Chapter 476: Red Bean Mud, Sumimasen

"Fuck!"

"Who does he think he is?!"

"What the hell is Warner trying to do?!"

"Do they want to fight until both sides are destroyed?!"

April 30: Zhou Jianhui of Warner, acting as the Asia-Pacific President, directly fueled public opinion with his sarcastic remarks; media outlets that previously dared not report extensively on the news now swarmed like sharks smelling blood—

"Breaking! Sony's Former President's Resignation Leaked Internally!"

"Tang Mi Mottola's Scandals Never End!"

"Sony: The Mastermind Behind Racial Discrimination!"

"Spike: Unfair Suppression from Competitors!"

"The Pioneer Who Inherited the Will of Equality—Spike"

"..."

Unable to withstand the pressure, Sony's senior executives held an emergency meeting; while slamming tables and cursing, they also cast hostile glances at those aligned with Tang Mi Mottola's faction.

Norio Ohga, President of Sony Japan, hailed as the father of the CD, and holding a status far above former US President Tang Mi Mottola, made a rare appearance at this meeting, his face dark: "Enough!"

The venue, previously filled with mutual accusations and grumbling, instantly fell silent.

Unlike other Japanese management, this Norio Ohga was the greatest contributor to Sony Music's rise as a global company.

It could be said that without the various acquisitions, mergers, and signings led by Norio Ohga, Sony would have remained merely a national giant confined to a small Japanese island, unable to expand, rather than the international giant it is today.

Under his leadership, Sony achieved comprehensive success in film, television, and music worldwide; this was Norio Ohga's capability.

"Investigate whether there were any actions targeting Spike during Tang Mi Mottola's tenure; if so, destroy the evidence immediately so Warner cannot seize it. Additionally, have Public Relations suppress the impact as much as possible; do not let this topic ferment."

Norio Ohga tapped his fingers on the conference table: "We do not need to admit anything to the outside world. If the investigation ultimately confirms the allegations, we will publicly state that we fired Tang Mi Mottola for the greater good, rather than him resigning voluntarily, and temporarily cancel all future cooperation with Tang Mi."

"But what about Spike? His influence among young people is huge, and his core fan groups are mostly extremely fanatical." A blonde foreigner from the Marketing Department frowned, twirling a pen as he asked—

"His core fan group has a very strong ability to stir up public opinion."

"No need to worry."

After pondering for a moment, Norio Ohga shook his head: "We just need to extend goodwill toward him. Our people have always been in contact with him; if he is willing to sign with Sony after his contract expires next year, all public opinion unfavorable to us will crumble instantly.

"Moreover, more than half of the fervor of Spike's fan group stems from his unparalleled, unmatched achievements, whether in China or the United States.

"And crushing this fervor is simple; we just need to make his fans and the general public know that Spike is not truly invincible."

As a Japanese person, Norio Ohga, who knew the idol fan culture inside out, was far too familiar with this tactic.

He could only say that Zhou Yi, or rather Warner, had very big guts.

So many artists play with fan culture, yet even Michael Jackson would not dare to use such an absolutely invincible persona that has a 99% chance of crashing and burning.

Especially since Zhou Yi is a musician.

Talent is something no one can guarantee will remain invincible until retirement; once the persona crashes, the immense popularity brought by such fan culture will instantly backfire, leading to ruin and infamy in an instant.

"But he has indeed crushed the American music scene these past few months; who else can we find now?"

"No, no, no, we don't need the American music scene; you should focus your eyes on the Asian music scene, which most Americans know little about." Norio Ohga gestured to his secretary, who immediately understood and distributed documents to the executives.

"In China, Spike had two formidable rivals when he first debuted: one is Xie Tingfeng, whose popularity plummeted due to lawsuits; this person is already ruined and cannot serve as a pawn for us to counter with.

"The other is Alexander..."

As Norio Ohga introduced the English name and past achievements of the Chinese-American Wang Lihong, his self-composed and self-sung Mandarin hit "The Only One" once fought neck-and-neck with Zhou Yi on the mainland, eventually reaching number one on the charts, becoming the capital for endorsement.

"Now Alexander has also released his first album in Japan, officially entering the Japanese market. As long as his album sales meet expectations, even if they do not match Spike's achievements in Japan, it doesn't matter; Sony will help market him as an Asian superstar comparable to Spike."

The index finger tapping the conference table paused as Norio Ohga elaborated on the importance he placed on Wang Lihong's current trip to the Japanese market.

"The most vulnerable part of Spike's current persona's foundation is 'invincible in Asia'; Warner claims he has no rival in Asia. But in reality, Utada Hikaru of EMI has confirmed she will release an English album next year; she is the only person in the Asian music scene who has ever comprehensively defeated Spike.

"As far as I know, Utada Hikaru's team plans to market it exactly this way; naturally, we can use Alexander to market it in advance."

