China Entertainment 2000

On December 6, 2004, Baidu, which intended to announce to the outside world that it had turned over a new leaf and turned to selling legitimate digital music, was caught off guard.

At this time when many media outlets are collectively mourning Huang Zhan, CEO Li Yanhong has single-handedly grabbed a lot of attention from major entertainment sections, business sections, and even the rule of law section.

Some people gloated over his misfortune, some sneered at him, and some admired the restraint, elegance and propriety shown by Li Yanhong.

"Hongyan was delisted! Why did Baidu cause public outrage!"

"Security goes awry again, the flowers of malice condensed on this land"

《……》

Because there was a previous case of Xiaoyanzi being splashed with feces while performing on stage, it cannot be said that this is the first time that Li Yanhong has been splashed with water on stage.

Even in terms of influence and discussion among the general public, in 2004, the low-key Li Yanhong was clearly no match for the once-popular Xiaoyanzi.

If Zhou Yi had been splashed with water in such an insulting way while giving a speech on stage, it would have been another major event that could have truly detonated the domestic public opinion circle in 2004.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, apart from allowing a bunch of media reporters to take the opportunity to make the usual remarks such as "How is the country doing?" and "What is the problem with the system?", the incident of Hongyan being watered can only be discussed for two or three days at best and will not become a big deal.

Unlike Xiaoyanzi, her personal business image plummeted again after being splashed with feces on the stage. Today, she is no longer the popular star who traveled across the Taiwan Straits and Hong Kong and Macau, and this scandal is still talked about today.

Fan Xiaopang, who has starred in several big-budget movies, has now surpassed this wild girl looking for a dad in terms of commercial endorsements.

But, this is where the weird thing happens.

The water was splashed on the 6th, but until December 9th, the discussion of this matter on the Internet and in traditional offline media channels showed no sign of abating. Instead, there were continuous so-called insider news reports, many of which pointed directly at Baidu's vital points.

Such as copying foreign big companies like Google, Yahoo, etc., shamelessly infringing rights, engaging in monopolistic behavior in the country, etc.

Especially when it comes to monopoly.

In 2004, Baidu encountered the first monopoly lawsuit in China. The Capital Zhongjing Zongheng Information Consulting Center, an organization providing market research and information consulting services, directly sued Baidu for using its market position to monopolize.

The company accused Baidu of abusing its dominant market position, interfering with search results through technical means, unfairly demoting or blocking companies that did not participate in its paid ranking service, causing a significant drop in its website traffic, and constituting monopolistic behavior.

However, Baidu has always argued that search engine services are provided free of charge and do not constitute a "relevant market" in the sense of antitrust law, so there is no problem of market dominance. In addition, Baidu believes that the market share statistics it provides lack credibility.

Due to the complexity of the emerging Internet technologies involved and the fact that the domestic anti-monopoly law has not yet been promulgated and implemented, there is insufficient legal basis, resulting in this first domestic anti-monopoly case being dragged on.

Yes, Baidu actually started experimenting with paid ranking in secret in 2004, and it was exposed and taken to court.

Therefore, on the eve of the IPO, the incident of being splashed with water was brought up again to guide public opinion. It is hard not to wonder whether someone is trying to interfere with Baidu, take action against the company, and interrupt Li Yanhong's dream of IPO.

So, who has such a deep grudge against Li Yanhong?

On forums such as Tianya and Mop, netizens who were eager to watch the fun began to speculate on that man.

"No, can I get shot in this fucking way?"

Zhou Yi, who was at Warner in Hong Kong, pointed at his nose, dumbfounded. Sun Yanzi, who was sitting on the sofa next to him, was laughing so hard that he couldn't straighten his waist.

"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter. You're scolding this and that all day long without any burden, and you've even developed a vengeful character.

"Now, you're in a war with him online, mocking him for being a pig in the wind, and then he's being splashed with water and his company is being attacked. If I were a bystander, I would also doubt you. This is a lesson for you."

Qian Jiang obviously wanted not to laugh, but his happy mood obviously did not allow him to do so. The corners of his mouth that were hovering between laughing and not laughing were forced down by him several times: "Now you can only blame yourself. Your past achievements were too brilliant, so netizens suspected you first.

"Besides, the song 'General's Order' is still at the top of the charts and is widely sung. It just so happened that the sentence that Li Yanhong blurted out instinctively after being splashed with water was pure English."

According to normal logic, not to mention yelling "fuck your mother" on the stage, at least he suddenly blurted out a sentence in English that no one expected.

Doesn’t this echo the lyrics of “The General’s Order” even more?

