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

on the plane.

Wu Yue was restless, but he eventually decided to follow the young man north to Yanjing.

He read all the reports about Xianming overnight. His vision, operation, and overall strategy were second to none.

He had actually received an offer from Tencent a long time ago, but he was hesitant because he thought the big companies had too many rules and were too rigid.

"Alright, stop thinking about it, we're already here."

"You're in charge of the technology. Whether you want to make games, websites, or even mobile operating systems, I'll invest in you."

Wang Song patted his chest and assured him.

"Go to hell, making mobile operating systems, my foot!" Wu Yue retorted before closing her eyes.

Inside the fairy-named building at the destination.

The studio staff sat around the conference room to discuss strategies.

Zhao Lan spoke first.

"This is the third one already. Yesterday they were still asking me to provide additional copyright materials, but this morning they sent an email saying they're not going to confirm the rights."

Jiang Yilei looked at the creator who had responded the most actively over the past week and whose work was also quite good, and felt a mix of emotions.

"We've been reviewing his materials for almost ten days, and we can submit them to the Copyright Bureau tomorrow. Why?"

Old Chen looked at it and said, "The conditions offered by NESTS are too good."

The projection showed a notice that NESTS had pinned three days ago.

72-hour express review; once approved, songs will be directly recommended on the beta version of Qiuqiu Music's new song recommendation chart.

Old Chen sighed: "Especially copyright registration, they're much faster than us, but they have a fee system."

"Fortunately, they don't dare to burn money on a large scale. Like us, they have a minimum guarantee of 200 yuan for every 10,000 views."

Zhao Lan hesitated for a moment, but finally read out the most heartbreaking sentence from the email.

"I'm sorry, I can't wait any longer. I write songs to make a living. You guys are great, but NESTS can make money right now."

"I will still speak up for Xianming on the forum. You guys are good people, I know."

Are they wrong?

That's right.

It wasn't anger, it wasn't resentment, it was the anxiety of waiting.

You know the other person is a good person, you know they have a hard life, but the outcome you're waiting for just won't come.

The air in the conference room felt even colder.

Li Ran slumped into a chair. "We stayed up all night listening to each song one by one, afraid of missing a single good one."

"I was worried about copyright infringement and getting into trouble, so I paid for their copyright registration out of my own pocket... How did it turn out like this?"

"It's the traffic and resources of big companies," Zhou Tao added.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is the same strategy as Tencent's: a copycat approach with preferential resource allocation.

The opponent struck at Xianming's weakest point.

You've established a reputation for being responsible, conscientious, and providing a safety net for ordinary people, but your manual review system is destined to be slow.

Tianya Music World

A post was featured on the homepage.

"Between Fairy Name and Sound Nest, I chose the latter."

The poster's ID looked familiar; it was the creator who had just given up.

"RT, I know I'll get criticized for posting this, but I want to tell the truth."

"Xianming is a really good person; he has connections and is very humane."

"The first song I released was on Xianming, and the person in charge there personally called me to confirm the copyright."

"I will never forget that feeling of being respected."

"But this time I waited twenty days."

"The new song was sent out, but it disappeared without a trace. I know they're busy, and I don't blame them."

"But the people from SoundNest contacted me and said they could put it on Ball Music in three days, and I wavered."

"My song was released on Tencent yesterday."

"I called them to apologize, and the person in charge said it was okay and that I hadn't done anything wrong."

"But I feel terrible inside."

"The immortal name is correct, and I am correct, so who is in the wrong?"

1L: "Don't blame yourself, OP. Who doesn't want their song to be heard as soon as possible?"

2L: "The immortal names are too difficult to handle. There are only a dozen or so people; how could they possibly interrogate them all..."

3L: "So what's the problem? Xianming is being dragged down despite being in charge? NESTS is using resources to poach talent?"

4L: "In this world, honest people suffer."

5L: "I'm still waiting for the immortal name, I'm not in a hurry."

6L: "LS, you wait, I'm going to join the Nest tomorrow too."

7L: "Let's all go, let's all go. If the name of the immortal doesn't change, it will be dragged down sooner or later."

Old Chen had long known that it wasn't market competition, but a bloody process of copying and co-opting.

Meanwhile, Penguin Music division.

Yan Kuan sat in the main seat of the conference room, with the backend data of the NESTS platform displayed on the projector in front of him.

The operations team is reporting: "The growth rate of the YNN Nest has exceeded expectations in the two weeks since its launch."

"Especially the creators from Xianming are generally of higher quality, which shows that Xianming's previous screening was indeed effective..."

Yan Kuan raised his hand to interrupt him: "What's Xianming's reaction?"

The operations manager paused for a moment: "There's been no response; they're still reviewing the manuscript."

Yan Kuan frowned.

