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"Pull him down!" Zhou Buqi was shocked by the data given by Lao Zhang. "Peacock's current paid membership is only 22 million, which has not surpassed Hulu. But Disney is in a hurry now. I heard that it wants to scold the giant Capital to acquire Hulu.”

"Oh." Zhang Chaoyang said lightly, "Streaming media is an Internet business, and Disney cannot be your opponent no matter how hard it goes."

"That's true." Zhou Buqi had this confidence. Seeing him frowning, it was a little funny, "So I said your decision-making was wrong. I told you a long time ago that it is too difficult to make Sohu Video. You see, NetEase is very smart. They don’t do live broadcasts or video streaming. They do music streaming. I think NetEase Cloud Music is quite popular. It is found between Weidian Music and QQ Music. A little bit of living space.”

Zhang Chaoyang nodded, "Well, the entry point for music is very good. At least there is no need to consider the restrictions of triple network integration, which can greatly reduce operating costs."

The amount of data in music is small, far less than the video data in movies and live broadcasts, so it consumes less bandwidth.

Also, listening to music does not require immediacy.

Can buffer for a while longer.

In this way, there is no need to set up three sets of servers.

If the platform uses China Telecom's broadband, whether the audience's broadband is China Unicom or China Mobile, it will not affect the small amount of data received for music, nor will it affect the listening experience.

This greatly reduces the operating costs of music streaming.

Normally, for the same user duration, the operating cost of music streaming is only 3%-5% of that of video streaming.

However, the reason why foreign music streaming media like Spotify has been losing money for many years is not that the operating costs are too high, but that the copyright expenses are too high. Spotify’s monthly subscription fee is $9.99, more than half of which is paid for copyrights, and then divided among musicians.

Zhou Buqi said: "Music streaming is easy to set up. The operating cost is low on the one hand. The bigger advantage is copyright. The popularity of old songs is much higher than that of old movies. There is data in Weidian Music. Old songs are far more popular than new songs. If you make Sohu videos, you have to spend a lot of money to buy the copyrights of new movies. NetEase Cloud Music doesn't have to buy new songs at a high price. This market is mainly based on old songs. host."

Zhang Chaoyang said "Hmm" and said, "I also learned something about it. Domestic music copyrights have basically been bought out, and the old song market has been fixed, which makes it easier to promote the formation of a monopoly market."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "Yes, almost the same. Weidian Music's status is unbreakable because it bought the copyrights of many songs in the past few years. With a one-time purchase, all future profits of Weidian Music will not be divided with the musicians. This business is much more comfortable to do. You see, in the next ten years, video streaming media will always struggle to survive in China. Only music streaming media can make big money, not to mention billions of profits a year. Down."

Zhang Chaoyang's eyes lit up, "Damn! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Zhou Buqi laughed and said, "What did you say earlier?"

Zhang Chaoyang pondered and said: "Listening to your analysis, music streaming media really has a lot of potential. Music streaming media does not have to spend high prices to purchase new films like film and television, and it has a near monopoly on the market of old songs... Even if many works are in music In the hands of the company, as long as the musicians are not given a share, the price of renting the copyright from the music company will be very low.”

Zhou Buqi said: "That's true. It's best to buy it out. If you can't buy it out, you can only rent it. The rent price is within the affordable range, not like the sky-high prices abroad."

Domestic songs are almost all sold on a buyout basis.

The record company has bought out the copyright of the songs. After the buyout, these songs have nothing to do with the composers, lyrics and singers of the songs, and they do not need to share any future profits with them. In this way, the record company's profits are guaranteed.

The interests of record companies are guaranteed. When they rent streaming media rights to Weidian Music, NetEase Cloud Music or QQ Music, the price can be lower, and the streaming media platform can live a prosperous life.

This is not possible abroad.

The musician is the dominant party in the copyright of the song. Every time the song is played, the composer, lyricist, producer, and singer of the song will get a share of it. Even if the record company buys out the song, it still gets a cut.

This is the essential difference between domestic and foreign countries.

There are trade unions abroad.

Trade unions can help filmmakers and musicians fight against the bossy and unfair terms of the employer. If the employer dares to disagree and exploit them with a one-time buyout, then there will be a collective strike. No one can even think about a good life. !

Therefore, it is difficult for foreign record companies to make money, and they have to share a large amount of income with musicians.

It’s hard for record companies to make money, and it’s even harder for music streaming.

It's different in China.

There are no unions.

Strikes are not allowed and anyone who dares to cause trouble will be arrested.

Therefore, the employer can safely and boldly exploit musicians. Even the original singer of a song must pay royalties according to the number of times he wants to sing his own songs. This gives the copyright buyer the opportunity to enjoy long-term exclusive benefits and make a lot of money.

Behind the music streaming platforms are technology giants. They are all super rich, much richer than the record companies. They have enough capital to buy them out.

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "You don't have to regret it too much. NetEase Cloud Music seems to be very good now. Users are just trying to find something new. This thing still depends on the copyright. The copyright of mainland music is basically in my hands. It’s bought out. Half of Hong Kong Island’s music has been bought out. The remaining Hong Kong and Taiwan music can be shared with Weidian Music and QQ Music.”

"Well……"

Zhang Chaoyang's mentality suddenly became much calmer.

The music market is much smaller than that of film and television. It does not require too many platforms. Two are enough. Weidian Music is the number one in the industry, taking about 75% of the market share, and the rest is taken away by QQ Music... There is really no other opportunity.

Zhou Buqi showed off: "According to my estimation, in five years, Weidian Music will be able to create at least 6 billion in profits for Ziweixing every year. To be honest, I only made a small effort. Just relying on Weidian Music will be enough to support Ziweixing." It’s like three or five Sohus.”

After Zhang Chaoyang heard this, he was almost angry to death.

Zhou Buqi said: "It's too late for you to regret it now. If you ask me, you should contact iQiyi, Penguin, Youku, LeTV, etc. to sell Sohu Video. Well... LeTV, forget it, you can sell Sohu Video If you exchange your shares for LeTV shares, you may suffer even worse losses.”

"It's impossible to sell." Lao Zhang became stubborn again, "I paid attention to Netflix, and Netflix is ​​planning to enter the Korean market!"

"Yes, I arranged it. Korean film and television dramas are very good, and stereotyped performances are more likely to be popularized globally. "My Love from the Star" is so popular. Is it the most popular TV drama in China this year?"

“Is Netflix investing in drama production in South Korea?”

"Invest, we have invested US$60 million this year, and we will make 3 movies and 5 TV series."

Zhou Buqi remembers it very clearly because this was the plan he proposed to Netflix.

Netflix already has 70 million member users. Next, it must focus on global business, which requires producing self-made dramas globally.

The Korean market is a great opportunity.