Hong Kong Entertainment 1979: A Beating Up the Manager at the Start

Chapter 156 The Fox's Tail

Next, the two sides began detailed consultations.

These are all minor matters, nothing worth mentioning.

However, on the day of signing the contract, Li Jiangbo had a hunch.

When Li Jiangbo arrived with his team of three elite lawyers, Watanabe looked rather embarrassed.

An hour later, the three lawyers frowned.

JVC's legal counsel had beads of sweat on his forehead.

Watanabe noticed that his legal counsel was sweating, and his heart began to race.

As expected, as the elite legal team bombarded JVC with a dozen or so questions, Watanabe Shota stood up, blushing, and bowed ninety degrees to Li Jiangbo.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Li, I'm really sorry. We were not well prepared, please excuse the poor quality."

Li Jiangbo snorted coldly and didn't reply.

The Japanese have a traditional virtue of taking advantage of your ignorance and your desire to maintain the image of a major power and a large enterprise, using all sorts of underhanded tricks to deceive mainland bosses.

Li Jiangbo is not like those mainland bosses; he had already made preparations.

Before he could even make a move, Watanabe Shota spoke first.

"Mr. Li, to express our apology, we are willing to offer you five more production lines at market price."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiangbo thought, "That's great! Since they've practically delivered meat to my mouth, there's no reason not to eat it."

He smiled and asked, "So, Watanabe-kun, how much are you planning to sell it for?"

Shota Watanabe glanced at the company's legal counsel, then at several senior executives. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "800 million."

Li Jiangbo nodded. He knew that 10 production lines would cost around 10 million, and Watanabe could save 2 million, which was probably his limit.

He didn't make things difficult for Watanabe, after all, they would be cooperating in the future.

"It's a pleasure working with you."

What followed was perfectly logical. The moment both parties put down their pens, Li Jiangbo and Watanabe Shota both breathed a sigh of relief.

After leaving JVC headquarters, Li Jiangbo and others went to Warner Bros.

In the conference room, Ito and Sato met with Li Jiangbo again.

Ito and Sato first showered Li Jiangbo with compliments, then revealed their true colors.

"Li Sang, your poems 'The Wind Continues to Blow' and 'Song of the Setting Sun' are excellent, and the songs are very beautiful. I wonder if you have any intention of selling the copyrights?"

Li Jiangbo chuckled to himself. Sure enough, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Luckily, he hadn't eaten one.

However, he asked calmly, "I wrote this song on a whim. Since Ito-kun likes it, just name your price."

As soon as Li Jiangbo said this, Ito and Sato exchanged a glance, a hint of joy flashing in their eyes.

Ito coughed twice and said, "Mr. Li, we are willing to pay HK$200,000 to buy out the copyright of these two songs."

Li Jiangbo held his teacup, savoring the tea slowly, without saying a word.

Sato, thinking he thought it was too little, quickly said, "Mr. Li, this price is already very high for song copyrights in our country. Your song is indeed well-written, but there's no Japanese version after all. We're only buying the copyright to one song."

Li Jiangbo put down his teacup. "Mr. Sato, do you know how many records these two songs sold in Hong Kong? 'The Wind Continues to Blow' alone sold 40,000 copies, a solid gold record."

Ito frowned. "Li-san, the two markets are different..."

'

Before he could finish speaking, Li Jiangbo interrupted him, "What's the difference? Do you think your Warner lyricists are no good? Or...?"

"7

Li Jiangbo didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear: You'll have to pay extra to get the song copyrights.

Ito and Sato also realized the problem. Sato cautiously asked, "Li-san, what do you think?"

Without wasting words, Li Jiangbo held up two fingers and said, "HK$200,000 per song, buy it outright. Or take nothing, but give me 10% of my record sales."

Ito and Sato looked at each other, and suddenly felt a pang of regret.

Finally, Sato spoke up: "Mr. Li, 200,000 is too expensive."

