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

Chapter 747 Zhou Yi’s Favor Is Not Over Yet
Everyone has the circle of human relationships, but there are few who can do it to the extent of Zhou Yi - or to say, few who can "kill them all" to the extent of Zhou Yi.

The last time Cheng Yizhong and Zhang Ping committed a crime, they were only given a minor punishment and a major warning. They made a big deal out of a small matter and after being fired, they stayed out of the spotlight and were rehired as business managers of other subsidiaries of the group.

But this time, judging from the statements made by the Imperial Capital Court within the circle, this approach seems to be not feasible.

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, the order of the slogan at the beginning of the century says it all.

"According to normal procedures, we still have to pay attention to the impact of cases involving other places. But unfortunately, their impact in the past was very bad, and this time you were completely caught."

Qian Jiang reported the reassurance he received from Zhou Jianhui.

Although he didn't know much about politics, he really felt that this time the higher-ups seemed to be deliberately allowing Zhou Yi to make such a fuss.

"No matter how I think about it, something seems a little off. This year's commotion is much more outrageous than the one in Hong Kong last year—"

Ok?
Zhou Yi, who also didn't expect the higher-ups to act so quickly, paused, as if he had thought of something.

What the hell!

Am I a stress freak?
In just a moment, the two looked at each other and saw astonishment in each other's eyes.

The biggest victims of last year's Zhou Yi incident were the public intellectuals and the Americans behind them. Yuan Li, who was being nurtured by Xinhua News Agency, accidentally exposed his identity because of Zhou Yi. After being taken away for investigation, evidence of collusion was exposed, and even his nationality had been changed.

With Yuan Li’s arrest, a chain of interests was uprooted.

So what about this year?

"After joining the WTO, there are so many eyes outside watching us, so if we want to clean up, we must have a legitimate reason. But before, there was basically no one in the country who could compete with them in public opinion, not even Chenglong."

Qian Jiang thought carefully and gritted his teeth, his eyes fixed on the man in front of him: "Until you showed up."

As a star, Zhou Yi not only did his job perfectly, but also because of the nature of his job and personality, he was naturally in conflict with this group of people.

As we all know, there is someone behind this group of media people who can do this.

After all, the above is not set in stone, not to mention that it is now 2004 and the influence of the Americans in the past is still there. If you want to take any action, you must give a reason that no one can refuse.

Zhou Yi gave the people in the faction behind him a reason to create this.

Zhou Yi's popularity, which is unmatched by anyone, makes him completely fearless of any threats from the media sector in China. He can even put pressure on these people who have not suffered much in the media field on weekdays and cause them to make mistakes.

This is the first world superstar in the country that has the ability to compete with some traditional media.

Now I am happy with Zhou Yi’s dance. I have written down the names and made a list.

It's easier to say if it's really a bastard who brings his own dog food to work, but if there is really a connection...

"Does this count as a work-related injury?"

After rubbing his chin for a while, Zhou Yi asked a question that Qian Jiang's brain circuit could hardly keep up with -

"I feel—ah?"

No buddy, shouldn't this be a good thing?

Why are you still wondering whether it is a work-related injury or not?

"You don't understand, the crying child gets the milk." Zhou Yi's mouth corners couldn't stop rising.

........................

November 11, Baidu, in the conference room.

After the emergency meeting, only Li Yanhong and his partner were left in the empty room - one of them looked up at the street view of the imperial capital outside the window in a trance, while the other one looked down at the painted surface of the stainless steel water cup in silence.

“Does it have to be closed?”

"I am now 100% sure that Zhou Yi is coming for us, damn it."

Li Yanhong clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the table, causing the water cup to vibrate.

The reason why he, who always maintained a gentle and elegant image, was so broken was naturally because of a series of unlucky events recently. Not only was his reputation damaged, but now even Baidu's MP3 business was being cut off by Zhou Yi.

Yes, he was going to lose the case.

Li Yanhong thought he could drag out the lawsuit with Warner that has been deadlocked for more than half a year, but now it is no longer possible.

He chose the wrong side - since he sided with the Southern faction, he would have to bear the consequences of failure.

Be willing to admit defeat.

Fortunately, the problem was not serious this time, and his background was still clean. He simply sided with the Southern Group because of the conflict of interests with Zhou Yi, not for any other reason. In addition, the company has indeed become one of the faces of domestic Internet companies.

The legal team clearly proposed the concept of reconciliation with Warner to him yesterday, which would have been absolutely impossible for those lawyers to say a month ago.

