Chapter 267: The Final Glory of the Physical Single Era

"Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! Is Shieh Tingfeng's incident connected to you?!"

"Zhou Yi, some say Warner has been repeatedly reporting Tingfeng to Hong Kong police for obstructing judicial fairness, which led to his detention for investigation—is this true?"

"Zhou Yi, so many female stars support you—what's your response to them?"

"Zhou Yi, some claim you were seen with Wang Fei near Tsim Sha Tsui last night—is that true…"

Hong Kong, Coca-Cola event venue.

When Zhou Yi, wearing sunglasses, appeared and completed the brand's promotional segment, the follow-up group interview questions were anything but friendly.

Conspiracy theories ran rampant—

After all, if Shieh Tingfeng's career truly crumbles from now on, the massive void left in today's domestic male singer market can only be effortlessly filled by Zhou Yi.

Money stirs the heart; it's hard not to suspect ulterior motives.

"First, I must clarify: don't drag me into everything."

Before the cameras, Zhou Yi, holding a pile of microphones, radiated righteous integrity: "Second, I've known many Hong Kong media friends for years—you should know what happens when you fabricate rumors about me and provoke my anger."

"If you don't want to be shut down and forced out of business, my advice is: don't try to manipulate my narrative."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Fuck!

So fucking arrogant!

Journalists who had planned to capitalize on the hype to write a few lines about Zhou Yi and earn some extra cash suddenly changed their minds.

Mainly because this guy has a record and masters the art of dragging things out.

Unlike ordinary celebrities who sue newspapers just to force apologies, Zhou Yi sues with the sole intent of bankrupting his opponents.

Even if the case is easily won, Warner's elite legal team won't settle it in one go—they deliberately prolong it with repeated, tedious lawsuits, filing again after each closure under new pretexts until the newspaper's entire operation collapses—

They won't let you operate peacefully, not even let you open your doors—purely a thug's tactic.

In the paparazzi world, the saying goes: Zhou Yi has thrown all dignity out the window.

Before Zhou Yi, no celebrity had ever spent so much money just to drag down major, medium, and minor newspapers through lawsuits.

Zhou Yi's fans in Taiwan now find daily joy in waking up to check whether any newspapers still fighting Warner's lawsuits have announced closures or bankruptcies.

Only tabloids like Apple Daily and Next Magazine, backed by massive funding, can still thrive under Warner's lawsuit bombardment.

This kid doesn't fear anything—he acts the moment he decides.

"The domestic album market has been steadily declining every year; many guessed Warner's frantic support for Zhou Yi would last at most a year, since hiring lawyers for lawsuits is costly and exhausting."

"But who could've expected Zhou Yi's English single to explode globally? Now Warner is fully committed to fighting this lawsuit to the end."

"So I warn you: don't try to drag him down to divert attention from Tingfeng—Zhou Jianhui will go straight for our throats, and then everyone will lose face."

Emperor Entertainment, CEO's office.

Yang Shoucheng, spreading the report on his desk, wore a grim expression; his talent agent Huo Wenxi, representing Shieh Tingfeng and Twins, stood beside him and saw the data listed on the report—

On April 15, 2002, Zhou Yi's global single "The Lazy Song" climbed to number one on the UK Singles Chart after two full months, selling 1.368 million copies in the UK alone, ranking just below artists like Princess Kelly Rowland.

Outside the UK, it also performed in other European markets—France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and more.

Someone who can sell songs across the global English market? That's a walking money printer—printing U. S. dollars!

When Huo Wenxi himself saw "estimated global physical sales at roughly 5.47 million copies," his eyes turned green, and his breathing grew shallow and rapid.

Physical singles in Europe and America had been priced around $4 since the 90s; since the new century, with the rise of the internet, physical single sales had plummeted like a cliff.

Only a few top-tier artists—Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, the Backstreet Boys—could still sell at that price point, now set at $3.99.

Because Zhou Yi's single had already gone viral in Japan ahead of release, riding the momentum of "Rush Hour 2," Warner set its physical single price there not at rookie discount rates, but uniformly at $3 per copy.

This price was also one of the key reasons limiting domestic sales.

"One song sold over sixteen million… dollars?!"

After a quick calculation, Huo Wenxi felt dizzy, nearly unable to stand.

Damn!

Is this robbery?!

How much did it cost Zhou Yi to produce the entire song? Did it even reach 100,000 RMB?!

Still, seeing how Warner had poured serious money into global marketing, Huo Wenxi found some psychological comfort.

At least, after deducting marketing costs and revenue splits, Warner had made a huge profit—but not enough to drive anyone insane.