Marketing is something everyone does; it means everyone is the same.

After all, most Americans learn about Asia through major traditional media channels; they believe whatever the media says.

As long as Wang Lihong's data in the Japanese market is passable, then with the support of Sony's powerful marketing channels, there is no need to buy negative articles; the uniqueness of Zhou Yi's invincible persona will naturally collapse, because his fans will feel a strong sense of deception—

Naturally, with just a little guidance, his public relations behavior in the US will also lose its filter; at the very least, many fans will have their filters shattered, causing them to start scrutinizing all of Zhou Yi's hype tactics.

Commonly known as a 'house collapse'.

Of course, not everyone held doubts about this—

"What if Alexander has no results?"

Norio Ohga fell silent for a moment: "According to investigations from the Japanese side, it is unlikely. Alexander's talent is obvious to all; he entered the Mandarin music circle due to the accident of returning home to visit relatives; otherwise, he would have debuted in the US after completing his studies.

"His school, Sony's Taiwan branch, and even Li Wen, the top star of Sony Taiwan, have praised his talent highly; Li Wen stated he has a Western foundation."

Although Li Wen failed to make it in the West, her evaluation actually holds some persuasiveness.

With Zhou Yi as a baseline, Wang Lihong's Western music foundation should obviously also be well-received in Japan.

Moreover, Zhou Yi is just a Chinese person; even his English knowledge was learned in Chinese schools, and his understanding of American culture was previously limited to textbooks and news;

Wang Lihong, however, is a genuine ABC who grew up in the US from childhood; his English is even more standard than Zhou Yi's, and deep down he should understand American pop culture better than Zhou Yi.

"When did he release his album?"

"April 23; calculating the time, it's coming soon. Today is the 30th, the seventh day; tomorrow we should get the one-week results."

Norio Ohga glanced at the date, his heart filled with anticipation.

He was also envious of Zhou Yi under Warner.

If Wang Lihong could reach this status, he almost dared not imagine it.

However...

Actually, due to the time difference, the senior executives of the Sony Japan branch, who had already received all the data, were currently so worried they couldn't sleep.

Although the moonlight outside the conference room indicated it was already late at night, Norio Ohga, President of Sony Music Japan, continued to smoke cigarette after cigarette, showing no intention of going home to sleep.

Beside the huge conference table, five other Sony core executives were smoking with him.

"Why exactly? Why exactly?"

"We clearly invested so much, even copying part of Zhou Yi Jun's 【Star Among Stars】 marketing model..."

So worried...

Wang Lihong, who performed excellently in the Chinese market, is a Chinese American, grew up in the US, speaks fluent English, and deeply understands the essence of Western pop music culture, launched his debut album "TheOnlyOne" to break into the Japanese market with great fanfare seven days ago, and has since been running non-stop on promotional tours under Sony's arrangement—

All to maximize his face exposure and showcase his prince-like image and personality.

Due to his handsome looks and height, Wang Lihong still went with the "yasashi" approach.

Theoretically, this approach should appeal to many girls, even many women.

He also played this role diligently on variety shows and received consistent praise from Japanese girls and housewives on the programs.

Yasashi, tall and strong, handsome, and talented—by all accounts, this should be an absolute kill.

But the bloody reality ultimately told all Sony Japan record executives, including Masao Morita, that Wang Lihong couldn't make it.

The Oricon charts in Japan have requirements and restrictions for tallying sales of major singers; it is not the case that anyone who releases an album, even a random cat or dog, gets recorded.

Therefore, in reality, not every singer who releases a disc in Japan will have a sales record.

If the minimum requirement for appearing on the weekly charts is not met, such as failing to enter the Top 200 of the singles weekly chart or the Top 300 of the albums weekly chart, then Oricon will not have any sales record on file.

This is why some foreign singers have released discs or singles in Japan but have no sales records to check.

And during the week of April 23–30, neither Wang Lihong's single nor his album appeared on Japan's most authoritative Oricon charts.

Keep in mind, last week the record for the 200th place on the Oricon singles weekly chart was 632 copies, and the record for the 300th place on the albums weekly chart was 701 copies.

This means Wang Lihong worked himself to death for a week, and Sony's heavy investment in promotion all went down the drain...

The single didn't sell six hundred, the album didn't sell seven hundred.

A lonely three-digit figure, placed alongside Zhou Yi's album and single sales in Japan, creates a maximally ironic effect.

Masao Morita digested this all night but still found it hard to accept this cruel reality.

What the hell is going on? This shouldn't be happening...

But what must come will eventually come.

When Daxia Dianxiong, who was in the US, called at 8 AM on May 1 US time, Masao Morita, who is one of the three horsemen of Sony alongside him, immediately stood at attention and then performed a very practiced bow—

"Red bean mud, sumimasen!"

USA, New York, Sony Building, high-level conference room.

Daxia Dianxiong: "???"

(End of this chapter)