Sony is an old company and an old giant.
Two years ago, its market value reached an all-time high of US$138 billion, ranking it among the top 30 global companies by market value.
Today, two years later, it is less than $80 billion.
In other words, it has lost 12 current Apples in two years.
But even so, a company whose business covers film and television, music, media, finance, digital products and other fields is a giant that makes people feel awe.
What Yike and Apple are challenging is just one of Sony's many businesses: music players.
Not to mention Yike, even Apple may not be taken seriously by Sony. Regardless of the lively competition between the two companies, the total sales of MP3 music players in the United States this year will not exceed 800,000 units.
As the most intuitive manifestation, Apple's stock price did not rise much because of the release of the Ipod. It only rose slightly after it announced support for Microsoft systems.
In mainstream perception, this kind of challenge to the giants will not even cause the giants to react.
After all, Sony's Walkman has been selling well around the world for more than 20 years, and the brand has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts.
If someone jumps out and says that I can defeat the giants, everyone will think that he is arrogant.
Even Fang Zhuo, who is only a little bit arrogant, can only say that he "has done some small work to conform to the trend of the times."
Even so, such a little bit of arrogance would still be considered too arrogant.
For example, partner Yu Hong, the investment institution IDG, and the company's employees, despite listening to Fang Zhuo's judgment, their only expectation for Yike is to gain some market share of music players and successfully enter the stock market.
Under this circumstance, among the music copyright agencies and record companies that Yike has recently contacted, there is no Sony record company.
When you are thinking about how to fuck the other person, who has the nerve to go to their music department when you encounter difficulties?
Fang Zhuoyou.
With the attitude of giving it a try, he called the executives of Sony Music and expressed his interest in Sony Music's copyright library.
I don’t know if the other party has discussed it, but anyway, it was the first phone call in the evening and we didn’t get a reply until midnight.
You can chat.
On the morning of September 29, Yi Ke and his team of five went to Sony Corporation’s U.S. headquarters in Manhattan, New York.
"Will they cooperate? I still think it's outrageous. Not to mention cooperation, this meeting is outrageous." Yu Hong expressed her unfinished surprise on the road last night.
Although the music player is only one of Sony's businesses, it is also considered the most important and classic part.
"The factions within Sony are more serious than imagined." Fang Zhuo said, "We are talking with Sony Music, not with Sony. Don't confuse this part."
Yu Hong shook her head. This was like the Yike marketing department she was responsible for helping Apple launch its Ipod product line. She had no other feeling except that it was outrageous.
"To be precise, the full name is Sony Columbia Music Entertainment, and its current president is Howard Stringer, who was born in Colombia. The will to execute Sony Music does not come from Sony, but from Stringer." Fang Zhuo explained to Yu Hong
, which is also strengthening one’s own thinking.
Sony Music has successively acquired the film and music departments of Columbia CBS since 1988, and handed this subsidiary to Stringer in 1998.
Stringer spent 30 years of his career at Columbia in the United States. In 1998, he began to serve as president of Sony (USA), fully leading the work of Sony Music.
Is his understanding of the current market consistent with Sony's?
Is Sony Music important or Sony as a whole?
More importantly, even if Stringer believes that Sony as a whole has a better development path, will Sony Chairman Nobuyuki Idei be willing to change his ways?
Fang Zhuo's judgments were reflected in his contact movements.
Sony is a giant, and Sony Music is also a giant record company.
However, the former is facing challenges in many fields, and its stock price and market value have declined. The latter also has to face the common trend problems encountered by the entire recording industry.
No matter whether it is a giant, a giant, or a leader in the world with hundreds of billions of dollars, once it fails to grasp the direction of the times, all its glory will be eclipsed.
In this regard, the collapse of Nokia's mobile phone business is the most impressive. It had a peak market value of 200 billion euros and was higher than Sony. It ended dismally in just a few years.
Now, record companies are facing a similar situation.
Not only Sony Music, but also Universal Music and Warner Music have discovered a problem through their respective data. With the development of the Internet and the interaction of information, record sales have declined.
