It is not the first time that the three major records have used music rights as capital to play hooligans.

Spotify, the world's largest music streaming platform, is called "Shengtian" in Chinese, or "Shengbaotian".

The Swedish company has always been sucked by the three major records.

Despite having 70 million paying subscribers, Gloom is in a terrible financial position, losing more than $1 billion in the past two years.

Why is this happening?

Because almost 85% of Shengpotian's revenue is smashed on music copyrights, even if the annual revenue is as high as $5 billion, it is still a loss.

In addition, Shengpotian also ceded part of its equity to the three major record companies.

Internally, we have to accept the exploitation of these greedy people, and externally, we have to compete with rivals such as AppleMusic and AmazonMusical.

It's been a tough time.

However, Zhang Yida will not sympathize with this company, because Shengpotian completed the share exchange with Penguin Music this month.

Shengpotian is valued at $16 billion, Penguin Music Group is valued at $10 billion, and the two sides swapped several points of equity.

Penguin Music holds a 2.5% stake in Shengpotian, which holds a 9.1% stake in Penguin Music.

In addition, Li Jiacheng is also the earliest investor of Shengpotian, and its Harbour Investment is the fifth largest shareholder of Shengpotian.

Zhang Yida was silent for a moment and asked a very important question: "What about the music copyright in Chinese mainland?"

This issue is very critical, the copyrights of the three major record companies in the mainland are all licensed to Penguin, and even the distribution rights are also given to the latter.

Netease Cloud Music, Taihe Music, and Ahri Music, these competitors still have to go to Penguin to get the goods, and these operations can only be said to be too sassy.

In May, Universal Music opened the copyright bidding, and NetEase, Ahri, and Qiandu's Taihe Music all joined the competition.

Licensing fees have risen from $30 million to $30 million in cash and $100 million in equity at the peak.

The penguin doesn't stand out because of its bid.

Rather, it was able to emerge victorious in the race by uniting a European family consortium with a strategic investment offer from Universal Music's parent company, Vivendi of France.

Compared to money, Ahri is not afraid of penguins at all. But the penguin has too many tricks outside the market, so it can only be recognized.

Zhonghe Group was not strong enough at that time, and it did not have its own music platform, even if it joined and snatched it, it would inevitably end up in failure.

It's still easy for these companies that rely on copyrights and patents to make money, and they make money lying down, and the customer price increase is higher than one another. Zhang Yida sighed in his heart.

However, the momentum of the three major records today was not achieved overnight.

The predecessor of Sony Records, Columbia Records, was founded in 1890, Universal Records was founded in 1912, and Warner Records was founded in 1930.

It is all about a hundred years of accumulation that has accumulated so many singers and music copyrights.

In the interim, there have been countless cases of company changes of ownership, corporate crises, and so on.

Since the rise of the Internet, because of the expansion of online distribution and rampant piracy, the life of the record industry has begun to be difficult.

It wasn't until music streaming began to take off that record labels were getting better.

Today, the revenue earned by the three major records through music streaming is almost twice that of physical records.

And Momoyo fell just before the dawn came.

In the twenties of the last century, Baidai entered China, and also signed contracts with former superstars such as Zhou Xuan, Hu Die, Nie Er, and Xian Xinghai.

It is also a record company with a long history, but because of the ebb and flow of the traditional record industry, in 2011, the copyright department was sold to Sony, and the record division was sold to Universal.

Grange, CEO of Universal Music, looked as usual, and he waved his hand and said: "The music copyright in Chinese mainland, we licensed it to Penguin Music Group in May this year, and it will not expire until May 2020."

So, this can only be talked to by you and Penguin Music Group. ”

Warner Music's CEO Cooper also said: "Warner Music gave Penguin the copyright in Chinese mainland as early as 2014, and after it expired this year, the two of us also renewed the contract, which expired three years later. ”

Kazuo Hirai also nodded, "Sony signed a contract with Penguin last year, and it will not expire until 2019." ”

Zhang Yida let out a long sigh, this is a hammer, the domestic music market has not been played for three years.

Seeing Zhang Yida's loss, Kazuo Hirai said with a smile: "Although there is no copyright in Chinese mainland in the short term, we still have global copyright except for Chinese mainland."

Mr. Zhang, we signed with Shengpotian, Apple Music, and Amazon Music are not exclusive copyrights.

Add one more and that's absolutely no problem. ”

"Okay, so let's talk about global copyright outside of the continent. ”

Zhang Yida had no choice but to settle for the second best thing and solve the copyright problem first.

"The offer of $500 million is too high, and it does not include mainland copyrights, so it is not worth the price. ”

Cooper smiled: "Didn't we say it, Plan B, just a share."

We all know the valuation of the Internet primary market, and we can buy shares according to the pre-investment valuation of $63.3 billion.

For Zhonghe Group, it can solve the copyright problem, and second, it can push up the valuation. ”

"That's right, it's a win-win solution!" Kazuo Hirai interjected.

Zhang Yida shook his head, "Impossible, unless the three major record companies extend the copyright authorization period to 10 years." ”

"10 years?"

Grange laughed angrily, "Three years is too long for us, let alone ten years." ”

"Mr. Zhang, Zuckerberg has talked to us several times. If Zhonghe Group is not willing to cooperate, some people are willing to cooperate with us. ”

Cooper's words pointed to the upcoming challenges for Zhonghe Group, as companies such as Facebook have sharpened their knives and focused on short videos.