He recalled the look in the eyes of the young girl surnamed Jiang in that three-story building that day when she said there was no precedent for the right to choose songs first.

That wasn't a look of someone who would admit defeat.

But right now, Xianming really hasn't done anything.

"Keep an eye on it." Yan Kuan cleared his mind. "Add more resources and add the QQ pop-up."

The operations manager hesitated for a moment: "Mr. Yan, wouldn't this be too..."

"Too much?"

"It's too obvious."

Yan Kuan smiled and said, "So what if it's obvious? We're just having legitimate business competition."

"They can't handle all the reviews, so we help creators solve the problem. What kind of problem?"

The operations team remained silent.

Yan Kuan suddenly remembered something: Xianming and Qiandu had signed a cooperation agreement, and the total number of views for that press conference exceeded ten million.

The operations manager hadn't left yet, and cautiously asked, "Mr. Yan, is there anything else?"

Yan Kuan didn't turn around: "What's been happening with Qian Du lately?"

The operations manager was taken aback: "I haven't heard of that... They've been promoting Xianming's playlists, and the play count is pretty good."

"That's all?"

That's all.

Yan Kuan remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he waved his hand, signaling the operations team to leave.

After closing the door, he looked at the night outside the window and suddenly felt that something had been overlooked.

At the same time, in Yanjing, at the Qiandu Building.

Li Yanhei hadn't left yet; he was sitting at his desk with a stack of printed materials spread out in front of him.

Old Xiong, the PR guy, was sitting across from me.

"Mr. Li, that's the situation," Old Xiong reported.

"NESTS is Penguin's horse race, with a clear goal: to crush Fairy Name and then recruit those creators."

"Once Xianming falls, the upstream of Baidu, and even all internet music platforms, will be in Tencent's hands."

Li Yanhei frowned. "How did Tencent gain the trust of these creators?"

Old Bear thought for a moment, then said, "Urgent."

"Our press conference was so high-profile that it essentially educated the existing market, and creators saw a new opportunity."

Li Yanhei didn't say anything, just flipped through the stack of documents.

"What is Xianming's current status?"

"It's about to be submerged," said the old bear.

"There has been a significant increase in complaints from creators. Although we are still speaking up for them, those who can't wait have already started migrating to NESTS."

Li Yanhei raised his head and glanced at the old bear: "The penguin wants to eat everything, but its appetite is too big. It might just kill itself."

The old bear asked, "So, what should we do?"

Li Yanhei turned around: "How many people can be transferred from the Ministry of Justice?"

Old Xiong paused for a moment, then said, "Legal affairs? You want to..."

"Xianming's biggest problem right now is not resources, but manpower. Our legal team is more mature than theirs."

Old Bear understood: "What are the conditions? Should we make any requests?"

Li Yanhei glanced at him.

"You just said that with the collapse of Xianming, the upstream supply chain is now in the hands of Tencent."

"So tell me, is it better for it to be in someone else's hands, or in the hands of a student weaker than us?"

"Only after this period of trust crisis has passed can we bypass their platforms and reach the creators directly."

Old Bear nodded in agreement.

Li Yanhei walked back to the coffee table, picked up his phone, and dialed a number.

"Hello, is this Zhou from the Legal Department?"

"Tomorrow morning, select five people who are most familiar with the copyright process to go to Xianming Culture."

"Yes, that's the student company. What do they do? Help out."

He paused, then said:

"Give them a month."

"If they haven't resolved it in a month, then we'll discuss terms. Right now, let's not talk about anything."

After hanging up the phone, he looked at Old Xiong:

"Go there tomorrow too. Tell them that they can use Qiandu's services as they please, free of charge for a month, and we won't interfere or meddle."

Old Bear stood up: "Understood."

Inside the Immortal Name Pavilion, the group's discussion yielded no substantial conclusions.

Everyone was left looking disheveled and could only continue dealing with those annoying, attention-seeking works.

Suddenly, Jiang Yilei's phone, which was on the table, vibrated.

She glanced down at the screen, and her face, which had been tense to the point of turning pale, instantly relaxed, her eyes reddening.

Everyone sitting around the table immediately looked up and stared at her.

"Don't panic, everyone. The boss has sent a message."

"What are the boss's instructions?"

"Speak quickly, Deputy Jiang."

A group of people immediately surrounded them.

Jiang Yilei said slowly and deliberately, "Thank you all for your hard work."

"Now, everyone go back and rest. All reviews are suspended. Get yourselves ready. See you in the conference room tomorrow morning."

The boss's news was like a reassuring pill, giving everyone the confidence to have survived a disaster.

With him around, the sky won't fall.

Jiang Yilei put away his phone, looked at the people in the room who had finally come back to life, and repeated himself in a hoarse voice.

"Did you all hear that? Go back to sleep. See you in the conference room tomorrow."