Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

Chapter 147 Going to another record company to sign someone

"Everyone, what do you think about piracy?
This year, due to the impact of piracy, the sales of major record companies have declined.

Do you have any solution?"

After exchanging their respective ideas, the leading leader asked about the main purpose of this symposium.

"My suggestion is to contact the Cultural Bureau and set up a special department to combat piracy."

The prevalence of piracy is a big disadvantage for everyone working in the music industry.

This year, both popular records and ordinary albums have been affected by piracy to varying degrees.

The album was originally planned to sell millions of copies, but because of piracy, the final sales were only around 600,000 or 700,000.

Nearly one-third of sales data is swallowed up by piracy.

And this is just the beginning.

As VCD players become more popular, this situation will become more serious.

Those present are all industry leaders and will not fail to see the dangers involved.

But just like how piracy could not be stopped in previous lives, in this life, people actually have no way to deal with this thing.

VCD is very easy to copy.

As long as there is a machine, all VCDs on the market can be copied.

Although the reproduced sound quality will be very poor.

But it's cheap!
A genuine VCD costs more than ten yuan, while a pirated one only costs seven or eight yuan.

Unless the fans are die-hard fans, they will not give up the bargains.

Besides, fans may not even know that what they bought was a pirated copy.

As for price wars.

Engaging in a price war with pirated products is tantamount to seeking death.

They are just making money out of nothing. You have to produce and promote, and the huge investment can't be recovered!

So, this is a problem that has no solution at all.

The only thing that can be done is to ask the Ministry of Culture to step up its efforts to crack down on piracy.

“That’s indeed a solution!”

The leader on the stage nodded, then looked at Zhou Ziheng below the stage.

"Comrade Zhou Ziheng, do you have anything to say?

After all, your record is probably the most pirated record this year."

Zhou Ziheng stood up and the staff member next to him handed him a microphone.

"I have three suggestions that may help."

"You say!" Everyone showed an interested expression.

Zhou Ziheng was not afraid of the stage and said directly:
“First, we need to improve market supervision.

Strengthen market supervision, intensify the investigation and crackdown on piracy, punish the production and sale of pirated products, and reduce the continued increase in the number of pirates.

2. Strengthen legal sanctions.

Only by strengthening the judicial crackdown on piracy, holding those who produce and sell pirated products accountable according to law, and punishing those who infringe on intellectual property rights.

Only then will pirates learn their lesson and realize that piracy is illegal.

No. 3. Raise public awareness.

Strengthen and improve the public's understanding of intellectual property protection, enhance the public's awareness of intellectual property protection, and reduce the use of piracy.

Only when the general public understands that what they are using is pirated and illegal, can we best prevent piracy.”

If Zhou Ziheng's three suggestions can be fully implemented, it will definitely be a huge blow to piracy.

However, these three suggestions are simple to say.

But it is very difficult to do.

This cannot be accomplished by just two people; it requires relevant laws to be enacted from above.

It must be said that a big reason why piracy is prevalent in the mainland is that the relevant laws are not perfect.

Even if someone is engaging in piracy, once you find out, you won't be able to do anything about it because there are no relevant laws and regulations.

Zhou Ziheng knew that his idea was difficult to implement at present, but he still proposed it.

He only hopes that relevant policies can be introduced as soon as possible.

"I agree with Zhou Ziheng."

"I agree."

“Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even Japan and Europe and the United States also have VCDs, but why are there so few pirated copies there? The reason is that the relevant laws are very complete.

I strongly urge the higher authorities to improve the relevant laws as soon as possible.”

“I am a delegate and I will raise this issue at next year’s meeting.

Comrade Zhou Ziheng, let's discuss the details of this later."

They are all in the same trench. Other musicians and people from record companies did not oppose Zhou Ziheng's ideas. Instead, they responded positively.

"You're being a bit reckless. If you do this, it will affect a lot of people's cakes."

As soon as Zhou Ziheng sat down, Chen Xiaoqi spoke cautiously.

This really reflects Zhou Ziheng.

He looked around.

He soon discovered that not everyone was actively responding to and discussing his proposal.

After hearing his proposal, some people's faces turned visibly ugly.

Seeing this, Zhou Ziheng immediately realized that he had really touched some people's cakes.

It is impossible to count how many pirates there are in the entire mainland.

