Chapter 349: Warner's Internal Strife: A Proper Serial

Zhang Jie left overjoyed, following Xie Na.

Qian Jiang, watching from the side, felt a flicker in his eyes, but with so many people around, he held back from asking. Only after Zhou Yi finished recording and returned to his hotel room, did Qian Jiang close the door and curiously ask, "Was what you said just now true or false?"

"What is true or false?"

Zhou Yi, lying on the sofa with no regard for propriety, stretched his body comfortably. Hearing this, he looked up in surprise, glancing at him.

"About those words you said to that Zhang Jie."

"More or less. His vocal tone does sound decent, but without systematic training, I don't know how his singing technique is."

Zhou Yi's pragmatic statement instantly brightened Qian Jiang's eyes—

No systematic training didn't matter; Warner had no shortage of singer training.

"What? Do you want to sign him?" Zhou Yi's gaze then fell on the coffee table. He casually picked up a winter jujube that had been washed and placed there before his return, popped it into his mouth, chewed, and said without looking up.

"Why would I sign him? Managing just you is enough."

Qian Jiang shook his head. After confirming the door was locked, he spoke with a somewhat solemn expression: "Inside information: Song Ke has confirmed he is leaving. Currently, aside from you and Wang Feng, every male singer in the company is willing to go with him."

Zhou Yi's chewing paused: "... It's decided?"

"Yes, he can't be pulled back. So Zhou Jianhui has been asking me to pay closer attention to promising talents lately. He himself is even considering whether to organize singing competitions through multiple channels in the mainland to select new stars."

Such a major earthquake among the company's artists would undoubtedly be an ugly mark on Zhou Jianhui's year-end performance report.

Zhou Yi is strong, but one person cannot absorb all of Warner's resources; that would be serious waste, and for him, as the President of the Asia-Pacific and Greater China regions, it would undoubtedly be negligence.

"Zhou Jianhui's view is that even one more Wang Feng would result in surplus resources, so he has always wanted to find someone to replace the Song Ke faction singers to fill the gap."

"Do you remember that Hu Yanbing you mentioned admiring last time? Zhou Jianhui has already sent people to investigate him. Assuming the investigation goes well, they will move to poach him directly. He trusts your judgment."

"Very proactive, as expected of a president."

Zhou Yi spat out the pit, chuckled lightly, but offered no further comment.

Right now, Zhou Jianhui still believes Wang Feng won't leave, but after the contract expires in '05, that man will set up his own shop, and the one helping him do so happens to be the current Warner Mainland President, Xu Xiaofeng, leaving him utterly stunned.

Immediately following was the final straw that broke the camel's back: Zhou Jianhui's all-in bet on Sun Yanzi's new album "A Perfect Day" failed in sales, and he was completely kicked out.

But this couldn't be blamed entirely on Zhou Jianhui.

Who could have imagined that a small Warner Music (China) would directly split into the Xu Xiaofeng faction of the Mainland President, the Song Ke faction of the Music Director, the Zhou Jianhui faction, and the secretly maneuvering Chen Ze Shan faction between 2000 and 2004—

Xu Xiaofeng resigned to set up his own shop, taking a group of people to create Chuangmeng Music; Song Ke resigned to set up his own shop, taking a group of people and bringing in Li Zongsheng and Zhang Yadong to establish Taihe Wheat Field.

Chen Ze Shan was secretly flirting with Universal and EMI, while simultaneously jumping back and forth within Warner, occasionally backstabbing from the shadows.

It made Zhou Jianhui so angry that after being ousted from Warner, he couldn't recover for a long time, coming close to cursing his mother. After that, except for briefly serving as CEO at Ya Shen Music for a year in '06, the exhausted man didn't step foot in the record industry for a full decade.

It wasn't until 2016, under Sony Music's enthusiastic invitation, that he returned, 空降 as the President of Sony Greater China in early 2017. This time, having absorbed the lessons of the struggle from ten years prior, Zhou Jianhui directly triggered a major bloodletting among the senior management of Sony China.

One can only say, as expected of Warner, their talent for internal strife is maxed out. No matter who enters, they automatically evolve an internal strife skill tree, possessing a hundred and eight scheming hearts, each one a master of palace intrigue.

"If it weren't for you and Yanzi supporting him, his position as president probably wouldn't be very stable."

Qian Jiang, clearly aware of the details of Warner's internal strife, joked with a smile.

However, there was one thing he didn't say.

