After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 569 Imperial Envoy
Red Star Media owns a subsidiary called Red Star Image Production Company, which not only produces VCDs and DVDs but also distributes audio-visual products.

It can be described as a complete dragon.

In the first half of this year, the company's revenue exceeded 3800 million yuan.

It is evident that although piracy is rampant, genuine DVDs still have a large market.

Zhou Haoran went to find Shan Wendong first.

He was granted the title of Imperial Envoy.

Then I met Du Yunliang, the general manager of the company.

"Assistant Zhou, seeing you in person is truly an honor! I admire you!"

Du Yunliang was genuinely surprised that the newly arrived "imperial envoy" was so young. Not only was he the chairman's assistant at Red Star Media, but even the chairman, Shan Wendong, had personally called to ask for his full cooperation.

Zhou Haoran toured the company, where the walls of the corridor were covered with posters.

These are some well-known discs released by the video company, including movies, TV series, and music.

"Mr. Du, how much does the piracy market affect our business?"

Zhou Haoran stood with his hands behind his back, asking questions as he toured the place.

"That would have a huge impact."

Several deputy general managers were also present to welcome the imperial envoy.

Zhou Haoran glanced at him, "Tell me more about it?"

Du Yunliang said, "To put it simply, the pirate market is roughly twice the size of the legitimate market."

"It's not that big, is it?"

Zhou Haoran didn't quite believe such data.

"After all, pirated discs are of very low quality. They may be cheap, but if you want to watch them repeatedly, you still need the originals." Du Yunliang pointed to a disc poster on the wall. "This is Han Hong's album 'Snowy Plateau Radiance,' which is mostly available in the market as an original. There are many pirated cassettes, but very few pirated discs."

Zhou Haoran didn't quite understand. "Why?"

Du Yunliang laughed and said, "It's because of the quality of the discs. Consumers buy music discs to listen to them repeatedly. Pirated discs are no good; they get scratched all the time, and usually only last two or three plays before they stop working. The sound and picture quality can't be guaranteed either. So, people who know their stuff always buy genuine music discs."

Zhou Haoran then realized what was going on, "Videos, are they like this too?"

“Yes, the same.” Du Yunliang nodded, following closely behind Zhou Qinchai. “However, once you buy a movie DVD, you rarely watch it repeatedly… so the quality is less affected, and the piracy market is very large.”

The vice president surnamed Tao next to him added, "Another reason is scale. There are too many movies, those Hollywood blockbusters alone number in the thousands. If you buy all of them legally, it would be too expensive. Music CDs are different. There are only so many high-quality albums, so there is more demand for legal copies."

"how's the price?"

Zhou Haoran stood with his hands behind his back, his expression serious and unsmiling.

Maintain deterrence.

Seeing his serious expression, Du Yunliang felt uneasy and quickly said, "Mr. Zhou, pirated copies are much cheaper. It has to be the currently popular DVD 'Mission: Impossible.' The standard price for a genuine 3-disc set is 35 yuan. Pirated copies won't even cost 10 yuan."

Why are genuine DVDs so expensive?

Zhou Haoran is going to run the DVD business of "Princess Pearl" next. This is a huge order. If it is handled well, it can bring in hundreds of millions of yuan. He needs to understand the industry in all aspects first.

"It can be roughly divided into five aspects." Du Yunliang is quite capable in business matters and can answer questions readily. "The first major factor is copyright. Take Mission: Impossible as an example, the copyright price is very high. A set of discs sells for 35 yuan, and Paramount has to pay 10 yuan in royalties."

"Ah."

Zhou Haoran understands this; that's just how Hollywood is.

In the United States, the revenue from the box office and the DVD market is roughly equal. That is, if a film earns $100 million at the box office, it will also earn $100 million in the DVD market.

Du Yunliang continued, "Secondly, the production cost of genuine products is higher. Genuine discs require better quality and better packaging. When buying discs, it's actually very simple to distinguish between genuine and pirated discs; just look at the packaging. Genuine discs come in a neat little square box. Pirated discs are simply wrapped in a piece of cardboard."

"Ah."

Zhou Haoran's reaction was indifferent.

I found it amusing, thinking that these pirates still have a long way to go. If they could make a fake easily distinguish from a pirated item, their skill level would be far too low. It's only 98; this industry definitely needs technological advancements and innovative thinking.

Du Yunliang said, "The third point is inventory. Pirated products have no inventory. If they really can't be sold, they can just dump them in rural areas. They can even just change the packaging and sell them."

"Change the packaging?"

"Yes, the success of pirated DVDs often depends on how attractive their packaging is. If pirated DVDs have images of actresses in revealing poses printed on them, sales will be very high."

"good idea."

Zhou Haoran nodded, feeling that this was more like a normal business approach.

Du Yunliang sighed, "However, genuine discs are different. Because they are legitimate, they often don't sell well, and they can't be sold at a significant discount like pirated discs. The cost of the inventory is also reflected in the price."

