Chapter 431: Zhou Yi Didn't Cheat, Sun Yanzi Is Never Greedy (5k)

A top-tier feud between superstars turned especially lively in the first month of 2003.

American media, who love stirring the pot, even listed Mariah Carey's 2002 response song to Eminem: "Clown".

At the time, many media reporters believed Mariah Carey's song was a direct jab at Zhou Yi's blog post that forced Eminem to change his name, mocking the latter to go to Gotham and face off against Batman, thus earning the nickname "mixed-gender double whammy".

Unfortunately, "Clown" never made the Billboard Hot 100; just like Eminem's November track dissing Zhou Yi, "Idiot", it only scraped into the lower ranks of a genre chart for a brief appearance.

But now, things are different.

Zhou Yi's "Enemy" debuted directly on the Billboard Hot 100, propelled solely by its exceptional song quality; compared to Eminem and Mariah Carey, this achievement was an outright domination.

In terms of popularity, Zhou Yi's song could crush theirs by tenfold, even a hundredfold, leaving them far behind.

At this moment, no matter how many interest groups existed within Warner, they temporarily united on one thing regarding Zhou Yi's achievement: matters being what they are, making money comes first.

Factory machines were spinning until they smoked; the Warner board was just one step away from personally going to the factory to screw together single discs.

Even so, genuine copies couldn't keep up with pirated speed; basically, for every single disc sold, there were hundreds of pirated link downloads, and even with Warner chasing and blocking everywhere, they were helpless.

Early 2003 saw both Eastern and Western music industries officially entering the Great Piracy Era.

This forced Warner Music to once again take seriously the cooperation proposal from Apple's Steve Jobs:

And as Zhou Yi's spokesperson in his absence, Zhou Jianhui met Steve Jobs, who personally came to discuss cooperation after an introduction from Little Edgar.

"Within six months, our current goal at Apple is to sell one million legally licensed songs within six months of the Music Store's official launch."

As a super-wealthy individual with a net worth already exceeding one billion dollars, a powerhouse who founded Pixar Animation Studios after being ousted from Apple and regained fame with "Toy Story", Jobs spoke with extreme clarity about his entertainment strategy.

He understands the entertainment industry.

This is why Little Edgar, who wanted to acquire Warner Music, knew Jobs, who wanted to cooperate with Warner, and why he appeared before Zhou Jianhui now.

"Spike is a superstar; if he is willing to join, I believe that number can be significantly shortened. Maybe four months, maybe three."

Facing Zhou Jianhui, Steve Jobs openly expressed his appreciation for Zhou Yi's influence: "If Spike is willing to join, we will offer him an unprecedented revenue-sharing contract; we will take only 10%."

"At the same time, we are willing to sign a three-year endorsement contract with him to serve as the spokesperson for the new generation iPod music player..."

He had approached many other superstars under Warner, such as Madonna and Linkin Park, but the idea of the Music Store never gained approval from their respective groups.

Zhou Yi was the only team willing to engage despite uncertain market prospects, and their signing intention was very strong; moreover, Jobs was genuinely envious of Zhou Yi's explosive popularity in America, which was even hotter than his fellow countryman Yao Ming.

According to Jobs' initial plan, he actually wanted a fifty-fifty split with the record companies.

But harsh reality taught him a lesson; all five major record companies, including Warner and Sony, unanimously chose to refuse, leaving no room for negotiation.

After countless negotiations, the final split was fixed at Apple taking 30% and the record companies taking 70%.

Yet even so, they had only secured part of the songs in the record companies' copyright libraries; not a single superstar came, which is why Jobs initially set the goal of selling one million songs in six months.

In his view, if the iTunes Music Store, lacking superstars to lead the way, could achieve this result in six months, it would be enough reason to pop the champagne.

This was a solution born of necessity.

To be honest, Zhou Jianhui did not have high hopes for Jobs' music model.

He had already experienced a similar model domestically last year: Baidu MP3, launched at the end of last year.

In his view, the willingness to pay for songs online was simply too low; singers couldn't earn much. Not to mention that anti-piracy measures on the internet simply couldn't keep up, and internet propagation was too fast; as soon as a genuine song went online, dozens of pirated audio versions appeared for people to download as MP3s.

