China Entertainment 1997

Los Angeles, USA

Cao Xuan met Mike and his Warner Princess executive agent again.

Perhaps her temperament was somewhat similar to Zeng Li's. Avril looked at the other person warily several times before waving goodbye to Cao Xuan with some reluctance.

This trip to China took almost half a month to travel, perform, and travel. For Avril, who is still on the rise in her career, it is not a big time.

After returning to the United States, she had to make up for the past few days and had no time to continue pestering Cao Xuan.

After bidding farewell to the little girl, Cao Xuan and others headed to Warner's headquarters. On the way, Mike, who had gained weight again, shouted excitedly.

"Chris, your Billboard singles chart is up again."

Cao Xuan was not surprised by this. After the new album was released, it had three songs on the charts within half a week, one of which even approached the top thirty.

Of course, most of this is based on the popularity of the previous album and Cao Xuan himself. Subsequent rankings will also depend on the quality of the songs.

But Cao Xuan is obviously very confident in his album. He also believes that this album will have a more stable and better start based on the popularity of the previous album.

"About how much has it risen?"

Although he knew it was definitely rising, Cao Xuan still didn't know the specific data. Mike glanced at Jonna Warner, and the red-haired beauty opened the folder she carried with her.

“As of today, ‘Release’ has been on the Billboard singles chart for two weeks and the albums chart for one week.

There are currently four songs from the album on the list. The best one is still "Free Loop", temporarily ranked 23rd, followed by "Sugar", ranked 29th.

"Believer" has the fastest growth rate. It was only ranked 89th at the beginning, and now it has jumped to 41st in a week, with a strong momentum.

The album chart is currently ranked seventh. Two weeks after the album was released, sales have approached 500,000 copies. It is expected that the album chart ranking next week will be strong but not weak.

It’s also worth mentioning that the MV for “Sugar” is very popular on the Internet. It has ranked among the top two in Google searches and is often replayed by TV stations..."

Cao Xuan listened quietly, and after Qiao Na finished speaking, he expressed a little surprised: "It sounds pretty good, much better than the last one."

"It's not just good, it's awesome, man."

Mike was extremely dissatisfied with Cao Xuan's modest expression: "This is definitely a phenomenal performance. Those idiots on the board of directors... Qiao Na, not including your grandfather and father."

Qiaona rolled her eyes, took out her MP3 player, and put on her headphones: "I didn't hear it."

"Good, good girl, keep enjoying your music."

Mike wanted to pat Qiao Na with his big fat hand, but he didn't care when she was avoided. He continued to complain to Cao Xuan about the director of Warner Records with a shy chubby face.

In his words, these people are all hopeless idiots who are not optimistic about Cao Xuan. He single-handedly supported Cao Xuan. Now that "Release" has exploded, he and Cao Xuan have the greatest credit.

If I don't give him a position as deputy director of the board of directors this time, he will quit and find his old father-in-law to support him...

Cao Xuan believed at most 50% of what Mike said, and even the 50% had to be put in quotation marks.

To say that this guy supports Cao Xuan, Cao Xuan believes that it is because the two people have a community of interests to some extent.

Cao Xuan relies on Mike to fight for resources at Warner, and Mike relies on Cao Xuan's performance to expand his influence and voice on the board of directors. Both parties are mutually beneficial and have symbiotic interests.

Therefore, Cao Xuan strongly believes that Mike will do his best to protect and support him, because once his interests are harmed, Mike will also suffer losses.

But if Warner doesn't value Cao Xuan, he definitely doesn't believe it.

With the last film "Chris Tsao", Cao Xuan made a lot of money for Warner Bros. Apart from a few aces such as Linkin Park, Cao Xuan was the most profitable.

This is because Cao Xuan is not a contracted artist, it is a cooperative relationship, he has a high degree of freedom and he owns the copyright. Otherwise, I am afraid Linkin Park may not be able to compare with him.

As an Asian superstar, Cao Xuan has his own controversial traffic, and there is an Asian market behind him. Because the World Cup is also well-known in Europe and South America, his potential is endless. As long as Warner is not stupid, how can it not value him.

This can also be seen from the Grammy. Cao Xuan won two awards in a row. It would not have been so easy without Warner's help behind the scenes.