Zhou Haoran spent half an hour touring the corridor.

He also chatted with these company executives for half an hour. They were quite frank and told Zhou Haoran a lot about the current state of the industry.

However, they remained silent on the most crucial point.

That's collusion between insiders and outsiders!
For pirates to succeed, they need inside connections with legitimate distributors to obtain firsthand information, launch a rapid attack, and establish a foothold in the market. For example, some movies are already flooded with pirated DVDs before their release; some TV series are already on sale before they even air. Where do they get the master tapes?

It was all collusion among insiders.

Zhou Haoran was certain that among the executives present at Red Star Image Company, some of them were secretly engaging in such underhanded dealings for profit.

He wants to make DVDs of "My Fair Princess".

This is the first thing to guard against.

There's no immediate danger with the master tapes. Dong Lan, the deputy director of the Arts and Literature Center, is keeping a close eye on it. Every time "Princess Pearl" finishes airing, the tapes are sealed and handed to her.

We can't leak secrets here.

However, once the master tapes are delivered to the video production company and mass production begins, they are easily lost and taken by pirates. Pirated discs may then be released first.

"Mr. Du, where is the office? Let's have a meeting first. I'm here on behalf of the group, and I have something important to announce."

Zhou Haoran exuded righteousness, with a hint of murderous intent.

"Oh, this way!"

Du Yunliang exchanged glances with his subordinates; some looked away, while others were clearly flustered.

Upon arriving at the conference room, Zhou Haoran, as the imperial envoy, naturally took the seat of honor.

"Then let's start the meeting now."

"I'll keep it short. This time, I received an important task from the group. Someone reported that someone in our video company colluded with pirates and secretly handed over some legitimate sources to them, which seriously damaged the group's interests."

"Therefore, a thorough investigation is necessary!"

Zhou Haoran spoke with righteous indignation and a murderous aura.

“Zhou Tai, this might be a frame-up by some people. I guarantee that the video company did not do any of the things you mentioned!”

Du Yunliang immediately expressed his stance, his tone resolute.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "President Du, of course I trust you. As you can see, I was the first person to come here, just to give you a heads-up and have an internal discussion. The investigation team will officially come down tomorrow."

Seeing that he was trying to be friendly, Du Yunliang breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Thank you, Director Zhou! Director Zhou, don't leave after get off work, let's go get something to eat! You've worked all day, I can't let you leave on an empty stomach."

"We'll talk about dinner later." Zhou Haoran waved his hand, his expression serious. "President Du, President Tao, President Zhao, the entire group is taking this matter very seriously. They might just pick a typical example."

“Zhou Tai, I have confidence in the situation at the video company. I believe the accusation you made is pure fabrication!”

Du Yunliang patted his chest, his words resounding.

Zhou Haoran nodded. "That's good. The group's investigation team will be coming down tomorrow and will be talking to some people. I'm going to do something now: immediately inform everyone in the company that the investigation team will be here tomorrow. Anyone with evidence can provide it; anyone who wants to report something can write to the investigation team. Anonymity is fine. As long as the evidence is conclusive, they will be severely punished!"

"Okay, Lao Tao, go and notify them now, make sure everyone is notified."

Du Yunliang appeared calm, but his eyes lacked conviction.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "With President Du's support, my work will be much easier. Please rest assured, the group leaders also told me when I came here that we cannot let a bad person go unpunished, nor can we wrong an innocent person."

"Yes, we will unconditionally obey the arrangements of our superiors."

Du Yunliang's smile looked somewhat forced.

Zhou Haoran was very satisfied. "I'm still young and there are some things I don't understand. I hope for the strong support of all the leaders."

That evening, a social engagement was arranged.

One-stop service.

Besides General Manager Du, Vice President Tao, and Vice President Zhao, four other strikingly beautiful women accompanied him. First, they ate, and amidst the cheers, the women all came over to toast Zhou Haoran.

It still has to be a toast between two people.

Then there was a second round, at the dance hall.

This was even more incredible, as his four older sisters came one after another to ask him to dance.

These days, dance halls almost always have a dark section.

Zhou Haoran became much more restrained, daring not to touch her inappropriately, acting like a gentleman. However, while dancing with an office deputy director named Wang Huihui, she whispered, "Boss, I want to report Du Yunliang. He's coercing me. If I don't agree, he'll fire me..."

“It’s no use talking to me. You can write a complaint letter and hand it to the investigation team tomorrow.”

Zhou Haoran remained calm, unsure whether it was a genuine report or a test.

I came out of the dance hall.

They were even making plans to go to a karaoke bar...

It's already 10 p.m.

Zhou Haoran refused. Before leaving, Du Yunliang took out a black plastic bag from his briefcase, pushed it over without saying a word, and stuffed it into Zhou Haoran's bag.

(End of this chapter)