Luo Sheng saw that the other party had some intentions, but did not make a clear statement, so he struck while the iron was hot and said: "Bluestar Technology is about to launch a new music service product [], and we are willing to give 20 million US dollars in cash and 60% of the sales share of the music store [MusicSpace] to the record company every year, a five-year agreement." ”

This is almost an irresistible price, Bluestar Technology's online music store has not yet been launched, whether it can succeed or not is two words, but after signing this agreement, you can get a guaranteed $20 million every year.

It's a fool not to take the money, and you really can't refuse.

At this moment, the two sides looked at each other, as if they were each scolding each other for being fools in their hearts, Morris was laughing at this Chinese fool who came to send money behind his back, and Luo Sheng was also thinking about it, through the music store [MusicSpace], become a middleman to make the difference, and the middleman with a 40% cut is a bit ruthless.

At the end, Doug Morriston smiled and said to his assistant: "You see, I wouldn't believe that a few computers and Jobs' big white 'cigarette packs' and that kind of electric gadget could bring down the entire record industry and make $100 million in five years, so why not?" ”

Speaking of this, Morris turned his head to look at Luo Sheng and stretched out his hand, showing a professional smile: "I agree to sign a contract, as far as I know, very few companies in the Internet industry can survive three years, I hope your company can survive five years." ”

Luo Sheng also stretched out his hand to shake it, and said with a smile: "Believe me, Universal Music definitely made more than $100 million from me." ”

Morris burst into laughter and said, "I hope so." ”

Luo Sheng smiled on the surface, but said in his heart: Five years later, you will cry, of course, at that time, it depends on whether the brother is still in charge of Universal Music.

Without further ado, after the successful negotiation that day, the contract was signed in the afternoon, Luo Sheng brought Qin Weimu and other eleven people over this time, all of them were legal professionals, Morris didn't want to sign it so quickly, how could it be audited for half a week.

But Luo Sheng pushed back the head of Universal Music in one sentence: according to the date of signing the contract, this year's $20 million will be immediately remitted to Universal Music's account three days later.

Doug Morris shrugged: Sign!

It is worth mentioning that although Jobs got the digital authorization of major record companies ahead of Luo Sheng, more than 90% of the songs are not exclusive licenses, and record companies are not stupid, and they are quite cautious about exclusive authorization.

And even Apple can't afford to pay for all the exclusive music licenses, and if it does, the antitrust authorities will have to come to the door the next day.

Luo Sheng won Universal Music Music, and the next day he went to Sony Music Entertainment, after he proposed the terms of the agreement with Bluestar Technology, the then CEO of Sony Music, Guan Lak, decided in his heart to sell Sony's music download rights to Bluestar Technology in less than 15 seconds.

The third stop was Warner Records.

It took Luo Sheng a week to take down all the five major record companies.

During the negotiations, the heads of the five major record giants all said the same thing: we know that music works are not easy to come by, and we must protect the intellectual property rights of music works.

Full of sincerity, the key is that the amount of money is very sufficient, and the heads of several major record companies, including Walker of the North American Recording Industry Association, Luo Sheng's words are very useful to them.

The reason why it went so smoothly was that Luo Sheng threw out real dollar bills on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also showed his enthusiasm as an avid music fan.

After winning the copyright of the five major record companies, Luo Sheng finally stopped, and in the past ten days, he has been running around almost North America, and he doesn't even have time to eat "Western food", he originally wanted to eat a meal, after all, it is not easy for good brothers to come out and suffer together.

However, the results were gratifying and could be described as a bumper harvest.

Luo Sheng won the digital music license of about 2.25 million songs from the five major record companies at a price of 60% of the [MusicSpace music store] sales share and $76.2 million per year, but it is not an exclusive license, basically including the current popular songs in the world.

But there must also be exclusive licensed songs, and exclusive licensing is extremely expensive, for which Luo Sheng spent an additional $116 million to win the popular rappers Eminem, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Coldplay, and Linkin Park Wait for 15 popular music superstars or groups to exclusively license digital music for five years.

