Han Zhou was not alone in returning to Xi City this time.
Instead, Han Zhou and Wang Xiya were traveling together.
The New World Idol Plan has officially begun.
The reason was that Han Zhou had just finished a banquet when Li Shanghong called.
At the cocktail party, Li Shanghong was talking to his direct superior, the group's PM or product manager, about the current trends in the entertainment industry and the concept of Internet entertainment.
This was heard by Lu Xiusheng, chairman of the board and president of Penguin.
Lu Xiusheng immediately left the others aside and listened to Li Shanghong's report alone.
Lu Xiusheng didn't care about Internet entertainment at first.
To be precise, Lu Xiusheng was prepared from the beginning to develop Penguin into an investment company rather than an Internet technology company.
However, in recent years, games have been making a lot of money.
Lu Xiusheng also focused some of his attention on the group's internal projects, namely the Internet.
However, the development of the group's internal Internet business was not smooth.
The first is video software, which is now competing for VIP members on a large scale, but its future prospects are still unknown.
There is also the field of music software.
Penguin has already started purchasing song copyrights on a large scale. It is not purchasing one copyright for each song, but all performance copyrights of each song of each singer, including original singing copyrights, TV show copyrights, and concert copyrights.
The purpose is just one word, and it can only be heard from me and not anywhere else.
In the field of short videos, Penguin is a step behind, and many short video apps on the market have become popular.
Among them, Penguin also wants to invest in one, but Yinlang refuses to invest, and Penguin now looks down on Bilibili.
Penguin executives have yet to address this aspect of the problem.
Needless to say, the novel website, Longdian Chinese Network, has been bought by Penguin.
At this time, Li Shanghong proposed a new concept of interactive entertainment.
Penguin's interactive entertainment concept was proposed as early as last year.
In fact, to put it simply, it is Internet entertainment, which expands game entertainment to the entire Internet field.
At this time, Li Shanghong proposed a concept to Lu Xiusheng.
Since games have expanded to the Internet, does this entertainment itself still represent game entertainment?
Should this entertainment mean big entertainment?
It should include games, literature, sports, film and television music.
To put it simply, in addition to Internet game entertainment, Internet literary entertainment, and Internet sports event entertainment, there should be another area, Internet film, television, music, and media entertainment.
Lu Xiusheng only had one question: "Aren't we doing it?"
Li Shanghong: "We make video and music software. Mr. Lu, we are now purchasing the copyright of others. The price of a song, a movie, or a TV series is very high. Mr. Lu should know that."
"And the stars behind these works are where the value lies."
“A singer with a masterpiece or an actor with a masterpiece, who is more valuable than the movie or the song itself?”
Lu Xiusheng quickly understood what Li Shanghong meant: "So, you mean we should set up our own entertainment company, or... merge and acquire?"
Penguins are accustomed to controlling the most profitable links in any ecosystem.
Now Lu Xiusheng has also been awakened.
An investment company is an investment, and an investor is also an investment.
Lu Xiusheng: "You mean, the entertainment industry is about to change and reshuffle?"
If there is no reshuffle, the entertainment industry will be like an iron wall and no one will be able to get in.
Li Shanghong: "Idol."
"Boss Lu, I have already spent money to buy two trainees from South Korea, and they are currently being trained intensively."
"This time I am also trying to see if I can succeed."
"But my authority..."
Lv Xiusheng: "What kind of business, and which companies are participating?"
Li Shanghong: "A company called New World took the lead, and other participants included Tianle, Mailang and Universal China."
Lu Xiusheng is very familiar with Tianle, Mailang and Universal China. After all, they make money from Penguin by buying their copyrights.
"Tell me what you think."
Li Shanghong talked about how to promote idols by leveraging the Penguin Chat platform.
This set of things is the same as the ones Penguin used to promote games.
It's just that the promoter has changed.
There is no need for Li Shanghong to explain the principles of this system to Lu Xiusheng.
Li Shanghong simply gave a brief overview of the situation in the new world.
After listening to this, Lu Xiusheng said: "That is to say, many companies in the entertainment industry have keenly discovered that a reshuffle is about to happen, but many old and large companies have not yet realized this."
"And now, Tianle and Mailang have found the person who is best at doing this, and that person is Han Zhou from New World."
