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

Chapter 959 Dynasty
"Disgrace! This is utterly disgraceful! Spike is provoking the entire United States! The entire Europe!"

"Beware of cultural infiltration! Spike has finally revealed his evil fangs!"

"Why is Spike considered the most insidious singer in the world?" — A classic BBC commentary.

"Spike has the right to speak freely!"

"This world is a mess, and it always needs people like Spike to patch it up!"

Spike is the embodiment of God!

"..."

For a time, the entire Western media circle was in an uproar, with multiple journalists and commentators holding opposing views writing articles to debate each other in the same newspaper – a classic case of left-wing and right-brain battle.

Website click rates change every hour, and print media sales are soaring every day.

Countless experts, scholars, professors, and even politicians stepped forward, each offering their opinions—a vibrant and flourishing scene unfolded before our eyes.

"Without a doubt, Spike is a fine porcelain piece carefully cultivated by China to subvert the perceptions of the American and European people. They used the resources of an entire nation to create Spike, which is why Spike seems so versatile, able to handle everything on a single album."

"It's not that he doesn't have a team. In fact, I mean he certainly does have a team, but his team consists of anonymous behind-the-scenes workers who give all the credit to Spike, which is what made Spike's epic achievement of releasing an English album every year possible."

"They did this to artificially create a myth, a myth that musicians from all Western countries cannot touch or even approach."

"I swear to God this is not a guess, it must be true! We should boycott Spike immediately! We must be vigilant against the infiltration and brainwashing of Eastern culture led by Spike!"

On CNN, 47-year-old commentator Amy Rosenthal launched a scathing attack, speaking with righteous indignation, attributing the popularity of songs about the I Ching in Western society to the mysterious team behind them, a team that remains unknown and unrevealed to this day.

They even elevated this issue to the level of the system and the foundation of the nation, and for those who support the I Ching, they always say that the socialist faction has never given up its desire to destroy our great America.

If you really want to continue supporting Spike, how can you face Washington, who's turning in his grave?!
How can they face President Reagan, who passed away just two years ago?!

The body is barely cold!
George W. Bush, you're a shameless bastard! A coward! You don't even dare to blacklist Spike!
He even pointed his finger at you and cursed you!

Are you still the President of the United States?!

Even the worst Carter knew to try to save face when he got humiliated, so what about you?!
Amy Rosenthal knew all the major presidents in American history like the back of her hand, but when using them to pressure the White House, she omitted the details of the lame man who, even though he had been dead for decades, still left a huge psychological shadow on the American upper class and privileged class.

There's no way around it. Ever since that man, who was respectfully called "that damn cripple," died, the United States has been able to allow any power or community to grow stronger without fear. The only thing it fears is that someone else might try to emulate him. The many measures the United States has taken since his death were specifically designed to block that path.

"Bullshit! Utter nonsense! Spike is clearly a progressive person who pursues peace. Everything he does is to spread the hope of peace around the world through his songs. This is an inevitable path for any artist, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it!"

"Look at the American soldiers. They stepped into the quagmire because of one lie by George W. Bush and could never turn back. How many good young men committed suicide because they could not accept the gap between reality and ideals?"

"Look at the firefighters after 9/11. It's been years, how much compensation have they received?! Do you know how much damage the collapse of social trust and the collapse of firefighters' faith can cause to society?!"
"We should thank Spike, and thank that there are still warriors like Spike in this world who are willing to speak out for justice, righteousness, and peace!"

"If criticism is not free, then praise becomes meaningless!"

Warner Music, Disney under Robert Iger's leadership, Apple under Steve Jobs' leadership, and Time Warner, which just reached a deal with Zhou Yi, are four top-tier figures in the American capital market, providing protection for Zhou Yi.

Your capital strength is strong, but mine is no weaker than yours.

The market of interests that Zhou Yi, who does not hoard his own resources, can leverage is too vast, not to mention that he occupies the moral high ground of justice, making it even easier to deal with.

We still want to do business with Spike/the Chinese!
The vast physical distribution channels built up by the American record industry over half a century are practically worshipping the I Ching as an ancestral deity; they certainly wouldn't tolerate these so-called social science theorists, professors, and political commentators babbling on and on.