Zhou Yi: “…”

A song that seemed to be written specifically to attack people when it was first released has now become ironclad evidence of Zhou Yi's "suspected violence" in the eyes of many netizens - after all, this Abbot Zhou has always been a petty person.

"By the way, stimulated by this fun, your 'General's Order' has experienced a brief explosive growth in the ringback tone market in the past few days, and its revenue has now officially exceeded 40 million.

"The cost is that the more people listen to this song, the more netizens will think you did it."

"General's Order", as the advance promotional single of the album, has been online on the ringtone market for exactly one month and a few days since November 5. In just over 30 days, the sales volume has exceeded 40 million RMB, which is simply a huge profit.

Remember, this is just a song.

One song earns 40 million a month. This song doesn't even have a flash animation, let alone an MV. Zhou Yi wrote the lyrics and composed the music by himself. The recording time was short, and even if the company's bill is used to calculate the cost of using a top-notch recording studio, it would not exceed 100,000.

This is no longer a cash cow, this is fucking oil and gas being discovered right under Warner's ass.

“Although I am making money, why do I feel so uncomfortable?”

Zhou Yi smacked his lips, which seemed to be a bit of a scapegoat. In the past, he always passed the blame to others, and Qian Jiang was the best person to take the blame. This time, he didn't expect to be blamed by the Internet comedian.

Where can I seek justice?

"Don't be uncomfortable, this is already a cardiotonic, okay?"

Sun Yanzi's small feet wrapped in white cotton socks kicked his knee, and she looked at him with excitement while holding her chin with one hand: "The ringtone market is now being pulled up by you alone. From the beginning when "Super Star" made the brand famous to now when you are doing it yourself, the development of the ringtone market is really terrifying."

When ringback tone was first introduced, no one was sure about it. Even China Mobile only dared to launch a pilot program in four cities. It was Zhou Yi who resolutely placed a bet and contributed "Super Star", a hit song that helped China Mobile establish Tianhou Palace and promoted the market.

This year, when major physical record companies still didn't know how to face the ringback tone market, Zhou Yi took the lead again and brought the European and American leading single model to the ringback tone market, testing the waters with his own album and exploring the feasibility of developing both physical albums and digital singles in the Chinese-speaking market.

If this model can continue from Zhou Yi's album, then the Chinese music scene will undoubtedly be able to take the opportunity to develop into a market with a long-tail effect like Europe and the United States.

In a nutshell: the reincarnation of the daddy of the Chinese music scene.

In this era of rampant piracy, Zhou Yi first took the lead in getting rid of Baidu MP3, and then personally led the battle for ringtones, opening up a new sales channel for the hazy future of the music industry. For a large number of confused grassroots practitioners, it is not an exaggeration to say that his merits are immeasurable.

At least they were given something to eat.

That's what Sun Yanzi thinks.

At present, in China and even in East Asia, the physical record industry is still very resistant to digital music. Zhou Yi has learned from the development experience of foreign industries and made changes in China after making great achievements abroad.

Even Sun Yanzi himself is actually confused about digital music. This includes new generation singers like Jay Chou and Wang Lihong, who were born in the era of rampant piracy. They are now confused about digital music.

“What we’re lacking right now is a hit record that starts from scratch.”

Qian Jiang also agrees with Sun Yanzi's view: "You singers who are already at the top of the pyramid have a large number of fans supporting you. If a large number of small singers who sell physical records can follow the path demonstrated by Ayi and have three hits in popularity, singles and albums, then it will be a success."

This can only be verified by time.

Once he passes the test of time, Zhou Yi's status will not only be the next king of pop, but he will truly be the godfather of Chinese pop music in China - Luo Dayou is unique because of that unique era, so he can surpass Lee Jong-seong and others to firmly occupy the throne of godfather.

In that unique era, it was Luo Dayou who promoted the great strides of development of Chinese music. "Zhihuzheya" is still the number one album in Chinese music. It is no exaggeration to say that he changed and redefined the Chinese music scene.

In this era, that prerequisite no longer exists, so the only way left is to promote industry change.

"Actually, if this path works, there will probably be a group of people who will hate me to the core."

Regarding the two people's excitement, Zhou Yi was more interested in another thing.

Qian Jiang: “?”

Sun Yanzi was shocked: "Is there still a master who is so blind?"

Given Zhou Yi's current notoriety, netizens have spontaneously put the blame on Baidu on him. Does anyone else think he has too much free time?

Zhou Yi shook his head: "They are not experts, but a group with complicated interests - physical pirates."

Before the emergence of Internet piracy in China, physical pirates had always been leeches on the physical record industry, leaving people with no choice but to come up with a one-week delay in piracy.