"These four companies together have covered many areas of the entertainment industry, but they lack an Internet platform, and we are the target of their cooperation."
"Now, not only do we want to cooperate, but you are also going to create an artist department within us, learn how they operate, and even take the initiative to experiment with more possibilities?"
Li Shanghong nodded: "Boss Lu, that's about it. I don't know the details, and even Han Zhou, who is in charge, doesn't know, because no one has ever done this before."
"It's not just us. No one in the United States has done this either. The Korean idol industry in Sakura Country is already very developed, but they haven't tried what we have done."
"If we only look at the expected value, our method of playing is more than a thousand times more profitable than that of Sakura Country."
A 30 percent profit is enough to drive people crazy. A stable industry that increases its profit by a thousand times is already a gamble worth betting big on.
Lu Xiusheng laughed: "For others, this is gambling, but for Penguin, it's just pressing a button."
"I'll leave this to you."
"Don't set up an artist department yet. All artists will be listed under your working group on Penguin Video."
“We will first cooperate with New World and try to explore ways to promote artists.”
"Until this idol show you're talking about comes along, no matter the cost."
Originally, the goal was to promote Penguin Videos. Now, if this program itself has the ability to attract a large number of fans who are willing to spend money, then the goal has been perfectly achieved.
And this matter also has additional benefits, which makes it a super high-quality project.
Lu Xiusheng knew that if his Internet company wanted to enter the entertainment industry, it must have allies.
But Lu Xiusheng didn't think it was necessary to form an alliance before things started.
If the first show is successful, it will not be too late to form an alliance.
By then, by replicating this program endlessly and launching it continuously, a large number of people will be cultivated quickly.
But Lu Xiusheng still needs to think about what to do next.
Of course, the answer is with Han Zhou, but it’s not the next step yet, so Han Zhou won’t tell you what to do next.
This is what happened. Li Shanghong got the authority.
After Li Shanghong got the authority, he did things more ruthlessly than anyone else!
Li Shanghong is planning to hang a promotional banner for the New Entertainment Trio at the top of the latest version of the Penguin APP space for a long time!
A fixed ad page that ordinary users don’t know how to close.
In other words, as long as they meet the target group, they will see this recommendation as soon as they click it.
For example, users with green diamonds, users who often listen to music, users who have downloaded Penguin Music, wealthy users, and users who tend to chase stars, you cannot escape this promotional banner!
After Han Zhou learned that Li Shanghong had been dealt with, he quickly set off for Xi City.
The first song has been recorded in the past few days.
Now that this has started, Han Zhou is also going to start his own plan.
…
After getting off the plane and getting in the car, Wang Xiya started talking to Han Zhou about the matter.
"You told Li Shanghong the preliminary operation methods, and you will lead Penguin Interactive Entertainment to do this thing from now on. Aren't you afraid that Penguin Interactive Entertainment will use its capital to catch up and suppress us in the end?"
Han Zhou was not afraid of this at all: "Don't worry, Penguin's entertainment sector is very strong in other aspects, but it will definitely not be able to stand up to this matter."
Wang Xiya was a little curious why Han Zhou made such a judgment.
Han Zhou explained: "A few years ago, Penguin invested in a company and parachuted in management, which led to a huge loss."
"From now on, Penguin Investment Company only wants shares and profits, not control."
"It's the exact opposite of Ali, another internet giant that likes to parachute in management after investing."
Wang Xiya nodded: "Anyone who has been in contact with the stock market knows this."
Han Zhou: "Under the same operating model, if Penguin does not impose mandatory controls on its subsidiaries, what will the stars cultivated by these subsidiaries look like?"
Wang Xiya hasn't started thinking yet.
Han Zhou gave the answer: "It will be a mess."
In the capital market, there are only two possibilities: success or failure.
There are three possibilities in the entertainment industry: success, failure , and success followed by obscurity.
Wang Xiya frowned: "According to what you said, if Ahri follows up, wouldn't he be the one with the greatest chance of success?"
Han Zhou smiled: "Ah Li can't succeed either."
Wang Xiya: “Why?”
Han Zhou: "Because Penguin won't let him succeed."
The war between Penguin and Ali is all-round, covering every corner of the Internet.