The internet piracy situation in America was even worse than domestically.

How the hell could anyone make money from this?

If Zhou Yi hadn't insisted repeatedly, he would have pulled out long ago.

"iPod spokesperson?"

Domestically, Zhou Yi, who had been communicating with Zhou Jianhui via phone almost daily, spoke with slight surprise: "Didn't Jobs endorse that thing himself?"

"That was the past; this is the present. This so-called Music Store was born specifically to bundle with the new iPod; if he could find a heavyweight musician to endorse it, why would he do it himself?"

Zhou Jianhui sneered: "Don't let Jobs' smooth talk fool you; it's just for image."

"He also said computers don't need spokespersons, but according to my intel, he has his eyes on Yao Ming, who plays in the NBA domestically, planning to hire Yao Ming as the spokesperson for the new Apple computers simply because Yao Ming is very popular right now."

Don't think Jobs is some reincarnated immortal above such things.

"What about the contract?"

Zhou Yi became interested, curious about how much money Jobs would offer.

"Eight million dollars for three years; not bad, he really understands the entertainment industry."

As Zhou Yi's first music-related endorsement product in America, Jobs' starting offer was actually quite generous; one could even say it carried a premium.

Normally, top-tier MP3 player endorsement fees in the market are only five or six million.

After all, no matter how you spin it, it's just a music player, and there are countless companies making them.

"... Try to see if you can add tiered clauses; they must be tied to how many songs I sell on the Apple Music Store. For example, a tier for 300,000 songs, another for 600,000, and a recalculation of remuneration and dividends once sales hit one million, etc."

Rubbing his chin, Zhou Yi, full of mischief, proposed a condition that left Zhou Jianhui bewildered.

What does this mean?

Is he going all-in on Apple?

Didn't you refuse gambling?

So much gambling instinct?

"How can you laugh at Jay Chou for giving money away at a casino?"

Cheng Hao's home, living room.

After Zhou Yi hung up the phone, Sun Yanzi, holding a plate of fruit salad, sat cross-legged on the sofa, looking at him with a strange expression.

She could guess with her chest alone that if Apple truly accepted this proposal, they would definitely significantly lower the endorsement fee; it was a typical merchant risk hedge.

"This isn't gambling; this is called investment; you don't know anything."

Zhou Yi reached out to take the fruit plate Cheng Hao handed him and said contentedly: "It's a guaranteed win, okay?"

How can you call it gambling if you can see the result?

His memory cheat is innate; if he doesn't turn it on, it doesn't count as cheating, okay.

As long as he hit Jobs' pain point, within three years, leveraging the step-up clause to fleece an extra few tens of millions of dollars would be no problem at all, and the moment the contract was signed, Jobs might even have to keep thanking him.

After all, right now Jobs himself was uneasy about the future of the music store, and his targets were set extremely conservatively — this was the perfect opportunity to fleece him for all he was worth.

Damn it, let that bastard make iOS so closed-off — in his previous life, he hadn't been spared from being disgusted by iOS's closed mechanism more than once.

When he was hanging out in reader groups, he also heard about some poor sap who registered an account on Qidian to write novels using an Apple ID, and after registering and writing his novel, he found he couldn't even manage his novel's comment section in the Qidian app, couldn't participate in the monthly ticket lottery, and couldn't even link his reader group account to his book's synopsis.

How could a single word "miserable" even begin to describe it.

"Do any of your investments currently have returns? Curse Lamp?"

Sun Yanzi bit down on her fork, let out a heh-heh laugh, and winked mischievously at Cheng Hao: "You'd agree, right, Cheng Hao?"

"Judging from the current rate of stock price recovery across the major companies and the reports submitted by personnel we've stationed on the boards of these companies, we haven't broken even yet, but the day is in sight."

Cheng Hao, beside himself with glee, still ended up preserving the man's dignity: "Actually, stocks like Moutai are still steadily rising — just not by a huge margin, that's all."

"Heh, vulgar."

