Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 426 Sony Music's Prestige - Wu Zhuo

After learning of Sony's daunting offer, Lucien chatted casually with Wu Zhuo for a while before quickly leaving Legend Entertainment.

There was no way around it; Sony's demands were simply too high.

Universal Music Group was simply unwilling to take that risk.

As for why Universal Music was unwilling, Sony was willing.

Firstly, Sony has a long history of working with Wu Zhuo, so he is more aware of the benefits Wu Zhuo brings.

At the same time, there's another point: Sony had no choice but to do this.

With EMI Records becoming a thing of the past, the current state of the global record market is clear.

Every country has its own well-known record companies.

However, in terms of the most well-known and powerful record labels worldwide, Warner, Universal, and Sony Music are undoubtedly the only three left.

Compared to Warner and Universal, Sony's situation is somewhat more complicated.

Warner Music and Universal Music respectively have world-renowned A-list superstars such as Linkin Park, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Eminem.

As for Sony, after Michael Jackson's death, Sony Music no longer had a top-tier superstar to carry the torch.

When Wu Zhuo was still in charge, things were fine; he could be seen as a benchmark for Sony.

However, if Wu Zhuo leaves, Sony really cannot produce someone in the short term who can replace Michael Jackson and even represent Sony Records' global image.

In fact, even small companies need an artist to represent them in order to maintain their brand and for the company's development.

The same applies to international record companies like Sony.

This is not just a matter of face.

This is something that has a huge impact on the company.

Sony Music's stock price plummeted after Michael Jackson's death.

Then Wu Zhuoxin's new album sold very well, successfully pushing up the stock price, which stabilized the stock price and caused it to rise again.

If Wu Zhuo were to leave, it would be more than just a matter of losing a top executive for Sony; the stock price would also plummet.

In addition, having a top international singer like Wu Zhuo on the company also brings other benefits to Sony.

For example, its appeal to other singers.

For most singers, the biggest advantage of international record labels is that they have more global resources and can promote them internationally.

If Sony didn't have a top-tier singer like Wu Zhuo to anchor the company...

This can easily give other singers the wrong impression that Sony Music is declining and can no longer cultivate top international artists.

The resulting chain reaction is that Sony is easily at a disadvantage when competing with the other two international record companies for promising artists.

If a company can't even sign promising newcomers, then its decline is probably not far off.

As for cultivating one's own talent, to be honest, cultivating an international top-tier superstar is not something that can be done casually.

This process not only requires a large amount of money and resources, but there is also the possibility that a large amount of money will be invested, but the results will be unsatisfactory.

Therefore, Sony Music is the one that most urgently wants Wu Zhuo to stay and is willing to pay a huge price for him.

In comparison, Universal and Warner already have their own top-tier artists they're heavily promoting, so while they may be interested in Wu Zhuo, they won't be as eager.

The two companies' plan was to sign the contract if possible, and if not, they would still try to sabotage Sony.

Clearly, both companies achieved their goals.

After learning that both companies were actively contacting Wu Zhuo, the Sony board of directors, after careful consideration, offered Wu Zhuo this exorbitant price.

Faced with their sincerity, Wu Zhuo decided to accept the offer and stop.

He did not see any more Warner representatives and on February 26th signed a five-year record distribution contract with Sony.

The contract stipulates that Wu Zhuo's overseas record distribution rights are entrusted to Sony, with a revenue split of 3-7, with Sony receiving 3% and Wu Zhuo receiving 7%.

This revenue sharing also includes the rights to the song copyrights.

In addition to these basic terms, there are a large number of other hidden terms.

Overall, however, it was very beneficial for Wu Zhuo.

It's at least several times better than when I was at HIM International Music.

The most significant point is that Wu Zhuo signed a record distribution agency contract directly with Sony this time, which means he has officially joined the Sony Music family of international record companies and become a flagship artist of the company.

As the company's flagship, Sony naturally needs to allocate resources commensurate with its status.

On Wu Zhuo's first day at Sony, the company approved a new proposal.

They plan to make Wu Zhuo's name known all over the world within a year, so that everyone who listens to her songs will know the name Abel Wu Zhuo.

