Business Closed Loop: Starting with Ringback Tones to Take Down Giants

Old Chen has been in Xianming for almost a month.

I did nothing but watch the show.

He didn't have a workstation, so he sat on that broken sofa in the corner, with a cardboard box in front of him as a table.

As for the data custodian?

I quit a long time ago.

Kongzhong.com hasn't recovered from this setback yet; it can't swallow its anger, it can't move forward, and it has ruined its own reputation.

On his first day, no one paid any attention to him except for a young girl surnamed Jiang who gave him a stool.

Okay, she's holding a grudge.

no way.

His apprentice, Zhou Zhengqing, returned with a major business deal and was promoted three ranks, becoming his equal.

To this day, he still doesn't know what Zhou Zhengqing actually talked about.

That day, he sat in his car at the school gate for a full hour, but he couldn't appease anyone.

After returning, I was sidelined.

He was brought up to take the blame again during a time of crisis, and then he was rewarded for his service because others showed him leniency.

It's also a way of returning a favor.

Let's also see what tricks these students, who are being criticized by the entire record industry as troublemakers, can come up with.

Anyway, he didn't know what his own role was: a partner? An advisor? A former rival?

Wang Song didn't say, and he was too lazy to ask.

The student company is quite lively. They've been moving these past few days, from the school to an outside location, and it's actually a three-story building.

Old Chen watched as the group of people carried cardboard boxes, computers, and sofas back and forth.

Ma Xiaojun would stop and argue with Liu Jianjun while carrying the load.

It's chaotic, but it's also quite energetic.

The new place is almost ready, but Old Chen is still sitting in the corner. This time he has a proper sofa.

The cardboard box in front of him was still there; he was too lazy to change it.

"Wow, we've struck gold again!"

I heard Wang Song's voice in my ear; to be honest, I've heard it three times this month already.

Old Chen's thoughts began to drift away.

We returned to that small bungalow at the Central Academy of Drama.

"Hello, is this Xianming Culture? I... I want to release a song."

"I saw on the forum that... saying newcomers can try Xianming Culture."

The small, unfinished house was the first customer for the Xianming Music Platform, so the service had to be top-notch.

"May I help you, sir?"

Ma Xiaojun was the first to go forward, his confident demeanor almost scaring people away.

Wang Song shoved Ma Xiaojun aside.

He handed over a piece of paper: "These materials are needed for copyright registration. Did you bring them?"

The young man took it, his hand trembling slightly: "I...I brought it, I'll put it away right away."

After the CD finished playing, the room was quiet for a few seconds.

Ma Xiaojun scratched his head and didn't say anything, while Liu Jianjun looked down at his shoes.

The song is so-so. It's listenable, but nothing special.

The expectation on the young man's face gradually faded, and he began to put his hands in his pockets.

"You can send it."

He looked up sharply.

Wang Song had already pushed the paper back: "We'll help you register the copyright, but for now, the only distribution channel is Baidu."

"We want your exclusive internet distribution rights for three years."

"The copyright registration fee is 350 yuan. Once your song becomes popular and you make money, we'll deduct that from your earnings."

"Since there's been no profit, let's just forget about it. Do you agree?"

Old Chen stopped writing. He said he would advance the money first, and if there was no profit, he wouldn't ask for compensation, and would only take 5%.

This doesn't make sense, does it? What about channel fees, operating costs, bandwidth fees? What about the profit model?

But he didn't say it.

The young man froze abruptly, looked up and saw the price list on the wall: "I...I'm willing."

A month later, Old Chen saw the young man clutching six hundred yuan, squatting at the door, covering his face and crying like a child.

That evening, the post titled "Fairy Name Gave Me a Second Path" was featured on the homepage of Tianya Music World.

The post contained no exaggerated praise, only copyright certificates and settlement screenshots.

"This is my first song, and I never thought it would make money."

"Qiandu settled 1,000 yuan, and after Xianming deducted the copyright fee they had paid and the 5% service fee, I received 600 yuan."

"They really gave ordinary people's songs a chance to be heard."

Old Chen couldn't help but ask Wang Song, "Are his songs really worth that much?"

Wang Song smiled but didn't say anything; the benchmark project had already been established.

Since then, Xianming's submission box has received dozens more demos.

Old Chen watched as they listened and voted one by one.

"This one's alright, I'll keep it for now and add it to this week's featured playlist."

"Follow the first option: directly confirm the rights and issue it to Baidu for free."

Old Chen would occasionally chime in with a comment.

"They asked you to register the copyright, but when it came to their own work, they were evasive and hesitant in their answers, which makes me suspect that it was plagiarism."

Jiang Yilei thought for a moment: "Then what impact will that have on us?"

Zhao Lan added, "In the event of a copyright infringement dispute, we, as the distributor, will bear direct responsibility."

Everyone was at their wits' end, and the workload had increased even further.

Old Chen asked Wang Song what to do if the amount of content increased due to this kind of human screening.