In addition, Luo Sheng also signed a number of singers including Rihanna (Rihanna), Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift), Katy Perry (Katy Perry) and other singers for ten years of exclusive digital music licenses, in this era, these singers are all proper newcomers, not well-known.

For example, Katy Perry, a female singer called "Sister Fruit" by domestic netizens, has not yet been signed by the record company, Luo Sheng gave her a "flop", and finally signed a contract to become an artist under Columbia.

The price of signing the digital rights of these "artists" is not large, especially when I think of the rhythm of these singers who will become popular in the future.

Anyway, these current record companies feel that Luo Sheng is a bit stupid and has a lot of money, there is nothing to say, sign!

Rich don't make bastards.

But Luo Sheng knows that the digital music licenses he signed for these artists who have not yet become popular are popular singers in the future singing industry, and maybe because of the butterfly effect he has brought about by himself, they may not be popular in the future.

But Luo Sheng didn't care.

In total, these newcomers' exclusive digital music licenses cost less than $30 million, which is acceptable even if all of them are lost, and what if all of them become as popular as the original world without exception?

The 10-year contract is tied up, and it's like a blood explosion.

After signing, Luo Sheng will not care about how these artists develop, and he does not have the power to manage, but no matter what, these artists will release new albums or singles in the next 10 years, and the digital rights will be exclusive to MusicSpace.

Getting the exclusive license of the popular singer is the most expensive, so the exclusive digital license of 15 popular singers or groups cost nearly 100 million US dollars, and only five years of authorization, if you are unlucky, maybe some singers may not release an album within 5 years.

However, there is a special agreement in the terms of the contract, and the renewal clause is preferred, unless these singers cut off their own future.

The news finally came to light in mid-April, and Bluestar Technology spent $192.2 million to sign a licensing agreement with the world's five largest record companies, which made Luo Sheng once again have a wave of presence in North America.

The entertainment media in Europe and the United States have also reported it extensively, and even Wall Street has focused on it.

Walker of the North American Recording Industry Association said in an interview with the media: "The agreement was reached because Luo Sheng is different from ordinary people's willpower, and his full charm and enthusiasm definitely play a big role." The son of the Internet from across the ocean is an avid music fan. ”

It can be described as highly praised, but no, Luo Sheng came to the door to deliver money at this time, and if he didn't say a few good words, people in the record industry felt that it was too much to say.

The major record companies are happy that they have made a lot of money, and Luo Sheng is also very happy about it, but in the end, who is the real winner, now I can't see it, and the real winner is the one who laughs at the end.

The major record companies are laughing now, and after five or eight years, they will cry, and then they will find out that this is really for nothing.

Really give it for nothing.

It is worth mentioning that during the term of the agreement, Luo Sheng will give a total of 76.2 million US dollars in cash to several major record companies every year, including negotiations in the domestic music market, Luo Sheng made it clear that it is impossible to let music payment in Greater China at present, and Bluestar Technology will not let its upcoming music player be charged in the Greater China market, which is still free and focuses on cultivating users.

In this regard, the major record companies expressed their understanding, because even now, the MP3 music of Baidu is pirated, and the major record companies can only stare at the Greater China market, Luo Sheng took the initiative to give a sum of money, and the price is not low, no matter how you look at it, they are very sincere partners.

So I agreed.

The digital music in the Greater China market is fully and exclusively licensed to Bluestar Technology, and the right of first refusal is granted at the same price.

Luo Sheng can actually be completely ignored, but he still spent tens of millions of dollars for a paper contract, which doesn't work now, but in the future, the copyright is gradually established, and this paper contract can make competitors remove music.

With all the copyright issues settled, it's time to go home.

The day before Luo Sheng set off for China, that is, on April 21, the domestic version of [Blue Star Music] and the international version of [MusicSpace] were launched simultaneously.

……

(Ps: The information consulted shows that Jobs gave 65% of the authorization in order to get the authorization, the protagonist's product has just come out, and the right to speak in the negotiation is not high, for record companies, digital channels are still dispensable, not to mention that there is already iTunes in front, which is why in reality, audio-visual websites can only afford to play with large groups, burning money is too much, some time ago, Penguin bought out Dong Chou's song at a sky-high price, I don't know if anyone understands it......)