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

Three days after the platform went live, everyone in the studio felt that everything was thriving.

As soon as Wang Song arrived at the door, he heard Ma Xiaojun's signature loud voice.

"A certain platform has agreed to let us put free chapters of our works on the platform to attract traffic."

Ma Xiaojun's voice came from the online literature group.

"So, we can't let their scriptwriting team outdo us, everyone charge forward!!"

Wang Song stood quietly outside the door, waiting for his performance.

Ma Xiaojun stood in front of the whiteboard and gave a passionate speech to the newcomers, who were completely taken aback.

Liu Jianjun added without looking up.

"Remember to add the phrase 'Read the full content on a certain Chinese website' to the end of each chapter, otherwise it will be considered a violation."

Ma Xiaojun turned around and glared at him: "That's exactly what I was going to say!"

Just then, he caught a glimpse of Wang Song at the door.

Ma Xiaojun's expression changed instantly.

He straightened up and straightened his wrinkled collar.

"Ahem, this is called bilateral traffic generation, it's a growth flywheel."

"But then again, attracting traffic is just a means; high-quality content is the key. You should prioritize learning this."

"Look at Tianxia Bachang, and me, we all rely on high-quality content to generate traffic."

"That's when they finally loosened their grip on a certain point."

Wang Song didn't expose him.

At the time, an editor at a certain website said, "The copyright is in your hands. If you leak it without authorization, we have the right to pursue legal action."

He then blocked Ma Xiaojun from entering.

In the end, it was Wang Song who called Zhao Lan, and the two parties signed a contract in black and white, which finally settled the matter.

But today, he couldn't be bothered to argue.

Liu Jianjun hung up the phone, looked up and said, "The publishing house has made the decision; we'll go through their channels."

Wang Song nodded and patted Ma Xiaojun on the shoulder: "Manager Ma, keep it up."

Ma Xiaojun chuckled: "Mission accomplished!"

In contrast, the writing team was much quieter.

When Wang Song pushed the door open, Chen Shu was staring at the screen with a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth.

The young newcomer next to Chen Shu was also looking at the screen, her expression similar to Chen Shu's.

The joy of being seen.

The screen displays a story section.

The comment section of Chen Shu's serialized novel "The Vanished Lover" has already been scrolled through several pages.

A unanimous chorus of praise

The plot twists are intense, the story is compelling, and I would definitely support it if it were made into a movie.

Some people are urging for more updates, some are speculating about the ending, and some are even sending private messages asking if it's possible to write a sequel or adaptation.

The new girl's screen displayed "My Love from the Star," and although there were only a few dozen comments, she replied to each one carefully.

She looked up: "Sister Chen Shu, someone praised my writing!"

"My scripts no longer have to be buried in A4 paper and gather dust in the corner of the cabinet."

"So this is what it feels like for their online novel group to be urged to update and receive praise."

Chen Shu smiled, her gaze fixed on the screen, and remained silent.

Wang Song walked over and stood behind them for a while.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Chen Shu turned her head and hesitated for a moment: "Boss, I have a question for you."

"explain."

She pointed to the comments on the screen: "Are these really useful?"

"I mean... do you think our script will actually sell? Like, be made into a movie or TV series?"

Wang Song looked at her.

These screenwriters, who are usually not very talkative, have the most primal desires of creators.

To be seen, to be recognized, and to be brought to a bigger stage.

He smiled, turned around, and looked at each member of the screenwriting team: "Of course we can."

"What we're doing now is promoting the work in advance, building up the reputation of the original work, and creating momentum for our platform."

"Once the story becomes valuable, and we have the product and the buzz, buyers will naturally come."

He paused for a moment: "And, people have already asked about it."

Chen Shu was taken aback: "Really?"

Wang Song didn't say much, just nodded: "Keep writing, don't stop."

He turned and left, leaving a room full of people staring at each other. The boss said there was a buyer, so it must be true, right?

When Wang Song pushed open the door to return to his office, Wu Yue was staring at the screen with her brows furrowed.

Without turning his head, he said, "You've come at the perfect time."

"What's wrong?"

Wu Yue pointed to the screen: "See for yourself."

That's the backend data from the three days since the platform went live.

Wang Song leaned over and glanced at it; the daily submissions averaged five hundred, and the daily active users were less than ten thousand.

"Isn't the occupancy rate okay? It hasn't reached its limit yet."

"It's the growth rate, the growth rate!"

Wu Yue turned her head and said, "The server needs to be upgraded, otherwise it will crash next week."

"Take a look at this yourself."

That was the forum page of Tianya Music World. Wu Yue clicked on a few posts.

"It's been seven days since I posted my song on Xianming. Has anyone listened?"

"RT, this is my first time writing a song, and I don't know what level it is. It just so happens that Xianming is now available on the platform."

