China Entertainment 2000

A scolding war between top figures was particularly lively in the first month of 2003.

The American media, who are not too concerned about the excitement, even listed Mariah Carey's song in response to Eminem last year: "Clown".

At that time, many media reporters believed that Mariah Carey's song was echoing Zhou Yi's blog post about Eminem changing his name, mocking the latter to quickly go to Gotham to become the Joker to confront Batman. , so it was nicknamed a mixed doubles team.

However, it is a pity that the song "Clown" did not appear on the B-chart overall list. Like Eminem's song "Idiot" (Idiot), which dissed Zhou Yi in November last year, it only entered the category list at a low position and was not exposed at all. made a face.

But it's different now.

Zhou Yi's "Enemy" debuted on the list and reached the top 100 of the B-list with its excellent song quality. This achievement is undoubtedly crushing compared to Eminem and Mariah Carey. results.

In terms of popularity, Zhou Yi's song can kill them ten times or even a hundred times, which can be said to be far ahead.

At this moment, no matter how many interest groups there are within Warner, they have temporarily unified their minds on Zhou Yi's issue - the matter is over, making money is the most important thing.

The factory machines were almost smoking, and Warner's board of directors had to go to the factory to drive screws to assemble the single disc.

That's it, the genuine version still can't keep up with the pirated version. Basically, every time a single is sold, there are hundreds of downloads of pirated links, and even though Warner has begun to pursue it, it is helpless.

In early 2003, both the Eastern and Western music circles officially entered the era of piracy.

This had to make Warner Records once again pay attention to the cooperation proposal put forward by Steve Jobs from Apple——

As Zhou Yi's spokesperson in his absence, Zhou Jianhui also met Steve Jobs, who came to discuss cooperation in person after being introduced by Edgar Jr.

"Within six months, our current goal at Apple is to sell 1 million genuine licensed songs within six months of the music store being officially launched."

As a super rich man with a net worth of over one billion US dollars, a man who was kicked out of Apple in the past and was able to found Pixar Animation Studio and become famous again with "Toy Story", Jobs is talking about his The entertainment strategy is extremely clear-cut.

He understands the entertainment industry.

This is why Edgar Jr., who wanted to acquire Warner Records, met Steve Jobs, who wanted to cooperate with Warner, and now appears in front of Zhou Jianhui.

"Spike is a superstar, and if he is willing to join, then I think that number can definitely be shortened significantly. It could be four months, it could be three months."

Facing Zhou Jianhui, Steve Jobs unabashedly expressed his appreciation for Zhou Yi's appeal: "If Spike is willing to settle in, then we will provide him with an unprecedented sharing contract, and we will only take 10% .

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

He contacted many other Warner superstars, such as Madonna, Linkin Park, etc., but the idea of ​​a music store was never recognized by their respective groups.

Zhou Yi is the only team willing to contact him when the market prospects are unclear, and his intention to sign a contract is still very high. In addition, he is really envious of Zhou Yi's popularity in the United States, which is even more popular than his fellow countryman Yao Ming.

According to Jobs' original idea, he actually wanted to have a 50-50 split with the record company.

But in the end, the cruel reality taught him how to behave. The five major record companies, including Warner and Sony, all chose to reject it without exception, and there was no way to talk.

After countless negotiations, the final share ratio was fixed at 30% for Apple and 70% for the record company.

But even so, it was only a preliminary acquisition of some songs in the record company's copyright library. None of the superstars came. This is why Jobs initially set a goal of selling 1 million songs in 6 months.

In his opinion, if the iTunes Music Store, which lacks superstars to lead the way, can achieve this result within six months, it is enough to open the champagne.

There is no other way.

To be honest, Zhou Jianhui is not very optimistic about Jobs's music model.

He has already tasted a model similar to this thing in China, and that is Baidu MP3, which was launched at the end of last year.

