Reborn since 1993

Chapter 836: Against the Tiangang, Himalaya promotes the record
Apple's iTunes Music Store is the first hardware manufacturer to monetize its user base, just like a celebrity who has proven his or her appeal to advertisers, film and television companies, etc. through the purchasing power of his or her fans.

Before Apple, although countless hardware manufacturers had large user groups, they were all one-time deals, that is, they just sold the machine to the user and that was it.

Apple, on the other hand, not only sells hardware through the iTunes music store, but also uses its huge user base to sell music records and start making a second income, which has also allowed various record companies to see the huge influence of Apple on users!

Later, in the era of smartphone app stores, Apple began to take commissions from paid apps and transactions of major apps. Whether it was game recharges, live broadcast rewards, takeout, hotels, movie tickets, taxis, etc., Apple took a commission from all of them.

The wool comes from the sheep. In order to make up for the losses, major application manufacturers must return the taxes that Apple collects from them to Apple mobile phone users. We can't let them do business at a loss, right?

Although Apple is domineering, major application manufacturers dare not speak out. Who can blame Apple for its large user base?

To a certain extent, Apple iTunes and app e-commerce are just like the current channel merchants. Whoever controls the channel controls the world. This statement will never go out of date.

On the other hand, those who can afford Apple phones are generally recognized to have stronger purchasing power than other mobile phone brands, that is, they are willing to spend money. In the eyes of various software manufacturers, these are all high-quality users...

The company that has learned the essence of Apple's trick is Xiaomi. Xiaomi does not make much money from hardware, but relies on hardware to build up user scale. Then, when the scale of mobile phone users increases, it starts to make money by selling advertisements and lending money on the hardware.

Just one lending platform has lent out a total of 400 billion yuan in seven years...

"A digital portable music player?"

Hearing the new project proposed by Li Dongling, Ren Yuefeng also perked up. The fact that he could bring up the MP3 project after the mobile phone project on an occasion like today was enough to show how much Li Dongling valued this project.

"You can also call it the MP3 project. This music player will mainly download audio in MP3 format from your computer, completely eliminating tapes, CDs, etc.!
With a music player, you can download or delete MP3 digital music and reuse it. You don’t need to go to the music store to buy tapes anymore!”

Li Dongling explained the concept of MP3 to a group of senior executives of Dongling Hi-Tech. This thing is mainly about creativity, and technically, it is actually not that difficult, especially for Dongling Hi-Tech.

What is the most important technology in MP3 hardware? Storage!

Now, the world's largest USB flash drive and SD storage manufacturer is Shenzhou Storage, a subsidiary of Dongling Hi-Tech. Storage and flash memory technology are not a problem for Dongling Hi-Tech.

In addition, the MP3 digital patent is also in the hands of Feiyan Technology. When Feiyan Technology launched Himalaya Radio, it put a lot of effort into digital audio.

Of course, the investment pays off. The patents for mainstream audio formats on computers, including MP3, MP2, MOD, XD, etc., are all in the hands of Feiyan Technology. They were developed by Justin, a talented programmer at Himalaya Radio.

From now on, no matter which manufacturer produces MP3, or which music website uses the MP3 format, they all have to pay Feiyan Technology!

The storage and MP3 audio patents are both in the hands of Dongling Hi-Tech and Feiyan Technology. Technically, it is not difficult to launch an MP3 player.

However, there are quite a few people sitting in the conference room, such as Chen Tao, Zhang Bing, Fu Cheng, Luo Zheng, etc., who truly understand technology.

Moreover, many of them, like Fu Cheng, have dealt with America, so when they heard about the MP3 project, their first thought was not the difficulty of hardware technology, but the issue of music copyright!

"If we develop an MP3 music player, it will be easy to sell in China or the Chinese-speaking regions of Southeast Asia. We can acquire the music copyrights from record companies.

Or, given the current corrupt situation in the Chinese music copyright industry, there is no need to care about music copyrights! "

"But in overseas markets, especially in America and old Europe, it's not that easy to get the copyright for records!"

Now, the domestic music copyright industry is not without rules, but the sales of counterfeit and pirated tapes are dozens or hundreds of times that of genuine ones. Even the distribution speed of new albums released by singers is not as fast as that of pirated tape manufacturers.

Domestic singers and record companies don't even make money from selling albums, but instead make money from performances, commercial shows, and concerts. This shows what the domestic record copyright market is like now. It can be said that there is no order at all.

On the contrary, in recent years, Himalaya Radio's mainland company has successively acquired a number of Chinese music copyrights in inland areas, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, etc.

