Restart life

Chapter 151, 0148: [The Real Venture Capitalists Have Finally Arrived]

In the large classroom of the Second Teaching Building, Chen Guiliang listened attentively to the lecture while communicating with his senior sister Ao via text message.

To avoid disturbing other students, I put my phone on silent mode.

“The boss of TT Music, Feng Chujun, came to visit and said he wanted to ask us to upload ‘The Wind Rises’ to TT Music.”

Is it legitimate?

“If it weren’t legitimate, they would have uploaded it themselves without asking for our permission.”

Ao Yanchen added, "He wants to talk to you."

"What does this person do? I mean, what is his background?"

"He has a master's degree in sociology from Peking University and is an alumnus of ours. He used to be a researcher at the Society for the Study of Economic System Reform, which was under the supervision of the State Commission for Economic System Reform."

"I have ten minutes left in get out of class, could you please treat me to something?"

"He wanted to go back to Peking University and asked which classroom you were in."

"I'm in room 101 of the second teaching building. Give him my phone number."

"..."

Feng Chujun graduated from Peking University in 1987 with a master's degree, where he studied under Fei Xiaotong.

During his time at the Institute for Economic System Reform, he participated in the establishment and operation of China's first social survey system. His research scope included: social psychological resilience during the reform process, predictive analysis of social stability, and international quantitative comparison of political culture, among others.

Having not returned to Peking University for many years, Feng Chujun rented a bicycle and wandered around the campus.

Where is Senior Brother Feng?

"Over here at the Centennial Lecture Hall."

"I'll be there soon."

The two met by bicycle in front of the Centennial Hall, and then went to a nearby coffee shop to chat.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Chen Guiliang asked, "Did Senior Brother Feng's TT Music just launch?"

“It was launched at the end of last year,” Feng Chujun explained. “Because we insist on making genuine music and have strict review of uploaded songs, we have never been able to scale up.”

No wonder Bian Guanyue couldn't find TT Music when searching for music platforms.

Chen Guiliang asked curiously, "I heard that Senior Brother Feng used to work at the Society for the Study of Economic System Reform?"

“Yes, it was called the Institute for Economic System Reform back then,” Feng Chujun laughed. “After researching so much, I couldn’t resist venturing into business. I sold electronics, ran a newspaper, did consulting, and even got involved in real estate. I also founded Netfrog Music. How should I put it? My personal standards are a bit too high, so I’m not really suited for business.”

Feng Chujun's NetFrog Music also sells legitimate music and has received investment from the Sanjiu Group.

However, due to severe losses, he was ousted from the company he founded last year.

Then NetEase Music relaxed its song upload review process. Although its user agreement also contained vague terms, its practices were still much more blatant than those of Bibei.

After chatting with this guy for a while, Chen Guiliang realized that Feng Chujun knew better than anyone else that his legitimate business model was unlikely to be successful.

"Then why did you create TT Music?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Feng Chujun said, "The government is going to clean up music platforms, which may be an opportunity."

Grass!
They're really well-informed; they can predict what the higher-ups will do.

In another month, the State Copyright Administration will release the "Administrative Measures for the Protection of Copyright on the Internet." One of the measures is to urge major music platforms to remove works with unclear copyrights and to strengthen copyright supervision.

Feng Chujun placed too much faith in the power of policy, and he was destined to fail.

Disheartened, he will return to the Society for Economic Reform next year. He will study social transformation, social stability, social psychology, urban-rural integration evaluation systems, and so on. Later, he became the deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine "China Reform".

What truly killed legitimate music platforms like TT Music wasn't some unscrupulous company like Fenbei.com, but rather QQ Music and Baidu MP3!

QQ Music's user agreement is legitimate, not only because it's a publicly listed company, but also because Tencent doesn't profit from it. However, while it's legitimate, it also allows users to upload pirated content, and if anything goes wrong, the pirated works are simply removed.

Baidu MP3 is even more impressive; they directly use web crawlers to grab songs from other platforms and then resend them from servers in the US. They don't produce music, nor do they make money from it; they're just online music resellers.

Caught between these two giants, legitimate music websites are finding it difficult to survive.

Only leading legitimate music companies like 9Tian Music Network can continue to survive.

Because 9Tian Music Network has money, it received venture capital from IDG last year, and took the opportunity to cooperate with traditional record companies to purchase the online copyrights of a large number of songs, and can also organize offline performances.

After much beating around the bush, Feng Chujun finally explained his purpose: "Besides asking your company to upload 'The Wind Rises' to TT Music, I also want to do an event with Renren.com."

"What kind of event?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Feng Chujun said, "We'll use the story chain feature on Renren.com to hold an 'Original Online Music' competition. We'll invite Renren.com users to upload their original works to TT Music. Winners will receive prize money, and I can also help them with ringback tones and offline performances. We'll also ask Renren.com to help promote TT Music, as its user agreement is the most rigorous and standardized on the entire internet!"

"Is this activity paid or free?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Feng Chujun said, "I will pay Renren.com 10 yuan for the activity."

He has limited funds and can only contribute this much; the rest of the money needs to be used to operate the company.