Under this situation, Penguin will allow any company to succeed in the entertainment industry, but will never allow the Ali series to succeed in the entertainment industry.
“Two tigers fighting…” Wang Xiya: “So, when you dragged Li Shanghong into this, you already thought of the ending.”
"The ending?" Han Zhou: "The world is always changing. Nothing has an ending."
"The Internet is a double-edged sword. This time, I will use both sides to sharpen it and see which side will succeed in the end."
"Whichever side succeeds, at least I'll get a knife."
"If both sides succeed, then it will truly be the Sword of Heaven, commanding the world."
There is no "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" or "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in this world, only "Three Kingdoms Stories".
However, the history of the Heavenly Sword is much earlier than this.
It first appeared in the story of the Warring States Period, probably about a few people in the Warring States Period who were just like people today who get drunk and brag together.
Moreover, it was King Xiang of Chu who asked them to brag.
He promised that whoever boasted the most would be accepted as his retainer.
Some say that I can kill a tiger with one punch, some say that the people I have killed have dyed the river red, some say that they have seen a cow that can hit Mount Tai, and some say that they have seen a wild boar whose tongue is tens of thousands of miles long.
The person who boasted the most was Song Yu, who said:
[I have a sword, which is placed against the sky. ]
As high as the sky is, my sword is three points higher.
Because my sword is placed against the sky, the height of the sky is only below the hilt of my sword!
This is much more awesome than what Mr. Li in the later storytelling said about tiling the Great Wall.
This person's bragging was a complete success. Later generations of literati and poets regarded the Sword of the Heavenly Sword as a lofty ambition, with their hearts higher than the sky.
Wang Xiya didn't understand what Han Zhou said, but Wang Xiya understood what Han Zhou said.
Although the ways of understanding are different, it is still the same that I understand.
Moreover, Wang Xiya understood that Han Zhou's ambition was thousands of times greater than what Han Zhou described.
…
In Xi City, this rented practice room may never have thought that it would welcome the top executives of three entertainment companies.
Wang Xiya was present in person, Mailang sent its vice president, and the person who came from Universal was the director of the artist department.
Several people just wanted to come to the scene to see first-hand data and see to what extent Han Zhou could push his two groups of people by trying this for the first time.
But at this time, Han Zhou had no intention of entertaining them.
Instead, he was in the practice room, watching the two groups in front of him.
“You guys need to release a song together.”
Han Zhou looked at the three new entertainment stars, especially Wang Chuyang and Lin Jianqiu, and said, "Don't think you are great. If you release a song now, I can prevent it from appearing on the new song chart, or I can make it instantly top the chart. It's just a matter of spending money. Don't think you are that talented."
Although they knew that what Han Zhou said was true, they still couldn't help but feel dissatisfied.
After all, I was young and frivolous.
Han Zhou: "This time, your song will be released first on Penguin Music, and it will be a paid release."
"It all depends on how many people are willing to pay for your songs."
“And your ads will be seen by almost all target groups.”
The three of them were ecstatic!
Han Zhou: "But don't be too happy. After the song is released, try not to go online and don't search for your own name or the name of the group."
"You will be scolded."
Just imagine, an advertisement that cannot be turned off is hanging in the Penguin chat space. Who wouldn’t be annoyed when seeing it?
Being scolded is inevitable.
"But don't go to the Weibo super topic, because there are too many people praising you."
"If your first song release can sell 350,000 copies in a week, you'll be considered a success."
Wang Chuyang was a little unconvinced: "Brother Han, can all target groups really see our ads?"
"With this kind of promotion, if we sell 350,000, we'll be considered successful?"
In the past, which singers had this kind of publicity when releasing songs? Others' albums sold 100,000 a day, and many sold over 700,000 a week.
After all, there used to be double-platinum and triple-platinum albums in a single month.
Han Zhou: "Your MV is free. Only those who really want to listen to your songs over and over again, and play them on repeat, will buy it."
"Three hundred and fifty thousand is already a stretch. If you can get over a hundred thousand, it will prove that you have talent."
Clicking to listen is clicking to listen, listening to the MV is listening to the MV, and purchasing is something on another level.
There are plenty of people who go to the supermarket to try out the products, but how many of them actually spend the money to buy them home?
Han Zhou looked at the three HNT members and said, "You guys will also release songs and post them online."
