Chapter 84： huge profit

The monitoring of digital music copyrights was carried out by Apple in later generations using these two methods. In the beginning, the music downloaded on iTunes could only be played on Apple's products, which caused a lot of controversy, but Apple still insisted on going its own way. After that, it was cracked by omnipotent hackers and developed a new player that can The smooth playback of digital music downloaded on iTunes has been repeatedly banned by Apple, and it has cost a lot of time in the lawsuit.

After that, Apple developed the Fair.Play digital rights management (DRM) system to prevent users from copying by themselves. This system does allow illegal downloads to be controlled to a certain extent. However, the copyright issue of digital music, in the final analysis, is the same as the copyright of traditional records. It depends on the consciousness of users. As long as there is no market, pirates will naturally converge. This problem cannot be cured, it can only be controlled.

Andy Rosen became the executive officer of the iTunes department. He must have two brushes. After thinking for a while, he came to understand. There was a faint smile on his raised face. Although he didn't say anything specifically, it was obvious. There is no problem.

In fact, this whole set of methods is the method implemented by Apple on iTunes in 2003, and its feasibility has been proved by the smooth operation of later generations for up to nine years. Therefore, Gu Luobei's persuasion did not take much effort to see convincing smiles on the faces of Lee Kelleher and Andy Rosen.

"This is a detailed written plan, you can bring it back for reference." Gu Luobei took out three printouts. The plan was actually written by Teddy Bell. After all, Gu Luobei was not a professional, and in this respect it was Teddy Bell. Bell's specialty. Knowing Gu Luobei's plan, Teddy Bell was completely shocked. This is a huge plan to change the structure of the music market, and it can even be remembered in history. Although he has always admired his younger brother, Teddy Bell still feels Gu Luobei is too strong. "Of course, at the end, there is also the profit I hope to get by relying on this plan. If you have any objections, you are welcome to discuss with me."

When Gu Luobei said this, there was a faint smile on his face. Lee Kelleher and Andy Rosen said in their hearts "the sly guy". Gu Luobei is just sitting on the ground and making a bid, he can speak loudly. Both of them know that this kind of plan is absolutely feasible, but Gu Luobei can tell Warner Records and Apple, just like Universal, Sony, Microsoft and other companies. In the business model of digital music copyright, whoever has the upper hand will win. It can definitely be said that it is a race against time.

So the core of the discussion now is whether Warner Music and Apple agree to Gu Luobei's profit sharing requirement. Here again, Warner Music and Apple are different.

Warner Records is a record company, and it has no cooperative relationship with Gu Luobei, so it has no interest relationship with Gu Luobei at present, and the contract terms can only be negotiated for possible future cooperation. These terms are insignificant if there is no opportunity for cooperation. So Lee - Kelleher has less scruples.

Apple is the main company, and iTunes is the download platform. Gu Luobei first relies on the plan to invest in this project, and how much should be divided; secondly, if Gu Luobei's digital music is to be sold on iTunes in the future, how should the commission be calculated? , are issues that need to be considered. Andy Rosen has a tough job.

Of course, there is also the cooperation between Warner Music and Apple. Apple buys the copyrighted digital music rights of Warner Music and becomes the first batch of music downloaded legally by iTunes. This profit sharing also needs to be negotiated. However, this has nothing to do with Gu Luobei.

Before this negotiation, Gu Luobei directly registered "Eleven Studio" in his name and became a company. The legal company name is "11", and the legal representative is Gu Luobei. At this point, Gu Luobei's dream of becoming an independent musician finally started to take off.

There is no accident. The first person who reached a cooperation plan with Gu Luobei was Warner Records.

To put it simply, the distribution of a record includes the publisher, the producer, the singer, and the distributor. Among them, the agent's fee is paid by the singer himself.

According to the memories of taking care of Luo Bei's life, the royalties for singers are between 10% and 20%. The last time Universal Music signed with Melancholy Mood Times was 8%. This fluctuation value depends on the influence of the singer and the means of the agent.

The producer can take two parts. The first part is the copyright, which is about 15%. This copyright includes two parts: the copyright department of the record company and the creator's personal copyright. The proportion needs to be negotiated. The second part is most of the income of the album. The producer who undertakes the production, recording, promotion, production and other links of the album can get more than 30% of the income.

The final publishers and distributors can share 20% to 30% of the revenue, and the remaining small part of the revenue will be distributed among various links, but most of them are still collected by the producers.

It can be seen that it is very difficult for singers to make money, and it is the record company that really makes money. Only a small number of singers who really reach the top have enough to live on. This is one of the reasons why movie actors have always had a higher status than singers.