"It's a pleasure to cooperate." Chen Guiliang was very pleased. This was the first time someone had proactively approached Renren.com to discuss business cooperation.

The situation is gradually improving.

Feng Chujun asked, "How about you take me for a walk around the campus? I haven't been back to Peking University for more than ten years, and many places have changed."

"Let's go, Senior Brother Feng." Chen Guiliang was happy to be the tour guide, just to help the client relax.

……

With the support of the story relay activity on Renren.com and the promotion through posts on various websites, "The Wind Rises" spread very quickly.

In particular, music videos made with Flash animations saw a surge in clicks and downloads after being uploaded to Flash Empire.

The lyrics are a big plus, resonating with young people.

Individual and world, growth and insights, youth and memories, maturity and acceptance... To put it simply, it's my feelings, fantasies and expectations about love, the past, and the future.

Some people are indifferent to the song, they just think it's okay.

But a large number of young people, not just students, but also white-collar workers, love this song to the core.

The more artsy or bourgeois you are, the more you'll love this song.

After downloading it, I listened to it over and over again, actively recommended it to my friends, and even embedded the audio into my blog and journal.

Pirated music was uploaded to major music platforms, including Fenbei.com, within two or three days.

Chen Guiliang posted a statement on the school's intranet: "The real name of this song is 'The Wind Rises - The School's Website Song.' The lyricist and composer allow netizens to download, use, and create derivative works for free, but commercial activities are prohibited without authorization. Commercial activities include, but are not limited to..."

Following this, Chen Guiliang published a “Solemn Statement” in several newspapers in small, inconspicuous print.

But that still can't stop websites and individuals from ignoring the law!
"Damn it, a rearranged version has appeared on Fenbei.com!" Xie Yang had been keeping an eye on things; Chen Guiliang had recently hired another subordinate for him.

Now, Xie Yang has his own three-person team, and he conquers the online world every day with his two henchmen.

Re-arranging music is considered a form of creative work, and Chen Guiliang allows this to be done, provided that it is not for commercial purposes.

Will Fenbei.com listen to reason?
It's estimated that in a while, Fenbei.com will be launching the "The Wind Rises" ringtone service. Losing the lawsuit doesn't matter much; the compensation and fines are very low, far less than the money they earn from ringtones.

But they were unaware that the "Administrative Measures for the Protection of Copyright on the Internet" were about to be promulgated.

Then there will be laws to follow, and the infringing party will be required to compensate the infringed party for its losses and be fined up to three times the amount of its illegal business operations.

……

Jiulongpo, a mountain city.

"Boss, 'The Wind Rises' has been the fastest-growing song in downloads these past few days, and someone even uploaded a rearranged version," the department manager reported. "We think this song has potential, but Renren.com issued a statement."

Zheng Li carefully reviewed the download data for several versions and instructed, "Download all the other versions, put the re-arranged version on the homepage recommendation spot, and focus on operating the re-arranged version from now on."

"It won't be a problem, right?"

"At most, the fine will be 25 yuan, and the compensation will be 25

Zheng Li is fully aware of this. Due to the ambiguity of the relevant laws, the judge will impose the maximum fine of 25 yuan based on the provisions of the Copyright Law, since the amount of illegal business is difficult to calculate, and will also compensate the infringed party with a similar amount of money.

Renren.com is nothing compared to this; Zheng Li infringes on the rights of songs from major record companies just like any other company.

Xu Song should be the one with the most say on this, as he was badly burned by Fenbei.com.

……

As the popularity of "The Wind Rises" continues to rise, IDG's Lin Dongliang has joined ByteDance.

Interestingly, both 9Tian Music Network and Fenbei.com have received venture capital funding from IDG. The former is the largest legitimate music website in China, while the latter is the largest fraudulent music website in China.

In fact, they are all supported by the same capital.

Now, IDG has found Chen Guiliang again.

Lin Dongliang did not visit the incubator directly, but instead contacted Wang Kai, the project manager of the Peking University Science Park incubator.

"Welcome, Mr. Lin!" Wang Kai was very familiar with the name Lin Dongliang.

Lin Dongliang said, "The companies incubated by Peking University Science Park have been developing very rapidly in the past two years. We at IDG have been paying close attention to them, and this time we mainly came to take a look, hoping to discover some potential companies."

Wang Kai said, "I happen to have four projects on hand. Mr. Lin can take a look at their basic information first."

Lin Dongliang pretended to read through all four documents: "How come Game Science and ByteDance have the same founder?"

Wang Kai explained, "Game Science was registered earlier and is a sole proprietorship. ByteDance was registered later and has two founders. Both projects are doing well, especially the numerous events on Xiaonei.com, which have generated strong responses both online and offline."

“All four projects are valuable, and I will stay and gradually get to know them,” Lin Dongliang said.

He deliberately approached the other two projects first, leaving Chen Guiliang's two companies for last.

It wasn't until the third day after arriving at Peking University Science Park that Lin Dongliang, accompanied by Wang Kai, went to the offices of Game Science and ByteDance.

(End of this chapter)