"If you have more than three million views, more than ten thousand comments, and more than forty ghost videos within three days, and at least five of them have more than ten thousand comments, you will be considered successful."
The three HNT members were stunned.
Isn’t this data much more difficult than the goal set by the three new entertainment companies?
After hearing what Han Zhou said, Wang Chuyang, Lin Jianqiu and Wang Mo became even more dissatisfied.
We take the best recommendations, and sales of more than 300,000 are considered a success.
How can they achieve 3 million views in 3 days without any promotion?
You have to know that the two groups of people can see each other when shooting the MV.
The MV of the three new entertainment stars was produced by half of the film production team that New World took over a few years ago.
As for HNT’s MV, it was shot by an intern photographer using a SLR camera after reading the schedule. It wasn’t even shot with a professional camera.
The songs of Xinyu Sanzi were practiced by themselves for several months, but HNT's songs were hastily recorded after practicing a few times. There were even many out-of-tune songs, and the tuner did not even make any adjustments.
Moreover, Zhang Die, the leader of the HNT trio who has uncoordinated limbs and cannot dance, is the lead actor in the MV.
With this comparison of resources, we can't beat them?
The HNT trio was also dumbfounded.
With this kind of resource comparison, can we defeat the three brothers Wang Chuyang?
Isn’t it funny?
Han Zhou smiled: "Actually, this promotion has nothing to do with you."
"The results have nothing to do with you."
"No matter how many songs and videos you release, it won't count as an official debut."
"It's just a small-scale attempt, just like a small-scale preview of a movie."
"I just want you to see clearly that what you think you are capable of is not actually your ability."
"The path I chose is not a good one."
“After seeing this clearly, you can see the door to the entertainment industry from a distance.”
After saying that, Han Zhou leaned back in his chair and said, "Of course, the most important thing is that I want you to understand this time that if you listen to me in everything, you will succeed."
The HNT trio really couldn't believe that the song "My Skateboard Shoes" they filmed and sang would be a success.
The three brothers of Xinyu also didn't believe that they would be defeated by the three brothers of HNT even though they had a complete advantage in promotion.
However, when they actually saw the staff upload the song and the promotion officially began, they realized how wrong they were.
Wang Chuyang was stunned.
Being extremely sensitive about money, he never imagined that the single of "Proud Boy" sung by three of him would be priced at... five dollars!
Are you kidding me? Five bucks for a song?!
The pirated tapes sold on the street now cost five dollars and have a total of sixteen songs recorded on them.
Even for those electronic albums sold recently, there are only about 20 to 31 albums, which converts to a single song price of about one dollar and fifty cents, and some are even sold for one dollar.
The ones that sell for higher prices include various souvenirs, not just songs.
Now, just the electronic rights to a song are being sold for five bucks?!
Isn’t this... asking for trouble?
Now this song is selling for five dollars, which is why Universal China, Mailang and others came to watch.
If Han Zhou succeeds this time, it will prove that fans will indeed spend money crazily on their idols.
Just imagine, an idol that most people have never heard of, after just seven days of operation, new fans are willing to spend five dollars to buy a song with a sky-high price? ! What kind of concept is this!
As soon as the song was released, Mailang’s vice president clicked on the MV.
"Run, proud boy!"
The three new entertainment stars are dressed very fashionably and look very youthful.
Also , the singing is very nice.
The MV is very well produced.
Mailang's vice president nodded and said, "You're doing well, but I'm still not optimistic about the sales."
He bought the song, took a look at it, and was a little confused: "It's sold for more than 200 yuan? Penguin's promotion is so terrible."
As soon as this site went online, Penguin’s promotional banner was hung up.
The fact that penguins can attract so many people in such a short period of time shows that they are extremely terrifying.
The data was just as he said. By 11:30 p.m. that evening, only more than 3,000 copies were sold.
Selling 350,000 in a week is just a pipe dream.
But at this time, under the Weibo super topic of the new entertainment trio, the first experience of the entire world of idol economy is underway.
…
"I heard that this dance was choreographed by Wang Mo himself. What a talent!"
"Wang Chuyang sings really well and dances handsomely too."
"Wow! I love Lin Jianqiu so much, how did he manage to be so handsome and cute at the same time!"
