Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 345 The Incredibly High Copyright Revenue

Actually, QQ Music launched its monthly subscription service last year, but the results were not very good.

It's actually normal.

The current network environment is unlike that of later generations.

At this time, websites sprang up like mushrooms after rain, with new websites being established almost every year.

All websites initially attract traffic by creating a sense of inconvenience.

Many websites offer free services, and there are also many pirated websites.

Piracy websites are those that use artists' songs openly and legally without paying them royalties.

Currently, this kind of piracy has almost monopolized most of the market, and even major platforms such as Kugou and NetEase Cloud Music are openly piracy.

In 2015, Jay Chou, together with QQ Music, fought a major lawsuit against NetEase Cloud Music over song copyright issues.

In short, we live in an era where piracy is rampant, and QQ Music's membership service has received a very poor response.

It even led many viewers to abandon QQ Music and switch to other platforms.

Wu Zhuo could probably guess why QQ Music wanted exclusive streaming rights for its songs.

Firstly, Wu Zhuo has a huge fan base, so launching a membership service based on his songs would definitely be very effective.

Another reason is to attract Wu Zhuo's fans from other music platforms.

"They seem to have arrived at the hotel."

Just as the car was about to arrive at the hotel, Xiao An received a text message from someone at QQ Music.

"It seems they are in a hurry."

Wu Zhuo couldn't help but laugh.

The more anxious the other party is, the more advantageous it is for you, and the better terms you can negotiate.

In fact, Wu Zhuo had considered not licensing his songs to a single platform.

But after careful consideration, he abandoned the idea.

Exclusivity may reduce the exposure of one's songs to some extent.

But in return, you can also earn extra income.

Even if he signs an exclusive contract, other platforms won't stop using his songs because of that.

It's highly unlikely that other platforms will stop using his songs.

For a music platform to retain listeners, it needs a large music library.

Especially top-tier singers like Wu Zhuo.

If his songs are not available on the platform, some listeners who enjoy listening to Wu Zhuo's songs will be lost.

Therefore, even if other platforms do not obtain Wu Zhuo's authorization, they will almost certainly pirate and use his songs.

In that case, Wu Zhuo might as well sign an exclusive contract with a platform and let that platform manage his songs.

If other platforms pirate your content, this platform can help you file a lawsuit.

That's exactly what Jay Chou did in 2015.

His songs were exclusively signed to QQ Music at the time, and then QQ Music distributed them, authorizing them to other platforms.

NetEase Cloud Music used Jay Chou's songs without authorization for some reason.

This ultimately led to that lawsuit.

In the end, NetEase Cloud Music lost the case and was forced to pay Jay Chou a staggering 2400 yuan per song per day in direct compensation.

At that time, more than 150 of Jay Chou's songs were pirated.

They ultimately received tens of millions in compensation.

"Abel, hello! I'm Wang Yiqi from QQ Music, nice to meet you."

At the hotel entrance, Wu Zhuo and his group had just gotten out of the car when a middle-aged man in a suit immediately led a group of people to greet them.

"Hello, Mr. Wang."

Wu Zhuo smiled and shook hands with him. The group chatted and laughed as they entered the hotel.

After entering the hotel, Wu Zhuo made an excuse to return to his room early, leaving Xiao An alone to negotiate with QQ Music.

Since Xiao An already knows his requirements, negotiating based on that shouldn't be too difficult.

After returning to his room, Wu Zhuo washed up and then made phone calls to Guo Biting, Liu Shishi, and Lin Yoona, who was in South Korea.

Sometimes Wu Zhuo even felt that he was terrible.

He clearly wanted to be an innocent guy, but ended up becoming Show Lo, and even started playing with time management.

In other words, his partners live in different cities and are not in the same social circle; otherwise, he would probably be living in constant fear.

After several phone calls, about two hours had passed, and Xiao An had just finished her conversation.

After the conversation, she came over immediately to tell Wu Zhuo about the situation.

"The general agreement has been reached, but the specific details need to be discussed with the lawyers."

As per your request, QQ Music will include songs from your new album in their monthly subscription program. For every 10,000 listens, we will receive 35 yuan.

Xiao An was very excited as he took on his first important task of negotiating a collaboration with a client.

She gestured animatedly as she spoke, explaining to Wu Zhuo how the people on QQ Music posed difficult questions and how she responded.

Wu Zhuo listened to her talk for a while with a smile before finally asking, "How many years is the time limit?"

Xiao An calmed herself down and said:

"They disagreed with the annual negotiation, saying it was too troublesome and would negatively impact the platform. They only accepted a minimum three-year timeframe."

You said before that there would be no problem within three years, so I agreed.

Then there's the exclusive licensing fee; they're willing to offer up to three million.

"That's fine, let's sign the contract with them on these terms!" Wu Zhuo nodded.

He was fairly satisfied with the terms.

Even disregarding the 35 yuan revenue share for every 10,000 views, the 3 million yuan licensing fee alone would be perfectly reasonable.

Wu Zhuo has previously collaborated with music platforms in Taiwan on his songs.

They have a higher awareness of copyright, and in the end they only offered a licensing fee of 200,000 yuan for one song, and the contract was for five years.

Of course, they also share revenue from song plays.

The only difference is that the revenue sharing for playback and download is higher over there; you can get 50 yuan for 10,000 views.

Also, don't underestimate the fact that 10,000 views only bring in a few dozen yuan.

In reality, this money is the one with the real potential for wealth.

This is what enabled Jay Chou to earn hundreds of millions in copyright revenue every year in later years.

Wu Zhuo had made a point of researching this before traveling through time.

Jay Chou's classic songs have an average daily play count of about 80 million on platforms such as QQ Music and Spotify. At that time, he could earn 60 yuan for every 10,000 plays, and his daily copyright income averaged about 480,000 yuan.

48 yuan a day, what does that mean?
No wonder Jay Chou hasn't been releasing songs as frequently since then.

Because they've already achieved financial freedom; they can collect money simply by sitting at home, and it's not a small amount.

The copyright revenue of music platforms is only part of the total revenue; you also need to factor in the copyright fees paid by commercial venues such as KTVs and shopping malls for using songs.

Jay Chou's annual income is no less than 200 million.

This is even without him holding concerts or participating in shows.

If you factor in these factors, his income would only be higher.

Of course, it was only 2008, and Wu Zhuo had fewer songs, so his copyright revenue was definitely much lower.

However, Wu Zhuo believes that given the current market potential, it is still possible for his songs to achieve five to six million to ten million plays per day.

All things considered, he earns no less than several million yuan a year just from music platforms.

(End of this chapter)