Since they are reborn, they must be supported by the school beauties.

Chapter 256 Game Platform Closed Beta
Zhang Yimou mentally calculated the exchange rate and told the other party, "In US dollars, it's a little over 600,000."

Without almost any hesitation, the other party blurted out, "Okay, we'll buy it!"

Zhang Yimou didn't expect the other party to be so decisive. For the North American distributor, if they were to pay this amount of money to buy it, it would be an extra investment. Zhang Yimou's original idea was to first ask the other party if they were interested in the song. If they were, in order to increase the film's influence in North America, he could talk to the film's investors to cover the full cost or join forces with the North American distributor to partially cover it.

However, the other party bluntly stated that they wanted to buy the piece, which meant that there was no need for me to invest anything.

So he quickly asked, "I wonder if the American side plans to buy this piece of music for a promotional video, or if they're trying to get it into the main feature?"

Without hesitation, the other party said, "Such a good piece of music should definitely be included in the main film, in addition to the trailer. We're already making the movie prints, but that's okay. I'll talk to them now and stop all print production. Then I'll call the editor to the company to discuss where this piece of music would be most suitable. Once we've decided, we'll re-edit and remake the prints."

Zhang Yimou then asked, "If we remake the prints, will it affect our previously scheduled release date?"

"will not."

The other party decisively said, "After finalizing the plan, we will give the production company an extra sum of money to expedite the production so that they can work overtime to make the copies as well as possible without delaying the release date. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of unforeseen circumstances. Let's not worry about that for now and deal with it later!"

Zhang Yimou couldn't help but think to himself, "These Americans are really willing to spend money. With this, copyright fees, copy production fees, and expedited fees will definitely cost another one or two million US dollars."

Without even a moment to reflect, he immediately asked, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

The other party said, "Please help us contact the creator and get the contract signed as soon as possible to secure the copyright so we can move on to the next steps."

"no problem."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yimou excitedly called the director of the Philharmonic Orchestra.

When the news came back, the entire orchestra was thrilled.

Good things are indeed good things; the Americans decided to buy them so quickly.

Liu Shiyu then planned to tell Chen Cheng the news as soon as possible. The band leader knew that she wanted to contact the original author, so he instructed her: "Shiyu, please make sure to tell them that it would be best if our orchestra could make a proper recording for the American side. We absolutely cannot let the American side buy the copyright and find someone else to record it."

For the Philharmonic Orchestra, their greatest hope is to be included in the credits of this film as the performer of this piece.

If the United States is not prepared to let them record, then even if this piece becomes famous all over the world in the future, it will have nothing to do with the Philharmonic Orchestra.

Liu Shiyu nodded and said, "I'll call him in a bit."

Soon, Liu Shiyu called Chen Cheng's cell phone and told him about it.

Chen Cheng readily agreed, “Let’s price the copyright at six hundred thousand US dollars. If Sister Shiyu has a US dollar account, please help me receive it. Regarding the copyright, we will authorize them to receive the finished piece, not the sheet music. As the copyright holder, I will specify that your Philharmonic Orchestra will record this piece. The distributor in the United States will only have the right to use the finished audio, not the right to re-record it.”

Liu Shiyu was grateful and said, "Then I thank you on behalf of our whole group!"

Chen Cheng laughed and said, "It's nothing, no need to be so polite. I'll leave this matter entirely to you, Sister Shiyu. Just keep the money for me; I don't need it for now."

After finishing his sentence, Chen Cheng thought about the recording fee and asked her, "Sister Shiyu, how much would it cost in total for your group to record this song, including the recording fee and labor cost?"

Liu Shiyu laughed and said, "I don't know how much it normally costs, but our team leader definitely won't ask you for money. Recording studios don't cost money either; CCTV has several."

Chen Cheng said with a smile, "Then..."
"it is good."

Liu Shiyu said, "Then I'll follow up. What time are you going back tomorrow? Do you still have time to have a meal together?"

Chen Cheng said, "My flight is this afternoon, but I have to rush to the airport at noon. Let's make an appointment next time."

Liu Shiyu said with some regret, "I came all this way and didn't even have a chance to treat you to a meal. How about I take you to the airport tomorrow?"

"Need not."

Chen Cheng laughed and said, "There will be plenty of opportunities in the future. Besides, you guys won't have time tomorrow."

Liu Shiyu subconsciously replied, "Tomorrow is Sunday, a day off. My parents' train is tonight, so it won't conflict with their schedule."

Chen Cheng asked her, "The Americans are waiting for the finished product. Don't you guys need to hurry up and get into the studio this weekend to record 'A Song of Ice and Fire'?"

"Oh yes……"

Liu Shiyu said awkwardly, "I forgot about that. Our team leader was really excited. If he had known we would be able to record this, he probably would have called everyone to work overtime in the studio tomorrow."

At this point, she sighed helplessly and said, "Then let's do it next time. If you don't have time to come to Yanjing, I'll go to Jiangcheng."

"Row."

Chen Cheng readily agreed.

Liu Shiyu hung up the phone and returned to the celebration banquet, where the entire group was waiting for the outcome of her call.

As soon as she entered, the group leader quickly asked, "Shiyu, did your friend agree?"

Liu Shiyu nodded and said, "He agreed. He agreed to only authorize the use rights of the finished product to the United States, and then designate us to perform and record it."

The band leader clapped his hands excitedly and said, "Great! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Let's hurry up and go into the studio to record tomorrow. We'll work overtime to produce the best studio version!"
-
When Chen Cheng returned to Jiangcheng, the Philharmonic Orchestra had already begun recording in the studio, working overtime.

