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

Chapter 925 The Strong Change the Rules

"What are you saying? What kind of talk is this? Could it be that Zhou Yi has too much influence that made them film this version?"

Although it was just a Coca-Cola commercial jingle, the brand was big enough that Warner Music still paid close attention to public opinion.

When Qian Jiang delivered the compiled public opinion ratings to Zhou Yi's office, the latter was engrossed in reading them on forums and online communities using a secondary account, occasionally joining in the interaction and fanning the flames.

After attacking the haters, he now attacks the fans; he's a complete scoundrel.

The sharp-eyed Qian Jiang immediately recognized the alternate account ID used by Zhou Yi: "Carrying a schoolbag to bomb the school", or simply "Schoolbag Hall".

"Stop doing this kind of thing, A-Yi, you're just bored."

The top agent among top talents couldn't help but sigh: "If this gets exposed, you'll be laughed to death. You've corrupted Yanzi."

"This is called going deep into the front lines to investigate, observing word-of-mouth up close, and avoiding getting trapped in an information cocoon." After finishing his explanation, Zhou Yi delivered a three-part "I'm in a hurry" mantra to Xiao Heizi, then closed the webpage with satisfaction.

Now that he's in a higher position, he can't openly criticize haters or online trolls who seem like trolls, so he can just use a secondary account online and not tolerate it. Once the internet experiences a major upheaval, he'll be back to being the innocent Zhou.

Besides, is it strange for celebrities to have secondary accounts on social media?

It's normal operation, okay?

Which celebrity doesn't have a few alternate accounts to watch the drama unfold? As long as you don't leak the information by registering with the information of people around you, the authorities aren't going to bother investigating you.

Take the notorious hater "Free Beaver" as an example. He's already being lenient by not using his power to permanently ban the beaver who frequently criticizes him online. If it were someone else with a bad attitude, would that beaver be able to register a new account and post online?

In other words, most celebrities and companies haven't quite grasped the new concept of online public opinion yet, and are only trying to capitalize on it for marketing purposes. Only a few savvy company owners have noticed this trend and started planning ahead.

Oh no, it should be plagiarism.

Learning from Warner's marketing strategy for the I Ching was incredibly successful, and Qian Jiang, as a top agent, "planner," and strategist, received countless offers to switch jobs because of it.

Unfortunately, Qianjiang is completely devoted to the sun and incredibly loyal to the Book of Changes—if you can hold onto this powerful and reliable source, anyone who wants to run away is a fool.

"What kind of information cocoon could you possibly have right now? The company isn't going to sit idly by." Qian Jiang had always been skeptical of Zhou Yi's explanation. He thought Zhou Yi was just looking for someone to vent his frustration after getting beaten in CS or King of Fighters.

That's what it means to be bad at games but love to play.

Every time he loses, it's either a network problem or the mouse and keyboard are to blame. In King of Fighters, a 1v1 arcade fighting game where you can't shift the blame to anyone else, the young, fan-like colleagues in the company can easily beat Zhou Yi to the point of despair, almost to the point of getting up to shut down the computer, and finally saying that he might as well play Meteor Butterfly Sword instead.

It's only because Zhou Yi is playful, easygoing, and doesn't hold grudges that he often seeks out challenges when he has free time. Otherwise, those young colleagues who are also his fans would probably have been fired the next day for entering the door with their right or left foot first.

"There are so many, they're all praising me. In a sense, it's also a kind of cocoon."

After taking a sip of water, Zhou Yi took the folder and began flipping through it.

The success of "Try Everything," the theme song from the previous "Zootopia," was not only due to the song's high quality, but also largely thanks to Disney's promotion and Shakira's own hype.

Coca-Cola's global advertising channels are now comparable to, or even surpass, those of Disney. Coupled with the global event of the World Cup, its popularity has skyrocketed.

As for Zhou Yi herself, it goes without saying that she could instantly kill Shakira. Saying she could annihilate her might be a bit disrespectful, but that's the truth.

A legend in his prime, that's how powerful he was.

"Europe suddenly appeared in the top three of the rankings? As expected, America is a football wasteland. My reputation has only dropped to fifteenth." Zhou Yi glanced at the list and looked down on the desolate football atmosphere in the United States.

"Is it possible that the song before you was too strong?"

Qian Jiang couldn't hold back any longer: "Why don't you take a look at how many of your songs are in the top 30? According to Edgar Jr., Billboard has even started considering changing the rules."

Zhou Yi looked up: "Huh?"