In his opinion, the willingness to pay for songs listed on the Internet is too low, and singers cannot get much money at all. Not to mention that network anti-theft methods simply cannot keep up, and the spread of the Internet is so fast. As soon as your genuine songs were put on the shelves, there were dozens of pirated versions available for people to download as MP3s.

Internet piracy in the United States is even worse than at home.

It’s still making shitty money.

If Zhou Yi hadn't persisted, he would have withdrawn long ago.

"Ipod spokesperson?"

In China, Zhou Yi, who basically communicates with Zhou Jianhui by phone every day, sounded slightly surprised: "Isn't this thing endorsed by Steve Jobs himself?"

"The past was the past, and the present is now. This music store was born just to bundle the new generation of iPods. How could he get it on his own if he could find a heavyweight musician to endorse it."

Zhou Jianhui sneered: "Don't be fooled by Jobs' nice words, he just wants to create a high profile.

"He also said that he doesn't hire a spokesperson for computers, but according to my information, Yao Ming, who plays in the NBA in China, has been targeted by him. He is going to hire Yao Ming to be the spokesperson for the new generation of Apple computers, just because Yao Ming is very popular now."

I really think Jobs is a reincarnated god.

"What does the contract say?"

Zhou Yi became interested and was curious about how much Jobs would give.

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

As Zhou Yi's first music-related endorsement product in the United States, the starting price given by Jobs is actually very good, and it can even be said that this thing has a premium.

Normally, the endorsement fee for the top mp3 players in the market is only five or six million.

After all, it's just a music player, and there are so many companies making it on the market.

"... Try to add a tiered clause, which must be limited to how many songs I sell in the Apple Music Store. For example, 300,000 songs for one level, 600,000 songs for another level, and the remuneration and profit sharing terms that are recalculated after the sales volume reaches one million, etc. "

Stroking his chin, Zhou Yi, who was full of bad intentions, proposed a condition to Zhou Jianhui that made him feel confused.

What does this mean?

Is this a gamble with Apple?

Didn't you refuse to gamble?

Are you so gambling?

"How can you laugh at Jie Lun for giving money to others in the casino?"

Cheng Hao's house, living room.

After Zhou Yi hung up the phone, Sun Yanzi, who was holding a plate of fruit in her hand, sat cross-legged on the sofa and looked at him with a strange expression.

She could guess with her chest that if Apple really accepted this plan, it would definitely reduce the endorsement fee significantly, which is a typical risk hedging of the business.

"I'm not gambling, this is called investment, you know shit."

Zhou Yi reached out to take the fruit plate that Cheng Hao handed to him, and said comfortably: "It's a sure win, okay. ”

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

He was born with this memory hack, and it is not considered turned on if it is not turned off.

As long as he hits Jobs' pain point, it is not a problem to get tens of millions of dollars more in three years with the ladder clause, and at the moment of signing the contract, Jobs may have to thank him repeatedly.

After all, he is now worried about the future of music stores, and his goals are set extremely conservatively. This is a great opportunity to make a lot of money.

Damn it, you made iOS so closed. In his previous life, he was disgusted by the closed mechanism of iOS.

When I was hanging out in the reader group, I heard that there was an unlucky guy who used an Apple ID to register an account on Qidian to write novels. As a result, after registering and writing novels, he found that he couldn't even manage the novel comment area on the Qidian app, couldn't participate in the monthly ticket lottery, and couldn't even post the reader group account on the book introduction.

How miserable it is.

"Are you currently profitable from your investment? Mingdeng? "

Sun Yanzi bit his fork, chuckled, and winked at Cheng Hao maliciously: "You're right, Cheng Hao?"

"From the current recovery speed of the stock prices of major companies and the reports submitted by the company's personnel stationed in the board of directors of each company, although the return on investment has not yet been made, it is just around the corner."

Cheng Hao, who was overjoyed, finally saved the man's dignity: "In fact, stocks like Moutai are still rising steadily, but the amplitude is not very high."

"Heh, vulgar."

