Chapter 1003： sociologist

Piracy is a growing problem.

Mainly for China.

According to statistics, in 2004, the US music, film and software industries lost a total of 2.5 billion US dollars due to piracy in the mainland. Therefore, after the general election, these industries jointly petitioned the White House, calling on the United States and the WTO to take legal action against China.

However, the issues involved in this kind of great power struggle are too complicated.

If it weren't for a fierce president with great courage, he would never dare to attack rashly.

President Bush is bold enough.

However, the United States is still mired in the quagmire of the Iraq War, in a situation of internal and external difficulties, and it is difficult to make a heavy hand at this stage.

Dunn did not attend a joint meeting on piracy solutions in January.

However, he obtained detailed meeting minutes.

The White House has made it clear that it will be patient in a short period of time. At present, the United States is in a predicament and has no ability to solve this problem. At least it will not be implemented until the US military withdraws from Iraq and the domestic environment stabilizes.

This term is over.

It's up to the next president.

Dunn knew very well that when he was the next president, he happened to encounter a financial crisis and could not do anything. After the financial crisis is over, the Austrian-Black government's soft-hearted policy only increased the export of Hollywood cultural products to China, but did not fundamentally solve the problem.

The real shot is the next president.

In the short term, there is no way.

As Hollywood, the most severely violated intellectual property rights, certainly does not want this result.

In Hollywood, New Universal has the richest intellectual property rights, followed by... Time Warner!

Dunn knew China's environment and national conditions, so he didn't hold any hope and was unmoved.

However, Warner is different, they intend to take action to resist the rampant problem of DVD piracy in China.

Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer visited with Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer.

"Dawn, the government is in trouble, but we can't sit still. I think Hollywood should unite and take steps to resist the piracy of DVDs in China." Barry Mayer came to the living room without sitting down on his buttocks. Some said impatiently.

Dunn looked at him funny, "Hollywood unites? Then you should find MPAA."

Barry Mayer said embarrassingly: "After the MPAA changed its chairman, it has completely become a dog leg of the White House. The White House refused to express its position, and they would not participate."

"Then you are looking for me?"

"Universal and Warner have the most intellectual property rights and have suffered the most loss of profits. I think we can organize an anti-piracy alliance and call on colleagues and people with lofty ideals."

"Using a business alliance to fight the will of the state? Barry, are you reading too much conspiracy theories? China is not South Korea!"

Dunn really laughed angrily.

This Barry Mayer wants to be a Hollywood leader, it's human nature.

But the idea is too naive!

At this time, his follower, Barry Meier, said: "Without policy tools, we still have economic tools, which may not be impossible. What Wall Street can do, Hollywood may not be able to do it."

Dunn twitched the corners of his mouth and said speechlessly: "What has Wall Street achieved? In the past three decades, the federal government has become more and more strict with Wall Street's supervision, and it has become more and more ruthless. This is an indisputable fact. Besides, even if Wall Street can influence some decisions of the White House, they cannot influence the country on the other side. Wall Street can’t, Hollywood can’t!”

"If you don't try, how do you know it won't work?" Barry Meier was not convinced.

Dunn glanced at him, "So, Warner has a plan?"

Barry Mayer smiled and said, "Dawn, I heard that you have only been to China once? Hehe, you probably don't know much about the situation in China. We are different. We have already launched a lot of business cooperation there. , such as Hengdian Film and Television Base, such as Warner Wanda Studios, these are all movie-based projects. I have many friends there, and I will have their support.”

Dunn was stunned and didn't say anything.

Okay!

You are a China expert, you are amazing!

Seeing that Dunn didn't speak, Barry Mayer thought he had convinced him, so he smiled and said, "To be honest, we already have a plan to deal with piracy."

"Really? All ears!" Tang En looked very humbly.

Barry Meier spoke up again at this time, and said eloquently: "Why is piracy rampant? It's very simple, the price is low! It can better meet the consumer needs of Chinese movie fans. As long as we significantly reduce the price of genuine discs, we can check and balance. Piracy. We have decided that in the next few months, we will release 125 kinds of genuine DVD movie discs at ultra-low prices in China, in order to deal with the economic losses caused by Chinese pirated discs to Warner, and at the same time cultivate the genuine consumption of Chinese users Habit."

Tang En seemed to be listening to the scriptures, but he felt that his statement was too fantastic, and asked curiously, "Super low price? How low?"

Genuine DVDs are expensive.

The regular edition is $20, the hardcover edition is $40, the deluxe edition is $60... If it's an HD-DVD, a rare and expensive ultra-definition edition, hey, a set can cost $100!

Such outrageous prices, developing countries do not engage in piracy, and simply cannot afford to watch movies.