It can also be seen from Avril Lavigne's experience that her performance and data are not inferior to Cao Xuan, but the company she works for is limited in strength, and her public relations ability for important awards such as the Grammys is far weaker than Warner's.

If the two of them changed companies, the outcome of this award would be hard to say...

Therefore, just listen to what Mike said about Warner's board of directors abandoning Cao Xuan, but you don't have to believe it entirely.

The reason why it is [complete] and not [true] is because Mike’s statement is not without foundation.

Cao Xuan is valued at Warner, but it depends on who he compares to. This year, Warner's number one, Linkin Park, also released a new album, and the data is quite impressive.

Even the sales volume at the beginning was much better than that of Cao Xuan, and it was a little weak in the later period, but it was also because the explosion at the beginning was too strong, and the overall performance was very good.

Linkin Park is a direct lineage that Warner personally discovered and made famous.

A half-outsider like Cao Xuan is definitely incomparable to a biological son like this. Fortunately, the album releases of both parties are separated by more than half a year, so they have little influence on each other.

If it is released at the same time, there is no doubt that Cao Xuan's resources will be greatly affected.

Even at this stage, Warner still has two singers releasing songs, and Cao Xuan has also been affected to some extent. If the data hadn't been good, he might have been robbed of resources.

There was no way around it, Warner was having serious internal disputes. Cao Xuan was a foreigner and a non-signed artist, so he was naturally discriminated against.

Just like a foreign actor who is affiliated with Fanxing to cooperate and compete with Fanxing artists for resources under the same conditions, Cao Xuan will inevitably prefer his own artists in his heart.

Cao Xuan understood Warner's thoughts and did not expect that the other party could treat him as one of his own.

All he has to do is show greater strength and potential and force Warner to make his own choice.

Under equal conditions, we must give priority to our own people. Under different conditions, we will give priority to those with the highest benefits.

So Cao Xuan knew what Warner's attitude was, and he didn't listen to Mike's nonsense at all. This damn fat guy was just taking credit for himself.

He complained about the Warner board of directors in front of himself, and maybe even talked about himself in front of the Warner board of directors, how wise he was, and finally helped himself to the right path.

Old Two-Face!

As for the deputy director that Mike longed for, Cao Xuan also wanted him to take the position. It would be good for him, but no one could say whether he could succeed.

As for what Mike said about hugging his old father-in-law's lap, just listen to it. When he was at Warner Records, he was a media company executive. When he was working for his old father-in-law, he was just a picky husband.

It’s so delicious that soft rice is so delicious. Not everyone has the ability to eat soft rice like Cao Dahua’s...

However, although some of what Mike said was untrustworthy, his ability to do things was still very strong. Especially when Cao Xuan was prosperous, he used almost all the resources at his disposal to promote Cao Xuan to the top at all costs.

"Chris, guess what kind of performance opportunity I got for you."

Mike was showing off with a proud face. Since last month, this guy has been calling to tell Cao Xuan that he had a big surprise for him.

It wasn't until Cao Xuan came to the United States that he couldn't hide it anymore, so he decided to reveal the mystery. Before he revealed it, he didn't forget to make a few teasing remarks.

Cao Xuan did not tolerate him at all: "The Super Bowl is not here yet, could it be possible that you got me a White House guest performer to sing for George W. Bush?"

"Ahem."

Mike almost choked to death: "Man, although Warner is very powerful in Hollywood, it has not yet been able to influence the White House in formulating the performance list."

"It's not the White House, it's not the Super Bowl, so what's there to say?"

Cao Xuan pretended to be disappointed, but Mike didn't notice it and couldn't help but feel unfair for his efforts.

"Leaving the White House aside, no matter how great the Super Bowl is, I can't say that the ratings can steadily beat the opportunity I've given you."

Cao Xuan raised his eyebrows: "You shouldn't have asked me to go to Victoria's Secret, right?"

"...How did you guess it?"

The feeling of being guessed before the answer was revealed made Mike a little depressed, but Cao Xuan explained calmly.

“There are only a few top performance resources that singers can obtain in the United States, such as the Grammys, Oscars, and the finals of major events. The rest are fashion shows or music festivals that attract high attention.

Coupled with the tips you gave, the ratings are comparable to the Super Bowl. I calculated the time and only the nearby Victoria's Secret is the most suitable. "

Just as Cao Xuan guessed, he had attended the closing ceremony of the World Cup finals and the Grammy Awards, so he wouldn't be able to show off his performance to Mike, otherwise he would be humiliating himself.

