China Entertainment 2000

(The characters, plots, and place names appearing in this novel are all artistic creations from parallel time and space. Any similarities are purely coincidental.)

In May of 2000, the temperature had 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.

EMI entered the Taiwanese record industry giant in 1996. In 1997, he used his whimsical ideas and marketing skills honed in the advertising industry to successfully make Gigi Leung, who had cut off her 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 the time, seem to have seen a savior, and hired him from EMI EMI with gongs and drums to serve as the general manager of Warner UFO.

At first Zhou Jianhui was reluctant 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 and chaos, each of its singers either quit or did not renew their contracts, which directly resulted in such a huge company being only left with Aaron Kwok and Sammi Cheng, the queens, to support the show.

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 over the then-unnamed Warner Bros. in 1998. In the same year, he obtained the publishing business of representing two popular artists, Leo Ku and Gigi Leung, which was a good start for his Warner career. head.

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 incredible -

The general manager of Warner Bros. was actually obsessed with a female student who was still in college. He led his team to practice negotiation skills with the female student's parents who were not short of money in order 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, many people privately 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.

But Zhou Jianhui still 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 Taiwanese queen Zhang Huimei and mainland queen Naying.

Yes, as a singer that Zhou Jianhui had waited two years to sign against all odds, Sun Yanzi had just graduated from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and the Warner team came to sign her with a contract.

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 because of 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 didn't matter if he didn't run. Once he ran, he discovered a pearl from the mainland - Zhou Yi.

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 is ordinary. His mother used to be a general worker in a clothing factory, and his father used to be a painter. Now his parents run a business in his hometown. There is 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...

"He is very confident and has rejected two contracts, both because of the copyright issue. It is certain that in order to reach a contract with him, the copyright terms need to be relaxed.

"Note: Zhou Yi personally has quite advanced music creation concepts and production capabilities, and he also 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 ways to make money..."

Looking along the way, the middle-aged 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?

To put it bluntly, in 1998 I met Sun Yanzi, who I felt was a potential queen, and this year when I went to the mainland, I met Zhou Yi, who has the potential to be a king;

We agreed to it. In 1998, he wanted to sign Sun Yanzi but was rejected. It took a lot of persistence to get the Sun family to agree to sign the contract for two years. This year I wanted to sign Zhou Yi but was rejected again. This time my persistent efforts are of no use...

He wanted to give up, but when he thought of what he saw in Zhou Yi, 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 revival.

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 rarest 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, Zhou Jianhui pushed up his glasses and said seriously every word: "He will become the mainstay of Warner along with Stefanie, just like Aaron Kwok. Same as Sammi Cheng.”

"...Jianhui, what are you thinking? You actually put your treasure on two children? I don't understand, I really don't understand."

The person on the other end of the phone was obviously a bit 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?

"If you put your treasure on your two children, do you still want to achieve success?"

At a time when Warner's market share has been declining year after year, instead of signing big stars to improve performance and enhance the company's influence, it instead gave the green light to two young people. What the hell is that?

"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 the Queen of Heaven, but the result? None of them have come now.

"I also want to sign Nicholas Tse and Simon Yam, 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 person on the other side of the phone fall into silence.

After a long time, the person on the other side of the phone finally said, "You're gambling, you're already betting on red eyes, Jianhui."

"This bet has started since I signed Stefanie. If it works, I will go one step further. If I lose, I will be willing to do so."

Sitting on the general manager's office chair, Zhou Jianhui turned to look out the window, his eyes under the lenses full of determination: "Stefanie 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.

Instead of trying to get 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.