Barry Meier said: "Because China has strict import restrictions, many new Hollywood films exist in the form of pirated copies. We have communicated with them and obtained permission to distribute DVDs. Although they cannot enter theaters, But it's also a sales channel after all. If it's an old movie, we'll price it $1.98; if it's a new movie, we'll price it $2.65. If you add additional content to the DVD, such as multiple languages ​​and filming, you can increase the price. to $3.38."

Is it super cheap?

indeed so.

Compared with the pricing in the European and American markets, such a price is indeed ultra-low.

However, compared with piracy, there is still a big gap.

The current exchange rate is 1:8.

The price of the old film is 16 yuan? The price of the new film is 20 yuan? The price of the deluxe version is 26 yuan?

too expensive!

At this time, the retail price of pirated movies was 10 yuan. If you go to that kind of special hypermarket to buy... 3 yuan, 5 yuan can buy a plate.

If you go to the video tape to rent a disc, it only costs 1 yuan.

Of course, pirated discs are usually VCD discs, which are far inferior to DVD discs in terms of resolution, clarity, fluency and content richness.

But, who cares?

China's movie market is only in its infancy, and the moviegoers' viewing tastes have not improved at all. As long as the stories are interesting to watch movies, there is no need for other pursuits.

"Disaster!"

Dunn blurted out without thinking.

He could guess that Warner must have made a lot of sacrifices and compromises and made great efforts in order to be able to sell genuine films in the mainland. However, there will never be good results.

"If we think we can get into this market, we can solve problems, not create them," Barry Meier vowed.

Dunn shrugged, "Okay, then I wish you good luck."

Barry Mayer frowned, "Don, don't you plan to do it with us? If we join forces, maybe we can really make a difference. Even if we can't clean up all the pirated discs, we can at least develop a genuine DVD. living space.”

Tang En pondered for a while and sighed, "Barry, I can feel your enthusiasm. But... I have to say, you are going in the wrong direction, completely wrong!"

"Oh?"

"The video market in Asia, especially China, is mainly VCD, not DVD."

Barry Mayer disagreed: "In front of DVD, VCD has no soil for survival. DVD has multiple languages, multiple subtitles, multiple angles, as well as menus and hyperlinks. Large-capacity DVD discs can present more movie elements. , these are far from VCD discs. Even though the price of our genuine discs may be higher than that of pirated discs, the content we provide is better and more refined!”

In any case, Warner is indeed paving the way for Hollywood this time and contributing to Hollywood.

Although Tang En was not optimistic, he didn't want to hit him too much, so he said: "You are right, DVD discs do have too many advantages over VCD discs. Compared with pirated discs, the advantages are even greater. Much more. But, Barry, there's one precondition you've overlooked. To watch DVDs, you must have a DVD player."

Barry Diller was slightly taken aback.

Barry Meier was a little nervous. He was mainly responsible for this matter, so he quickly said: "Not necessarily, the current VCD player can also play DVD discs."

Dunn shook his head and said, "Mr. Meier probably usually uses players from big brands such as Sony and Philip, which are naturally powerful. But as far as I know, there are many VCD players of various brands in China, or pirated VCDs. That's about $30, and it doesn't have the ability to play DVDs at all."

"Oh no?"

Barry Meier is a little weird.

Today's DVD players pay more and more attention to compatibility. VCD players can't play HD-DVD discs This is understandable, even DVD discs can't be played, that's too exaggerated, right?

Tang En said softly: "You said that I don't know anything about the situation over there... I'm sorry, I may really know better. The pirated industry chain is very complex and huge. If there are pirated discs, of course there are pirated DVD players. , and piracy can only be used in conjunction with pirated copies. The problem of pirated disks is far from being solved by selling cheap genuine disks. The Chinese government has repeatedly stated that it will crack down on piracy and resist piracy, but is this possible? Various Piracy and counterfeiting are worth trillions of dollars every year. Such a large-scale piracy market can create tens of millions of jobs every year. What do you think the government will do?”

Barry Meier said in disbelief: "But if it's all genuine...they'll make more money."

Tang Endao: "More wealth is created, so what? It will only allow more wealth to be channeled to the genuine industry, which will further widen the gap between the rich and the poor, and increase the living difficulties of the bottom group. The piracy industry has solved the problems of some low-end people. The employment problem allows them to have jobs and food. The genuine industry makes less money and suffers grievances, and it is always much better than those low-end population groups who cannot survive.”

Barry Mayer showed a wry smile, "Dawn, I didn't expect you to be a sociologist!"

Tang En shook his head, "It's really not a high-end theory. As long as you go there and do some market research, you will definitely be able to draw some conclusions and judgments that are more accurate than mine."