"Any experts out there who can help me listen to this? I'd appreciate any support."

Following the link leads to a song on the library chart, which hasn't even reached a thousand plays yet.

But the comments section was full of positive feedback, like "Keep it up!" and "Newcomers, follow each other!"

The second post is similar.

"I'll join in the fun too, everyone help me listen to this song."

Scrolling down further, you see nothing but reports of newcomers asking for help or support.

The number of views went from a few hundred to several thousand, and the comment section was bustling with activity.

Wu Yue said, "This is a good thing, right? Creators are sharing spontaneously, and the forum is gaining popularity."

Wang Song nodded, understanding Wu Yue's intention.

"Add them, add them all for you." Wang Song casually grabbed the internal communication book on the table and pushed it over.

"Finance and administration, just grab anyone to help you with the price reporting. I've approved the quota, that's my word."

Wu Yue's face instantly brightened: "You should have said that earlier, then everything would have been fine."

Wang Song waved his hand, "Has the webpage received a million visits yet?"

"Keep dreaming. A million views would be phenomenal. Right now, it's only a little over 200,000 views."

Wang Song had no choice but to say, "Alright, the road ahead is long."

Wu Yue continued scrolling down the forum, and the style had changed, although the momentum wasn't great.

"I have a question. How are copyrights handled when Xianming releases songs? Does Xianming also help us register them?"

"RT, I see the rules are that if there are no disputes in the library ranking for seven days and the number of views reaches the target, Xianming will help with the registration."

"But what if someone copies my song?"

"Even though it's only 30 seconds, what if someone actually manages to collect a bunch of 30-second clips?"

"What if the resulting spliced-together song is even better than our original data?"

1L: "That makes sense. Don't be too pessimistic. The platform has only been online for three days. Give it some time."

2L: "I agree with the previous commenter. Don't be too anxious. If you have nothing to do, you can go and read some story magazines."

3L: "Just finished watching it, but it's too short, not enough at all. Listening to the music while watching the story was so enjoyable."

4L: "None of you dare to say? Then I will. How exactly are we going to sell it for money?"

"My total views are almost five thousand, and I have nearly three hundred favorites. The data is not bad, right?"

"But then what? Will anyone buy it? How much will it cost? Who will it be sold to?"

Wu Yue stopped and looked at Wang Song: "What do you think of all this?"

Wang Song didn't rush to answer, but gestured for Wu Yue to continue scrolling down.

What happened next became even more bizarre.

"Someone messaged me privately asking if I wanted to sell my songs, but I didn't dare reply."

"I received a private message saying they wanted to buy the copyright to my song and asked me to quote a price, but I didn't reply."

"I don't know how much to quote, I don't know how to sign a contract, and I'm afraid of being scammed. Has anyone else experienced this?"

There were over a dozen comments downstairs, all saying "I received it too" and "So how much is it?"

"Wasn't Xianming supposed to be handling the coordination for us? Why haven't we heard anything?"

Wang Song looked at the business negotiation letters piled on the table and the inquiries in his email.

Wu Yue said, "Our backend doesn't have a private messaging function, and they're trying to bypass it."

He paused, then continued, "You haven't replied to a single one of those inquiries?"

Wang Song nodded.

Wu Yue looked at him and said, "If you don't reply, they'll go find the creators themselves."

"Creators who don't understand the market or contracts are easily taken advantage of."

"If the copyright is bought out at a low price or the author is scammed out of their work, who will ultimately blame us? Our Xianming."

Wang Song was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Is the buyer's platform ready?"

"Soon."

"How long is 'soon'?"

Wu Yue stood up to leave: "It's up to you."

"Setting up the backend is easy, but you have to set the business rules."

"What's the point of setting up an empty shell if the licensing fees and copyright registration aren't settled?"

Wang Song was silent for two seconds, then nodded: "Understood."

Wu Yue stared at him: "Also, someone has to answer those questions on the forum. We can't let them think we're not going to help."

"You even know about operations?" Wang Song smiled.

Wu Yue stood up, ready to leave.

"I don't understand, that's your problem, but it makes me unhappy when the things I care about don't respond."

Wang Song waved his hand, "The rules will be finalized within three days, so keep up the good work."

The office returned to calm.

Wang Song looked at the questions gradually emerging on the forum and muttered to himself.

"It seems we still can't be too nice to them. The copyright prepayment and registration service needs to be discussed again."

"Because of the copyright registration issues, we couldn't sell it. We took on the biggest risk."

Wang Song stood up, picked up his phone, and dialed a number: "Consultant Chen, are you free? Come with me to the legal team."

Old Chen's voice came from downstairs: "Mr. Wang, is it time for a meeting?"

Wang Song's voice came from afar: "Yes, call the two lawyers from Baidu as well."