Chapter 1 He will be more popular than Aaron Kwok
(The characters, plots, and place names appearing in this novel are all artistic creations of parallel time and space. Any similarities are purely coincidental.)
2000 In May, the temperature has gradually increased with the arrival of summer.
Zhou Jianhui, general manager of Warner International Music Co., Ltd., is currently sitting in his office looking at the information in his hand, his hands are a little cold.
As a former "layman", he has not been in the record industry for a long time, but the results he has handed over are very beautiful.
In 1996, EMI entered the Taiwanese record industry giant. In 1997, he used his whimsical ideas and marketing skills developed in the advertising industry to successfully let Liang Yongqi, who had cut off his long hair, become a celebrity before the release of the album "Short Hair". The fire spread throughout Baodao Province.
The success of this case also made Warner UFO, whose market share was almost at the bottom at that time, seem to have seen a savior, and hired him from EMI EMI with gongs and drums to serve as the president of Warner UFO. manager.
At first Zhou Jianhui was unwilling to come.
After all, in 1997, Warner UFO's situation could not be said to be at its peak, but it could at least be said to be declining.
Not only were the management infighting chaotic, each of its singers either changed jobs or did not renew their contracts, which directly resulted in such a huge company being only supported by the queens of Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng. Place.
If not for the sincere conditions offered by Warner to recruit people, Zhou Jianhui might still be prospering at EMI.
It is precisely because of this that Zhou Jianhui, who had gained great power, took office in 1998 at Warner UFO, which had not yet been renamed. In the same year, he obtained the publishing business of representing two popular artists, Leo Ku and Liang Yongqi, which was regarded as his own Warner's career is off to a good start.
Of course, this is just the beginning.
Since there really were no good talents worth cultivating except Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng, and there were no good singers in the market, Zhou Jianhui, who took office in 1998, did something that made people think Unbelievable thing -
A general manager of Warner is actually trying to fight against a female student who is still in college. He leads the team to discuss negotiation skills with the female student's parents who are not short of money, and negotiates for the company. They just want to sign their daughter.
In fact, in order to sign this female college student that he was optimistic about, Zhou Jianhui actually made a promise that he was "willing to wait until she graduates before signing the contract."
Although he didn't say it explicitly, privately many people felt that Zhou Jianhui was simply crazy. After all, the woman named Sun Yanzi is either an Asian queen or a college student who is still in school.
However, Zhou Jianhui reached an agreement with the Sun family against all odds and made the decision that Warner was willing to wait for Sun Yanzi for two years.
After doing this, Zhou Jianhui began to continue to look for good seedlings on the one hand, and began to actively sort out the historical issues left by his predecessor and adjust strategies on the other hand.
In 1999, the second year after Zhou Jianhui took office at Warner, Warner UFO officially became history under his leadership, and was replaced by the reorganized Warner International Music Co., Ltd., commonly known as Warner Records.
The current year 2000 is his third year at Warner.
This year, there were only three major things on his schedule, which were to prepare Sun Yanzi's first album and to try to sign the Taiwanese queen Zhang Huimei and the mainland queen Naying.
Yes, as a singer that Zhou Jianhui waited for two years to sign against all odds, Sun Yanzi had just graduated from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the Warner team came to her door and presented her with the contract. down.
In two years, Warner under the leadership of Zhou Jianhui really did not forget Sun Yanzi and really regarded her as a treasure.
The reason why they want to sign Zhang Huimei and Naying is a concept proposed by Warner's deputy general manager Chen Zeshan: to create a "Tianhou Palace".
Although Warner Records at the beginning of the millennium still had Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng, the kings and queens, in charge, Zhou Jianhui, who had a keen sense of smell, had already noticed that these two people were no longer as strong as in the past in the recording industry, and was ready to develop new markets.
Especially the mainland market.
In order to open up the mainland market, he has long been in contact with some music companies rooted in the mainland, and often travels between Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland.
It doesn't matter if he doesn't run. Once he runs, he discovers a pearl from the mainland - the Book of Changes.
The information in his hand was the points that the team summarized for him that might impress Zhou Yi after another failed signing.
"Zhou Yi, male, was born on December 13, 1981 in Raozhou City, Gan Province. He is currently a third-year student at the Department of Law at Peking University. His family background is ordinary. His mother was a general worker in a clothing factory and his father was a painter. Now his parents run a business in his hometown. He owns a small supermarket.