To put it simply, Sony is going to invest a huge amount of resources to promote Wu Zhuo and truly make him an influential singer like Michael Jackson.

To achieve this goal, Sony has planned to invest $30 million in advertising.

Of course, promotion is never something that can be done overnight. For Sony, the most important thing right now is Wu Zhuo's new album.

Sony's reviewers gave the album extremely high praise after reviewing it.

The auditor, Walkerford, said directly, "This is absolutely a world-class record. It will be a carnival for fans this year, and no fan will refuse to own this record."

While the claim may be exaggerated, Sony does indeed place great importance on this album, allocating an additional ten million US dollars specifically for its promotion.

They really hope this album will break Wu Zhuo's previous album's sales record.

This is obviously very difficult, but everyone at Sony is working hard on it.

……

To boost morale and to announce to the world that international top singer Abel Wu has decided to join Sony.

On March 1st, Sony Music held a grand signing ceremony in Beijing.

For this ceremony, Sony even invited its only globally influential artists, Britney Spears and Beyoncé, to Beijing to support Wu Zhuo.

Besides these two Western female singers.

Because the signing ceremony was held in China, almost all of Sony's top and second-tier singers from China were present.

This includes JJ Lin, Jay Chou, Faye Wong, Rainie Yang, and Wang Leehom, among others.

There is a very interesting phenomenon.

That is, in the past two years, Universal and Warner Music have suppressed Sony in the international market.

However, in Chinese-speaking regions, Sony has conversely suppressed the other two companies.

All of the current four major tech giants are now under Sony's umbrella.

However, the new Four Heavenly Kings are all similar to Wu Zhuo in that they have joined Sony through a collaborative approach.

Perhaps it is precisely because Sony is now too dominant in Asia that record companies such as Warner have almost completely withdrawn from the Chinese market.

This is actually why the Chinese music scene suddenly had very few good songs in the following years.

Without the financial support of large companies, small companies cannot invest much money in producing records.

Without money, who the hell would still do this job? Everyone's switched to another career.

"On behalf of Sony Music, I welcome Abel to our team!"

Sony's president in China, Seiichi Kawasaki, made a loud announcement to the media.

There were more reporters in the audience than ever before.

In addition to domestic journalists, there are also a large number of journalists from all over the world.

Their purpose in coming here was to commemorate the moment when Wu Zhuo joined Sony.

clack clack...

The camera flashed incessantly, capturing the moment when Wu Zhuo shook hands with Kawasaki Seiichi.

The interviews began immediately after the signing ceremony.

Wu Zhuo and Kawasaki Seiichi sat on the stage, and reporters in the audience raised their hands, with the two selecting a reporter to ask a question. Wu Zhuo randomly pointed to a reporter from Sohu Video.

After the other person stood up, they immediately asked a question that everyone present was eager to know.

"Mr. Wu, we have heard that your signing fee with Sony is the highest signing fee in the history of the country."

Could you tell us how much it is?

Recently, news about Wu Zhuo's signing fee with Sony being an astronomical figure has been widely circulated.

There are all sorts of rumors.

Some say 100 million RMB, some say 200 million RMB, and others say Wu Zhuo didn't ask for a signing fee, but instead asked for Sony shares.

However, regardless of which one, almost no one guessed the correct answer.

This time, both Sony and Wu Zhuo kept it very secret.

As for Warner and Universal Music...

Their superiors were certainly aware of Wu Zhuo's signing fee.

But they would be stupid to create hype for Sony and pretend they don't know anything.

After hearing the reporter's answer, Wu Zhuo did not reply directly, but instead turned the question to Kawasaki Seiichi, saying, "Mr. Kawasaki, you tell them!"

They hadn't discussed the signing fee beforehand, and Wu Zhuo didn't know if Sony was trying to hide it.

It's not impossible.

To avoid singers demanding exorbitant fees later, signing fees are generally kept secret.

It will only be exposed occasionally when publicity is needed.

Kawasaki Seiichi picked up the microphone and said without hiding anything, "There's nothing to hide. Since everyone wants to know, I'll tell you!"

Abel is a superstar, someone with a huge global appeal.

He will be an important part of Sony's future global strategy, and we are willing to give everything for him.

Just as everyone guessed, our signing fee was a very high figure.

