Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 511 You are the mascot

With Luo Dayou as the middleman, Zheng Donghan also came to Taiwan and began to negotiate with the Rolling Stones.

Rolling Stone Records was founded in 1980 and the first singer signed was Pan Yueyun.

He later became famous for signing Luo Dayou and Sylvia Chang.

Today's Rolling Stones are full of talented people, and are known as the two heroes of Taiwan together with Flying Saucer.

It owns two of the godfathers of the Chinese music scene, Jonathan Lee and Xiao Chong.

It also has a large number of powerful singers such as Chen Shuhua, Zhou Huajian, Chyi Yu, Chyi Chin, Zhao Chuan, and Jeff Chang.

Of course, compared with Baiyang Records, it’s still a little bit lacking.

Get rid of this bug of Yang Ye.

Baiyang Records has a godfather-like figure in the music industry, Luo Dayou.

It also owns the top female singer in the Chinese pop music scene, Teresa Teresa, and Asia's top band Girls' Generation.

There are also five super popular singers including Zhang Xueyou, Chen Priscilla, Ye Qianwen, Liu Hua and Leon Lai.

They also have a Bluebird Records company in Japan, which has super idol Akina Nakamori.

One of its rock bands, Beyond, had been silent for several years, but finally became popular this year with the song "The Earth".

Before Taiwan lifted martial law, Taiwan had strict control over the record industry, and overseas record companies could basically only enter Taiwan through agents.

Of course there are exceptions. For example, PolyGram opened a branch in Taiwan a long time ago. There must be some shameful PY transactions involved.

Now that martial law has been lifted and the economy is booming again, major overseas record companies have all set their sights on this piece of fat meat.

Sony, Warner, Universal, and EMI have all entered the market.

These international companies are wealthy and powerful. Once they come in, they wave their checks and buy everything.

In a short period of time, countless record companies, large and small, changed hands and were acquired by the five major companies.

This put enormous pressure on the leading Taiwanese record companies, Feidie and Rolling Stone.

Within a few years, UFO will be acquired by Warner.

However, the Rolling Stones did not give in. Instead, they expanded aggressively and opened branches in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

But the prerequisite for expansion is money. Without money, expansion is meaningless.

The 1990s was the golden age of the record industry, and releasing records was equivalent to printing money.

The Rolling Stones used all the money they earned to expand, and in the end they had nothing left.

After the millennium, the Internet era arrived and the record industry declined across the board.

The Rolling Stones worked hard for twenty years, but all for nothing!
……

In today's golden age of the record industry, it is very difficult to acquire a company like the Rolling Stones, because this thing is really profitable and people are reluctant to sell it!

However, it is not completely impossible. The condition proposed by Yang Ye is that the label remains unchanged, the Duan brothers still lead Rolling Stone Records, and Baiyang Records only needs to hold the controlling stake.

As for the benefits, there are too many!

Nowadays, with the prosperity of Taiwan's economy, Hong Kong singers have begun to go to Taiwan to develop, and the focus of the Chinese music scene has also shifted to Taiwan!

Yangji has extremely terrifying resources of singers. If all the superstars under its banner were to land in Taiwan, it would be enough to cause a tsunami in the Taiwanese music scene.

This time, Yang Ye was just trying out his skills, and none of his superstars showed up. But with just one song "I Believe", Zhang Xinzhe became an instant hit and became famous overnight!
This star-making ability is enough to make the Duan brothers admire it!

In addition, Yang Ji has very complete sales channels in Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, and even the mainland.

The Rolling Stones could only hide on the island of Taiwan for the time being. It was not until 1992 that they really decided to attack in various places.

That's because the pressure from the five major international record companies was too great, forcing it to go abroad.

……

Zheng Donghan said: "We can buy it, but they want... a stock exchange!"

Yang Ye was stunned: "Isn't it nice to just take the money?"

"If you take the money directly, it's a one-time deal, but if you invest in shares, you can make money continuously. You can have enough food every day, and people can still tell the difference!"

"How do you change it?"

"We will exchange 30% of Baiyang Records' shares for 51% of Rolling Stone Records' shares and gain control of the Rolling Stones!"

"Is that so? What do you think?"

“I think we can change it!”

"Then let's change it!"

"Then I'll give you another 2% of the shares!"

Yang Ye was stunned for a moment, then said: "Then I will exchange 2% of the film company's shares with you!"

Zheng Donghan was happy: "Then I made money."

He did make money, the movie companies made more money than the record companies.

Yang Ye said indifferently: "We have been brothers for more than ten years, it's easy to talk!"

The original equity structure of Baiyang Records was 60% for Yang Ye, 25% for Zheng Donghan, and 15% for Deng Lijun.

When Luo Dayou first joined the company, the company gave him 5% of the shares, and Yang Ye's shares were reduced proportionally to 57%.

This time, Yang Ye gave another 30% of the shares to Rolling Stone. Although he is still the largest shareholder, it is no longer enough to control the company.

Even if Deng Lijun's shares are included, it is still a little short of a 51% relative controlling stake.

That's why Zheng Donghan said he would transfer 2% of the shares to Yang Ye, so that the combined shares of Yang Ye and Deng Lijun would exceed 51%.

In fact, the three of them have been working together for more than ten years and are basically like one mind. Even after the Rolling Stones joined, they are still the ones who call the shots in the company.

But Zheng Donghan still took the initiative to bring up this matter because he understood that Yang Ye's personal prestige was crucial to the development of the company.