In particular, the Napster website in 2000 took away a large number of consumers in the traditional record field with free downloads.
Then, Napster was strangled.
But the problem has not been solved, and many people are still looking for ways to share, using software tools such as iMus and ies.
The development of the entire digital music market is brutally destroying the stability of the recording industry.
At the end of September 2002, Sony Music received a call from the president of the company who was considered one of the disruptors. In just a few hours, Stringer browsed the ins and outs of Yike's development.
Therefore, Sony Music received a group of five people from Yike on the morning of September 29.
Stringer did not show up, and the person in charge of connecting with this "available to chat" was Albert, the senior executive vice president of Sony Music, who was also the person who had a phone call with Fang Zhuo yesterday.
The two parties in the conference room exchanged pleasantries, and then fell into an eerie silence.
The visitor encountered trouble, and the respondent encountered industry-wide problems.
The former knows the big problems faced by the latter, but the latter does not know that the former knows.
Both teams thought it was a little weird.
"Mr. Albert, I'm glad you can let me sit here and share my views on changes in the industry." Fang Zhuo spoke first, hoping to get Sony Music to take a step forward.
Albert didn't think that Yike was the only solution for Sony Music, and said a little rudely: "I thought Mr. Fang was coming to talk to us about copyright cooperation today, but I didn't expect that he also had the perspective of industry changes."
"Only when we reach a consensus can we discuss the possibility of cooperation." Fang Zhuo teased, "Otherwise, if we force them to join us, we will always feel uncomfortable."
Albert didn't react at all, he just listened attentively.
"The development of the Internet has triggered the decline of the record industry." Fang Zhuo first laid out the argument at the beginning and then presented the materials, "This is the conclusion announced by Sony Music last year."
Albert glanced at it: "Say something new."
"Records are only a part of the music industry. Its decline does not mean the decline of the music industry. Now is a good opportunity to create a new ecosystem for the music industry." Fang Zhuoyan said concisely and comprehensively.
This is really new.
Albert understood these words, smacked the taste, and showed a smile of unknown meaning: "Records are the foundation of the entire music industry, and we have proven that we can boost its sales."
"Our Sony Music data for this year has not been released and Mr. Fang has not seen it. It has rebounded."
Fang Zhuo shook his head: "Records are not the foundation of the industry, they are just a part of the current music business model. What is music? Isn't it true that the songs that some people record directly with equipment without going to the recording studio are not music?"
He argued rationally: "Take Sony's own data from last year, including record retail sales, live performances, music magazines, radio advertising, and musical instrument sales. How much of it did records account for?"
Albert pursed his lips.
Fang Zhuo announced the answer for the senior vice president of Sony Music: "Records only account for one-sixth of the entire ecosystem. It is only a link of your record company and does not need to be regarded as the foundation."
Albert shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, it's wrong to just look at the numbers. Mr. Fang, let me tell you, every year we have to select, train, screen, sign people, send them to the recording studio, and do rankings and publicity.
, marketing, laying channels, and other things are all attached to the record."
Fang Zhuo spread his hands: "So, the Internet era has become much simpler. Listing and promotion can now be copied to the user's player. How easy it is."
Albert was stunned. Record companies all hated the copying of information technology and believed that it harmed the foundation of records.
Since two years ago, the company including the guy in front of me has been the target of corporate legal action.
He subconsciously wanted to speak, but thought carefully before offering a rebuttal.
Yike and people from Sony Music met at nine o'clock in the morning, and then the president of the former and the senior vice president of the latter spent half an hour debating "whether the foundation of the music business ecosystem is records."
The members of the two teams could not say anything and could only watch this scene silently.
At 9:30 in the morning, after all, it was Fang Zhuo, the CEO who was accustomed to traveling among different people, who ended the debate with Albert with the view that "even if records are the foundation of the music business ecosystem, they need to be reformed."
