Giant of the times

On a very ordinary night in early March, many people were watching TV series at home. At around 8:15 in the evening, the TV series ended and entered the commercial break. At this time, Apple's Walkman commercial video began to play on the TV.

ABC TV station and NBC TV station are two of the three major TV stations in the United States, with wide coverage and very high ratings.

As soon as the commercial was aired, many families naturally saw it.

People couldn't help but be surprised.

"Oh, what is that thing? It's so small that you can carry it with you and listen to music?"

"Walkman? Is it a portable music player?"

"Is this a new product from Apple?"

"..."

An advertisement ended, which attracted a lot of people's attention!

Throughout the prime time of the evening, this advertisement appeared every time during the commercial break. People were quickly attracted to this Walkman product, especially young people in the United States, who showed great enthusiasm.

The next day, many schools in the United States were discussing the Walkman on a small scale.

"Do you know Walkman?"

"What it is?"

Another student shouted excitedly: "I know, I know! It's a small and exquisite music player that can be carried around. Not only can you wear headphones to listen to music, but you can also play it directly through the speakers! It's so cool! What if With it, you can listen to music anytime, anywhere!”

"Oh, there is such a product, what does it look like?"

"You can tell by turning on the TV at night and watching ABC TV commercials."

"There are also ads on NBC TV. I learned about it from the ads on NBC."

"Really? The company that produces the Walkman is quite powerful. It actually advertises on both ABC and NBC TV stations at the same time?"

“I saw Apple’s LOGO, it should be their company’s latest product!”

"That's great. Let's go to Apple's flagship store after school!"

"good!"

White-collar workers in many companies are also talking about it. How could such a fashionable and interesting product not attract their attention? After lunch, they started discussing in the office.

Not long after, Apple’s phone lines were flooded with calls, almost all of them asking questions related to the Walkman.

Apple's flagship store welcomed many people, but unfortunately, they could not buy a Walkman. The sales staff told them that the product would not be officially released until April 1. However, you can experience it in advance here.

As a result, Apple's flagship store was packed with people, and many people came here specifically to listen to music.

However, Walkman also exposed some problems. There were too few songs on the tape, and many customers expressed their desire to listen to other songs. The employees at the flagship store had no choice but to say that Apple was negotiating with the record company, and once successful, other songs would be put on the shelves immediately.

As time went by, the Walkman attracted more and more attention. Apple’s flagship store is packed almost every day!

This situation caused concern among record companies.

Warner Records took the lead and began to contact other record companies to form an alliance to boycott the Walkman tape player. Soon afterwards, Universal Music, EMI, BMG Records, CBS/Sony Records, etc. all joined the "Anti-Walkman Alliance".

Without him, the rise of music tapes will definitely impact the vinyl record market.

Li Zetian may not know that when Sony launched the Walkman, it was also opposed by major record companies. However, Sony has its own record company. Compared with Apple, it opened up the situation more easily. The existence of Walkman is not only impacting Sony's record companies, but also the global vinyl record market. However, Sony can make a fortune from tapes. Naturally, other record companies will not sit back and watch Sony alone make money, so they have no choice but to join in. in. In addition, when Sony launched CD records, it once again encountered strong opposition from record companies, because CD records had a more serious impact on vinyl records than tapes. Tapes had obvious defects, such as poor sound quality and small storage capacity, so many people like them. People who love music will still buy vinyl records, but the effect of CD records is only slightly worse than that of vinyl records. If you are not a music enthusiast, you will generally not be able to hear much difference.

At this moment, Li Zetian felt a headache. It seemed that the record companies were targeting him and going against him!

Apple's investment in the Walkman is huge, and if it fails, it will be a huge blow to Apple.

Li Zetian resolutely does not allow failure!

He thought for a while, then came to Tian Shuai's office and said in a deep voice: "The large record companies have joined forces to boycott us, but there are still some small and medium-sized record companies. Their record sales are not large in the first place, so it should be easy to win over them. . We can promise to help them promote their record company’s music tapes when selling Walkman, and even conduct bundled sales! In addition, we will also give them profits from the music tapes for the time being, and we will open up the situation first!”

"Okay, that's all." Things at the record company were very difficult, and Tian Shuai could only nod helplessly.

Li Zetian patted Tian Shuai on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, it will get better!"

In the following period, Apple offered an olive branch to many small and medium-sized record companies. Their record sales were not large, and they might be able to make a lot of money from the tapes by riding on the popularity of the Walkman!

As a result, some small and medium-sized record companies joined Apple's camp.

But soon, rumors spread that the "Anti-Walkman Alliance" led by Warner Records issued a banning order. Anyone who dared to help Apple would ban the record company. I don’t know if this news is true, but it has caused some small record companies to hesitate or even retreat. In this era, many small and medium-sized record companies do not have their own song distribution channels and rely on large record companies to survive. Once banned, they have to establish their own distribution channels. You know, establishing channels is not that simple. How can a small company have the financial resources? This is not the future Internet era, with very cheap online distribution channels...

Li Zetian was very angry about the unethical behavior of the "Anti-Walkman Alliance", and his eyes almost burst into flames. Then he came to Apple's legal department and asked: "The 'Anti-Walkman' Alliance used its monopoly position to engage in unfair activities. competition, can we sue them?”

"If the banning order is indeed released by the Anti-Walkman Alliance, we can indeed prosecute them! However," the Minister of Justice nodded and said, "First of all, we have no conclusive evidence. In addition, such cases can usually be delayed for several months or even a month. More than 20 years ago, and our Walkman is about to be released, I'm afraid..."

"No matter how long the lawsuit will drag on, suing them shows Apple's attitude! Otherwise, the other party will think that we are easy to bully, and will make even more progress!!!" Li Zetian said coldly.

"Okay, Mr. Li, then I will start preparing materials and collecting evidence now!"

"Um!"

When Li Zetian came out of the Ministry of Justice, the anger in his heart weakened slightly.

At present, there are still some record companies that are not afraid of being banned. They have their own record distribution channels. Although they are small, they are not exploited by large record companies like other small record companies. Moreover, it is beneficial for these small record companies not to join the Apple camp, because they can allocate more promotion resources from Apple.