He's been blacklisted, so you guys are making money for me?!
Do you know how much Spike's "25" satiated us?!
what? !

Why not eat meat?
We don't want to defect to the enemy, but the problem is that none of your country's musicians are any good!
“I am Mexican, and I have worked hard in the United States for half my life to build this business. During this time, I have received help from many friends from other countries. I strongly agree with Spike’s concept of global unity, which is simply the truth of democracy!”

“I am Black, and I have experienced racial discrimination many times…”

"I……"

The debate is raging, and the White House is already numb to it.

Bush, already feeling exhausted, almost laughed in anger at the idiots at home. If he dared to take action against Zhou Yi now, his approval rating would be in serious jeopardy.

A bunch of fucking idiots!
How can a country be governed by such insects!

"Mr. President—"

"Never mind that, I need to focus my energy on the military now," Bush said with a wave of his hand, seemingly unconcerned.

In the Western entertainment industry, if not 100%, at least 99% oppose him. Why should he care about such things? He doesn't need the I Ching.

He himself knew how many people and countries opposed the war he had started, but it didn't matter. As long as he focused his energy on winning the war militarily, everything would be alright!

Along with the ongoing impact of this charity music festival, the declining sales curve of Zhou Yi's album "25" also went viral.

从8月15-9月15日，在首销期正儿八经过了一个月后，《25》的销售曲线不可避免的跌入了谷底。

Excessive exposure that undermines sales comes at a price.

"25" achieved sales of 2127 million in two weeks and 14 days, and its global sales officially exceeded 2643 million in one month, which is an extremely terrifying number.

There is certainly still potential for further growth, but theoretically that would be a matter of a steady stream of growth over a year or even several years. The short-term surge within a month exceeded 2600 million tickets, which is an unprecedented level of growth.

Zhou Yi alone broke all the album sales records set by a group of great artists during the peak of the Western era, raising the numbers to a level that can almost be said to be unparalleled.

Warner Music was originally prepared to spend money to push sales to 30 million copies in the next two months, in order to build an unparalleled monument for Zhou Yi. However, they never expected that a slogan from Zhou Yi's charity event would generate such widespread media attention across the US and even Europe.

As a result, the sales curve of "25" which had been declining has once again started to rise against all odds.

Not only Warner Music, but the entire record industry was stunned.

Dude, are you really going to keep going like this without stopping?
I know your album is very good, but this also...

"Hiss... Could it be that the physical record market has really recovered?!"

After much contemplation, the brilliant Edgar finally came up with a unique insight, and was overjoyed: "Wouldn't that mean we can restart the plan to acquire physical distributors?"

That was a plan formulated in 2000 by Warner Music in order to catch up with Sony and Universal before Warner Music became independent.

There was no way around it; back then, Sony was the most prestigious, followed by Universal, and Warner couldn't keep up.

Later, due to a series of reasons, Sony acquired BMG Records first and further expanded, while Warner, thanks to Zhou Yi, later surpassed it. After leaving its parent company and becoming independent, Era Warner shed its leech of debt and prospered. "Ed, the idea is good, but don't think about it in the future. Focus on operating streaming services; that's the way forward. Apple Music will eventually be unable to withstand the pressure and join the streaming industry." Zhou Yi, who had been hesitant to speak, finally persuaded him to give up his plan to squander money.

Edgar Jr. was uninterested: "I don't think Jobs would have allowed Apple Music to join streaming. He looked down on membership systems and always insisted that paying to download music was the way of the future."

With just YM, what kind of sparks can he create in the future?
Modern streaming media is practically dead, like a dried-up corpse buried with the pharaoh in a pyramid.

He only listened to Spike's madness because he was willing to engage with his stagnant streaming service. People nowadays simply can't accept the idea of ​​paying a month's membership to listen to songs in a library for free; they see it as renting and would rather just buy and download.

Purchasing and downloading is the only way to truly own your property and listen to it anytime, anywhere.

Edgar Jr.'s thinking was simple: if he lost money, he'd consider it tuition; after all, he valued Spike as a person.

