The opening of China Entertainment Group gave Jay Chou a head-on confrontation

Chapter 1003 I Want to Do It in One Shot, Isn't That Daring?
It can be said that in 2006, the energy unleashed by the emerging music market, represented by the ringtone market, caught all industry professionals except Zhou Yi off guard.

Even China Mobile itself was stunned by the explosive growth in the value of its ringback tone service last year.

Early releases like "Two Butterflies," "Above the Moon," "Mice Love Rice," and "Ten Thousand Reasons" enjoyed lasting popularity, while later releases like "Seeking Buddha" and "Autumn Never Returns" caught up, defeating their predecessors to claim the top spot.

In addition, countless musicians have flocked to this market where they can make a fortune.

If the physical record market has completely collapsed, with no middle or bottom tiers remaining, leaving only a tiny group at the very top barely surviving, then this emerging ringtone music market is truly a vibrant and thriving scene.

These people who dominate the top of the charts are all people who had no channels or connections in the old record era, but they have achieved unimaginable success by taking advantage of the free and broad ringtone market.

Now all creatures under the frosty sky are truly free to roam.

Whether it's performing at commercial venues or earning a share of the profits, this group of singers, whose production and singing abilities are both below average, have experienced explosive growth, earning more in a year than most second- or third-tier singers.

For example, Fang Datong, a new singer from Hong Kong under Warner Music, although his albums have been widely praised in the industry and he has won numerous awards, the money he actually earns for the company and the share of income he receives are far less than that of Pang Long.

In March 2006, Pang Long's revenue from the film "Two Butterflies" exceeded 20 million yuan, making a strong debut on the 2006 Forbes list of highest-paid celebrities.

With this income level, he has surpassed 99% of Warner Music's singers, second only to Emperor Zhou Yi, Second Brother Wang Feng, and Empress Sun Yanzi. Zhang Liangying, Hu Yanbing, and Hou Xuan are all below him.

Looking solely at Warner Music's male singer roster, disregarding the Zhou Yi (a fictional character in Chinese literature) bug, Wang Feng's album revenue didn't significantly surpass Pang Long's.

This is terrible.

At a time when the music industry is in decline, the strong recovery ability of the ringback tone market has once again reminded everyone of why singers were able to dominate the entertainment industry's income charts back then.

However, the rise of ringtone singers and online singers has brought about uncontrollable consequences—

Producers and record companies used to work hand in hand to strictly control the entry threshold into the music industry. If you wanted to become famous, you had to rely on a record company. Even someone as strong as Zhou Yi had to be approached and signed by Zhou Jianhui before he could release an album.

However, the emergence of the ringback tone market and online music platforms has broken this monopoly, causing this mechanism that has been operating for decades to suddenly become ineffective.

The person who broke this mechanism is, in the eyes of many producers and small companies in the traditional record industry who can only make a living by relying on seniority, Zhou Yi.

The Book of Changes deprived them of the opportunity to make profits, using online platforms on one hand and the ringtone market on the other, directly causing them to suffer repeated defeats and nearly go bankrupt, turning the entire market into chaos.

New generation singers and songwriters suddenly find that if they want to debut and make money, they seem to have several new and more user-friendly options.

How can small companies, small business owners, and producers who rely on their seniority to sign new talent and make money in the future?

How will they compete with big companies in the future?

Big companies can tailor their services to individual talents, providing resources that individual efforts cannot obtain. They also have many talented musicians who can get a share of the pie. What about those who are struggling at the bottom of the industry?
Some talented individuals can try to transform and embrace emerging markets to create their own ringtones, but what about companies that lack talent and rely solely on signing people?
Bankruptcy and giving up?
We were all once on the same thread in the traditional record industry, Zhou Yi, you've done so many bad things!

Ultimately, it all comes down to a matter of interests.

Zhou Yi, as a leader in the music industry, single-handedly brought ringback tones to the forefront using his influence, and even partnered with Tencent to launch an online music platform. People didn't care before, but now they're all criticizing him for "biting the hand that feeds him."

Therefore, it was only natural that, after feeling dissatisfied, they would join forces with those "awakened media" and "fair media people" who often attacked the I Ching and speak out together.

"Simply put, it means that these traditionalists are at war with the reformists led by you."

"..."

Traditionalists vs. Reformists?
I'm familiar with this.

Zhou Yi, who inexplicably thought of Furongwang fighting Ruike 5, burst out laughing.