As for the digital music part of the Internet, due to the low cost of the Internet, the income of the producers will be higher, and the network media that integrates distribution and distribution, such as iTunes, can only get a small head. Of course, if they don't spend a penny or a penny, they are considered to be empty wolves.

Two days later, Warner Records took the lead in agreeing to the cooperation plan with Gu Luobei. Because of Gu Luobei's friendly behavior this time, the relationship between Warner Records and Gu Luobei warmed up again. Under the circumstance that all the five major record companies could choose, Gu Luobei chose Warner Records, which undoubtedly benefited Warner Records a lot. The first is to get out of the quagmire of the Napster lawsuit, and the second is to find a solution to digital music rights. Therefore, Warner Records was very generous and only made a symbolic bargaining on Gu Luobei's conditions, on behalf of Claire Days, who was promoted to become the deputy manager of the department, and finally agreed to Gu Luobei's profit distribution plan.

Gu Luobei has no plans to sign a contract with Warner Records. He still plans to make music by himself in the future, but just hand over the distribution rights to Warner Records, and all the remaining copyright royalties are in the hands of Gu Luobei. Warner Music's revenue from distribution and distribution is only 20%, the industry minimum. In other words, when Gu Luobei releases an album, he can get 80% of the income—of course, Teddy Bell’s share as an agent needs to be calculated separately from Gu Luobei, while Warner Records only takes 20%. It can be said to be benevolent.

Regarding Gu Luobei's upcoming single, Claire-Dais politely said that it could be released by Warner Records. Although Warner Records rarely releases singles by independent musicians, it can still be released. After all, it costs a lot of money. Big, maybe he can make a fortune from Gu Luobei: "It's Just a Dream" Claire Days is very optimistic.

However, Gu Luobei finally refused. Claire Days wasn't too obsessive either.

In addition, Gu Luobei also reached an agreement with Warner Records in the name of "Eleven Music Studio", and Warner Records also has the priority to release the albums of the studio's singers, with a revenue ratio of 23%. This agreement will undoubtedly benefit the "Eleven Music Studio", which does not have any singers or any musical works.

However, in the eyes of Lee Kelleher and Warner Records, this seemingly unprofitable deal to an outsider turned out to be the most cost-effective deal Lee Kelleher has seen since he took office.

A day later, the first negotiation between Apple and Gu Luobei failed, which seemed to arouse a strong reaction from Gu Luobei. Gu Luobei immediately contacted Sony Records, who was about to move. Two days later, Apple negotiated with Gu Luobei again. The interview ended in a friendly atmosphere. Although there was still no result, Sony Records, who responded a little later, was arrested. Gu Luobei refused to answer the call, and this missed call has become one of Sony's biggest regrets in the next ten years.

Another day later, Apple representative Andy Rosen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and finally reached a partial agreement with Gu Luobei. Although he knew that Gu Luobei was not a soft persimmon, his decisiveness and agility still surprised Andy Rosen. After three negotiations, only part of the agreement was reached, it can be seen that Gu Luobei refused to give in in principle.

This part of the agreement is about digital music copyright. For all the music produced by Gu Luobei and "Eleven Music Studio", the digital music sales rights on the Internet are all entrusted to Apple's iTunes, which charges 15% of the fee. Although Apple does not know anything about the music quality of Gu Luobei and "Eleven Music Studio" at present, everyone who talks about business knows that if there is interest, don't be a fool. Of course, this clause turned out to be the most valuable clause in the agreement a few years later.

At the ratio of 15%, because there is no reference figure before, and the copyright income of digital music is not yet known, Andy Rosen has been testing Gu Luobei's bottom line. But Gu Luobei has a clear understanding of this number, 15% is also the lowest number he can suppress. After the two sides reach a consensus, there is not much nonsense.

As for the value of Gu Luobei's proposal, it is the focus of the dispute between the two sides!

Gu Luobei's request is to request a share in the form of a proposal, and 5% of the revenue from iTunes music sales each year will belong to Gu Luobei. This amount is absolutely astronomical, Andy Rosen certainly can not agree.

After the first negotiation, Gu Luobei compromised the figure to 1%, and there was no room for manoeuvre. But Andy Rosen insisted on a one-time buyout in cash and did not agree to share. Apple also hopes to have no worries, and a one-time buyout is a wise choice.

But the shrewd Gu Luobei refused to give in an inch, and even planned to tear up part of the agreement reached before, preparing to contact Sony for the second time. At this critical moment, Apple held the third negotiation, but sitting opposite Gu Luobei was not Andy Rosen, but Steve Jobs!

Today's second update, a little late, sorry. Ask for a recommendation!

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