If he were to rely on himself alone, just trying to win over those superstars would be a life-threatening task.

Zheng Donghan said: "Do you know why the Rolling Stones agreed to this deal?"

"why?"

"The first reason is that the Rolling Stones and Flying Disc are at each other's throats, but Flying Disc is always behind them. We hope that after introducing our strength, we can make a comeback." Today's Flying Disc not only has talented artists like Su Rui and Tsai Chin, but also idol groups like Wang Jie and Little Tigers who are at the peak of their popularity.

Zhou Huajian and Zhang Xinzhe of the Rolling Stones did not start to show their power until the 90s, and they were definitely no match for Feidie.

However, Wang Jie's popularity was short-lived, and the Little Tigers retired after returning from military service.

Yang Ye nodded and said with a smile: "In that case, let's give them a fierce dragon crossing the river!"

“The second reason is the most important. After the five major international record companies entered Taiwan, they began to frantically acquire and poach talents. This put a lot of pressure on the Rolling Stones. They were worried that they would lose the company one day.

In comparison, in addition to our superior resources, you, as the highest decision-maker, are a totem-like presence that can not only rally people’s hearts, but also never interfere in the company’s affairs.”

"So... I'm a mascot? They think that even if we acquire them, they can still run the company, rather than being swallowed up by the five major record companies one day, leaving nothing behind?"

"That's right!"

Yang Ye laughed dumbly: "I don't have that much time, just keep the general direction!"

……

For the Rolling Stones, the deal was a steal.

Because Hong Kong is now the largest market for Chinese music, Baiyang Records has been making a lot of money.

It is very difficult for Mandarin singers under Rolling Stone to gain a foothold in Hong Kong. They need to overcome the language barrier and compete with local Hong Kong singers, so they have almost no advantages.

It is often easier for Cantonese singers to mix in the Mandarin-speaking area. For example, Alan Tam does not speak Mandarin well, but he has no problem singing Mandarin songs.

Cantonese singers have another more important advantage... Hong Kong movies dominate Asia.

Film and television works can expand the channels for the dissemination of music. A great theme song can make a singer famous in minutes.

Taiwan is not good in this regard!

Of course, more than a decade later, Taiwanese idol dramas became popular in Asia, and Taiwanese music was still able to take advantage of the situation.

……

For Yang Ye, this deal is also very cost-effective.

Yang Ye and Zheng Donghan agree that the focus of Chinese music will shift to Taiwan.

Yang Ye even directly predicted that the Hong Kong market would be surpassed by Taiwan in five years at most.

Yang Ye’s vision in the music field was to take over PolyGram when the record industry was in decline.

Thus becoming one of the top five record labels and establishing a world-class music group.

As for the positioning of Baiyang Records, it is just a label under his music group that focuses on the Cantonese market.

How big can the Cantonese market be?

Not to mention that the focus of the Chinese world will shift to the mainland in the future.

In the long run, Mandarin songs are still more valuable!
With this exchange, Yang Ye made a huge profit.

Only he knows how valuable those legendary songs in the hands of the Rolling Stones will be in the future.

Even if we don’t talk about the future and only talk about the present, singers like Zhou Huajian and Chen Shuhua are rare to come by.

Not to mention Li Zongsheng and Xiao Chong, the two legendary song makers.

……

The plane landed smoothly and Deng Lijun packed up her things and prepared to get off the plane.

Deng Lijun wanted to hug both babies. She said, "I hugged the little brother when I got on the plane, and now I hug the big sister!"

As she said that, she picked up Yang Xin. Yang Min had no choice but to let the nanny hold him!

The four of them walked out together, and Yang Xin asked, "Mom, can we see Dad later?"

Deng Lijun smiled and said, "Yes, Dad is waiting for us outside!"

"I miss Daddy so much!"

"Dad misses you too!"

When the mother and son walked down the ladder, the person following them suddenly said to his companion, "Am I seeing right? That's Deng Lijun?"

His companion also looked incredulous: "It must be him. Even though he was wearing a mask, his voice was so nice that I could tell it right away."

"I never thought she had two children. No wonder she seldom came out in recent years."

"They are about the same size, so they are twins, a boy and a girl, right?"

"It should be, who is her husband?"

"Yang Ye, who else could it be!"

"I remember watching the news when I was in middle school. Yang Ye blocked a bullet for Yamaguchi Baihui. Later, Yamaguchi Baihui even quit the Japanese entertainment industry for Yang Ye. Didn't Yang Ye marry her?"

"Who knows? Anyway, Deng Lijun already has a child!"

……

"father!"

"Hey!"

Yang Xin and Yang Min came running over. Yang Ye held them in his arms, one in each hand, and asked, "Were you naughty on the plane?"

Yang Xin said: "I am very well behaved, but my younger brother is naughty."

"Did you teach him a lesson?"

"Of course I do. I'm the older sister. If he doesn't listen, I'll beat him up!"

Yang Ye was happy. He thought that he should beat his younger brother as early as possible, otherwise he would not be able to beat him when he grows up.

"Mom and Dad have been busy at home all afternoon, let's go!"

Deng Lijun smiled and nodded, saying, "I thought my parents would come to pick me up!"

"They are old and have difficulty walking. I asked them not to come."

"Well, Xiaoxin, Xiaomin, let's go home and visit grandpa and grandma!"

(End of this chapter)