Qian Jiang thought he was amused by the phenomenon, so he comforted him, "But don't worry too much. Anyone with eyes can see which market is better, and newcomers will vote with their feet."

I'd rather mess with money than with anyone else.

"I'm not worried about that. I'm only worried that China Mobile, that iron monstrosity, will become greedy and go back on its word, ruining this emerging market." Zhou Yi shook his head, his smile fading, and tapped the table with his index finger, addressing the issue by name.

The rapid development of the ringback tone market in 06 was unexpected by all parties involved. As a result, China Mobile quickly made various contract modifications and revenue sharing for small action cards, which has now come to pass.

However, none of them are fatal.

As long as they can still make money, over 99% of musicians are willing to compromise. Dignity and integrity are things only those at the top of the pyramid can talk about, because they have already achieved financial freedom and can pursue their personal integrity.

However, China Mobile was so envious of this lucrative market that they pulled a stunt during the peak of ringback tones—packaging a large number of popular songs into packages and releasing them in batches. This directly reduced the revenue share that would go to SPs and singers for most of the hit singles.

Thus, the ringback tone market experienced its collapse in 2007, a year that should have been even more glorious. Despite a higher market value, China Mobile took the lion's share, leaving only a small portion for service providers (SPs) and singers.

Even Song Ke, the owner of Taihe Wheatfield, who held a high position at the time, was powerless to do anything about it.

Mobile's Iron Monument is just too overpowered.

Thus, with smartphones still in their infancy and the mobile internet not yet mature, this emerging industry, which should have produced a large number of musicians making a living from it, missed the opportunity to drive its development.

Countless musicians chose to leave after the bubble burst, and the development of the mainland music market experienced a brief vacuum period—returning to the old, broken path of the album market.

This is exciting for many mid- to lower-tier record labels, as it means they can once again coast along and make a living.

Until online music was brought to the forefront and took on the role of bridging the past and the future.

With the explosive popularity of Xu Song's album "Customized" after his official debut in 09 as a dividing line, a very special generation of online singers in mainland China officially stood at the center of the music scene, and they were once again criticized by mainstream public opinion in the industry as non-mainstream.

In order to alleviate the public opinion crisis, Xu Song endured for a period of time after the hit song "Customized" became a hit, and finally waited for Ocean Butterflies, a mainstream record company that had lost its backbone Lin Junjie, to extend an olive branch of "non-interference" to him.

While both were among the top three, Xu Liang and Wang Sulong weren't so lucky—

Under pressure, both of them signed with Wonderful Music, a subsidiary of Rolling Stone Records. They originally went for the Rolling Stone brand, but ended up getting ripped off. After their falling out, they couldn't even get back the copyrights to their own songs and ended up owing money.

The two went to great lengths to reclaim their copyrights and also had to pay off debts incurred after the contract termination.

Many people say that Wang Sulong became popular again through variety shows. In reality, the reason he was running around doing variety shows during his previous period of obscurity was because he actually owed his former company, Wonderful Music, a huge debt after terminating his contract. Because of this, he was willing to appear on any variety show, even if it was just as a guest.

At first, he didn't even know how to find the camera when he appeared on variety shows.

As a result, the variety shows stretched out the timelines too much, which honed his skills and allowed him to ride the wave of archaeology in the mobile internet era. The post-90s generation had grown up, and he instantly experienced a resurgence. Xu Liang is even more remarkable; he didn't achieve complete freedom until 19. Then, with his keen musical sense, he detected a gap in the lower-tier market, founded One Inch Light Year Music Company, and once again became a hit-making machine in the era of short videos.

"...Moving? Surely that's not so short-sighted?" Seeing Zhou Yi's confident tone, Qian Jiang was speechless, somewhat incredulous.

This is a golden goose that lays eggs.

Zhou Yi shrugged: "They're not in the music industry. Besides, even if they were, how many record companies have done the short-sighted thing over the years?"

If there were so many sensible executives and bosses in the world, there wouldn't be so many ridiculous situations every year.

If Warner Music hadn't intervened and made changes, it would have been a laughing stock in the future.

"Alright, I'm going to pick someone up now. We're going to shoot a music video this afternoon." Zhou Yi glanced at the time, patted his behind, stood up, and left briskly.

Once Fan Zhiyi and Lang Lang are both cast for "Turkish Ice Cream," then the music video can begin production.