Zhou Yi, who pretended not to hear it, curled his lips in disdain, and his eyes were immediately attracted by the news broadcast on the TV screen as background music--

"It is reported that the new single released by our young singer Zhou Yi in the United States has exceeded 560,000 legitimate sales so far, becoming the first singer since the beginning of 2003 to exceed 500,000 sales in the United States in the first week of the single release.

"Yao Ming, a young player playing in the NBA, recently said in an interview that he is a loyal fan of Zhou Yi..."

When the camera was given to CCTV's field reporter, a group of black and white people with Rockets logos on their clothes appeared on the road behind him, singing "Enemy" loudly--

"Your words up on the wall as you're praying for my fall (words written on the wall to pray for my fall)

"And the laughter in the halls and the names that I've been called (the ridicule and laughter of me gave me a bad name)

"I stack it in my mind and I'm waiting for the time (all stabbed in my heart sooner or later when the time comes)

"When I show you what it's like to be words spit in a mic (like a bullet from the mouth, don't even think of escaping)~~"

The heartfelt shouts and choruses of passers-by could not be faked under the CCTV camera, especially when everyone was singing here, making the same machine gun-like gestures.

"Hello, sorry to bother you, are you fans of Spike? ”

"Spike? Oh, yes, I absolutely love this guy."

A brown-haired guy with his arms around a blonde hottie was obviously very excited when facing the camera: "Spike is so amazing! He is right, Eminem is the Joker! He should go back to Gotham!"

"We're going to propose this song for the halftime show! It's so good!"

"..."

Obviously, some people should have been interviewed after this, but CCTV's editing either silenced the sound and replaced it with the reporter's voice or narration, or simply cut it out.

Zhou Yi was very dissatisfied with this——

Can't you put more?

Sun Yanzi, who didn't really want to watch Zhou Yi's rants, jumped up from the sofa on his hands and knees, grabbed the remote control, and tuned to Hunan Channel to watch the replay of Happy Camp——

She doesn't like variety shows very much, but she prefers to watch silly variety shows to relax.

Especially a variety show like "Happy Camp" which is really fun.

Naturally, the two started a battle for the remote control like two naughty kids at Cheng Hao's house. Cheng Hao, who was used to it, shook his head helplessly, picked up his fruit plate and sat down to read a magazine while letting it go. These two are fighting for each other on the sofa, and the years are quiet.

After moving into the new home, at first it was Sun Yanzi who came to eat in the name of learning cooking skills. Later, Zhou Yi, who didn't know what shame was, simply didn't bother to eat the food brought by his assistant, and euphemistically called him Supervisor Sun Yan. Now, don’t let her eat too much, otherwise she will be scolded by the company.

Then, her home became a place where the three of them would often stay whenever they wanted to rest, and the originally empty living room became lively.

"Oh, by the way, Hello Cheng, are you going to the United States to see your uncles and aunts during the Chinese New Year this year? Or will you stay in China?"

After all, Sun Yanzi, whose thin arms could not twist his thick thighs, turned his attention to his good best friend who had been quiet for many years and asked curiously.

"My mother wouldn't let me go, saying it would be too troublesome to go back and forth. She just asked me to stay in China without any worries."

Cheng Hao shook his head when talking about his parents: "My dad's treatment there has been very good. It is estimated that he will be able to be transferred back to a nursing home in China around June this year."

"That's it..."

Sun Yanzi nodded clearly, then jumped up from the sofa, reached out to grab his bag, pursed his tongue and reached inside for a long time——

Cheng Hao was a little surprised: "Why do you ask this?"

"Dang Dang!"

Sun Yanzi, who touched an envelope, took it out of his bag and held it up in front of Cheng Hao as if to show off some treasure. He grinned with big teeth and said, "Are you interested in coming to the Spring Festival Gala to celebrate the New Year with me? I We are so lonely with Elva Hsiao, Zhou Yi is not from the same time period as us."

"..."

Cheng Hao blinked and looked at Sun Yanzi, whose smile was as bright as a sunflower. He seemed to have thought of something. He quickly swallowed the words that came to his lips and took the envelope with a smile: " Okay, that’s settled.”