Although Victoria's Secret is not as good as the Super Bowl, it can barely be regarded as a top resource due to its high level of attention. The time is so close that it is not difficult to guess.

Not to mention, Mike's sinister look and slutty smile also gave him a lot of hints.

“It’s the Victoria’s Secret show.”

Mike also didn’t hide it: “I have been eyeing this resource for a long time, and Victoria’s Secret also hopes to use you to expand its influence in Asia, so we finally reached this cooperation.

Man, thank me. Heidi Klum, Gisele Bundchen, and Fernanda are all well-known supermodels in the world. If you win one, you will become the public enemy of countless men. "

As Mike talked, he felt envious. Those Victoria's Secret Angels had legs from the neck down.

Even though he has changed his ways now, he still feels hot in his heart when he thinks about it.

Cao Xuan is more serious than him, and supermodels are naturally interested, but what he values ​​more is Victoria's Secret's support for his career.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show began in the early 1990s and soon became popular all over the world.

Men look at the figure, while women look at the underwear. The influence and ratings are indeed no less than those of the finals of several competitions in the United States, or even worse.

Women can stop watching football, but they can’t stop looking at their clothes. Men can also stop watching football, but they can’t stop looking at beauties and long legs.

Even if many "gentlemen" don't care on the surface, who knows if they are watching replays or looking for resources online.

So if Cao Xuan can participate in the Victoria's Secret show, it will be a good opportunity for him to show his face. It may not be as good as the World Cup finals, but from the perspective of performance influence, it will definitely be stronger than the Grammy.

At the same time, since the 2001 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, song performances have been added, and the number of artists invited is not low.

Especially as it became more and more popular later on, it became a challenger to the Super Bowl halftime show and became a must-have for the top players in the major European and American music circles.

Of course, the competition has not reached this level in 2003, which is why Cao Xuan was able to pick up the slack.

If it were to be as intense in later generations, with his current influence in the United States, he might not be able to overtake those top European and American figures.

But it doesn't mean that Victoria's Secret is bad. The previous ratings and influence have said everything. It's just that the stars in the music industry have not paid special attention to this stage.

Moreover, the threshold for Victoria's Secret is relatively high. It's not just about getting accepted. People have to look at the fit and the potential market and influence behind the singer.

After all, they are here to sell underwear and the visibility of the Victoria's Secret show, not to praise the singer, so not being a famous singer means everything.

On the contrary, due to the evolution of the traffic era in later generations, Victoria's Secret has become a stage for singers to compete for popularity and traffic. At that time, the organizers may consider more whether the singer is popular.

That’s why Victoria’s Secret will become a place for supremacy in the music industry in the future, and even the status of the music industry will be proven by whether you can land in Victoria’s Secret.

This is also good news for Cao Xuan.

When new singers compete for Victoria's Secret in the future, Cao Xuan's fans will express with a sense of superiority that their idol will be on the list in 2003.

At that time, there were not so many people worrying about the gold content. The earlier they got in, the more senior they were and the more awesome they looked.

Of course, now, Victoria's Secret's bonus to a singer's status is not as high as that of later generations, but it is still a good resume. Coupled with Victoria's Secret's huge attention and ratings, it is indeed a top resource for Cao Xuan.

Patting Mike's fat belly, Cao Xuan gave him a rare compliment: "Well done, I'll treat you to a restaurant."

"Get me some more supermodel phone numbers."

Mike put forward additional conditions, and Cao Xuan was speechless: "Aren't you married?"

"I asked for it for a friend."

Ignoring this fat man who made friends out of nothing, Cao Xuan and others went to Warner Records.

When I arrived at the door, I saw a middle-aged man with gray hair. When he saw Cao Xuan, he immediately gave him an exaggerated hug.

"Cao, welcome."

"..."

Cao Xuan had never seen the other party before and was a little confused. Mike quickly reminded: "Joshua Warner, director of Warner Group and first vice director of Warner Records, is also Qiao Na's father."

Oh, the second prince of Warner!

Cao Xuan knew it well. He had heard about this person. He was very low-key and didn't like to take care of the company. He traveled around the world to have fun, so he was rarely in the company.