But most of them are actually small workshops.

These small workshops can only make a few hundred copies at a time. If they make more than that, the cost will be higher.

The real big pirates often come from within.

Maybe there are people here who support piracy and make a lot of money from it.

However, even though he had touched someone's cake, Zhou Ziheng did not regret saying what he had just said.

To be honest, at present, not counting Hong Kong and Taiwan, he is definitely the most pirated person in mainland China.

The three albums "Wandering Song", "Sad Pacific" and "Fairy Tale" were all released within three years.

It's a hot time.

And it just happened to coincide with the release of VCD.

These three records by Zhou Ziheng are among the first batch of records to be produced in VCD version.

Starting from February, these three albums have been released in VCD versions.

The sales performance is naturally impressive.

VCD versions, these three albums sold a total of more than two million copies.

It seems like a lot, almost like re-releasing a record.

But the fact is, if there is no piracy.

Sales will be higher, probably around four million.

In other words, from March to April when piracy began to appear, in the few months until now, he has lost the revenue from more than two million records, and tens of millions of dollars in revenue have been directly taken away by piracy.

As the biggest victim, how could Zhou Ziheng just let it go?

Not only did he have to manage it, he also decided to actively promote the improvement of copyright laws and focus on cracking down on piracy in order to protect his own interests.

Therefore, those big guys who support piracy had better not show up.

If anyone shows up and is discovered by him, he will be the first one to not let them go.

To this end, he even set up an anti-piracy department in Hengdong.

This department does nothing but visit and investigate.

If he finds pirates pirating his records, he will immediately contact local authorities to crack down on it.

Of course, as I said before, copyright law is imperfect.

Maybe if we destroy their nest today, they will move to another place and continue tomorrow.

But some things have to be done.

If even he allows these piracy, they will become more rampant.

If this continues, his record sales won’t be able to maintain sales of over a million within two years.

"We will consider your demands, especially Comrade Zhou Ziheng's proposal."

The leader made a final summary and then announced the end of the symposium.

After the symposium, many musicians, including Zhou Ziheng, and record company representatives did not leave immediately.

Everyone met at another place to discuss anti-piracy issues.

Finally, everyone reached a consensus and simply formed an anti-piracy alliance. They jointly invested in setting up a small organization to combat piracy, recruited people to visit piracy dens on the market and crack down on them.

Of course, the most important issue is copyright law.

Everyone decided to work together to promote the improvement of copyright law.

And this requires the representatives of Renda.

Among this group of people are representatives from Renda. They will raise their demands in this regard at the meeting and then actively attract others to jointly promote this matter.

Zhou Ziheng currently has no representative.

But it’s actually not far away.

He plans to run for representative next year.

With his current influence, he should be able to get a position.

Then you can participate in proposing copyright laws.

……

On the 6th, Zhou Ziheng prepared to return to Guangzhou.

However, just as he bought the plane ticket, the staff sent by Hengdong to contact Xu Wei called him.

They said Xu Wei was not found in Xi'an, and it was said that he had gone to Beijing.

Zhou Ziheng sent people to contact Xu Wei not just because of his memories of his previous life.

But Xu Wei is indeed quite famous at present and is a relatively well-known creator in mainland China.

As early as 1991, Xu Wei created hundreds of songs including "Don't Cry Baby", "Kuafu", "Wandering" and "Fairy Tale Era", becoming a very prolific musician in the Northwest.

In May this year, the Fei Band founded by Xu Wei was interviewed by Japan's "Voice" magazine and became a little famous in China.

Hengdong needed creators, so he naturally came into their sight.

Upon learning that Xu Wei had come to Beijing, Zhou Ziheng immediately refunded his plane ticket and waited for him in person in Beijing.

Of course, he wasn't just waiting in his courtyard in the capital.

Instead, they specially hired someone to guard the door of Red Star Records, holding Xu Wei's photo, and stop him as soon as they saw him.

There was no way, he didn’t have Xu Wei’s contact information.

This is the only way.

Fortunately, when he read Xu Wei's profile in his previous life, he clearly remembered that after the Fei Band disbanded, Xu Wei came to Beijing with his own songs, and found the Red Star Society and signed a contract with them.

All he has to do now is sit back and wait.