A large group of girls were praising the three men. At this time, a new fan came in and asked, "No way, five dollars for a song is so expensive?! The king of pop Zhang Yongce only charges one dollar and fifty cents for a song!"
“The song sounds good, but isn’t it too expensive? It’s a rip-off, isn’t it?!”
"Is this group called New Entertainment Three crazy because of poverty?"
Soon, someone commented below: "No, the three little ones all work very hard. The reason why it is sold at a high price is because the song is well-made."
"My sister's friend is an employee of New World Entertainment. I heard that this song was purchased from a very talented songwriter for over a million dollars. The MV was also well shot. This song must have cost several million dollars to make."
"Is that so? But isn't five dollars too expensive?"
"I heard that if this song doesn't make money, the company won't release new songs for them. How pitiful. They don't have a fan base, and if the unit price is not high, it will be difficult to make a profit. The company won't release new songs for them if they don't make a profit."
"If you don't want to send it, then don't send it."
"They have been trainees for a long time. They have been trainees all the time and have signed a ten-year contract. They can only succeed and not fail. If they fail..."
"Look at Lin Jianqiu's previous Weibo. When no one paid attention to them before, they were still practicing dancing at 12 o'clock in the evening. They were really sincere."
"I have a friend who is Wang Mo's classmate. I heard that they only get a little over 1,000 yuan a month as a trainee."
"In fact, they don't make any money if we buy songs, but if we don't buy songs, they won't release new songs in the future."
"If you like "The Proud Boy", buy a copy. It's only five dollars, but it affects their future!"
"Help them debut and make sure to collect enough sales."
"Hey, don't you know someone inside their company? How many sales do you need to get in order to continue releasing songs?"
"I heard that it would take 500,000 copies!"
"I have forwarded it to my classmates."
"What's the point of forwarding it? I asked my classmates to buy a copy for me and I paid for them."
No one knows how many of these were sent by real people and how many were sent by people inside the New World.
However, single sales are soaring.
Han Zhou took a look at the data before going to bed and didn't think too much about it.
Han Zhou knew that even if it was not "Proud Boy" but a rubbish song, he could continue to promote it by selling misery and it would be sold out in a week. Now he was simply showing it to his partners.
Moreover, the three new entertainment groups were carefully selected. Compared with ordinary groups, they skip the stage of buying cuteness and good looks and directly entered the operation period. Although they are a new group, their standards are actually much higher than ordinary idols.
There is no possibility of failure.
Han Zhou knew that the idol era was coming, but he also knew that he couldn't stop it.
But if Han Zhou does it himself, he can add a card to the shuffle, the quality card.
Apart from this, Han Zhou couldn't do more.
The wheels without brakes have caught fire and will not stop.
In the middle of the night, these people who have just become fans are also hoping that their songs will be on the new song charts and the group will be on the new star charts, so that more people will see them, more people will buy their songs, and they will be able to earn enough money to continue releasing songs.
However, in the middle of the night, someone told the truth: "You can't get on the list just by having good data, you have to pay for it."
"I heard from the three little ones' agent that it would take two hundred thousand to get the three new entertainment stars to the bottom of the Rising Stars List."
Someone immediately said, "Then we have to at least push the three little ones to fifth place on the Rising Stars List. How much does it cost?"
The man replied: "Five hundred thousand."
The person who commented before: "Then collect 500,000 and I'll pay 50,000."
Soon this person was pulled into the fan group of the New Entertainment Three, and the agent found her and had a long and detailed chat with her.
After she got out, she learned the "talking skills": "I have talked to my agent. We need to collect 500,000 yuan. I will pay 50,000 yuan. For every 100,000 yuan collected, I will personally pay 10,000 yuan."
"Is this true? You're paying so much?"
"Of course it's true. I'll give you 50,000 yuan, and each of you can give 100 or 200 yuan. If you don't believe me, join the group. I'm not lying."
It is true that I don’t lie to people, and it is also true that it costs money to be on the list.
The only thing controlled by the new world is the rapidly evolving "heartbroken fans" who quickly learned some rhetoric. They knew what to do and what to say that would only benefit the three little ones, and what to do would be disadvantageous to them.
Of course, it doesn’t take that much money to make the list. It’s called profit.