The price of this settlement was a bit high - the Warner Bros. boss asked for a huge sum of 100 million RMB, with the reason being that Warner's albums and songs over the years have made outstanding contributions to the rise in Baidu's user base.

The question is to highlight contributions.

As the leader of the Warner system, Zhou Yi has such a high popularity and status. I just want to ask you whether you acknowledge your contribution. It is already a kindness that I don’t ask you for 100 million US dollars.

"From another perspective, it has eliminated a hidden danger after the listing. If we go public next year and still retain the Baidu MP3 risk, it is bound to be attacked and exploited by many people." His partner could only comfort him with a happy ending.

"...The lawyer's opinion should be around 7000 million. If it's less, Warner probably won't let it go. Just consider it as compensation to Zhou Yi." Li Yanhong, who was frustrated, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, stating the lawyer's advice.

According to Zhou Yi's English song, fining him 100 million US dollars abroad would be a piece of cake.

Two albums in the 30 million club, and this year's new album is approaching the 20 million club. The commercial value generated by this can be seen from Apple. With the support of the music store, the stock price has gone to who knows where the hell.

After returning to Apple and taking the helm again, Steve Jobs wanted to move Zhou Yi's mansion in Beverly Hills to be his neighbor - the reason was that there were fires in California every year, and although they would not burn Zhou Yi's house, it would always be a worry for the kind-hearted Chinese people.

Although the European and American industries are still expressing their grief, they actually regard this man as the next world pop king.

He has defeated everyone for three consecutive years, a true king.

Therefore, Warner's decision not to ask Baidu for US dollars was a settlement that was only acceptable in terms of appearance.

"No, there is a lot of potential in the music field, so we still can't let it go. The most popular music software on the market is Qianqian Jingting. Talk to them about acquiring it. If you can't make pirated products, then make legitimate ones."

Although Qianqian Jingting is just a player, it has a lot of users, after all, it is also on the verge of piracy.

"There is indeed great potential for legitimate music on the Internet. Now we just need to cultivate the market. When the market matures, we will be able to use our first-mover advantage to make our stock price soar like Apple."

The more Li Yanhong thought about it, the more he felt that there was a lot of potential: "By the way, remember to include this in the listing plan."

Anyway, he has already benefited from the traffic generated by piracy, so it is not impossible for him to use the name of settlement to create the first online music store in the country, and at the same time restore his own and his company's reputation which has just been damaged.

With Apple as an example, wouldn’t the Chinese market of 13 billion people make those in the US stock market jealous?
As an elite founder, Li Yanhong's keen sense of smell allowed him to once again discover the domestic market trends, just like when he started working on search engines.

"Let's settle." "Okay, but it'll cost 80 million."

At night, the lounge area outside Warner's brightly lit recording studio.

While eating the midnight snack brought by Sun Yanzi, Zhou Yi received a call from Qian Jiang and added another 10 million.

It's not shameful to ask for a high price and then pay it back.

"What do you mean 80 million?" Sun Yan, with half a piece of bean curd sticking out of his mouth, slurped it in with a slurp, leaving a little oil stain on his lips, and asked curiously.

Hearing such a huge number out of the blue, no one would remain calm.

"Baidu is busy with its settlement and IPO, and now is the time to paint a picture. I can't ruin it."

Zhou Yi burped, took a sip of warm water, and briefly explained the situation.

Of course, he himself must be a beautiful and invisible white lotus.

Compensation is not what I want, all I want is fairness!
Money is not important, justice is the most important thing!
Sun Yanzi, who knew his character very well, looked him up and down with suspicion. Although he did not say anything, his questioning was deafening.

"What are you looking at? I have an incompatible relationship with evil, do you understand?"

Zhou Yi had no psychological discomfort at all, and even raised his head and asked back: "Besides, I helped you get rid of the pirated source of Baidu MP3, shouldn't you thank me? Before a replacement appears, your new album will undoubtedly reap the biggest dividends."

Sun Yanzi's new album will be released on the 14th. If people who are used to using Baidu MP3 cannot find a substitute for a while, there will undoubtedly be some people who will turn to genuine tapes or CDs.

Maybe this album will become her highest-selling album in the first month since her debut.

Sun Yanzi, sitting cross-legged on the sofa with a small bowl in both hands, seemed to be hesitant to speak. He wanted to refute but found that he really couldn't refute it - what he said made so much sense.

