"Gulp gulp...."
Zhou Juelun drank one cup after another, downing three-tis the milk tea in one breath. He licked his lips contentedly, still looking like he wanted more.
Zhang nglong had several black lines appear above his head. With such a drinking thod, no wonder he had gotten so fat. The talented and good-looking Zhou from his school days had long since disappeared.
"Sorry, this milk tea is just too delicious," noticing Zhang nglong's gaze, Zhou Juelun also seed a bit embarrassed, "maybe I drank a little too much?"
Zhou Juelun also knew that this Da Hong Pao tea had a yearly yield of only one kilogram. Calculating at 10g per brew, the annual yield could only brew a hundred tis.
One should know, the people eyeing this Da Hong Pao tea included not just entrepreneurs and tycoons but even so highly placed national figures. Even with Zhang nglong's wealth, managing to get a few dozen grams a year was already quite impressive, right?
"Mr. Zhou, if you like it, don't worry about these details," Hong Yi said, "Mr. Zhang's ancestors had planted a few trees of even better quality in their private tea garden a long ti ago, producing plenty each year, more than enough for personal consumption. If Mr. Zhang agrees, you can take so back with you when the ti cos."
"Damn, really? How co I didn't know about this?" Zhang nglong seized Hong Yi and asked.
"Mr. Zhang, you don't like tea, so you never asked ." Hong Yi looked innocent.
"True," Zhang nglong said, "If we have sothing this good then we shouldn't waste it, from now on just use that Da Hong Pao to make my milk tea, three cups a day, hahaha!"
Watching Zhang nglong's blissful appearance, Zhou Juelun suddenly felt a bit envious. Da Hong Pao milk tea, three cups a day, life in Heaven must be sothing like this, right?
"Hong Yi, prepare a few kilograms of tea leaves; let Juelun take them back when the ti cos. Can't co all this way for nothing."
"Alright sir, you guys keep talking, I will go prepare."
"Go ahead." Zhang nglong waved his hand.
"Zhou, let's talk business now," Zhang nglong said, "This visit is about discussing the music rights, right?"
"Yes," Zhou Juelun nodded, "My contract with 'Hulu' Music is about to expire, and now both Tengxun and Wangyi are looking to buy the rights to my songs. I'm here to sign a contract with them."
"May I ask how much they have prepared?" Zhang nglong asked.
"It's no secret," Zhou Juelun joked, "Tencent is ready to pay 570 million for the rights to all my songs for ten years."
"What about Wangyi?"
"The last price discussed was 480 million."
"Don't sell to them, sell to !" Zhang nglong said, "Whatever they offer, I'll double it!"
"Cough, cough, cough!" Zhou Juelun had just downed his fourth cup of milk tea when he was startled into coughing by Zhang nglong's "double it."
For Zhang nglong, five billion and ten billion were no different, rely numbers, but for Zhou Juelun and those two music companies, it was an astronomical figure.
One should know that these figures of 480 million and 570 million were set after negotiating and hashing out details over many etings spanning half a year.
It wasn't that Zhou Juelun was driving a hard bargain, but because his songs genuinely had that comrcial value!
Because initially, the rights to his songs belonged to his forr managent company, so now most of the song rights weren't solely up to him to decide. Actually, when he heard about his company asking for such a high price, he was quite shocked himself.
But Zhang nglong just casually offered to double it—these rich folks really know how to splash the cash, huh?
"Mr. Zhang, it might not be that easy," Zhou Juelun said, "My company has already signed a tripartite cooperation agreent. Aside from Tengxun and Wangyi, we cannot give the rights to any other major company. If we breach the contract, I would need to pay one billion in compensation."
"No worries, put the one billion on my tab," Zhang nglong said nonchalantly.
"Mr. Zhang, if it's an exclusive license, then it might be priced differently." Though Zhou Juelun found it hard to broach, he still had to ntion it, as transferring his song rights had to go through his forr company.
"Then let's double it up!" Zhang nglong still had no expression on his face, "2 billion, I want ten years of online broadcasting rights!"
"Cough cough cough!" The bout of coughing had not subsided when the 2 billion hit, instantly making Zhou Juelun and his assistant's heads buzz.
"Mr. Zhang, pardon my frankness, but if you really want to spend 2 billion to buy the copyright, I'm afraid it will take a long ti just to break even!"
"I never said I was counting on making money from this," Zhang nglong spread his hands.
"What do you an?" Zhou Juelun was now confused. Wasn't buying the rights to his songs ant to monopolize the market? And wasn't the ultimate goal of monopolizing the market to make money?
"Ding Sanshi and his son from Heaven ddled with , and I'm not happy, so I'm starting with Heaven Music, it's that simple," Zhang nglong stated, "I want to buy the exclusive broadcasting rights to all songs from all artists, leaving them with no options."
Having heard this, Zhou Juelun's expression beca sowhat stiff. To buy so many copyrights, that would cost a vast amount of money. And it all seed to stem from so personal grudge, just to gain satisfaction, spending dozens of billions—was it worth it?
"Mr. Zhang, You've been wronged by Heaven, so your actions are understandable, but what about Tengxun? Have Ma Hua and his son wronged you too?"
"They haven't," Zhang nglong replied, "They can only bla their bad luck. If they had taken down Heaven Music sooner, none of this would have happened, right?"
"When immortals fight, mortals suffer," Zhou Juelun couldn't help but sweat for Ma Hua.
If Zhang nglong's plan went through, it wouldn't be just Heaven Music sinking; even Tengxun Music might go bankrupt, as cruel as the market is!
But Ma Hua hadn't done anything, and by then, he might get so desperate that he'd kill Ding Sanshi.
As long as Zhang nglong's music platform was completely free, the fans, unable to find the songs they wanted, would only have to switch to his platform, and as for the other small Internet celebrities and cover artists, they were just fooling around.
"Oh, right, add another half a billion for the cover rights; your songs are too powerful, even the covers have a market!"
"You're wiping them out completely," Zhou Juelun felt fortunate to have kept up with mainland affairs. If he hadn't known this man, today he might have been dealt with by Zhang nglong, and perhaps at that ti, both Tengxun Music and Heaven Music would have been dood.
"If there's no problem, I'll make the paynt now."
"Wait, just wait a mont..." It was Zhou Juelun's first ti encountering such a business approach. What was happening? The agreent hadn't even been signed, and he was ready to pay?
"What's the matter? Any problems?"
"No... none..."
"That's good, finishing our milk tea is more urgent; we can sign the contract after we're done."
"Okay..."
"By the way, Director Zhou, there's another issue." Zhang nglong suddenly rembered sothing.
"Please speak, Mr. Zhang."
"My future girlfriend is a big fan of yours, so I'd like to sign you. When there's nothing else to do, you could co perform for us, or scream a little at the karaoke, why don't you na your price?"
"I..." Zhou Juelun's face filled with bitterness. Wasn't this just like being a performing artist? He was, after all, a freelance musician and a chairman of several companies; he didn't need to sell his dignity for money...
"500 million a year!"
"Mr. Zhang, that isn't quite right, I perform but I don't sell myself."
"I see, then how much would it cost for you to hold a concert?"
Zhou Juelun: "I#??#??#%#%??..."
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