"Otherwise, why do you think Warner is so devoted to pushing him?"

Knowing Huo Wenxi excelled at stirring chaos, Yang Shoucheng issued one final warning: "I don't care how you handle the PR for Tingfeng—remember one thing: don't drag Zhou Yi into this."

As the shadowy figure behind leaking other artists' scandals to shift attention to his own, Yang Shoucheng knew Huo Wenxi's audacity and his favoritism toward Shieh Tingfeng all too well.

If he didn't warn him, he truly feared something messy would happen.

"Also, try to build a good relationship with him—take some people out to dinner while he's still in Hong Kong, strengthen ties."

"Tingfeng's situation may drag on until August, September, even October—during this time, Zhou Yi's voice will dominate the domestic entertainment scene."

"If he doesn't make any bizarre public statements about Tingfeng, the media will have far less negative coverage. Don't forget—he's studying law, and he never holds back his tongue."

Though they no longer competed, Yang Shoucheng had no doubt that, given Zhou Yi's reckless nature, if he were ever publicly invited as a law student to comment, Shieh Tingfeng would be finished.

That kid is capable of doing exactly that—didn't you see how impatient he already looked in front of reporters, resorting straight to threats?

"I understand. I'll arrange it."

Watching his boss close his eyes and rub his temples, Huo Wenxi nodded and began his PR work—

First, get veteran figures like Xie Xian to publicly lament Tingfeng's hardships; then get other stars to speak about Tingfeng's recent pressures, turning this into an internal Hong Kong entertainment issue.

And above all, keep Zhou Yi—the man with immense influence—from stepping in to kick a man while he's down.

Xie Tingfeng is far too important to Emperor Entertainment to risk even the slightest mishap.

After the arrangements were made in an orderly fashion, Huo Wenxi finally took out her mobile phone and made a call—

…………………………………………

"OK, I got it. I'll ask A-Yi for you when the time comes."

Inside the Warner Hong Kong building, Qian Jiang pushed open the door to the lounge after hanging up the phone and looked at Zhou Yi, who was sitting on the sofa reviewing sales data reports: "A-Yi, Huo Wenxi from Emperor is treating us to dinner the day after tomorrow. Do you want to go?"

"Huo Wenxi is treating me to dinner?"

Zhou Yi was momentarily surprised, then laughed: "What, is Emperor afraid I'll start spreading science?"

"Who else but you has such influence right now."

Qian Jiang happily pointed at the report in the man's hand: "If this data gets released, do you believe every media outlet in the country would go into an uproar?"

"What does an uproar have to do with me? I'm not the only one taking home over sixteen million."

Zhou Yi closed the report and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe your two singles combined could earn that amount," Qian Jiang said optimistically about the future: "Releasing two singles every year from now on will keep you rolling in money."

"Relying on singles every year? I think you're overestimating things."

Zhou Yi stood up, stretched his neck a couple of times: "I actually have time tomorrow night, so I can go."

In 2002, the final era of glory for Western physical singles, he was just getting to drink the last drop of soup.

By early 2003, with Apple's iTunes aligning with Steve Jobs' internet vision, it would officially begin conquering the West, and the market for physical singles would be reduced to ruins.

The digital music era, where a single sells for $0.99 or $1.99, is about to arrive.

Correspondingly, domestic MP3 pirated songs were rising and becoming wildly popular.

"Oh right, there's one more thing."

Qian Jiang slapped his forehead and handed a CD with "Nightfall" written on the cover to Zhou Yi: "Sea Butterfly has just launched a new Singaporean male singer, A-Du. This is his first album released on April 12, and the momentum is fierce.

"The marketing department colleagues suspect he might cause some impact on your domestic Chinese album sales this year. The nationwide first-day sales are 130,000. Do you want to listen to it?"

"The song in that album that's been charting for a while, 'He Must Love You Very Much', is extremely hot. It's already a complete mess of popularity in the mainland, and its ranking is even about to surpass your old songs."

"..."

April 17, 2002, Wednesday.

Five days after the release of the "Nightfall" album, the lead single "He Must Love You Very Much" officially surpassed songs like "Jiangnan", "Dusk", "The Only One", and "Summer Blown by the Wind", forcefully taking the number one spot—

The Chinese singer from Singapore, A-Du, went from an obscure, unemployed, unmarried, older male youth to a supernova in the time it took to release just one song!

PS: It turned out to be an upper respiratory tract infection; luckily it didn't develop into bronchitis.

After taking medicine and sleeping for a nap this afternoon, I feel much better now, though I'm still a bit sleepy.

Two updates resume tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)