Most of the executives at Warner Records, Cao Xuan, knew each other, but this was the first time they met him.

"Joshua, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

Joshua has a very interesting personality. He doesn't have the airs of a media prince or executive at all, and he pulls Cao Xuan to praise him repeatedly.

"I like to listen to your songs the most now. I can't listen to other singers at all. I have also recommended it to many friends, and they all praise it full of praise."

"Thanks a lot."

Cao Xuan smiled politely, but whether he believed Joshua's words or not was a matter of judgment and wisdom.

Just like some people plausibly said in the comment area [I will read your Huayu book now, and I can't read any other books], but turned around and wrote the same message in this chapter of another Huayu article.

Bah, scumbag...

However, Joshua may still have some sincerity. He exchanged phone numbers abruptly before letting Cao Xuan leave, and even asked Cao Xuan to go fishing when he was free.

The two chatted, and during this period, Qiao Na didn't say a word. Joshua glanced at his daughter several times, but didn't speak.

After the separation, Cao Xuan couldn't help but be curious and quietly poked Mike: "What's going on with the father and daughter?"

"Joshua was divorced three times and Jonna lived with her mother."

Cao Xuan immediately understood that it was normal for single-parent children to complain about one of their parents. He had no intention of meddling in other people's family affairs, but was just curious.

"Why did Joshua get divorced three times? Why are you a playboy?"

Mike's face looked a little strange when he heard this. Before he could speak, Qiao Na on the side spoke coldly.

"It's not about playing tricks, it's about fishing."

“Can fishing also lead to divorce?”

"If your wife goes out fishing 20 to 25 days a month, leaves early and comes home late every day, and often travels abroad alone, and it is common not to see her for dozens of days, would you divorce her?"

"…Leave!"

"Obviously, my mother and his other two wives feel the same way as you."

Be good~

Cao Xuan looked at Joshua with admiration. There were many people who fished out family conflicts, but he was a genius who had caused his wife and children to separate several times.

He was a little tempted when Joshua asked him to go fishing just now, but now he might as well forget it. He is not as tolerant as the other party. Fishing is more important than his wife.

When he came to Warner Company, as a rising star, Cao Xuan's treatment in the company became increasingly powerful.

In the beginning, it was just a temporary transfer of people to take charge. After the explosion of "Chris Tsao", the executive Mike personally contacted Cao Xuan and formed his own exclusive team for Cao Xuan.

Cao Xuan lived such a comfortable life in China, and his performance and influence in the United States continued to rise. These team members deserved most of the credit.

After the release of his second album "Release", Cao Xuan's salary improved again, and Warner opened a small office area for his team.

In the entire Warner Records, except for Madonna, who has already started her own business, only two people have this treatment.

One is Cao Xuan and the other is Linkin Park.

To a certain extent, in the hearts of Warner executives, even if Cao Xuan's status is not as good as Linkin Park, it is not far behind.

As the core of the team, the first thing Cao Xuan does every time he comes to the United States is to cheer up the team, exchange feelings, and occasionally give rewards out of his own pocket.

In this way, people will try their best to do things when he is not in the United States, and at the same time, they can bribe a few informants to provide him with information.

After motivating the team, Qiao Na also went to work. Mike took Cao Xuan to see his office as an excuse, and finally found an opportunity for the two of them to be alone in a room.

"Jona was here just now, so it's not convenient to talk about a lot of things. Chris, I treat you as a friend, so don't leak what I'm going to say next."

Seeing Mike's serious expression, Cao Xuan also realized something was wrong and corrected his attitude.

"Don't worry, I'm very strict with my words."

"The parent company plans to spin off the music business and sell it."

"What did you say?"

Even though Cao Xuan was mentally prepared when he saw Mike's serious expression, he couldn't help but send Wang De a message when he heard the news.

It’s no wonder that he was shocked. The five major record companies in the world suddenly changed owners. No one was confused after hearing this. More importantly, this is likely to be related to his future in the European and American music circles.

With such a big company suddenly changing hands, I am afraid there will be a lot of high-level changes in the future. There will be internal conflicts between old and new factions, and the company's development direction will be confused for a while. With Cao Xuan's current status and size in Warner, it will be difficult to be alone.

Frankly speaking, at this moment Cao Xuan has already begun to think about whether to switch jobs to Universal or Sony...