The toes outlined by the short white socks wiggled flexibly as she racked her brains, fully reflecting her scratching when she was gagged.

"You're awesome."

In the end, she could only hum and say this.

It has to be said that for the entire Chinese music scene, Zhou Yi's behavior is a manifestation of "responsibility".

How many singers and record companies have been calling for crackdowns on piracy and Internet piracy for years, but it was Zhou Yi who finally took actual action - no matter what his real purpose may seem to outsiders, at least this is his responsibility as the first person.

It is not an exaggeration to say that all practitioners have to bear this burden at the moment.

After all, Baidu is now the search leader that occupies an absolute market share in the mainland, and no singer except him dares to stand up and challenge it.

"But if Baidu MP3 is gone, what alternatives are there?"

"That's a lot."

Zhou Yi shook his head.

In fact, what many people don’t know is that Baidu started working on Internet legal music very early - in 2006.

In 2005, Baidu successfully went public on the US stock market. As a result, it was jointly sued by several major record companies for the issue of MP3 piracy. Since the lawsuit was filed in the capital, the result is predictable. The major record companies lost as expected.

However, the major record companies that lost the lawsuits started to stir up international public opinion and accused Baidu of piracy, which made Li Yanhong very anxious. Under the pressure of stock price, he had no choice but to switch to legitimate products. While he was holding Baidu MP3, he also acquired the leading music player in the market, Qianqian Jingting.

Facts have proven that Li Yanhong's vision and execution are really strong. Unfortunately, he is always unable to stick to it due to various factors, and the same is true for genuine music.

If he can stick to it, there is no doubt that Baidu Music, with its first-mover advantage, will be able to crush all competitors in this era.

Because in the first decade after all domestic Internet companies entered the fast lane in 2004, Baidu was king.

No matter what people say or what people say, Baidu has been strong for the next ten years since its listing - as BATBAT, Baidu once surpassed Alibaba and Tencent.

The traffic is horrible.

Unfortunately, he was reluctant to keep investing money without seeing any returns.

In 2006, the domestic Internet music market was already riddled with holes. If Baidu wanted to stick to the legitimate business, it would have to keep investing money, which was a bottomless pit that no one could predict. At this time, another pirated music website copied the old Baidu MP3 piracy route and succeeded.

Its name is Kugou Music.

New software such as Kugou Music rose strongly through piracy, which once again shook Baidu's confidence in genuine music on the Internet. Its investment continued to decrease until it was overtaken by latecomers.

I don’t know if Li Yanhong will follow Apple’s example and transform into producing legitimate music after what he has done.

If it does, then the business will probably suffer even greater losses - if you want to make genuine music, you must have Zhou Yi's song authorization.

Music software cannot be without Zhouyi’s songs, just like the West cannot be without Jerusalem.

"After this, I can get another licensing fee."

"You are becoming more and more like a black-hearted capitalist." Sun Yanzi exclaimed in amazement.

"What are you talking about? If I were a black-hearted capitalist, would you still be sitting here and leisurely enjoying your midnight snack? You should release at least seven albums in three years and work like a slave for me." Zhou Yi glanced at her with contempt in his eyes.

Sun Yanzi stretched out his foot and pushed his knee without hesitation: "Fuck you! Then I'll quit!"

"The penalty for breach of contract is 500 million."

"Why don't you go and grab it."

"No, this is robbery!"

On November 2004, 11, when Baidu and Warner officially released a settlement announcement, announcing that they had reached an out-of-court settlement of RMB 13 million, the first thought that came to everyone's mind when they saw the amount was:

Warner is making a money grab.

Eighty-five million, Warner's already wealthy life became even worse.

However, when Baidu's official website announced that it would stop its MP3 piracy business, the entire Chinese music scene was shocked.

What the hell!

"Zhou Yi is awesome."

Jay Chou, who was preparing for his unparalleled concert in Hong Kong, blurted out after learning about this sudden incident in front of reporters.

Sony, EMI, Universal and other record companies were ecstatic at first, but then they thought of one thing -

That’s not right. We got Warner’s compensation, but what about ours?
Although we didn't sue you, Baidu didn't let our singers go, so don't you have to pay some compensation?
"Tell them all to get out of here!"

Li Yanhong was so angry at this group of people that he threw the lawyer's letter in his office and said, "What kind of person is this? Do you think you deserve the same compensation as Zhou Yi?"

At best I can talk to you about future licensing fees.

Now, if I can’t cure Zhou Yi, I can’t beat you guys?
(End of this chapter)