Wang Song glanced at him and said, "Watch closely and learn from it."

Old Chen didn't ask any more questions.

Within two days, Wang Song's exclamation was heard again.

"Wow, we've struck gold! Let's put a curated playlist on it and invite him over to talk about his creative philosophy."

When the moving truck came to a stop in front of the new building, Guo Ding had already been waiting at the door for half an hour.

Old Chen had heard of this name.

It seems that the record company forced him to sing catchy pop songs, his creative ideas were completely rejected, and the album's promotion was completely abandoned.

He recently went through a contract termination dispute and reached the lowest point in his career.

"What is a curated playlist?" Guo Ding asked curiously.

Wang Song pulled a document out of the drawer and pushed it over.

"Tudou.com, 56.com, and Youku, three video websites."

"Weekly, Xianming presents its weekly curated playlist, featured on the homepage, guaranteeing at least 500,000 exposures across the three platforms combined."

"free?"

Wang Song nodded. "Of course it's free."

"We promote good songs ahead of time; you profit, I profit. That's our capability, how about it? Do you agree?"

Guo Ding readily agreed, "Since you've all said that, it would seem like I'm not being a good friend if I didn't agree. Let's give it a try."

A week later, the weekly featured playlist for Xianming was released, with Guo Ding's work placed at the top of the playlist.

If the three platforms combined get 500,000 views, and then it's sold to Baidu, wouldn't the price be higher?

Within seven days of its release, the playlist saw a surge in downloads, quickly climbing into the top 50 of the Baidu MP3 New Song Chart.

"These numbers are pretty good, and the income is decent too. Hmm? Xianming even provides meals? You won't starve. Xianming is not bad!"

"Wow, there's a recording studio here. I'll use it for a bit."

"Since we're already here..."

Guo Ding, a co-creator on the Xianming Music Platform, +1, Golden Legend.

Wang Song was certainly aware of the limits of human screening. Human screening is for the applicants to see; it's about sincerity.

Wang Song's ability to select people is a testament to his knowledge of who to screen; this is what we call a rebirth.

Old Chen understood too, that's right.

With no barriers to entry, how much would a hundred songs cost? Only 30,000 yuan. As long as you release one high-quality song, you can cover the entire cost.

With a fierce battle brewing among video platforms, they also need to push for streaming.

This will create a new growth flywheel.

"Wow, this is a real treasure."

The day after the housewarming party, three people from downstairs arrived together.

When Old Chen heard the song title, his hand paused while judging the song.

"White Fox" became a hit across China in the first half of this year, with reportedly over ten million ringtone downloads.

But without copyright, it was pirated, and SPs (service providers) directly used it, so they didn't get a single penny.

Wang Song poured the three of them a glass of water, listened carefully to the whole story, and suddenly felt a headache coming on. (See the author's note for the short story)

"How about this, we'll register the copyright for you, you'll be the lyricist, you'll be the composer, and Teacher Chen Rui will sing it."

"How about the copyright be jointly owned by the three of you?"

"We'll make a music video for Mr. Chen Rui's idea for free, but after the copyright is registered..."

"We, Xianming, require a five-year exclusive online distribution license. Can you accept that?"

The three exchanged a glance; they were looking for other record companies.

These are all terms like "permanent buyout," "full agency," and "revenue sharing to be discussed."

"A five-year exclusive...that's acceptable."

……

Copyright secured, music video released.

Old Chen took the initiative to take on the task of protecting rights.

He knows the ins and outs of the SP industry too well.

In three days, they sorted out all the piracy links, made a list, and handed it over to Jiang Yilei.

"These few are negotiable, these few need to be prosecuted, these few..."

He paused, then picked up the phone and dialed a number.

As he hung up the phone, he looked at Wang Song and said, "Eighty-four thousand, the money will arrive within three days."

Wang Song nodded and looked at the three dumbfounded people.

The music video is just a cliché fox.

After a thousand years of cultivation, she fell in love with a scholar, accompanied him through his arduous studies, and helped him achieve academic success. In the end, he married someone else.

Within three days of its release, the music video garnered over one million views across three major video platforms.

People really fall for this nowadays. The three of them left satisfied and returned to the forum to declare their immortal names again.

Qiandu MP3 quickly followed up and accepted this seed that had been popular for more than half a year and finally borne fruit.

With Lao Chen as a witness, the Xianming Music Platform was finally established, albeit with some stumbles along the way.

"Wow, we've struck gold again!"

Old Chen shook his head, clearing his mind completely. This was the third time he had heard it this month.

"I don't want a fixed salary, I don't want to be an employee, I want to be an industry consultant."

Old Chen looked at the young man in front of him, who was not yet twenty years old, and spoke calmly.

"Has Mr. Chen come to his senses?"

"Channel connections, payment collection and rights protection, business cooperation. If the project succeeds, I'll get a share of the profits; if it loses money, I won't take a single penny."

Wang Song moved the cardboard box in front of him and reached out his hand.

"Welcome to the team, Consultant Chen."