As we all know, the current mechanism of the Billboard charts results in an unbelievable number of chart-breaking hits in the Zhouyi album.

Therefore, considering that this situation is likely to have a negative impact on Billboard, there are indeed rumors circulating within Billboard's official organization that they will begin discussing changing the rules.

Otherwise, if Zhou Yi keeps releasing songs every year, they're afraid that one day the top 100 on the Billboard charts will be filled with his songs, and even the top 200 will be his songs.

If that's the case, what's the point of other singers and record companies playing? They might as well surrender and start a new game.

Billboard's official website is also afraid that it will be portrayed by Zhou Yi as a non-personal award, thus becoming a random award for Zhou Yi's own amusement to manipulate the rankings, and reduced to nothing more than a roadside honor.

"I don't care, it's not my problem, they can't handle this." Zhou showed no self-awareness and even laughed happily.

If he can actually force Billboard to change the rules ahead of time, it won't be a weakening factor for him, but rather a source of glory. He can then blame Billboard for any potential withdrawal from the scene.

Because her strength was too great to be countered, the rules were changed to target her, leading to her disappointment and withdrawal. This is the perfect "beautiful, strong, and tragic" character that attracts fans, making her an eternal white moonlight in the hearts of countless music listeners.

If that's really the case, then he's already thought about his retirement speech at the concert: What will become of our... music scene... in the future...?

You also need to use vibrato, the kind with a strong vibrato.

"Don't say that. You don't know how many songs you've written that can stay off the charts, but I've been keeping an eye on them for you."

With a touch of emotion, Qian Jiang shook his head: "The only pity is that many fans are not satisfied with your promotional video. They think that you chose to forcibly belittle the national football team's performance in order to highlight your personal heroism in the music video."

Zhouyi: "..."

A mouthful of saliva was stuck in his mouth, and he was completely at a loss for words.

But when you think about it, it makes sense.

After qualifying for the World Cup finals in 02, winning a disappointing runner-up finish in the Asian Cup in 04, and failing to qualify for the World Cup in 06 due to a points calculation error, domestic fans' expectations for the national football team's performance have risen sharply.

Before filming, Zhou Yi felt that his promotional video was already giving face to the current football atmosphere. If it were actually filmed according to future history, he would probably be cursed by the current fans to the point of having his family tree flying everywhere.

"If they don't like this version, they can go watch the normal four-minute version." Thinking that his music video might be criticized in the future, Zhou Yi decisively restarted the webpage to take screenshots.

This is a promotional music video with a storyline and inspirational elements. There is also a regular version, a four-minute-plus music video, which mainly features football from various countries.

"What are you doing?" Qian Jiang asked, puzzled by the man's sudden action.

Why take a screenshot out of the blue?

And they were all comments criticizing him.

Are you trying to incite fans to criticize these people?
"I'll screenshot this to keep as a memento. If the Chinese national football team still hasn't qualified for the World Cup in 10 years, this inspirational short film of mine might be dug up again, and it'll drag a bunch of fans down with it."

The screenshot of the I Ching was taken very quickly.

He even planned to print them out and staple them together to make a compilation. When someone unearthed his short film ad and combined it with the national football team's performance to create meme material, he could release the compilation. If we're going to "die" together, we'll all die together. Haters are fans too, and none of them will escape!

Qian Jiang: "..."

Forget it, just be happy.

"Have fun, but don't forget you're going to Taiwan in a couple of days. It's the last one, so you should say goodbye to your fans there."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Zhou Yi opened CS without turning his head.

I've finished mixing for today, so I need to play a couple more games to rest. It's all about balancing work and rest.

Don't ask, the answer is just to find inspiration.

Unfortunately, his inspiration ultimately came with a bitter pill to swallow—the saying "a trade is like a mountain" perfectly encapsulates his experience.

So much so that he looked somewhat tired when he flew to Guangzhou the next day to participate in a charity event.

But the reporters didn't care; these days, few top-tier celebrities aren't tired.

"Zhou Yi, do you think you can win the Best Male Vocalist award at this year's Golden Melody Awards?"

"I don't know, I don't care about trophies."

"Zhou Yi, a singer Warner rejected last year has become incredibly popular this year. What are your thoughts on letting her join Sony Music?"

"Hmm—ah?"

Zhou Yi asked in confusion, "What did you say?"

Which singers Warner Music rejected last year have become huge stars this year? And why is Sony stepping in to sign them?
And they successfully took over the deal?

"Don't you know? There's a rumor that Warner Music rejected her record deal because you thought she wasn't popular enough. Is that true?"