Sun Yanzi's contract with Warner will expire next year, in 2003.

To date, although Sun Yanzi and the team led by her father have still stated they will renew with Warner, Sun Yanzi's own proposal to form the company MAKEMUSIC inevitably made Zhou Jianhui feel somewhat uneasy in his heart—

He did not oppose stars under his banner forming their own companies or studios to renew and cooperate with the company, after all, superstar contracts could never be like the ladder contracts for newcomers or those added after a newcomer explodes in popularity.

But the fear was that negotiations with Sun Yanzi would fall apart.

Especially since contract negotiations with Zhou Yi himself had not yet begun.

Zhou Yi had entrusted his contract negotiations to Gui Yi. But Gui Yi's current helmsman, Cheng Hao, had just finished filming an MV and flew back to the US to visit his parents; Zhou Jianhui couldn't possibly ask Cheng Hao to neglect his parents, could he?

Although anyone could see this was Zhou Yi himself hiding behind the scenes, waiting for the price to rise, Cheng Hao's father falling ill happened to provide him with an excellent excuse for delay.

All Zhou Jianhui could do now was push forward Sun Yanzi's renewal while constantly lobbying headquarters to increase the offer for Zhou Yi, letting him feel the sincerity to the maximum extent.

Moreover, setting aside the emotional factors of years of cooperation, speaking purely in business terms, Zhou Jianhui, who knows Zhou Yi inside out, is the person most capable of letting Zhou Yi act recklessly.

"That's true, I am the anchor that stabilizes the sea."

Zhou Yi, chewing on the fruit flesh, did not deny or evade. His straightforward answer instantly brightened Qian Jiang's eyes—

On this issue, Zhou Yi saying this meant he currently had no intention of leaning towards jumping to another company.

"Next, you still need to run these cities, and you also need to go to Hong Kong..."

Having composed himself, Qian Jiang cast aside those irrelevant thoughts and proceeded to reiterate the upcoming promotional itinerary for Zhou Yi.

However, what neither he nor the entire Warner hierarchy, nor even Zhou Yi himself, expected was—

On October 13, Sunday afternoon, former麦田 Music founder and Tsinghua University dropout Ai Dajin publicly炮轰ed Zhou Yi at an event!

"I have a relative's child who is a Zhou Yi fan. Last night they said there was a variety show of his, and since I was curious about this junior, I watched a bit. I'm not in a position to evaluate Zhou Yi's talent, but I feel he might have some misunderstandings about foreign countries."

Ai Dajin, fanning himself like a cultured man, sat on a rosewood chair accepting an interview from a magazine reporter, his smile calm: "He said in the show that the inspiration for his first four songs came from what he saw and heard abroad. Isn't that nonsense?

"I think young people don't need to be so exaggerated just to build an image. That 'In the Name of the Father' is clearly Italian mafia style, yet he hasn't been to Italy, right?

"Besides, the places he has lived in for a long time are only the UK and the US. Those two countries, especially the US, are not as chaotic as he says. And family education? He doesn't even know what family education is like in the UK and US.

"He has ability, I don't deny his talent, but his character is a huge problem. Lying off the top of one's head is not a good habit."

In a brief interview of nearly ten minutes, Ai Dajin, avoiding all other topics, publicly attacked Zhou Yi, a junior in the mainland music scene: "If this gets out and foreigners find out, they'll see: 'Hey, a student from one of China's highest institutions of learning, how can you slander us like this...'"

A long, flowing piece, appearing reasonable and well-founded.

Especially in this current era, Ai Dajin's status in the mainland music scene was not low.

If Zhou Yi himself hadn't already made a name for himself in Europe and America, Ai Dajin's evaluation would have basically created a one-sided situation.

"F*** your mother, Ai Dajin! What the f*** does he want to do?!"

Qian Jiang, who was preparing for Zhou Yi's promotional trip to Hong Kong, immediately cursed aloud.

In the Warner President's office, Zhou Jianhui looked at this suddenly exposed report, his eyes instantly darkening. After adjusting his glasses, he picked up the landline on the desk and made a call—

"Call Song Ke over, I have something to discuss with him."

Song Ke, like Chai Dajin, was one of the founders of the former Warner Warner Maitian Music.

After Warner acquired Warner Warner Maitian Music, Song Ke became the Music Director, while Chai Dajin cashed out and left. But if we count factions, Chai Dajin is on Song Ke's side.

(End of this chapter)