"Nice!"

Seeing that Cheng Hao accepted the envelope, Sun Yanzi briefly blinked his right eye alone and gave her a wink. While shouting happily, he did not forget to give her a thumbs up, and his short hair swayed with joy: "Let's celebrate the New Year together."

Zhou Yi, who was sitting aside, watched the exchange between the two. While chewing the fruit, he couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth with a slight arc.

Is Sun Yanzi short of someone to celebrate the New Year?

There is obviously no shortage of them this year, Elva Hsiao is keeping her company.

"Cheng Hao, if she doesn't want to go to her parents' place for the Chinese New Year, why don't we just invite her to spend the Chinese New Year with us? If there are more people and it's more lively, she won't feel lonely."

This is what Sun Yanzi said when he first discussed it with him.

Having traveled across the ocean to work in China alone, she obviously understands how uncomfortable it is to be alone during the Chinese New Year, which is why she initially came to have a meal under the pretext of learning cooking skills.

Of course, it was definitely not because he was greedy that Cheng Hao cooked delicious food, which was ten thousand times better than hers.

Absolutely not!

The next day, Sun Yanzi, who was full of energy, reunited with Elva Hsiao again and entered the CCTV studio hall.

The 2003 CCTV Year of the Sheep Spring Festival Gala has entered the final rehearsal stage. At this point, only the big-hearted Zhou Yi can sit still.

Even a frequent visitor to the Spring Festival Gala like Zhao Benshan was extremely nervous, correcting his own minor mistakes and striving for excellence.

As a model for the old to lead the new, Sun Yanzi, who is attending the Spring Festival Gala for the second time, will also lead Elva Hsiao, who is attending the Spring Festival Gala for the first time. Therefore, no matter how many times it was rehearsed, the two of them were always beating the drum during the rehearsal, for fear that the show would be canceled.

In fact, if the song "Mom and Dad" they were about to sing was not more in line with traditional Chinese concepts, they might have been the ones who were kicked off the show.

As a family-oriented pop song, the song "Mom and Dad" they sang successfully squeezed out the "Happy Gathering" sung by seven singers within the system, and became the last program before the clock struck zero.

As for Zhou Yi, what he squeezed out was Aaron Kwok, the former Warner Bros. brother.

Originally Aaron Kwok was going to sing "Move" at this Spring Festival Gala, but now it is no longer available and will be replaced by his "Young China".

Due to Zhou Yi's achievements and reputation, no one objected to this decision. Aaron Kwok's own focus was on the film industry, so there was no objection.

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

In the studio hall, Zhang Baizhi, who sang the audience-requested song "DV Tonight" with Xie Xiaodong this year, had no intention of avoiding suspicion because of his boyfriend Xie Tingfeng. Even when his boyfriend was in trouble, he still warmly greeted his "boyfriend's old enemy" Zhou Yi who arrived at the scene.

How should I put it, you can't tell whether she has no brains or is just so careless.

However, considering this person's behavior after the photo incident, she dared to take a photo with Guan Xi and post it publicly, Zhou Yi is more inclined to think that she may not have the brains to avoid lightning.

"Your rap is too fast. How did you do it?"

……………………

"Honestly, I don't know."

On the evening of January 24, on a variety show in the United States.

Faced with the host's question, guest Mariah Carey also shook her head: "In fact, I have tried many times in private, but obviously I don't have this rap talent. I have to say It's a shame, because I think Spike's fast-paced rap could be a textbook."

"Better than Eminem?"

"Eminem? Who? I don't even know him."

Mariah Carey shook her blond hair and shrugged in front of the camera: "The results of Spike's song have said it all. In fact, I do think so, and I'm not lying.

"I can launch a challenge. If anyone here can sing this rap completely at the original speed, I can give him a thousand dollars."

The challenge launched by Mariah Carey, who looks like she has a lot of money, makes the host feel strange——

No, how can you still do this with your propaganda?