As a recently retired professional player, Fan Zhiyi could easily play freestyle football against Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi initially wanted to test his strength in the match, since Fan Zhiyi was about the same height as him, officially listed as 1.83 meters.

As soon as he bumped into it, Zhou Yi felt as if he had hit a wall.

This is a completely different feeling from when he was dominating noobs on the basketball court—he was the one being dominated.

"Zhou Yi, are you alright?" Fan Zhiyi asked with a smile, speaking in heavily accented Mandarin, as he reached out and pulled Zhou Yi up from the ground.

"It's okay, just a small problem."

Zhou Yi shook his head with a smile after stretching his muscles.

He now understands the devastating feeling Han Han had when he formed a football team for a charity event, only to be utterly thrashed by a professional U12 team.

Before the match, they boasted that they would let these elementary school students have their way and not scare them. However, in the first 20 minutes of the first half, Han Han's team was thrashed by the U12 team by nearly 20 goals. They didn't score a single goal, and Han Han himself only touched the ball once.

In the end, there was no second half of the match because the opposing coach stopped the game, saying that playing against such an opponent would affect the mental health of the young players. So the event fast-forwarded directly to the final charity donation segment.

In competitive sports, the gap between professional and amateur is indeed vast.

"I need to go back to Peking University and find some confidence from the Chinese Department. I heard they recently lost 10-0 again."

Fan Zhiyi: "...?"

If you don't understand, just ask. Is the Chinese Department at Peking University a self-confidence ATM?
They were already infamous in 2000, and they're still like this now?

Have you made absolutely no progress all these years?
....................................

"Of course not! That damn Zhou Yi still has the nerve to come back?! If it weren't for him making our Chinese department famous, would we be like this now?!"

Peking University's Chinese Department, which had recently lost a competition, immediately started cursing and swearing when they heard rumors that Zhou Yi was returning to Peking University—a complete loss of decorum.

The abused.

Ever since Zhou Yi (the Book of Changes) crushed them and propelled them onto the international stage, the reputation of Peking University's Chinese Department has become well-known in higher education circles. Now, in any competition where a team from the Chinese Department participates, they'd be embarrassed to leave without crushing the other teams eight or nine goals.

Depend on!
Don't Chinese literature majors have any pride?!

"But I heard that Zhou Yi is coming back to shoot a music video. Do you think it's possible that he'll select students from the school to act in it?"

"...Well, on another note, with Yi being this strong, it's not surprising that he led his team to a 13-0 victory over those senior students from the Chinese department."

The Chinese literature students, who had just been indignant, immediately changed their tune—

What does it have to do with me that the Chinese Literature Department's football team was nailed to the pillar of shame in the past?
I graduated from the Book of Changes so many years ago.

If things are still like this, then it can only mean that the Chinese department is disappointing!

Where can I register?

"do not know……"

The news that Zhou Yi was coming back was spreading like wildfire on the Peking University campus after the final exams, and many students preparing to go home were incredibly excited.

What a wonderful thing it would be to see this legend up close before the Lunar New Year!

Unfortunately, they didn't see any announcements about selecting students to participate in the music video, it seems that Zhou Yi just planned to film at Peking University.

"The story of 'Sparrow' is about how ordinary people can rise to the top, and Peking University is exactly where my soaring began. There's absolutely no problem with coming back to film there."

Zhou Yi, who returned to see his teacher with an open and honest demeanor, smiled and pulled out a chair to sit down: "Not only will we be filming on campus, but I also plan to try a long take in one continuous shot for this music video."

The original music video for Sparrow, though rudimentary, was quite popular, so Zhou Yi doesn't plan to change it.

It's all about creating hype.

"A long take in one continuous shot? Are music videos shot like that?" Although he doesn't understand the music industry, the teacher knows a little about one-shot techniques.

It's said to be a technique that's considered a flashy skill even in the film industry.

“Yes, that’s why I want to use it in the music video. Teacher Yao, do you think that’s bold or not?”

"..."

"You came back to find me just for this?"

"Hehe, no, teacher, it's just that I have something I'd like to ask you for a favor..."

Zhou Yi rubbed his hands together and smiled like Sun Wukong in Journey to the West, meeting Bodhi Patriarch again—he was incredibly attentive.

　I've been absent for a day, so I'll make this chapter free.
　　barley
　　
　
(End of this chapter)