Mike seemed to see what Cao Xuan was thinking and hurriedly said: "The new boss wants to see you."

"New boss?"

Cao Xuan glanced at Mike, and he got in touch with the new boss so quickly. This damn fat guy couldn't be said to be loyal to the Warner family, at least he was dedicated to his work.

Cao Xuan even strongly suspected that Mike might have played some disgraceful role during this period and was already a member of the new boss.

No wonder he keeps saying that he wants to be the vice chairman. His feelings have been planned for a long time, and he underestimates him.

"Tell me first what's going on and why there wasn't any news before."

Cao Xuan probably understood Mike's purpose. The new boss's purpose was to make money. Naturally, he had to stabilize the generals first. Both Cao Xuan and Linkin Park were promised huge profits to retain them.

If two pillars are lost, even if they win Warner Records, they will still suffer heavy losses.

Mike, who has a close relationship with Cao Xuan, is the best lobbyist. The other party revealed the news in advance to stabilize people's hearts and not scare people away.

Cao Xuan felt a lot calmer in his heart. He and the Warner family didn't have much interest at all. As long as it didn't hurt his interests, it was cooperation anyway, and it didn't matter who he cooperated with.

And in his impression, Warner Records did have such a change, but it did not affect the company's fundamentals. After a short period of turmoil, it still ranked among the top record companies in the world.

Mike also roughly told Cao Xuan the background of the matter.

In 2000, America Online, the largest communications provider in the United States, merged with Warner Bros. and even planned to acquire Universal as well to create the largest media group in the United States.

Although Universal failed to win in the end, the Warner merger was completed, and the new company once ranked 37th among the Fortune 500 and was called a media giant.

As a result, U.S. officials soon launched a series of antitrust investigations into the merger, which eventually led to the disintegration of the new company and Warner was hit hard.

Because of this incident, Warner has actually not been able to recover in the past two years, and has been suppressed. It can only selectively divest some non-core businesses.

The music business was the first big sector that Warner started to cut, and as soon as Warner was ready to let go, the next company came to take over.

Edgar Bronfman Jr.

The former president of Universal Group and a media tycoon learned that Warner was interested in selling Warner Records. He contacted a group of individual investors and related institutions, raised a large sum of money and established an investment group with the intention of acquiring Warner. record.

The contact between the two parties is now going smoothly. According to Mike's wishes, if nothing unexpected happens, the acquisition will be officially completed and announced to the public by the end of the year.

By then, this little Edgar will become the new head of Warner Records.

Mike had many compliments for the new boss and said that he admired Cao Xuan very much and would increase resources in the future to help Cao Xuan become a first-class international superstar.

Cao Xuan did not comment on these empty promises, but instead raised a question that he was more interested in.

"Just now you said that the Warner family still wants to maintain 10% of its shares. Aren't they planning to divest all of it?"

"It is planned to divest everything, but the new boss doesn't have enough money. I heard that the acquisition exceeds 2 billion US dollars. In order to get as many shares as possible, the new boss has pledged many of the company's copyrights and business to the bank in advance.

However, considering that the company still needs to develop, a lot of money cannot be moved, and banks cannot mortgage everything, so funds are still a bit tight, and the last 10% is really out of money. "

"If you want to get these 10% shares, how much money will you need?"

"No matter what, it must be more than 200 million US dollars."

Mike was suddenly confused, looked at Cao Xuan with difficulty, and asked in a harsh voice: "What do you mean by this?"

"It's not interesting. Please help me contact the new boss. I want to chat with him."

Cao Xuan's smile was flat, but there was a faint green light in Mike's eyes.

Don’t get me wrong, Americans don’t understand cuckoldry. In the United States, the greenest time is when the dollar bill is pegged. Cao Xuan’s two sentences made Mike see the shadow of Franklin on his face...

————

ps: Ni Baifo’s new book "I Think It’s Too Difficult to Be Single"

I read this book myself. It’s very interesting. There are nine ex-girlfriends in the Shura field at the beginning. The male protagonist is a scumbag among scumbags.

The female characters are very vivid and interesting, including female CEOs, young teachers, childlike giants, tomboys, female stars, funny girls, poisonous tongues, tsunderes, mixed-race beauties... almost everything you like is there (no charge for this section) )