Liu Shiyu signed an agreement with the American distributor of "Hero," who paid her $600,000 as royalties. She then halted all print production, awaiting only the completion of the Philharmonic Orchestra's studio recording. Back in Jiangcheng, Chen Cheng began working on the script for "Wolf Warrior 2" in his spare time. He didn't have time to write the entire script, only a story outline and character settings, intending to find a ghostwriter to refine it.

The cover song competition for "Mice Love Rice" was very popular. By the end of the day, a female singer named Xiangxiang was still ranked first, while Liu Shiyu won second place with a difference of 150,000 votes.

In addition to receiving a generous prize, Xiangxiang also gained a large number of fans. She registered on Renren.com under the name Xiangxiang and gained millions of followers.

Chen Cheng signed a contract with her for the full copyright of her cover of "Mice Love Rice". The cooperation method was a full copyright buyout. Although the buyout fee of 100,000 yuan seemed low, Chen Cheng did not want her, as the cover singer, to receive a higher copyright fee than Yang Chengang, the original singer.

Xiangxiang knew that this song was a cover, and without the copyright holder's approval, she couldn't use it for commercial purposes. She would either not earn a penny or receive 100,000 yuan in royalties, so she willingly signed the contract.

In order to allow her and Yang Chengang to also gain more benefits, Chen Cheng devised a cooperation plan: as the original creator, Yang Chengang could use this song to participate in commercial performances, and the revenue from the commercial performances would be split 50/50 with Renren.com.

As a cover artist, Xiangxiang can also use this song to participate in commercial performances, but she can only receive 40% of the performance income. The remaining 10% will be paid to Yang Chengang by Renren.com as his extra income.

Yang Chengang and Xiangxiang happily agreed and signed a cooperation agreement with Renren.com.

With the help of Renren.com, "Mice Love Rice" became popular even faster than in its previous life.

Yang Chengang's role as a judge also boosted the original singer's profile.

Because all the copyrights to this song belong to Xiaonei.com, Xiaonei.com's business team received an invitation from CCTV's Spring Festival Gala.

CCTV hoped to invite Yang Chengang, the original singer of "Mice Love Rice," to perform on CCTV's 2003 Spring Festival Gala and sing the song in its entirety.

Chen Cheng naturally wouldn't miss this good opportunity, after all, the lyrics of "Mice Love Rice" mention Renren.com, and CCTV's Spring Festival Gala is the biggest advertising platform.

So he asked the business department to make a suggestion to CCTV.

Why not just have Renren.com license the copyright of "Mice Love Rice" to CCTV's Spring Festival Gala, and at the same time arrange for Yang Chengang and Xiangxiang to perform it together on stage?

It's worth noting that Xiangxiang's cover version wasn't much less popular than Yang Chengang's.

If the two of them were to perform together on stage as a duet of "Mice Love Rice," not only would fans of the song be delighted, but CCTV would also surely receive positive feedback from fans.

The CCTV Spring Festival Gala production team approved Chen Cheng's proposal unanimously in just half an hour.

So Chen Cheng talked to Yang Chengang and Xiangxiang to ask for their opinions. The two were so excited that they burst into tears and agreed without hesitation.

Immediately afterwards, the two flew from their respective hometowns to Beijing to begin preparations for the Spring Festival Gala.

By the end of December, as the popularity of the message in a bottle continued to rise, some non-university students had begun to settle down on Renren.com.

The number of registered users on Renren.com has now exceeded 30 million, and it is showing signs of shedding its label as "an ivory tower exclusively for college students".

Chen Cheng planned to strike while the iron was hot and, taking advantage of the fact that the card and board game platform had started its internal testing, promote the name Facebook.

The full name of this gaming platform after its launch is "Xiaonei & Facebook Gaming Platform".

You can call it a school game, a Facebook game, or a smiley face game; it doesn't matter what you call it.

Ultimately, Chen Cheng wanted to use this game to lay the foundation for Facebook.

All pages on the school's intranet have been synchronized with corresponding Facebook pages.

If a user opens any person's Renren page and changes the "xiaonei" field in the URL www.xiaonei.com to "lianshu", the page will open on Facebook, and all Renren-related elements will be replaced with Facebook content.

If a user on the campus network mentions the words "campus network" in their post, Facebook will add "(Facebook)" after the words "campus network" when the post is opened.

For example, a user wrote: "My number of followers on Renren has exceeded one thousand!"

When you open it on Facebook, it will show "Your number of followers on Renren (Facebook) has exceeded 1,000!"

The same logic applies when reversed.

Chen Cheng's idea is for A and B to coexist, allowing A's users to accept B first, and B's users to accept A, and then gradually fading A away from the main issue.

This approach is far gentler than forcing A to become B.

During the closed beta testing, the two games "designed" by Chen Cheng, Happy Landlords and Guandan, became the most popular games among the internal team.

People have even started to make it a habit to arrange offline games of Guandan (a card game).

However, Chen Cheng required every employee involved to sign a confidentiality agreement, stipulating that the basic gameplay of these two games could only be circulated internally and not leaked until the platform began its public beta test.

According to Chen Cheng's plan, on Christmas Day, December 25th, taking advantage of the peak online traffic, the campus Facebook game platform will begin its public beta test.

Once the public beta begins, these two games will be launched simultaneously, and 24-hour non-stop competitions will be introduced to quickly boost their popularity.

If everyone falls in love with these two games, the product will be considered a success.

(End of this chapter)