But they don't expect to make money by charging for the copyrights of the records they bought. They put them on the platform, basically to fill up the inventory and let users listen to them for free, to attract users and increase traffic.

Now the copyrights are basically bought at a bargain price, but it does not mean that it will always be a bargain price. When the domestic record copyright is restored to order, Himalaya Radio will be able to use the copyrights in its hands to kill its opponents. But it can be played this way in China, but not in foreign countries. Warner, Sony, Universal, EMI and other record giants are not so easy to talk to. It is nothing but a foolish dream to want to get the record copyrights from them at a bargain price!

If it were so easy to obtain music copyrights, Himalaya Internet Radio would not have to work so hard to set up a podcast platform in America and spend money to cultivate its own podcast creators.

It is precisely because he has dealt with American record giants and encountered setbacks before that Fu Cheng is a little worried.

If an MP3 player is developed but cannot be used to download music, then why would users buy it? Even cracking walnuts would be disliked because it is too brittle.

Of course, it can also be sold only in China and Chinese-speaking regions, but if it cannot be exported, Li Dongling will definitely not promote this project in a high-profile manner.

“Carrot and stick!”

After hearing Fu Cheng's concerns, Li Dongling said in a deep voice, "The MP3 project will be jointly developed by Dongling Hi-Tech's Innovation Laboratory and Feiyan Technology. After the development, Feiyan Technology will be responsible for production and sales. The Himalaya Radio website will launch an MP3 music platform and provide music download functions!"

The MP3 project is not just a hardware project, it also requires Himalaya Radio to launch a new music platform.

The reason why the MP3 project is affiliated to Feiyan Technology is mainly because of the MP3 project and music platform. In the early stage, America and old Europe were the most important markets.

“Himalaya Radio can launch a music platform and transfer all the content of singers and podcast creators to the music platform. In addition, it can acquire some record copyrights from some independent record companies and independent musicians to set up the stall first!”

Hearing Li Dongling's words, Fu Cheng still frowned, "But I'm afraid that the copyrights of these records are still not enough!"

“Himalaya Radio, of course, hopes to reach a cooperation agreement with Warner and other record companies.

But if the cooperation fails, then Himalaya Radio will have to find another way!"

"The world of the Internet is a magical world where everything is possible!"

Li Dongling suddenly said, "The free Internet advocated by Yahoo, if the record industry also enters the Internet era and loses its constraints, what will happen?"

“Of course, Himalaya Radio has always been law-abiding and firmly supports legitimate music, and is incompatible with counterfeit and pirated records!

But if other music platforms emerge, whether they will be like Himalaya Radio, we don’t know!”

Li Dongling spoke very subtly, but everyone present understood what Li Dongling meant.

Just as Yahoo promoted free Internet, Microsoft also used free browsers to defeat Netscape. What would happen if a music website emerged that didn't care about music copyrights at all and, for the sake of traffic and users, moved songs from Warner and other record companies to the website for users to listen to for free?
The Internet is now in an era where traffic is king. There is no perfect order or rules at all. Even in the Americas or other regions, there is no perfect legal provision that stipulates whether it is an infringement to put records, movies, or TV series on the website without the leniency of Hollywood companies.

However, as long as a website has traffic and users, it can be listed in just a few months and the founder can become a billionaire. This is the case with Netscape, Yahoo, and Feiyan Technology.

In fact, due to the impact of the crisis in Southeast Asia, many wealthy people and investment institutions from all over Southeast Asia have fled to America for safe havens and purchased a large number of properties in America, making Internet concept stocks even more popular in America.

And when the music website, a new Internet track, emerged, and when an opportunity to become a billionaire appeared before Americans, all it took was the slightest breeze to detonate it!

Countless young Americans will flock to this track. Compared with the opportunity to become a billionaire, the risks and federal prison are nothing.
For Americans, is there anything more terrifying than going to federal prison and becoming a homeless person? In just ten months, you have the opportunity to become the founder of a listed company, a billionaire, and have the chance to get luxury homes, sports cars, yachts, and models. Which American can withstand such a test?

“When the music website industry emerged in Silicon Valley, Pandora’s box was opened. It won’t take long before the global record copyright industry will undergo a dramatic change!”

"And Ximalaya Radio, which insists on authentic music, may also become a ray of light in the record industry!"

Li Dongling spread his arms and said with a righteous look on his face, "That's right, we can't say anything about it in the future. We have to rely on Himalaya Internet Radio, which insists on authentic records, to bring salt to the record industry!"

(End of this chapter)