Business Closed Loop: Starting with Ringback Tones to Take Down Giants

"That's... all done talking?"

Jiang Yilei looked incredulous. She had previously thought that when a top domestic record company came to her door, it would take at least three to five rounds of back-and-forth negotiations.

Set up a few more tables and serve some specially supplied bottled mineral water.

The conversation with Huayi ended in just twenty minutes.

"There's nothing to talk about," Wang Song said, gesturing for her to look at the contract in the wastepaper basket.

"A five-year contract, all copyrights acquired, a fixed 8% revenue share, bundled management contracts for Yao Beina and Sisi, using Super Girl resources as leverage, the same old tricks."

"You rejected it outright?"

Yao Beina pursed her lips, "The boss asked how much the revenue from physical records dropped last year."

"They criticize others, looking down on the ringtone model while using songs to pressure their SPs to promote their songs."

Yao Beina rubbed her temples. "They left with a dark expression on their face."

Jiang Yilei opened his mouth, but after a long pause, he managed to utter, "...You really dare to say that."

Wang Song didn't respond to that.

Looking down at the blank document in front of Jiang Yilei, he said, "Never mind them, deal with your problem first."

"We don't know how long the ringback tones will last, but Tudou.com told us to go, so we went."

Ma Xiaojun gasped, "Boss, is it really that serious?"

"The mainstream opinion I see online is that small service providers (SPs) should be phased out."

Wang Song thought for a moment, "It's better to be prepared than to be caught off guard; one leg is always unstable."

Jiang Yilei's face fell instantly, and he pushed all the dozen or so drafts that had been scrapped in front of Wang Song.

Wang Song picked it up and quickly browsed through it.

They were all just empty words of gratitude to the platform and fans, promising to continue working hard in the future.

"Boss, I'm really out of ideas," Jiang Yilei said with a bitter face.

"Do you know why you can't write it?" Wang Song said slowly.

"Because all you think about is what others want to hear, not what I want to say."

Jiang Yilei was naturally unconvinced. "Nonsense, when I go to someone else's territory, of course I have to say what they want to hear."

"Wrong." Wang Song shook his head. "When you go to someone else's territory, you have to say things they haven't thought of."

"Um?"

He turned to look at Jiang Yilei: "So you went there not to express your gratitude, but to attend class."

Jiang Yilei was stunned and pointed to himself.

"Teach a class? Who am I teaching? Me? Me?"

"Come on, call them over, let's have a chat," Wang Song shouted into the house.

"Stop for a moment, everyone. Help Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang figure out what those guys at Tudou.com are most afraid of."

Ma Xiaojun was the first to chime in: "What are you afraid of? You're afraid no one will upload videos, just like with novel websites."

Liu Jianjun pondered for a moment: "I'm afraid all the creators will go to our competitors."

Chen Shu complained, "The graphics card is so colorful and it's lagging. It takes forever to find a video."

Wang Song nodded: "That's all true, but what I'm most afraid of is not knowing how to make money, just like GG."

"They treat GG like food, but they've smeared it all over the screen. Users are annoyed, and creators are annoyed too."

Ma Xiaojun scratched his head: "What can we do? The platform needs to make a living too."

"Eating is fine, but we need to change the way we eat."

Wang Song paused for a moment, then continued his explanation.

"Since Tudou.com claims to be a TV network with millions of channels, why doesn't it treat its creators as celebrities?"

Liu Jianjun seemed thoughtful: "You mean... let the creators also participate in the credits?"

Wang Song nodded, "It's not just about sharing; it's about letting creators themselves become the carriers of GG."

"For example, Vice President Jiang, you could say at the beginning of the video, 'Thank you to brand X for their strong support of this channel.'"

"If the beginning is only 10 seconds long and the ending is another 10 seconds long, will you still find it annoying?"

The three members of the IP team shook their heads.

"So, Vice President Jiang, do you know what to say tomorrow?"

"The core is two points: identify the difficulties, and then solve them."

Jiang Yilei thought for a moment, "Boss, will this work? Are we really that shameless? To get them to accept this model?"

Wang Song shook his head: "Not necessarily, but how can you catch fish if you haven't even cast the line? I'll go with you tomorrow."

"You're going?" Jiang Yilei was even more stunned. "Didn't you say that for this kind of event, all I needed to do was show my face?"

Wang Song nodded. "I'd also like to hear what they're thinking."

……

Tudou.com's First Anniversary Celebration.

The venue was chosen to be a conference hall in a hotel near Zhongguancun.

The conference hall wasn't large, only holding two or three hundred people, which was a bit inadequate.

Seated in the front row were Tudou.com's investors and core team.

