Chapter 353: The Ringtone Dispute

At this moment, even Song Ke, who had already resolved to jump out and do it himself, felt his heart waver slightly.

Ever since his formal break with Zhou Jianhui, he had known he was excluded from the core of Warner. The only reason he hadn't resigned yet was that he still had one thing to do—and that thing happened to require his public identity as Warner's Deputy General Manager.

"In eras where the market is declining, the winner-takes-all effect becomes even more obvious.

"His fame and brand are completely established. I don't doubt for a second that even if his next album were a pile of shit, it could still easily sell over a million copies."

Zhang Yadong, a mainland music producer regarded by many as a genius, put down the "Lianshan" record in his hand and said with emotion, "And the market will still give him one or two chances to start over after failure. That is his current worth."

As a music producer, Zhang Yadong knew better than anyone the difficulty of producing such an album.

The combination of commerce and concept was perfect; it effectively guaranteed the album's overall aesthetic integrity while also ensuring it would sell well. At the same time, every album guaranteed the production of more than five hit songs—

More than five hit songs per album, what does that mean?

Damn it, since the concept of the Chinese music scene was born, no one has ever been this awesome!

What's even more terrifying is that all of these were written by Zhou Yi alone.

Even Jay Chou and Tao Zhe still have to find teams to help you; this is simply too outrageous!

"I finally understand why you are so wary of him."

Zhang Yadong, who wasn't very interested in running a company, joked with his old friend: "If I were the executive in charge of this at China Mobile, I would also want to select Zhou Yi for the ringtone test business; his songs' popularity is too terrifying.

"Not to mention anything else, just this one song, 'Fairy Tale,' is enough to help them achieve a great start."

None of the singers under Song Ke's command had a song with a popularity that could compete with Zhou Yi's.

"The ringtone business was proposed by me and people from Taihe Media after we established a connection with South Korea's SK Telecom. Whether the newly established Taihe Wheat Field can establish itself in the domestic music industry and become the industry leader depends entirely on this wave.

"If it were you, would you accept having your hard work plucked by others?"

Song Ke, who had plopped himself onto the sofa in his friend's home, closed his eyes, rubbed his brow, and retorted.

On February 25 this year, South Korea's SK Telecom integrated various resources and officially began piloting the ringtone business for the South Korean public—since then, it has been unstoppable.

In just half a year, the ringtone business swept across South Korea and helped South Korea's SK Telecom's performance skyrocket.

Because of Ao Dajin, Song Ke, who occasionally had to travel to South Korea to see the so-called Korean Wave, also noticed the ringtone business. Coincidentally, mobile communications in various provinces and cities within the country had also begun various mergers, reorganizations, and acquisitions.

Due to the huge profits the ringtone could bring, after some investigation, Song Ke and Taihe Media, which had approached him, finally reached a cooperation agreement. At the same time, through Taihe's connections, they found friends related to Capital Mobile, and both sides reached a preliminary exchange of opinions.

Originally, everything was moving steadily in the right direction—

He would continue working at Warner until everything was ready, then resign to establish Taihe Records, taking his team of mainland singers with him and directly turning Warner Mainland into an empty shell—

At that time, he would sign the ringtone pilot business contract with China Mobile with lightning speed, push the songs under the new company up, and thus use the profits brought by the ringtone business to reach the sky in one step, making the newly established Taihe Records directly the leader of the mainland music industry.

He would also be able to expand his business empire accordingly.

But he should never have expected that Zhou Yi would show such a big face at the World Cup—after that, his subsequent English album, aided by the first two English singles and the World Cup, went straight global!

Some people in the relevant departments of China Mobile, who attached great importance to the ringtone business, looked and thought: Why choose Taihe Wheat Field for cooperation? This company doesn't even exist yet. Don't talk to me about Old Lang and Pu Shu; isn't it better to choose the globally famous Zhou Yi?

This was killing Song Ke.

He had planned everything perfectly; the Taihe Wheat Field he would create in the future would receive preferential treatment during the ringtone business promotion period, and everyone around him would be able to feast on the ringtone business.

This is also why Ao Dajin used the source of song inspiration to attack Zhou Yi's personal image—both to hype and promote his upcoming movie and to damage Zhou Yi's image, preventing him from having such a high priority within Mobile.

If there are many rumors, everyone might just laugh and call it a talented man's romanticism, but if at this critical moment your character is questioned and your image is damaged, then China Mobile would still have to consider the public image if they were to use him—after all, the ringtone business is currently only planned as a pilot promotion, so the choice must be very cautious.

Three men make a tiger; the repeated words of the crowd can melt metal.

In Taiwan and Hong Kong, Ao Dajin might not work, but in the current mainland, his words indeed carry weight, especially with his many paper media friends who are good at flattering him.

And Zhou Yi had offended quite a few paper media outlets.

"English songs are still a niche market in the mainland, so I didn't act before, after all, Zhou Yi and Zhou Jianhui are both hard to deal with. But after his third album was released, it's different. I understand music, and I know how much of a sensation this 'Lianshan' can cause."

Song Ke, with his eyes closed, lay back on the sofa cushion, unwilling to accept it.

He was powerless to stop fans from buying Zhou Yi's albums; the only thing he could do was destroy Zhou Yi's personal image. Moreover, ordinary slander and rumors would have no effect on Zhou Yi.

In this way, among the people he knew, there was only one person, Ao Dajin, who possessed the ability to damage Zhou Yi's image from the side.

After all, Ao Dajin himself had the support of traditional media channels behind him, not to mention that some of Warner's own media channels were in the hands of him, the Deputy General Manager.

Considering Zhou Yi's momentum was so great, he also specifically recruited some other allies—such as Duan Yongji, the CEO of Sina, who had a decent relationship with Ao Dajin; this man also had some designs on the Sina shares in Zhou Yi's hands. With Ao Dajin and Song Ke acting as gloves standing in the front, he naturally wanted to try it;

And also Huayi Brothers, who wanted to promote Ao Dajin's new movie on the edge, and Happy Sheep Records, which had lost a large chunk of its mainland market to Zhou Yi.

"You have really changed, Song Ke. If it were the old you, you wouldn't want to target a musician like this."

Zhang Yadong gazed at the familiar face before him, his expression somewhat sighing.

"I am a businessman now, Yadong. The marketplace is like a battlefield; I must secure this ringtone pilot contract. This relates to whether all of us can become the leader of the mainland music industry in the future."

Song Ke opened his eyes; the purity of his former days as a singer was gone from his gaze, replaced only by the ruthlessness honed by the ups and downs of the business world.

If Ao Dajin successfully distorts Zhou Yi's personal image, he can still rely on his albums to speak and turn his image around in the future;

If he misses this contract, he will truly miss the best opportunity for rise, and can only watch helplessly as Warner, possessing Zhou Yi, takes off again.

That would be more painful than killing him.

"Why don't you try to dig up Zhou Yi and Zhou Jianhui? Maybe they would be willing to jump ship too?"

"Am I so full of shit that I need to find two more fathers on my head? Then what was the point of using Warner as a springboard to collude with Taihe Media? Wouldn't it be better to stay at Warner?"

Zhang Yadong, who was always laid-back, was left speechless by the counter-question.

It seemed there was indeed a bit of... logic?

…………………………

"What logic!"

In the Capital, Ao Dajin, who always claimed to be a scholar, an intellectual, and from a family of scholars, broke down: "Damn it, today several of Zhou Yi's college student fans actually mocked me?! Saying he is more cultured than me?! Do they know what culture is?!"

(End of Chapter)