Global monopoly of technology

Luo Sheng saw the other party's intention to move, 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 [MusicSpace.com]. We are willing to spend 20 million US dollars in cash each year to add a music store. [MusicSpace] 60% of the sales is divided into record companies, a five-year agreement."

This is almost an irresistible price. Bluestar Technology’s online music store has not yet been launched. It’s still a matter of whether or not it will succeed. However, after signing this agreement, the guarantee is $20 million for nothing.

If you have money, you are a fool, and you really cannot refuse.

At this moment, the two sides are looking at each other, it seems that each is scolding each other as a fool in their hearts, Morris is laughing at the Chinese fool who came to give money, and Luo Sheng is also thinking about it happily, through the music store[ MusicSpace], it’s a bit cruel to become a middleman to make a price difference, and a 40% middleman is a bit cruel.

In the end, Doug Morrison laughed and said to his assistant: "Look, I would not believe that electrical products like a few computers and Jobs’s big white'cigarette box (referring to iPod)' can destroy the whole The record industry can make $100 million in vain in five years, so why not?"

Having said that, 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, few companies in the Internet industry can last three years. I hope you Company can last for five years."

Luo Sheng also stretched out his hand and shook his hand, and smiled: "Believe me, Universal Music definitely makes more than 100 million US dollars from me."

Morris laughed loudly and said, "I hope so."

Luo Sheng was silly on the surface, but he said in his heart: Five years later, if you cry, of course, at that time, it depends on whether the man is still in charge of Universal Records.

Without further ado, after the talks were successful that day, he signed the contract in the afternoon. Luo Sheng brought Qin Weimu and other eleven people here this time, all of whom were all legal professionals. Mo Lising didn’t want to sign it so quickly. Audit for a week and a half.

However, Luo Sheng pushed back the head of Universal Records with a single sentence: Counting from the date of signing the contract, three days later this year's 20 million US dollars will be immediately transferred to Universal Records' account.

Doug Morris shrugged: Sign!

It is worth mentioning that although Jobs obtained digital licenses from major record companies earlier than Luo Sheng, more than 90% of the songs are not exclusively licensed, and the record companies are not stupid. They are quite cautious about exclusive licensing.

And even Apple can't come up with the funds to acquire all exclusive music licenses, and if it does, the antitrust agency will have to come to the door the next day.

Luo Sheng won Universal Music and rushed to Sony Music Entertainment the next day. After he proposed the terms of the agreement with Bluestar Technology, Sony Music’s then CEO Guan Luck was in his heart in less than 15 seconds. Decided to sell Sony’s music download rights to Bluestar Technology.

The third stop is Warner Music.

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

During the negotiations, I said the same thing to the heads of the five major recording giants: We know that music works are hard-won, and we must protect the intellectual copyright of music works.

Full of sincerity, the key is that the amount of money is very large. The heads of several major record companies, including the North American Recording Industry Association Walker, are very helpful to them.

This went so smoothly because Luo Sheng, on the one hand, threw up real dollar bills, and on the other hand, he also showed the enthusiasm that he showed as an avid music fan. In the eyes of people in the music industry, it is simply a rare match People in the science and technology circles meet the eye-catching people.

After taking the copyright of the five major record companies, Luo Sheng finally died. In the past ten days, he almost ran around North America. He didn't even have time to eat "Western food". He wanted to have a meal. After all, good brothers came out and suffered together. It's not easy.

However, the result is gratifying, it can be described as a bumper harvest.

Luo Sheng has obtained the digital music license of approximately 2.25 million songs from the five major record companies at a price of 60% of the [MusicSpace Music Store] sales share and US$76.2 million per year, but it is not an exclusive license, and basically includes the current global popular songs.

But there must also be an exclusive license of the song, and the cost of the exclusive license is extremely expensive. For this reason, Luo Sheng spent an extra 116 million US dollars to win the popular rappers Eminem and Britney Spears (BritneySpears), Avril Lavigne (Avril Lavigne), Coldplay (Coldplay), Linkin Park (Linkin Park) and other 15 current pop star or combination of digital music exclusive license for five years.

