Chinese Entertainment King: Starting as a Fat Boy and Becoming a Singing King

After saying goodbye to Liu Yifei, Xu Yao arranged to meet with his lawyer the following morning.

The meeting wasn't at the law firm, but Zhang Liangying made a special arrangement for lawyer Liu Dong to meet at a members-only coffee shop in the China World Trade Center Phase 3.

The environment is quiet and the lighting is soft, making it suitable for discussing business.

When Xu Yao arrived, Liu Dong was already sitting by the window waiting for him.

Wearing a dark blue business suit, with short hair reaching his ears, a half-finished Americano and an open work notebook lay on the table in front of him.

There were no formalities or small talk; we shook hands upon meeting and got straight to the point.

Xu Yao went through his entire situation from beginning to end.

From the moment legal counsel Sister Chen casually remarked "eight years is the standard term" when the contract was signed, to getting on the bus at 5 a.m. and finishing work at 2 a.m. during the tour, and being helped off the stage because of low blood sugar and dizziness.

From seeing female trainees being arranged to drink parties and male trainees being arranged to lip-sync in the group chat, to the first time he told Sister Lin that "my body can't take it anymore" and was replied with "You're not allowed to rest or seek medical treatment, just bear with it a little longer", to the company removing him from the poster overnight after he asked the trending topic to be removed, to his application to take the postgraduate entrance exam.

Xu Yao had saved all of this information in advance, including relevant chat logs and phone recordings.

Liu Dong listened very carefully, occasionally jotting down a few words in his notebook, but never interrupting.

After Xu Yao finished speaking, she put down her pen, picked up her coffee cup, and took a sip.

"Xu Yao, several other contestants from The Voice of China came to me before you. You have another advantage: besides being a champion, you've done more homework than all of them combined."

"The legal team of The Voice of China isn't really that formidable. They're formidable in two ways."

Liu Dong held up two fingers.

"First, the contract terms are indeed well written. After the cases of Jin Chi, Zhang Wei, and Jin Zhiwen were decided, the templates became more and more airtight, basically blocking all the artists' escape routes."

"Secondly, the competition is too weak. The contestants on The Voice of China are all young people who are new to the field, and most of them are ignorant of the law."

Xu Yao thought that made sense. If you let Zhou Shen talk to the company about terminating the contract, how would he do it?

The contract terms were incomprehensible, and then the other party sent over a supplementary agreement, leaving me completely bewildered.

"But what we're going to talk about today isn't the predicament of most of our students."

"We're talking about your evidence, your strategy, and your advance preparation. You also have an academic path they haven't considered. Getting an acceptance letter to a professional graduate program at a music academy is just a matter of time. Although passing the civil service exam or graduate school entrance exam doesn't absolve you of your contract, it also means you have a reasonable period of time off to study and cannot fulfill long-term performing obligations. This in itself is neither a malicious strike nor a malicious job-hopping."

"Therefore, the greatest value of further education for us right now is not to directly help you out of your predicament, but to block the company from accusing you of malicious breach of contract. They can't say that you are being lazy, acting like a big shot, or maliciously switching jobs."

Liu Dong picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and put the cup back on the saucer.

She pulled another sheet of paper from her notebook, on which several key points were listed in great detail.

"The phone recordings, especially the parts where Sister Lin refused your request for rest and threatened to terminate the single's release, can be used directly as evidence to prove that the company maliciously exploited and threatened to destroy trust in the cooperation, which is called a fundamental breach of contract in law. If you can produce this, the initiative in our hands will be completely different."

She looked up and glanced at Xu Yao through her glasses, a barely perceptible expression of admiration appearing on her lips.

"By the way, how did you come up with the idea of ​​recording everything beforehand?"

Xu Yao smiled slightly.

How did you come up with that?

Why do all the trainees only look at the contract afterward, and why doesn't anyone think of recording it beforehand?

Young people in this industry naturally see the company as a reliable source of support.

Even Xu Yao and Sister Lin's passage was a setup orchestrated by Xu Yao with pre-arranged phrases.

Standing in a low position, seemingly being bullied, taught a lesson, or threatened... little do they know that the real hunter has already existed in the manner of the prey.

He didn't say all of these things aloud; he simply put down his cup and said, "It's better to be prepared."

Liu Dong did not ask any further questions.

Lawyers who practice entertainment law have seen too many celebrities. Very few of them are born with the ability to protect themselves; most only learn this after they've suffered losses.

She pushed the sheet of evidence toward her, asking Xu Yao to send the information to her email.

Original document, including original timestamp...

Liu Dong picked up his pen again and drew several lines in a clear and organized manner.

First, secure the original evidence. All audio recordings, videos, medical records, and chat logs must be preserved in their original form. They cannot be deleted, altered, or re-saved.

Especially for audio recordings, you need the original, unedited version from your phone, and it's best to have a timestamp notarized.

Secondly, issue a formal termination letter, with the lawyer's letter sent to the company in his name, clearly stating his claim to terminate the contract.

There are three reasons.

The company's malicious exploitation led to a breakdown in trust in the partnership, excessive performances harmed the artist's health, and there were fundamental breaches of contract in the performance of the contract.

The third step is to apply for arbitration if negotiations fail.

Disputes over artist management contracts usually don't go to court; arbitration is faster, but the stance of the arbitration committee is also crucial.

Xu Yao took the list, read it through from beginning to end, and asked what the outcome would be.

"Later on, you will naturally need to cooperate with us to prepare more evidence. The ideal outcome is to force the company to compromise, either by changing the contract details or by lowering the price and terminating the contract. Your evidentiary advantage is very obvious, and we are confident in our ability to fight this battle; we are not bluffing. But there is one thing I must make clear to you in advance."

Liu Dong's tone became more serious, and he tapped the words "arbitration" on the screen.

"To protect the contractual rights of their many contestants, The Voice's management company will fight tooth and nail for exorbitant breach of contract penalties. Even if our evidence is strong, they will fight to the end. Moreover, they will use their connections and procedural rules to prolong the process; it's common for the first and second trials to drag on for two or three years."

Two or three years.

Xu Yao weighed those three words over and over in his mind, then slowly shook his head.

No.

In two or three years, his popularity has long since cooled down.

The window of popularity for talent show champions is so narrow; the time to release an album won't wait for anyone.

The most urgent task is to release an album while the momentum is still there and establish a firm foothold.

He cannot strike first, cannot fire the first shot; he must continue to appear as if the prey has no choice but to retaliate.

Once the termination letter is issued, the initiative is no longer in your own hands.

The best time is when the company first reveals a weakness.

Xu Yao closed the pen cap and leaned back in his chair.

"Attorney Liu, please help me start organizing the materials and prepare them according to your experience."

"We can't send the termination letter first; we have to wait for them to make the first move."

"Why? Weren't you in a hurry to terminate the contract?" Liu Dong asked, puzzled.

"This has never been as simple as a contract termination."

Xu Yao didn't offer much explanation; this was essentially a battle of wits between himself and the company.

In the back-and-forth exchanges, we eventually returned to the negotiating table.

This is the fastest and most effective way to protect the artist's image.

He was determined to break his contract, and the company, on the one hand, dragged him down, and on the other hand, hired a large number of online trolls to spread rumors that the third season's "The Voice of China" champion was ungrateful and would terminate the contract after becoming famous. What a heartless ingrate...

Within a year or two, Xu Yao had almost completely lost his public goodwill.

This is the company's greatest strength and confidence.