Albert was no longer secretive at this time: "Why should we cooperate with you? Even if Apple's performance in the market is somewhat inferior, it is still a listed company."
"Is Sony Music willing to see a listed company that unifies digital music copyright? No? That's not the case, right?" Fang Zhuo asked, "Is Sony Music willing to hand over its bargaining power to Apple?"
My weakness is my strength.
Fang Zhuo's words shocked Albert again.
The senior vice president of Sony Music began to think about a new problem, a new music business model that can be participated in, and a weak collaborator. What is this scene?
Albert found a better solution: "It seems that Yike can play a better role in the hands of Sony Music. Is Mr. Fang willing to join Sony Music?"
Fang Zhuo laughed: "I met President Nobuyuki Dei in China this month, and he also asked me. My answer is still the same, Yike will not sell it."
Albert frowned: "It's difficult for Yi Ke to buy music copyrights. Does Mr. Fang think I don't know this?"
Fang Zhuo shrugged.
Yu Hong interjected: "We have a certain intention with fans B. Not everyone is rejecting us. They only have some objections to our quotation."
In fact, B fans have drifted away.
Fans of B want to cross-license, but Yike and Apple are worried. If the competitor uses the license to set the music for free or at a low price to engage in malicious competition, the money spent will be in vain.
Neither company expects its competitors to have self-interested strategies.
Albert looked through the information.
Another vice president sitting next to him raised a new question, involving the digital music sales model that Yike is considering.
Fang Zhuo was in a hurry at this point, so his answer was not too detailed.
Instead of learning that competitors might charge 99 cents a song, he wanted to rank the songs according to whether they were popular or not, 79 cents, 99 cents, and 119 cents.
Whether the fixed-price or tiered system is more suitable for the new model still needs to be verified.
The next time is for more people from both teams to discuss.
By 11 o'clock in the morning, the two parties had almost stated their intentions for each other, but because many of the contents were beyond Sony Music's expectations, Albert said that they still needed to be digested and could not give a statement for the time being.
Fang Zhuo understood very well. He didn't ask for a response time from Sony Music. Anyway, he had a phone call to communicate with.
At a quarter past eleven, the Yike team left Sony's US headquarters.
"Tired, exhausted, nervous."
As soon as Fang Zhuo got in the car, he shook his head repeatedly and said with emotion: "If we can't do digital music this time, we will focus on selling out the hardware here, and we will short these record companies when we return home!"
"Didn't you talk about the changes that the new business model will bring to record companies in the conference room?" Yu Hong asked.
"It's not that easy. A lot of record companies will definitely die in the next few years." Fang Zhuo shook his head and said, "But no one is willing to wait for death. Participating in a new model is a struggle, but this is not
easy."
"Sony Music has a better option. They can combine it with Sony's own players," Yu Hong said.
"The sharpness of internal conflicts is sometimes more terrifying than external conflicts." Fang Zhuo smiled, "External conflicts can still be reconciled. Internally, Sony's hardware department is in a strong position. It's not Sony Music that can ask for hardware cooperation. Only who can
The hardware lets the music match.”
Yu Hong thought of the "bargaining power" mentioned in the boss's conference room. At present, Apple's progress in digital music copyright is better than that of Yike. This lead may have an effect in the hardware market.
She asked softly: "Do you think Sony Music will agree to cooperate?"
"I hope so." Fang Zhuo couldn't guess based on just one meeting. He rubbed his fingers and said, "It's impossible to sit and wait for death. There is resistance within United Sony, and Apple's monopoly on digital copyright is a visible problem.
If I were Stringer, I would agree."
He was silent for a while and then said: "I just hope Stringer doesn't want to get together with me."
"What?" Yu Hong asked.
"Don't be interested in our equity." Fang Zhuo looked at the street scene in Manhattan outside the car and said with a smile, "It can't be such a coincidence."
However……
Coincidentally.
Stringer from Sony Music gave his opinion just one day later. No money, but a higher share. The equity of the cooperation should be calculated based on the cash that Yike planned to give.
This chapter has been completed!