In addition, Luo Sheng has also signed exclusive digital music licenses for several singers including Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, etc. for ten years. In this era , These singers are proper newcomers and have no reputation.

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

The cost of signing the digital rights of these "artists" is not high, especially considering the popularity of these singers in the future, which is simply a bloody rhythm.

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

Rich don't make a bastard.

But Luo Sheng knows that the digital music licenses he signed for these artists who have not yet become popular are the popular singers in the singing industry in the future. Maybe they will bring some butterfly effects because of themselves, or they may not be popular in the future.

But Luo Sheng didn't care.

The exclusive digital music licenses of these newcomers only cost less than 30 million US dollars, even if they are all in the water, they can still be accepted, but what if all of them are as hot as the original world without exception?

Bundled with a 10-year contract, it is almost an explosion of blood.

After signing, Luo Sheng will not control how these artists develop, nor does he have the authority to manage them, but anyway, the digital rights of new albums or singles released by these artists in the next 10 years Exclusive by MusicSpace.

It’s the most expensive to get exclusive licenses from popular singers nowadays. So the exclusive digital licenses for 15 popular singers or groups cost nearly 100 million U.S. dollars, and there are only five-year licenses. If you are unlucky, there may be some. A singer may not release an album within 5 years.

However, the terms of the contract have special stipulations, and the terms of renewal are given priority, unless these singers cut their future.

The news finally came to light in mid-April. Bluestar Technology signed a licensing agreement with the world's five major record companies for a sky-high price of 192.2 million U.S. dollars, which made Luo Sheng once again angrily brushed a wave of existence in North America.

Entertainment media in Europe and the United States have also carried out extensive reports, and even Wall Street has paid special attention.

Walker of the North American Recording Industry Association stated in an interview with the media: "The agreement was reached because Luo Sheng's willpower is different from ordinary people. His full mei power (chao) and his enthusiasm definitely played a big role. The role of the Internet. This son of the Internet from across the ocean is an avid music fan."

It can be said to be highly praised, but no, Luo Sheng came to the door to send the money at this time. Without saying a few good words, people in the recording industry felt that it was impossible.

The major record companies feel happy that they have made a fortune, and Luo Sheng is also very happy about it, but in the end, who is the real big winner, now I can’t tell, it’s the real laugh until the end. Winner.

The major record companies are laughing now, and they will cry after five or eight years. Then they will find that this is nothing special.

For nothing.

It is worth mentioning that during the term of the agreement, Luo Sheng will give several major record companies a total of 76.2 million US dollars in cash each year, including negotiations in the domestic music market. Luo Sheng made it clear that he wants to pay for music in Greater China. Impossible, Bluestar Technology will not allow its upcoming music players to be charged in the Greater China market. They are still free, and users are mainly trained.

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

So I agreed.

Digital music in the Greater China market is exclusively licensed to Bluestar Technology, and there is a priority to renew the contract at the same price.

Luo Sheng can actually be ignored, but he still spent tens of millions on a contract for this. It doesn't work now, but in the future, the copyright is gradually established. This contract is to allow competitors to remove music from the shelves.

The copyright issues are all settled, and it's time to go home.

After finishing the copyright authorization agreement, the company’s product launch was a logical step. The day before Luo Sheng left for China, that is, on April 21, the domestic version of [] and the international version of [MusicSpace] were synchronized. online.

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(Ps: According to the information obtained, Jobs gave 65% of the license in order to get the license. The protagonist's product has just come out, and the voice of negotiation is not high. For record companies, digital channels are still dispensable. There is iTunes in the front, which is why in reality, audio-visual websites can only be played by a large group. The money burns too much. Some time ago, Penguin bought out Jay Chou’s song at a high price. I don’t know if anyone knows...)