My agency went bankrupt before I even got on stage.

Just three hours after Wang Lingli's plan was released, and only 24 hours later, on the afternoon of the second day after the rankings were announced, Lin Fan's name once again appeared on the trending searches before the top trending list had even finished dominating.

SuperBlog Hot Searches:

"A conspiracy: Jiang Jie, head of NetEase Music, is suppressing independent musician Lin Fan!"

Clicking on the trending topics brings up a whole page of news related to that topic:

"Data on 'I Caught a Cold in That Corner' has been suppressed!"

Let's take a look at those independent musicians whose data was suppressed by XX Music!

A look at the love-hate relationship between music platforms and independent musicians!

……

Lin Fan made headlines again just 24 hours after his song "Keep Walking in the Rain" trended on Weibo!

The entire internet is in an uproar!

[A seasoned driver from Lanxiang Vocational School: Is NetEase Music really that powerful? They can just easily suppress other people's data?]

[Small breasts like my dad: That's normal. Those XX, XXX, and XXX, weren't they all driven to leave NetEase and join Tianlai because of data suppression?]

[The moment he went online, he captivated a huge audience: Independent musicians, isolated and powerless, are no match for the platforms and can only swallow their anger.]

[You only realize how ugly you are when you need to: Lin Fan was only exposed because one of his songs became a huge hit; otherwise, he would have had to endure it! A 10-to-1 suppression of data! That's ruthless!]

[Chat Terminator: Boycott NetEase Music! Boycott Jiang Jie, that idiot!]

……

The vast majority of online comments are biased towards Lin Fan, partly because people tend to subconsciously side with the underdog.

Secondly, Lin Fan's popularity was at its peak at that time. People might not know the song "I Caught a Cold in That Corner", but everyone knew Lin Fan!

Lin Fan, right? The Lin Fan who just got a thumbs up from the official authorities!

Lin Fan, the singer who sang "Keep Walking in the Rain" which became a hit across the internet!

Lin Fan actually has an original song? And the music platform is suppressing its data?

Oh, it's not the music platform, it's a department head. I don't care, department head or platform, it's all you! It was NetEase Music that did this!

And this isn't the first time you've done something so despicable! Who else should we criticize if not you?

……

At the same time, two major music platforms, Tianlai Music and Qingfeng Music, also took the opportunity to criticize NetEase Music.

Among the three major music platforms in China, NetEase Music firmly holds the top position. Its individual volume is much larger than that of Tianlai Music and Qingfeng Music, which rank second and third respectively. It has always been the leading music platform and its position is stable.

However, as the platform grows larger, some unavoidable problems inevitably arise. For example, people like Jiang Jie, who believe they have the power of life and death over independent musicians, actively or passively persecute independent musicians for various reasons.

This has led many independent musicians to leave NetEase Music and join Tianlai Music and Qingfeng Music instead, unable to bear the pressure. While NetEase Music has faced similar scandals from time to time, none have garnered such widespread attention and public interest as this one.

Tianlai Music and Qingfeng Music naturally wouldn't let such a good opportunity pass them by. They both took action, giving NetEase Music a good kick, and also took the opportunity to promote themselves. Although they are not as big as NetEase Music, they would never persecute independent musicians like NetEase Music!

Qingfeng Music even tagged Lin Fan on Weibo, hoping that Lin Fan could release his new song "Keep Walking in the Rain" on Qingfeng Music, and Qingfeng Music guaranteed that there would be no suppression of the song's data.

It has to be said that by directly confronting NetEase Music, Qingfeng Music has won a lot of goodwill from netizens.

Many netizens spontaneously came to Lin Fan's Weibo to leave him messages of encouragement and support, and some even directly advised him to release a song on Qingfeng Music.

But no response was received.

Because Lin Fan spent the whole day recording songs in the recording studio and couldn't get his phone, he had no idea what was happening outside.

Unable to get a response from the main character, netizens turned their attention to another key figure in the incident—Jiang Jie, the head of the copyright department at NetEase Music—and began to criticize him!

[A refreshing drink: What makes you think you can outperform Lin Fan's data? It's because of black sheep like you on music platforms that so many outstanding independent musicians are buried!]

[A Flower in the Crematorium: Boycott Jiang Jie! The original music scene is so weak because of people like you!]

[Riding an ant to see the sea: Do you think you're so great, arbitrarily suppressing singers' data? Do you really think this is your own ability? You're nothing without the platform!]

[Trading your husband for candy: Do you realize you've screwed over your platform? Waiting to see how NetEase Music will deal with you~]

……

What is Jiang Jie doing at this time?

Let's rewind to 3 hours ago.

After arranging things for Wang Xiaoming, Jiang Jie turned around and went to call Chen Fang, the dance teacher of "Morning Star".

"Teacher Chen, this is Xiao Jiang. It's about copyright again! This time I mainly wanted to talk about the copyright for 'Keep Walking in the Rain.' What? The students have the day off today? Do you know where Lin Fan went?... Okay, I'll contact you again tonight!"

Chen Fang hung up Jiang Jie's call, shook her head, and knew that once a favor was done, it wouldn't be used again. She wouldn't help as a go-between this time. After all, the conditions Jiang Jie had offered before weren't good. Now that Lin Fan's popularity had skyrocketed, trying to use the same old tricks to fool him was like a toad trying to eat swan meat.

Previously, they hadn't even finalized the copyright for "I Caught a Cold in That Corner," let alone "Keep Walking in the Rain." You know, the production team was already considering buying the copyright for "Keep Walking in the Rain." There's still one song left to decide on for the second performance, and now that song is a huge hit, the production team definitely won't let this opportunity slip by.

Chen Fang didn't think Jiang Jie could offer Lin Fan a deal that would tempt him. If she were in charge, she would have already stormed into Morning Star's headquarters by now. Instead, Jiang Jie called her to deliver the message, which was just too pretentious.

Sure enough, this is the kind of person people who come from big companies.

No, that's not right. I think I saw people from Tianlai Music at the gate of the factory just now.

Indeed, good wine needs no bush.

……

After making the call, Jiang Jie set an alarm to remind himself that he must call Chen Fang again that night. The song "Keep Walking in the Rain" is very popular, and he must buy the copyright for it!

Having served as a copyright manager for so many years, Jiang Jie has a keen eye for talent. The potential revenue a song can generate is already determined the moment it is released.

Jiang Jie is very confident in "Keep Walking in the Rain". He believes that if he can buy the full copyright of this song, then his year-end bonus will be secured!

He secretly encouraged himself, "Come on! Let's sift through the newly uploaded songs again. Maybe there are other original works here that are just as good as this one."

Three hours passed, and then a phone call came in. Jiang Jie looked at the caller ID and quickly answered, "Mr. Wu..."