"I think our conditions are already very lenient, I don't understand Mr. Zhang, what are you hesitating about?"

Zhang Yida glanced at Kazuo Hirai and replied: "The current valuation of Zhonghe Group is not mixed with any water, but the sky-high price of 500 million US dollars offered by the three major records is out of the actual value.

I also have a plan, three of you can listen to it. ”

The three of them wanted to refute Zhang Yida's words, but when they heard that there was a new plan, they didn't rush to speak, and were ready to listen to it first.

Zhang Yida compared five fingers, "Five years, I want five years of copyright, and the other three major record companies will each invest 250 million US dollars in Zhonghe Group."

At the same time, music copyright licensing should also include streaming platforms. ”

"Zhonghe Group is going to launch its own music stream?" "Kazuo Hirai has a keen sense of smell and immediately hears something different.

And Cooper directly objected loudly: "This is impossible, absolutely impossible." Streamers have always paid us royalties, and there has never been a precedent for us to pay for them. ”

Zhang Yida spread his hands, "Isn't the precedent created by people?"

"I would like to hear about Mr. Zhang's streaming plan. ”

Instead of saying anything against it, Grange asked about streaming.

He was quite curious about Zhang Yida, and thought that he might as well listen to the plans of this young rich man worth 70 billion US dollars first.

Maybe there's something to surprise?

Zhang Yida nodded slightly at him, feeling that this foreigner was not simple.

Kazuo Hirai and Cooper were silent for the time being, and the two of them made a look of deafness.

"Zhonghe Group will launch a new music streaming product outside of Chinese mainland, called Resso.

In addition to providing the same music payment services and lyrics functions as Spotify and AppleMusic, it will also add social gameplay to encourage users to share lyrics with each other and focus on music socialization.

It will also be connected with Resso.

As long as the user thinks the background music is good, he can jump to Resso to play the song online or download it offline.

How effective is the promotion of music, the three major records are also shareholders of the sky, and they should have an intuitive feeling. ”

The CEOs of the three major records were all silent, and when they thought about it, they could indeed use it as a traffic portal, and then distribute traffic to music, long videos, and even games.

How Zhonghe Group's products operate in Chinese mainland, they have also heard about it, just draw a scoop on the gourd.

"With 70 million paying subscribers and 36 million paying subscribers for Apple Music, is this product, called Resso, sure to outperform them?" asked Kazuo Ida.

"Of course!"

Zhang Yida confidently explained: "In the field of short video, looking at the world, who is still our opponent?"

"It's an exaggeration, before Facebook, YouTube, and Serab launched their own short video products, they were only ahead and occupied a first-mover advantage. ”

Zhang Yida looked at Cooper who retorted to him and said: "A lead is also a lead, think about the story of Facebook and Serab."

Facebook has launched so many products of the same type, but not the sera?

Serab is still alive and kicking, with a market value of more than $20 billion. ”

Cooper was about to argue, but was stopped by Grange, who said, "OK, let's not talk about this yet." ”

He turned his head to look at Zhang Yida, a pair of cloudy blue eyes flashed with a hint of shrewdness, "Mr. Zhang, we don't doubt the strength of Zhonghe Group.

But to convince the three of us, we have to come up with something more powerful. ”

Zhang Yida secretly scolded the old fox in his heart, and said with a smile on his face: "Resso has become a holding subsidiary of Zhonghe Group, we only need 55% of the shares, and the other 45% will be divided by the three major record companies.

Resso will be listed independently in the future, and the three major records will also enjoy rich returns as shareholders. ”

Grange chuckled and shook his head, "Mr. Zhang, we've heard enough about Silicon Valley's startup stories.

Resso doesn't even have a product now, so it's too far to go public.

Don't forget, there are three mountains in front of you, Sound, Apple, and Amazon, each of which is not a good match. ”

"Then you don't have to worry about it, I naturally have a way to deal with them. ”

Cooper scoffed, "Young man, you have to be responsible for speaking big. ”

"An Internet entrepreneur who has reached $70 billion in assets in four years and owns more than a dozen unicorn companies is not convincing enough. ”

Grange laughed, "Mr. Zhang, you are really not as reserved as ordinary Chinese. ”

"If you have strength and confidence, why hide it?"

Grange groaned for a while and asked, "What will be the relationship between this Resso and Zhonghe Music?"

"It depends on the choice of the three major records and the Penguin collaboration after it expires. ”

Grange nodded, "Okay, I see. ”

"Let me ask again, how many monthly active users does Zhonghe Group have in the world in the field of short videos?"

"900 million!"

As if discovering a new world, Grange asked, "Is that true?"

"The data is all available, and I won't cheat on it!

Among them, there are more than 500 million monthly active users in Chinese mainland and more than 300 million monthly active users overseas. ”

Grange looked at each other with Kazuo Ida and Cooper, and they all saw the shock in each other's eyes.

This should be the first company to reach hundreds of millions of active users in both the East and the West, which is a miracle!

And the number of active users has approached the billion mark, breaking through the birth of another world-class technology company.

The three of them digested it for a while, and finally said that they needed to think about it before replying.