Forget about money, that's so vulgar.

"I believe that streaming media will definitely surpass the paid trend in the future, but paid downloads will not disappear either; it's just a matter of walking on two legs." Zhou Yi put down his red wine and planned out his future.

Little Edgar nodded repeatedly, uttering "uh-huh" and "yeah" all the time, basically agreeing with everything Edgar said.

It wasn't until Qian Jiang knocked on the door and called for Zhou Yi that the two ended their business discussion, then got up to go downstairs and catch a car to attend a brand event.

"Spike! Spike! A congressman has pointed out that you are injecting Chinese social ideas into the minds of a new generation of young Americans. What is your response?"

"Spike, do you have an entire national team working for you?"

"Spike, a professor has questioned whether your sales figures are largely fabricated, suggesting that China mobilized the entire nation to purchase them for you. Is this true?"

"Spike, some media outlets have suggested that you need to apologize to the American audience you've misled. Do you intend to do so?"

"Spike..."

Even with doubled security, the massive crowd of reporters remained undiminished.

The notion that "everyone in the world is a communist sympathizer" was once again brought to life by these journalists—"Don't stop me! Are you a communist sympathizer and afraid I'll expose Spike?!"

Even Zhou Yi laughed.

"Spike, what are you laughing at?! Are you admitting it?!"

"Good question, but you don't deserve the answer."

"?"

"Okay, I'm laughing at a bunch of idiots."

The reporters, in a fit of anger, immediately became furious—

"You?! Spike, this is an insult to me! We can sue you! This is America! A society governed by the rule of law!"

"How much money do you think you can win from this lawsuit? Ten thousand dollars? Or thirty thousand dollars?"

Zhou Yi, with one hand in his pocket, chuckled and beckoned to Assistant Xin to hand over the checkbook: "Dare you write down a number?"

"you?!"

"In fact, in terms of time, you have already wasted more than $3 of my money."

Zhou Yi glanced at his watch, pointed at all the reporters who were blocked in front of him: "I'll give you $3 each. In just a few minutes, how much money have you wasted? If this goes to court, how much will you have to pay me?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Are you fucking a pervert?!
Is that how you do math?!
"Do I need to remind you? My album has been number one worldwide for five consecutive years, five consecutive years."

Putting on the sunglasses handed to him by Assistant Xin, Zhou Yi gestured towards the group with his fingers: "Five years. I gave the United States five years. Haven't they found any evidence that I committed fraud yet?"

"you--"

"I ruled the entire American music scene for five whole years, establishing my own dynasty. I also generously and mercifully gave you five years to find my weaknesses, waiting for America to overthrow my rule."

"So now, you've concluded that I'm promoting Chinese social ideology and poisoning American youth?"

With his sunglasses on, Zhou Yi's mouth twisted into a smug grin that was more arrogant than anyone else's: "Have you guys lost your minds?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Faced with Zhou Yi's rapid-fire barrage of criticism, the reporters were left speechless.

"Please show due respect to the esteemed five-time champion, understand?"

Zhou Yi, who had been repeatedly pointing at the Five Finger Mountain, smiled dismissively: "Respect, you know?"

Even though the fifth year wasn't over yet, no one at the scene dared to object or refute Zhou Yi's claim of being a five-time champion, accusing him of borrowing money to win this year's championship.

Because no matter how you calculate it this year, even if you calculate it all the way to Equatorial Guinea, Zhou Yi's album will most likely be the local best-selling album.

Americans, who love sports, often refer to teams that achieve three consecutive championships as dynasties. Zhou Yi, having won the sales championship for five consecutive years, certainly deserves the title of having created a dynasty.

The key is that he did it all on his own, writing the lyrics, composing the music, and arranging the music himself, without relying on any powerful connections.

Coupled with the current sales curve of "25" which is rising against the trend, it is so powerful that it makes people despair, suffocate, and breathless!
"Do you think you're already the undisputed king?"

"of course not."

To the reporters' surprise, Zhou Yi denied it, shaking his head. Amid their astonished gazes, Zhou Yi gave an answer that momentarily stunned them: "I am the GOAT."

(End of this chapter)