After so many years of industry development, physical pirates have already become all-powerful and have complex relationships. They can even threaten and suppress singers and take over record companies.

Because the physical channels they control are simply too invincible when combined.

Until the advent of the Internet - Internet piracy not only destroyed physical records, but also made physical piracy channels realize that something was wrong.

To buy physical pirated copies, you have to pay for tapes or CDs, but to buy online pirated copies, you just have to click to download.

Then, ringback tones came into being.

The cost of a mature ringtone market is even lower than the Internet fee in Internet cafes. As long as you have a mobile phone, you can send a text message with just a click. The defenses of physical pirates have been completely defeated.

You have to know that those who have mobile phones these days are all high-quality consumers.

The huge channels that physical pirates were proud of have completely lost their ability to compete in the ringtone market, and have been swept into the garbage dump along with the decline of the physical record industry, lingering on.

If Internet piracy had not come from behind and re-occupied the ecological niche after the demise of ringtones, the Chinese music market would have actually made further progress 10 years later.

By then, in everyone's eyes, the person who promoted the development of ringtones and severely cracked down on physical pirates was Zhou Yi.

Killing off those physical pirates who do whatever they want has been the dream of many music practitioners, and Zhou Yi has fulfilled it for them.

These bastards have been sucking blood from the record industry for a living year after year. Zhou Yi is going to go up and punch them in the face - telling them to stop fucking eating, their good days are over.

"Now that you put it that way..."

Qian Jiang thought thoughtfully: "Then this time, Li Yanhong was splashed with water, is it possible that the complicated group of physical pirates were behind it?"

If it is as Zhou Yi said, then the emergence of Baidu MP3 must have weakened the interests of pirates, so it is not surprising that they are hated. Not to mention Baidu also threatened to deal in legitimate digital music, which is even more like snatching food from the tiger's mouth.

At this moment when Baidu's reputation was ruined by Zhou Yi, the physical pirates who heard that Zhou Yi had threatened Baidu in the past would inevitably learn from him, find someone to throw water on them and vent their anger.

If we really talk about forming an alliance of common interests, Baidu today cannot compare with the pirated giants with equally arrogant backgrounds, all of whom are reckless.

And theoretically speaking, Zhou Yi is also the breadwinner and reincarnation of the pirates' father. The "Warner Love Story" trilogy has been sold out countless times, especially in small towns in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth tier cities.

Although the pirates will definitely not take action because of Zhou Yi.

They would just hide behind the scenes and sneak out to strike when Zhou Yi is attacking Baidu, giving the fallen dog a beating to vent their frustration at being beaten by Baidu.

"It is indeed possible. Anyway, I just need to dispel the rumor and say it was not me who did it."

Zhou Yi thought about it and felt that this reputation had no impact on him, so he didn't bother to care about it.

Anyway, it’s enough for Li Yanhong to know that it’s not him.

If it was really done by pirates, then Li Yanhong might have to show goodwill to him to prevent him from joining forces with some pirates to attack Baidu.

…………………………

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible."

In a conference room in a pirated building in Tianjin, the leader waved his hands and said, "Zhou Yi is indeed a tough guy, but I don't believe he can support a new system to kill us all. We still have to switch to the legitimate Baidu MP3, which is a greater threat."

"I agree. Everyone knows how powerful the big guys are. Even with Zhou Yi around, they will kill themselves. We just need to hold on."

"That's right. Besides, China Mobile's greed is already ugly now. Besides, Zhou Yi and his group have their own fan base, so we can't count on them too much. Look, it's been a year and a half, almost two years, and there are no new singers in the ringtone market who can copy Zhou Yi's example."

"Yes, we will win."

It is true that everyone is panicking, but for now they can still rely on data, which is somewhat comforting.

In the past year and a half since the development of the ringtone market, apart from Zhou Yi himself and the songs he has created, there has been no newcomer who has been able to stand out - "Mouse Loves Rice" and the previous "Lilac" both became popular through the Internet.

Most record companies, except Warner, are not very active in adapting ringtones.

Imperial Capital, Huayi Company.

"Okay, I understand. We can have dinner together next time. It's okay."

The Big and Small Wangs, who were preparing for the premiere of "A World Without Thieves", didn't feel much about losing the album "Two Butterflies". After receiving the rejection call from the other party after careful consideration, the Big and Small Wangs still generously sent their blessings.

The main songs of this album are all from a crappy TV series. Not to mention they are tacky, they are not popular at all. These are songs that have already gone through a round of market testing.

If Zhou Yi was so awesome as to produce this crap album, they would eat a pound of it on the spot!