Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 344 Fan Conflict, Online Copyright Issues

At 10:00 AM, Wu Zhuo and Wang Leehom's album launch event officially began.

The scene was extremely lively.

The crowds coming for autographs and to see the celebrities in person stretched from the performance square for several blocks.

It's actually normal.

When Wu Zhuo holds a solo autograph session, the scene is exceptionally popular.

Now that Wang Leehom is added to the mix, the number of people coming will naturally be even greater.

Before the autograph session began, Wu Zhuo and Wang Leehom went on stage and sang both songs several times before the autograph session officially started.

Fans lined up according to the autographs they wanted.

Those who like Wu Zhuo should line up with Wu Zhuo, and those who like Wang Leehom should line up with him.

Because there were so many people, it was difficult to determine who was more popular at the time.

In the words of the reporters present today:

"There were crowds of people, and fans were as numerous as ants. They were extremely excited. Some people queued for six or seven hours just to get an autograph from their idol."

……

This autograph session was not the one with the largest number of attendees that Wu Zhuo had ever held.

Whether it was during his Fahrenheit days or at several large autograph sessions in South Korea and Japan, he had encountered far more people than this.

But in terms of chaos, this autograph session was definitely among the worst.

This chaos wasn't caused by fans cutting in line.

It was a conflict between Wu Zhuo's fans and Wang Leehom's fans.

Yes, Wu Zhuo's fans clashed with Wang Leehom's fans at the scene.

The cause left Wu Zhuo speechless.

After receiving a signed CD, a fan of Wang Leehom suddenly became dissatisfied that Wu Zhuo's name was listed before Wang Leehom's on the CD. He loudly complained on the spot about why Wu Zhuo's name was listed before Wang Leehom's.

These complaints, if left unsaid, would have been fine, but once they were uttered, they immediately angered Wu Zhuo's fans, with some immediately retorting:
"Wu Zhuo is more popular than Wang Leehom right now, so what if he's ranked ahead of him?"

This small conflict led to fans from both sides hurling insults at each other on the spot.

Several radicals even started fighting on the spot.

There are already a lot of fans on both sides at the scene, so even a small conflict can quickly escalate to a huge scale.

This led to complete chaos at the autograph session, and Wu Zhuo and Wang Leehom had to step in to calm things down.

Fortunately, most fans remained rational and prevented the autograph session from turning into a large-scale brawl.

But this also made Wu Zhuo reaffirm his resolve that he would never release albums with other singers again.

This is so damn frustrating.

Especially when collaborating with singers of Wang Leehom's caliber.

The order of album titles can cause dissatisfaction among fans, and the placement of characters on posters can also cause dissatisfaction.

Wu Zhuo even overheard fans from both sides complaining that their respective idols had too few lines.

This is the biggest problem for idol artists.

During various chart-topping events and performances, fans will spare no effort to support them.

However, similarly, celebrities are also often carried around by their fans.

Fans always want their idols to live according to their wishes.

"Let's cancel the remaining events! I don't want the autograph session to turn into a brawl."

After the book signing event ended in the evening, a tired-looking Wu Zhuo returned to the hotel with his team.

Once in the car, Wu Zhuo made a decision immediately.

Today's conflict cannot be concealed.

Once the fans get home tonight, it will definitely spread all over the internet.

At that time, fans from both sides will definitely fight fiercely online.

In this situation, holding a joint book signing event would only add fuel to the fire.

One wrong move and an even more chaotic situation than today could arise. "What about Wang Leehom's side?" Xiao An asked hesitantly.

The activity plan was formulated long ago.

If changes are to be made now, we need to consider Wang Leehom's side.

This is not a question of who is stronger or weaker.

In reality, Wu Zhuo and Wang Leehom are about equally popular in China.

However, Wu Zhuo is more popular internationally, which makes him more dominant in this collaboration.

Wang Leehom's side wants to leverage Wu Zhuo's influence to expand internationally, so they will accommodate Wu Zhuo in various ways.

However, such sudden cancellations can easily lead to conflicts if there is no communication with Wang Leehom's team.

“I just discussed it with Leehom, and he agreed to cancel the joint autograph session and change it to a solo event.”

Cancelling it directly is definitely not an option.

The event wasn't decided today and started tomorrow.

In the entertainment industry, there is always a buffer period between planning and the start of any event.

The subsequent autograph sessions were planned weeks in advance, with venues in various locations already booked and promotional activities already underway.

In such a situation, canceling it would have far-reaching consequences.

Therefore, the joint autograph session had to be changed to a solo event.

"I understand. I will go back and communicate with Wang Leehom's team."

As Xiao An responded, she opened her schedule and said:
“You may be very tired right now, but we can’t rest for the time being. QQ Music has sent a senior executive over to talk to us about the online copyright of your new album.”

"Isn't this the company's responsibility? Why are you contacting me?"

Wu Zhuo couldn't help but frown.

"You really can't blame the company. You own the copyright to your songs, and you need to handle copyright matters yourself."

In addition, QQ Music would also like to speak with you personally.

This is the downside of managing copyright yourself.

While possessing copyright processing rights, they will also be extremely busy with copyright matters.

This is because Wu Zhuo established his own copyright management company.

Otherwise, Wu Zhuo would be even busier, as he would be overwhelmed with licensing rights for various songs.

What terms did QQ Music offer? I heard they wanted an exclusive deal?

Wu Zhuo sat up straight; this concerned his future online copyright revenue, so he couldn't afford to be careless.

"Yes, they offered five million RMB to buy the online rights to your new album."

"Impossible. Five million to buy online music rights? Do they think I'm stupid? Everyone knows that the future trend is online music."

If Wu Zhuo didn't know how profitable online music would be in the future, he would definitely agree.

But knowing how profitable online copyrights are, Wu Zhuo would never allow his song copyrights to be bought out in one go.

He will only accept licensing agreements that cost a certain amount per song per year.

And this is only at the current stage.

In the future, once online music becomes a mainstream trend, he might even demand that platform fees be based on the number of plays.

Wu Zhuo is imitating Jay Chou.

In his early days, Jay Chou licensed his songs to QQ Music on a per-song-per-year basis for a certain amount of money.

Eighteen years later, the two parties agreed to switch to charging based on playback data.

It's roughly 40 to 60 yuan per 10,000 views.

"Do you need me to help you negotiate, or will you do it yourself..."

"You come and negotiate. Let me compile the minimum requirements. If you want to get an exclusive deal, they will definitely have to pay a price."

And I remember QQ Music launched a monthly subscription service, which is quite good. Once my songs are uploaded, they'll definitely make it a membership; I can't let them make money for nothing.

(End of this chapter)