house.

But what kind of company is Nanshan Pizza Hut? They chose the most aggressive approach, filing lawsuits directly in US courts, even suing all their downstream distributors. As a result, the court not only ordered them to pay 6 million yuan in damages but also issued a permanent injunction, essentially putting an "industry blacklist" on the company.

Even more ruthless, the judge set the maximum compensation standard for hit dramas like "Chang Xiang Si" to $30 per episode, which is higher than the market price for American TV series.

The TV dramas "Chang Xiang Si" and "Xiao Ri Zi" were awarded $1170 million and $780 million in damages, respectively. Just a week before the verdict was announced, "Ne Zha 2" had just encountered the unpleasant situation of being illegally filmed and translated, and being widely circulated on foreign websites. Netizens were still complaining that "Chinese films and television series are always being exploited overseas." Unexpectedly, Tencent countered with a "textbook example" of rights protection.

So as long as there is profit to be made, the idea of ​​moral purity is a complete joke!

"I understand and respect that. But I still maintain that the video content they release won't affect DGM's purchase rate; in fact, I think it's actually helping you with marketing! If I were your boss, I would buy the recording rights as well, release the original soundtrack physical album here, and sell it back to our country..."

No sooner had Bian Lang finished speaking than he heard a voice behind him say, "Wave, your suggestion is excellent. How could I possibly refuse such a plan?"

Bian Lang turned his head and saw that Adams had already entered their rehearsal room. Bian Lang's words were certainly not a joke, but he didn't have eyes in the back of his head to see Adams coming over and say it to him; it was purely a coincidence.

So now he wasn't embarrassed at all: "Mr. Adams, now that you've heard it, shouldn't we just settle this matter?"

Adams nodded and said, "I have no problem with that, but you know there are many business details that aren't our strengths. On the way here, I saw some negative news about 'The Big Band' in China, so I can record a video with you first..."

Bian Lang obviously wanted to do something for his colleagues in China. Since Adams wanted to use this to build a closer relationship, he would accept it.

Less than half an hour later, Bian Lang updated his newly registered YouTube account with Adams with a video he recorded together. The video showed that DGM had acquired the overseas copyright of "The Big Band" and the global production and sales rights of audio-visual products!

At first, some people suspected that it was a video made by AI to generate followers.

But after DGM officially released the video, rock fans in China who saw the news were both happy and a little sad.

The joy stems from DGM's actions, which are undoubtedly a slap in the face to those who called for the removal of "The Big Band." The distress arises because "The Big Band" CDs were originally eligible for export, but now they have to be imported!
(End of this chapter)