"Sixty million, our signing fee is sixty million."

"What? Only 60 million?"

"How is that possible? Faye Wong already received a signing bonus of 60 million when she signed with Warner in 1998. How could a singer of Wu Zhuo's caliber only receive 60 million?"

"Yeah! Sony is so stingy!"

"Could Wu Zhuo have been tricked?"

When they heard Kawasaki Seiichi's words, everyone in the audience was immediately stunned.

They don't think 60 million is a lot.

This number might be high for other singers, but for Wu Zhuo, it's just pocket change.

All the reporters believed that the price was not commensurate with Wu Zhuo's status.

"Everyone, please be quiet!" Kawasaki Seiichi said with a smile, gesturing for everyone to quiet down. "I think you may have misunderstood. The 60 million I mentioned is not RMB, but USD."

We paid Abel a signing bonus of US$60 million, which is approximately RMB 420 million.

boom……

The audience suddenly fell silent, then erupted into chaos.

"My God! Did I hear that right? Sixty million US dollars."

"My goodness, 4.2 million RMB! This signing fee is probably a record-breaking amount, not only in China, but also in Asia and even globally!"

"Damn, I knew I shouldn't have worried about Wu Zhuo. I was just thinking that 60 million wasn't enough to match his net worth."

Damn it, I'm just crocodile tears.

"Damn, Wu Zhuo is like Ying Zheng touching an electric wire, he's won so badly he's completely out of control!"

In an instant, the scene became extremely lively.

No one expected it to be such an astronomical price.

This is outrageously expensive.

Even those spreading rumors never imagined such a high price would be reported.

To the left of the press area sat the singers who had come to welcome Wu Zhuo to Sony and lend their support.

At this moment, everyone was dumbfounded.

Jay Chou pinched himself hard and asked Wang Leehom next to him, "Leehom, how much did he say was the signing fee?"

"4.2 million RMB, not NTD."

Wang Leehom turned around, his face full of disbelief, "Does Wu Zhuo have to be so fierce?"

"I still have two years left on my contract with Sony. What do you think, should I...?"

JJ Lin suddenly spoke up.

“Ahem…” Jay Chou glanced at him. “Brother, Wu Zhuo is different from us. In China, we’re on the same level, but once we go abroad, we’re not on the same level anymore.”

Jay Chou's words were hurtful.

But it is what it is.

Wu Zhuo is indeed one of the new Four Heavenly Kings in China, just like the others. Even though Wu Zhuo has a bit more influence, the others also have a lot of fans, and they are all top-tier figures.

In addition, they can also compete with them in Chinese-speaking regions such as Singapore.

But in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Europe and America, they are completely incomparable to Wu Zhuo.

If the four of them travel together to places like Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the United States, Wu Zhuo will still be the one standing in the middle.

And they might not even be able to stand on the edge.

The reason is simple: they have no fans in Europe and America, and the organizers there will not give them any face.

"Haha! I was just saying."

JJ Lin gave an awkward smile.

At this moment, Wang Leehom suddenly spoke:
"Not necessarily. We might not get his price, but we can add a little more to what we have now."

He looked at the other two and suddenly smiled: "We and Wu Zhuoke are the new Four Heavenly Kings. As the saying goes, when one person attains enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven."

I think we can both ask for a decent signing bonus next time.

"That's good, we can give it a try. Although we don't have a market overseas, we still have a strong foothold in the domestic market."

It's time we leveled up.

……

Wu Zhuo was unaware that the other three Heavenly Kings were plotting to ask Sony for an even higher signing bonus next time.

But even if he knew, he wouldn't be surprised.

Humans are driven by self-interest.

Seeing that he received such a high signing fee, how could the other three possibly be willing to accept it?

Even if they don't get Wu Zhuo's signing fee, they will definitely add something to the original amount.

Another point that needs to be mentioned is...

As Wu Zhuo becomes increasingly famous, the other three people who are on par with him have all benefited from it to varying degrees.

In this previous life, no one recognized the new Four Heavenly Kings; only a small number of people called them that.

In this life, thanks to Wu Zhuo, this name has become very well-known.

The new Four Heavenly Kings have been recognized by everyone.

(End of this chapter)