Aside from some media outlets, other video platform companies, and mostly grassroots creators.

Wang Song found a seat on the side and sat down, with Jiang Yilei sitting next to him.

On stage, Wang Wei, founder of Tudou.com, spoke about his vision, future, and technological investment.

The whole thing is just empty promises to the capital market, but ironically, the capital market believes that video platforms can really make money.

Jiang Yilei complained, "Boss, he didn't seem to say anything about how to make money, how we creators make money."

Wang Song nodded. "So, you have to come here and teach them a lesson."

"Next, please welcome our outstanding creator representative, Jiang Yilei from papi Jiang Channel, to the stage to share his insights!"

applause.

Jiang Yilei stood up, glanced at Wang Song, and Wang Song nodded at her without saying anything.

She walked onto the stage.

The audience, front row.

IDG Xiong Xiaoge leaned back in his chair.

As a Series B investor in Tudou.com, he hadn't originally planned to listen carefully to these creator sharing sessions, as they were all the same.

The first words came from the stage.

"Hello everyone, I'm Papi Jiang."

Xiong Xiaoge didn't look up and continued twirling her pen.

"I prepared a draft before coming here, but I tore it up yesterday."

The pen stopped.

Xiong Xiaoge looked up and saw the girl on the stage standing there, without a script in her hands.

"Because I've realized one thing: I'm not here to receive an award, I'm here to ask questions."

What is the essence of Tudou.com?

"It doesn't seem to be a TV channel with a million channels. It looks more like a big Google website to me."

Wang Wei's face darkened, and he looked at Xiong Xiaoge beside him.

"Since Tudou.com is a TV station with thousands of channels."

"Then why can't we creators be celebrities on TV reading 'GG'?"

Wang Wei's expression changed slightly.

He leaned close to Xiong Xiaoge's ear and whispered, "We discussed this internally in March."

Xiong Xiaoge turned her head: "What are we discussing?"

"Channel GG," Wang Wei said.

"We let creators take on GG (Google Ads) projects themselves, with the platform taking a cut. We've contacted a few brands, but how to split the revenue and how to implement it are all questions that remain unanswered, so we haven't moved forward."

Xiong Xiaoge didn't speak, her gaze returning to the stage.

Jiang Yilei didn't stop and continued outputting his output.

"I uploaded videos to Tudou.com for six months and have over eight thousand followers."

"But so far, I haven't earned a single penny."

"As a student, I rely on my family and company. But what about those creators who make a living solely from videos? What do they rely on?"

Wang Wei frowned.

Xiong Xiaoge squinted, and the pen in her hand stopped spinning.

"This is the idea from our Xianming Studio, a voiceover featuring GG."

Xiong Xiaoge turned to Wang Wei and said, "Stop her after the meeting."

Wang Wei was taken aback: "President Xiong, we haven't... yet."

"You should stop him before it even starts," Xiong Xiaoge interrupted him.

"She wasn't talking about any earth-shattering innovations, but she was the first person to dare to stand on stage and say these things, and it wasn't just polite talk."

Do you know what this means?

Wang Wei did not respond.

"It means that if we don't do it, someone else will." Xiong Xiaoge put her pen on the table.

"Instead of doing nothing, let's talk about it after the meeting. If it works, we can test a few channels; if it doesn't, we won't lose anything."

After the meeting, Wang Song and Jiang Yilei had just stepped out of the conference hall when they were quickly stopped by someone.

Wang Wei walked in front, with Xiong Xiaoge following beside him.

Their gazes both fell on the incredibly young Wang Song, and Wang Wei immediately asked, "And this gentleman is?"

"My boss," Jiang Yilei added from the side, "is Wang Song of Xianming Culture."

Xiong Xiaoge cut to the chase: "Ms. Jiang's on-stage talk about 'GG'—was that part of your studio's complete strategy, or just something you said offhand?"

"It is naturally complete." Wang Song smiled, making no attempt to hide anything.

"The framework covers everything: how creators are tiered and commissions are determined, how to connect with content providers, and how to avoid mentioning content that might negatively impact the user experience."

Upon hearing this, Wang Wei's eagerness intensified: "Then, I wonder if Mr. Wang is free next week to visit the potato company for a detailed discussion?"

"We'd like to see a concrete implementation plan and also discuss with you whether we can cooperate on a pilot project first."

……

Jiang Yilei took a deep breath, turned his head and asked, "Boss, is this... a success?"

"What do you mean, 'accept'?" Wang Song walked forward. "They just want to hear if we're willing to give it a try."

"Is the ringback tone really not working? Even if it's a revenue split, I think it's too little."

"It's good enough that it's available, why be so picky?"