Zhou Yi, who had completely pretended not to hear, disdainfully curled his lip, and his gaze was immediately drawn to the news broadcast playing as background music on the TV screen —

"It is reported that the legitimate sales of the new single released in America by our country's young singer Zhou Yi have, as of now, surpassed 560,000, making him the first singer since the start of 2003 to break 500,000 in U. S. sales within the first week of a single's release.

"Young player Yao Ming, currently playing in the American NBA, recently said in an interview that he is a devoted fan of Zhou Yi…"

When the camera cut to the CCTV field reporter, a group of Black and White people wearing Rockets logos on their shirts happened to appear on the roadside behind him, loudly singing "Enemy" —

"Your words upon the wall as you're praying for my fall"

"And the laughter in the halls and the names that I've been called"

"I stack it in my mind and I'm waiting for the time"

"When I show you what it's like to be words spit in a mic~~"

The passersby's heartfelt cheers and chorus couldn't be faked under the CCTV camera — especially when they reached this part, everyone rapping in unison like a machine gun going rat-a-tat-tat-tat.

"Hello, sorry to interrupt, may I ask if you guys are fans of Spike?"

"Spike? Oh, yes, I absolutely love that guy to death."

A brown-haired guy in a puffer jacket, arm around a blonde hottie, was clearly thrilled facing the camera: "Spike is just amazing! He's right, Eminem is a clown! He should just go back to Gotham!"

"We're planning to propose this song as the halftime performance track! It's just too awesome!"

"…"

Obviously, there should have been some more people interviewed after this, but CCTV's editing either muted the audio and substituted the reporter's voice or narration, or simply cut them out entirely.

Zhou Yi was very dissatisfied with this —

Couldn't they show more?

Sun Yanzi, who wasn't in the mood to watch Zhou Yi show off endlessly, scrambled up from the sofa using both hands and feet, snatched the remote, switched to Hunan TV to catch the rerun of Happy Camp —

She didn't particularly like going on variety shows, but she did enjoy watching variety shows to relax and have a good laugh.

Especially variety shows like "Happy Camp," which were genuinely quite fun.

Naturally, the two of them once again launched into a remote-control tug-of-war at Cheng Hao's place like a pair of bear cubs. Cheng Hao, already used to it, shook her head helplessly, picked up her fruit platter and sat aside reading a magazine, letting the two of them wrestle on the sofa — peaceful and content.

Ever since moving into the new place, at first it was just Sun Yanzi coming over to mooch meals under the pretext of learning cooking. Later, Zhou Yi, whose skin had thickened beyond recognition, simply couldn't be bothered to eat the meals his assistant brought back either, grandly calling it "supervising Sun Yanzi" so she wouldn't eat too much and get scolded by the company.

And after that, her home instead became the place the three of them would always hang out whenever they had time off, and the once-spacious living room had actually become lively and bustling.

"Oh right, Cheng Hao, are you going to America to see your uncle and auntie for New Year's this year? Or staying in the country?"

Sun Yanzi, whose thin arms ultimately couldn't win against thick thighs, turned her gaze to her best friend enjoying the peaceful moment, and asked curiously.

"My mom won't let me go, says the round trip is too much trouble, and told me to just stay put in the country."

Cheng Hao, mentioning her parents, shook her head: "My dad's treatment over there is going really well — he should be able to transfer back to a domestic sanatorium around June this year."

"I see…"

Sun Yanzi nodded in understanding, then suddenly sprang up from the sofa, reached for her bag, and with her tongue pressed to the roof of her mouth, fished around inside for a while —

Cheng Hao was a little puzzled: "Why are you asking?"

"Ta-da!"

Sun Yanzi, having found an envelope, pulled it out of her bag and held it up in front of Cheng Hao like she was showing off some treasure, grinning from ear to ear: "Interested in coming to the Spring Festival Gala site to spend New Year's with me? It'll be just me and Elva Xiao — Zhou Yi isn't in our time slot."

"…"

Cheng Hao blinked, looked at Sun Yanzi whose smile was as radiant as a sunflower, seemed to think of something, then promptly swallowed back the words that had risen to her lips, and with a smile took the envelope: "Alright, then it's settled."