The reporter who asked this question was clearly very excited, and seemed to have a provocative attitude.

In this day and age, many famous actors want to expand into other fields and pursue a two-pronged approach. The simplest way to do this is by releasing an album. Therefore, Liu Yifei signed with Sony Music in the latter half of last year, although her popularity wasn't as high then as it is now.

After she became incredibly popular with "The Return of the Condor Heroes," many people thought that Sony Music made a huge profit by signing her. Then, last year, the fact that her company approached her but was rejected by Warner Music was brought up again.

Or most likely, it was leaked by Sony through paparazzi channels.

After all, only a few top executives of major record labels knew about Zhou Jianhui's movements. The company behind the young girl was very ambitious and wouldn't even look at anyone but top-tier record companies. Small and medium-sized companies would never have known about this.

"That's not true. Warner has never discriminated against anyone. Mr. Hui has always treated everyone equally in terms of ability."

"Sony Records will tailor-make a new album for her, which has already been officially announced, including a Japanese EP album in July, her first Mandarin album in August, and her first Japanese album in September. Do you think she can become another singer who successfully enters the Japanese music scene after you?"

Even Zhou Yi, who was pretending to be ignorant, couldn't help but laugh when he heard the question: "...Well, it's hard to say. Every profession has its own secrets. I wish her success."

He had no idea what Liu Yifei's team was thinking. She had only become popular for about half a year with the role of Little Dragon Girl, and they couldn't wait to release three albums in three months, two in Japanese and one in Chinese.

Even veteran Hong Kong and Taiwanese stars wouldn't dare release albums like this during the golden age of Hong Kong music.

Not to mention the Japanese albums they also released, which sold 80,000 copies in China.

Trying to break into the Japanese music scene is far too naive. Releasing a Japanese EP and Japanese album without any foundation in the industry will ultimately rely on the domestic market, fueled by her popularity as Xiaolongnu, to boost sales.

"I'm starting to suspect that Sony is trying to kill two birds with one stone and make a quick buck along the way."

On the 16th, on the plane to Taiwan, Qian Jiang was talking to Zhou Yi about the major record companies' actions this year, and he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled by Sony's behavior.

Everyone here is a veteran in the record industry, and they know the procedures inside and out. How could they possibly make such a basic mistake?

He won't believe you even if you say it wasn't intentional.

"Be bold, you never know."

Completely unconcerned, Zhou Yi tidied the fruit plate in his hands: "Sony has most likely hit it off with them. Their market share is declining, so they need to boost their popularity."

International superstars are just people who go out for a stroll and come back to be famous.

As long as you have Yangcheng Lake in your heart, you will find Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs everywhere.

Whether or not one puts their heart into something is a matter of opinion.

It's not true that Sony didn't put in the effort; the production team also includes many experienced veterans.

If you're talking about putting in the effort, there are also those who just fill the numbers.

Later, Hiroyuki Sawano, a Japanese composer familiar to many Chinese netizens, also participated in composing for Liu Yifei's Japanese album as a newcomer, writing a song, but it failed to make a splash.

"They're using the label of 'your next artist to enter the Japanese music scene,' and Sony is just trying to piggyback on that."

Qian Jiang was furious, completely forgetting how he used to help Zhou Yi get freebies: "There's no such thing as getting something for nothing. I'll go talk to someone from Sony as soon as I get off the plane."

Can you just casually ride on the coattails of the fame of the Book of Changes?
Who do you think you are, Sony?
Zhou Yi gave his agent a strange look: "What do you want to do?"

His intuition told him that Qianjiang might be up to something.

These days, there are plenty of people who fawn over him, but Qian Jiang didn't react this strongly.

“This is your last Golden Melody Awards, Ah Yi. I want to leave you with a perfect ending and memories.”

Qian Jiang smiled and didn't hide anything: "Since Sony is planning to piggyback on this, I'll just go straight to them and talk to them. We can cooperate with Warner's domestic resources or Japanese resources. But there's one thing: I need Sony to help me put pressure on them at the Golden Melody Awards."

Qian Jiang paused here, pressed down on Zhou Yi's shoulder with his right hand, and said solemnly, "I want to help you achieve an unprecedented sweep."

If one Warner isn't enough, then add another Sony.

Although Zhou Yi no longer values ​​trophies, this is the last gift that his manager could leave for him on the Golden Melody Awards stage.

rule?

Just change it.

Billboard is already saying they're going to change the rules because of the I Ching, shouldn't the Golden Melody Awards follow suit?
(End of this chapter)