“It is said that I learned music by myself in high school in order to chase girls. After I went to college, I learned a lot of music-related knowledge...
“I am very confident, and I rejected it one after another. We signed two contracts, but both could not reach an agreement due to copyright issues. It is certain that in order to sign a contract with him, we need to relax the copyright terms.
"Note: Zhou Yi personally has quite advanced music creation concepts and production capabilities. He has a far superior vision of international and domestic economic forms than ordinary people.
"If the company still needs to firmly control the full copyright of his songs, I'm afraid he really has no interest in entering the music industry, because he has other channels to make money..." Looking along the way, the man has reached middle age. Zhou Jianhui couldn't help but sigh, and subconsciously took off the glasses on the bridge of his nose and wiped them.
What kind of luck does he have?
Let’s talk about it. In 1998, I met Sun Yanzi, who I felt was a promising queen. This year, when I went to the mainland, I saw Zhou Yi, who has the potential of a king;
Okay, let’s talk about it. In 1998, his attempt to sign Sun Yanzi was rejected, and he had to fight hard to get the Sun family to agree to sign the contract for two years. This year, he wanted to sign Zhou Yi but was rejected again. This time, his persistence didn't work...
I wanted to give up, but when I thought of Zhou Yi I saw, Zhou Jianhui couldn't let go.
In his heart, this man who is full of talent can join forces with Sun Yanzi to lead Warner, which is now at the bottom of the valley, onto the road to recovery.
In fact, among the two, he is more optimistic about Zhou Yi's future development.
There is no other reason, just because Zhou Yi is not only extremely handsome in appearance, but also has the ability to write and compose songs of his own, and the quality is extremely high. Top singer-songwriters are the scarcest wealth in the music industry. This is a consensus in the industry.
Zhou Jianhui even thinks that this kid will definitely be more popular than current Warner Bros. Aaron Kwok in the future.
When he thought of this, Zhou Jianhui, who put on his glasses again, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm his thoughts——
He picked up the phone on his desk and issued an order: "Sign him and relax the copyright terms."
"What? Jianhui, are you crazy again?" The person on the phone was obviously in disbelief. .
"He will be more popular than Aaron Kwok, believe me."
Just like how he reached an agreement with Sun Yanzi who was still in school against all odds in 1998, he pushed Zhou Jianhui, wearing glasses, said seriously every word: "He will become the mainstay of Warner with Yanzi, just like Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng in the past."
"...Jianhui, what do you think? You actually put your treasure on two children? I don’t understand it, I really don’t understand it.”
The person on the other end of the phone was obviously a little defensive: "Only celebrities can save us, only big stars, big stars like Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng."
"You can't do anything with children, you understand ?
“You put your treasure on two children, do you still want to achieve results?”
At a time when Warner’s market share has been declining year after year, it will not sign big stars to improve performance and enhance the company’s influence. Instead of using force, he gave the green light to two young people. What kind of thing is this?
“Of course I want performance, but the problem now is that the Warner brand is no longer attractive enough. Chen Zeshan wanted to sign Zhang Huimei and Naying to create a gimmick of Thean Hou Palace. What was the result? None of them are here now.
"I also want to sign Xie Tingfeng and Ren Xianqi, but do you think they will come to Warner now?"
Zhou Jianhui's speech was not fast and his tone was not serious, but it made the other person on the phone The people fell into silence.
After a long time, the person on the other side of the phone said: "You are gambling, you have already made a red eye, Jianhui."
"From the time I signed Yanzi , this bet has begun. It’s done, I’m willing to lose.”
Sitting in the general manager’s office chair, Zhou Jianhui turned his head and looked out the window, his eyes filled with tears. Determined: "Yan Zi will be more popular than Sammi Cheng, and Zhou Yi will definitely be more popular than Aaron Kwok."
A singer-songwriter's song copyright is nothing compared to the performance and position he currently needs.
After all, if Sun Yanzi’s debut album, which Warner invested so much manpower and material resources in preparing, fails this year, then he will most likely get out of the position of general manager he has held for three years.
At that time, any copyright will have nothing to do with him.
Rather than trying to get away with nothing, it is better to take a step back on the contract and bet on this young man you are optimistic about, so that he can own the copyright that belongs to him.
(End of this chapter)