"Nice!"

Seeing Cheng Hao accept the envelope, Sun Yanzi briefly winked her right eye alone, giving her a wink. While happily shouting out, she didn't forget to give her a thumbs-up, her ear-length bob swaying with joy: "We'll spend New Year's together."

Zhou Yi, sitting to the side, watched the two of them chatting, and as he chewed on fruit, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curve up into a small arc.

Was Sun Yanzi short on company for New Year's?

This year, clearly not — she even had Elva Xiao keeping her company.

"If Cheng Hao isn't going to her parents' place for New Year's, why don't we just invite her to spend it with us? More people, livelier, and she won't feel lonely."

That was what Sun Yanzi had originally said when discussing it with him.

She, who had crossed the ocean alone to China to make her way, clearly understood all too well how awful the taste of loneliness during New Year was — which was also why she had initially used learning to cook as an excuse to come mooch meals.

Of course, continuing to mooch meals afterwards was absolutely not because she was greedy and Cheng Hao's cooking was delicious — ten thousand times better than hers.

Absolutely not!

The next day, Sun Yanzi, brimming with energy, reunited with Elva Xiao once more and entered the CCTV broadcast hall.

The 2003 CCTV Year of the Sheep Spring Festival Gala had already entered its final rehearsal stage. At this point, only someone with nerves of steel like Zhou Yi could sit still comfortably.

Even Zhao Benshan, a veteran of the Spring Festival Gala, was nervous as could be, constantly correcting his own minor mistakes, striving for perfection.

As a template of veterans bringing along newcomers, Sun Yanzi, on her second Spring Festival Gala, also had to bring along Elva Xiao, who was on her first. So no matter which rehearsal it was, the two of them couldn't help but feel their hearts pounding at the rehearsal site, terrified their act would get cut.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that their song "Dad and Mom" better aligned with traditional Chinese values, the ones who might have gotten cut would have been them.

As a family-oriented pop song, the "Dad and Mom" they sang successfully edged out "Gathering," performed by a chorus of 7 establishment singers, in the final stretch, becoming the last act before the stroke of midnight.

As for Zhou Yi, he displaced the slot originally held by Guo Fucheng, the top star at Warner.

Originally, Guo Fucheng was set to sing "Move It" at this year's Spring Festival Gala, but now that's gone, replaced by his "Ode to the Youthful China."

Given Zhou Yi's achievements and reputation, no one opposed this decision; Guo Fucheng himself had shifted his focus to the film industry, so he had even less objection.

"I heard your overseas results exploded again. Congratulations."

Inside the broadcast hall, Zhang Bozhi, who sang the audience-solicited song "DV Tonight" with Xie Dong this year, showed no intention of avoiding suspicion due to her boyfriend Xie Tingfeng; even with her boyfriend in trouble, she warmly greeted Zhou Yi, the "boyfriend's arch-enemy," upon his arrival at the scene.

How to put it? You can't quite tell whether she lacks brains or simply doesn't care.

However, considering her behavior of daring to pose for photos with Brother Guanxi and publicly releasing them after the photo incident, Zhou Yi was more inclined to think she simply lacked the brainpower needed to avoid such pitfalls.

"Your rap, the speed is really too fast; how did you do it?"

……………………

"Honestly, I don't know."

On the evening of January 24, at a certain American variety show.

Facing the host's question, guest Maria Carey also shook her head: "In fact, I've tried many times privately myself, but obviously I don't have this rap talent. I have to say it's a regret; I believe Spike's extremely fast-paced rap segment here is enough to become a textbook example."

"Stronger than Eminem?"

"Eminem? Who? I don't know him at all."

Maria Carey flicked her blonde hair, shrugged at the camera: "Spike's song's results have already explained everything. In fact, I do indeed believe this; I'm not lying.

"I can issue a challenge: if anyone here can sing this entire rap segment at the original speed, I will give them one thousand US dollars."

The challenge issued by Maria Carey, looking wealthy and bold, made the host feel unfamiliar—

Wait, can you promote things like this?

(End of this chapter)