Li Jiangbo shrugged. "Then it'll be a 10% split."

The two men clearly could not accept this, and the meeting room fell silent instantly.

After Ito and Sato discussed the matter in hushed tones for a few moments, Sato turned to me and said, "Mr. Li, this price... we need to think about it some more."

Li Jiangbo smiled and said, "You can take your time to think it over. I'll head back to Hong Kong now."

After saying that, he got up to leave.

Before he could take a step, Sato quickly stopped Li Jiangbo.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Li! Let's talk again, let's talk again."

Li Jiangbo was pulled down to sit by Sato again.

Sato gritted his teeth. "Li-san, what do you think of Nakamori Akina?"

Li Jiangbo looked at the two of them in surprise. What did they mean? He hadn't eaten that dish, so why were they trying to pin it on him?

He wanted to see what these two were up to by suddenly bringing up that dish.

Sato rubbed his hands together and chuckled, "Nakamori Akina is a very promising newcomer in our company. She has good singing skills and a good image. It's just that our company lacks experience in idol packaging."

He paused, glancing at Li Jiangbo's expression. Seeing that Li Jiangbo wasn't angry, he said, "If Mr. Li is interested, we can discuss cooperation. We can transfer Ms. Nakamori to Time Records, with your company handling her image and Warner handling distribution and promotion in the domestic market."

Li Jiangbo chuckled inwardly; how could he not know what the two were up to?

After all, Akina Nakamori is a newcomer. They've spent resources promoting her, but it's uncertain whether she'll become popular.

But song copyrights are different; as long as they put their heart into writing lyrics, creating a star isn't difficult at all.

But what they didn't know was that Akina Nakamori would become the original Japanese geisha. At that point, it's uncertain whether the two would regret it.

Thinking of this, Li Jiangbo casually asked, "How exactly will the cooperation work?"

The two men perked up as soon as they saw that Li Jiangbo was interested.

Sato excitedly said, "Ms. Nakamori signed a five-year contract, and her debut funding will be provided by Time Records. Warner Music and Time Records will split the profits 50/50."

Li Jiangbo remained silent, feigning hesitation.

Seeing that he didn't speak, It quickly added, "Mr. Li, Ms. Nakamori is really good. As long as she has a good song, she's sure to become famous. If you're willing to sign her, the copyrights of those two songs..."

""

Li Jiangbo waved his hand to interrupt, "Does Ms. Nakamori herself know about this?"

Both of them were stumped by the question, and then Sato chuckled awkwardly, "Don't worry, Ms. Li, she'll definitely agree."

Li Jiangbo could tell at a glance that this guy was lying.

"Go and call her here. I want to ask her in person."

Sato looked troubled. "Li-san, this..."

'

"Then there's no need to discuss it."

Sato saw that Li Jiangbo was about to leave again, so he quickly stopped him.

"Okay, okay, I'll go call them, I'll go call them."

About ten minutes later, Sato brought Akina Nakamori to the conference room.

When Akina Nakamori saw Li Jiangbo, she froze instantly, her face turning red involuntarily.

Sato smiled at Nakamori Akina and said, "Ms. Nakamori, this Mr. Li wants to sign you to his record company. Would you be willing?"

""

Akina Nakamori had already been warned by Sato and understood that she had only signed with another company, while Warner would still be responsible for her work and singing.

She glanced at Li Jiangbo, and a smile crept onto her lips as she recalled how he had run out of the hotel room that night, frightened by her.

"I'm willing, thank you for your help, Ms. Li."

After Li Xiaotian translated for Li Jiangbo, Li Jiangbo nodded, and Nakamori Akina extended her hand.

Welcome to Time Records.

After the two shook hands, Li Jiangbo said to Sato, "I'll have my lawyer talk to you about the contract, and we'll handle the copyright issue according to your wishes."

"Remember to teach Ms. Nakamori Cantonese first."