On the 8th, Zhou Ziheng's wait was not in vain, he waited for Xu Wei.

But not in Red Star Society.

But on Earth Records.

Sanbao called him personally.

"I heard that you are looking for Xu Wei from the Fei band in Xi'an recently?
He is in our company now.”

Zhou Ziheng was completely confused at the time, but he did not delay and went to Dadi Records in person.

At the entrance of Dadi Records, Sanbao came out to greet him personally.

"We listened to the songs he brought, and they were actually pretty average! Why do you think so highly of him?"

"His songs are average?" Zhou Ziheng looked surprised.

Brother, please don’t let future Xu Wei fans know what you said, otherwise you will become famous, or even black-famous.

“Before he came to our company, he had visited several record companies in Beijing and was rejected by all of them.

We had him play two songs live, and they were pretty average.”

Sanbao spoke as he led the way.

"Well, it's him!"

Arriving at the second floor of Dadi Records, Sanbao pointed at a young man holding a guitar in the corridor not far away and asked.

Zhou Ziheng took a closer look.

A very reserved young man, perhaps because he had been rejected several times, looked very depressed and was plucking the guitar strings in his hands listlessly.

However, although his face is childish, it has not changed much from the future Xu Wei.

"That's him. Thanks. I'll take him away first. I'll treat you to a meal when we come to Guangzhou some other day."

After seeing clearly that it was Xu Wei, Zhou Ziheng threw a pack of cigarettes to Sanbao and thanked him.

"We are all friends, it's just a small matter!" San Bao said with a smile: "You talk to him first, and we will find a place to eat later. I have something else to do here, so I won't disturb you."

"Okay!" Zhou Ziheng nodded.

He actually knew why Sanbao called him.

It’s just that Xu Wei didn’t satisfy them!
Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked Xu Wei to play two songs before calling him.

They clearly wanted to see what kind of person Xu Wei was.

As a result, maybe Xu Wei performed poorly, or maybe the signing standards of Dadi Records were different, so I called him as a favor.

"Xu Wei?"

Xu Wei sat on a chair in the corridor, feeling very depressed.

After the Fei Band disbanded, he went north from Xi'an and submitted his own songs "Two Days" and "Blue Bird" to more than a dozen record companies.

As a result, no record company was satisfied.

Now, if Dadi Records is still not satisfied, Red Star Records may be the only one left in the entire capital.

And if Dadi Records is not satisfied with him, Red Star might be in danger.

Having come here with great ambitions, one may now face the fate of returning in disgrace.

Whenever he thought of this, he couldn't help feeling upset.

Just as he was about to ask the interviewer about his results, a voice sounded in his ears.

Very gentle!
Also somewhat familiar.

Looking up and seeing the man in front of him, Xu Wei couldn't help but wiping his eyes.

Looking again, it's not dazzlement.

"Zhou Ziheng?" He widened his eyes.

What the hell, isn’t Zhou Ziheng the leader of the southern music scene?
How come Dadi Records came?

Did he change companies?
"it's me!"

Zhou Ziheng felt a little melancholy.

Once upon a time, Xu Wei was his idol, and he often sang his song "Once Upon a Time" with a guitar in his arms at school.

As a result, now I am going to become Xu Wei's benefactor. It's really unpredictable.

"I've been looking for you for a long time. I thought you would go to Red Star Records."

Zhou Ziheng spoke.

"Looking for me?" Xu Wei was obviously confused, but Zhou Ziheng saw a little excitement in his eyes.

Xu Wei was obviously not a fool, he should have understood what he meant.

“I have seen your performance videos, and I also happened to read the Japanese magazine Voice in which you were interviewed.

I have set up a record company and I am looking for people. I would like to invite you to join me!"

Zhou Ziheng said half-truthfully.

Hearing this, Xu Wei stood up immediately.

"You mean to sign me?"

"Yes!" Zhou Ziheng nodded.

After looking around, Zhou Ziheng said, "Let's go somewhere else to talk! This is Dadi Records' territory, so it's not convenient to have a detailed chat."

Going to other people's record companies to sign singers is indeed a bit weird.

Moreover, he had to take Xu Wei away quickly.

Otherwise, if Dadi Records suddenly changes its mind and wants to snatch Xu Wei from him, there might be more trouble.

(End of this chapter)