HPDBC Chapter 15 Rare Goods for Hoarding
Chapter 15 Rare Goods for Hoarding
300 music festival commemorative edition MP3 players sold out in two days, and Lin Feng's scarcity marketing strategy was a great success!
Next, as planned, he prepared to go to Shenzhen to place an order.
Before setting off, he called Shen Jingyi to inquire about the preparations made by the music festival's content team.
As soon as the call connected, a ringtone came from the other end.
The electric guitar intro, with its dynamic rhythm, is followed by a sweet female voice: "Where are you going? You're taking my soul with you..."
This tune... is it SHE's "Super Star"?
Lin Feng was momentarily dazed.
This ringtone... came a bit unexpectedly.
A few seconds later, the singing stopped, and Shen Jingyi's voice came through: "Hello, club president?"
Is the music playing on your phone a customizable ringtone?
"Yeah!" Shen Jingyi said excitedly, "It's just been done. How is it? Sounds good, right?"
How much does it cost per month?
"It's only 5 yuan a month. A lot of classmates have signed up. Club leader, you should sign up too. I recommend Jay Chou's 'Dong Feng Po'."
Five yuan a month... just to listen to 30 seconds of music?
Lin Feng shook his head and chuckled, thinking to himself, "This generation of young people really knows how easy it is to make money off them..."
"Hey? President? Are you still listening?" Shen Jingyi's voice pulled him back to reality.
"Yes. Go on."
"We've already planned some programs for the music festival, but we haven't finalized the 'mystery singer' for the publicity yet. Are you planning to personally invite him, President?"
Lin Feng responded with "uh-huh," but his mind was elsewhere.
This point in time.
In 2003, China Mobile's ringback tone service had just been launched on a trial basis. It was free to try in September, and officially became a paid service starting October 1st, with a monthly fee of five yuan for the M-Zone plan. Other plans cost ten yuan.
The earliest ringtones were very simple, mainly consisting of snippets of popular songs.
"Super Star" was the title track of S.H.E's album released in August 2003. It was very popular at the time, so it was perfectly normal for it to be used as a ringtone.
But this is just the beginning.
The true era of ringback tones has not yet arrived.
Lin Feng smiled and said, "Alright, you guys hurry up with the preparations for the show, I'll figure out a way for the 'mystery singer'."
After hanging up the phone, he lit a cigarette, the melody still playing in his head.
"You are electricity, you are light, you are the only myth..."
Just those 30 seconds, and it costs five yuan a month.
If 10,000 people use it, that's 50,000. If 100,000 people use it, that's 500,000.
In 2003, the ringback tone service was just starting out. From 2004 to 2005, the ringback tone service will experience explosive growth, and that will be the real golden age.
"Super Star" is just an appetizer. The real "ringtone anthem" is yet to come.
Those catchy tunes kept popping into his head:
The single "Mice Love Rice" has been downloaded over 6 million times as a ringtone. At 2 yuan per download, that's over 12 million yuan in revenue. Yang Chengang became the king of ringtones with this one song.
How popular was "Two Butterflies"? From young to old, everyone in the country could hum a few lines of "My dear, fly slowly." It topped the ringtone download charts for over half a year, reportedly generating over 4 million yuan in revenue for China Mobile.
"Lilac Flower" will sweep all music charts in 2004 and become the ringtone for countless people.
There are also songs like "Fairy Tale," "Above the Moon," and "Autumn Never Returns"... one after another, like a money-printing machine.
How big is this business?
In 2005, China Mobile's revenue from its ringback tone service exceeded 25 billion yuan. By 2006, this figure was projected to reach 67 billion yuan.
Even if the majority of the revenue goes to operators and SP service providers, as long as we can get a small share of the copyright revenue from popular songs...
Making money shouldn't be too easy!
Moreover, this money was earned honestly and legally. You provide the content, users pay, and the operator takes a cut—it's all crystal clear.
Lin Feng only came to his senses when the cigarette burned his fingers, and threw the cigarette butt into the trash can.
The seeds of ringback tones were sown when China Mobile launched "Mobile Dream Network" in 2000.
SPs (service providers) pounced on us like sharks smelling blood, initially offering pictures and ringtones, and later developing into custom ringtones.
In the ringback tone service industry chain, mobile operators are the dominant force, controlling communication channels and revenue generation, taking the lion's share, more than 50%.
SP companies are like sons; they need to hold a "Value-Added Telecommunications Business Operation License" and are responsible for technical integration, business operation, and marketing. They can get 30%-40% of the profits.
CPs (Content Providers) are subordinate; they provide song content and copyrights, and can only get a small share of the revenue from SPs, usually only 10%-20%.
Of course, this is normal.
Some powerful content providers, such as Song Ke of Taihe Rye Music, hold a lot of copyrights to good songs, which gives them a strong bargaining position when negotiating with SP companies, allowing them to get a larger share of the profits.
But no matter how the revenue is divided, the income from a hit ringtone is astronomical.
Lin Feng can't take the SP (Service Provider) route. That requires licenses and a technical team, something big companies like TOM Online and Palmtop use.
He's just a student, don't even think about it.
But the path of CP...
Lin Feng's eyes lit up.
Copyright hunter!
Find those songs that haven't become popular yet but are destined to be, and sign exclusive ringtone rights for them at the lowest possible cost.
Then, armed with these copyrights, they approached licensed SP (Service Provider) companies for collaboration: "I have the song, it has the potential to be a hit. You have the distribution channels, you provide the technology. We'll split the profits proportionally."
With light assets and zero risk, his core competitive advantage lies in his vision of a "future hit song chart".
This business was practically tailor-made for him.
Back in dorm room 407, Lin Feng rushed to his computer. Li Hao, who was playing "Legend of Mir," didn't even turn around: "Brother Feng, wanna steal the boss? Why the rush?"
"Let's grab the big one," Lin Feng replied casually, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
He searched for those songs that later became popular all over the country, one by one.
"Mice Love Rice," starring Yang Chengang, only became famous in 2004, and he's still struggling in Wuhan.
"Two Butterflies," by Pang Long, only became popular at the end of 2004.
"Lilac Flower" by Tang Lei, who only became famous in 2004, is still performing in bars in Shenzhen.
Lin Feng typed "Lilac Flower Tang Lei" into the search box.
A bunch of posts popped up on the webpage.
Looking for the complete version of "Lilac Flower"; the versions found online are all incomplete.
Who is Tang Lei? Does anyone know? He sang this song.
Does anyone know Tang Lei? This song is so good!
He clicked on it to take a look.
In late 2002, a young man named Tang Lei posted a demo of "Lilac Flower" online. There was no record company, no promotion, it was just a demo, so rough it looked like it was recorded in a rented room with a tape recorder.
But this very demo quietly spread online.
Lin Feng found the post, which was published in December 2002.
Someone replied: This song is really good, but the sound quality is too bad. Does anyone have the full version?
Another person replied: Tang Lei is a bar singer who performs in Shenzhen.
Lin Feng stared at the two words "Shenzhen" on the screen, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.
He thought to himself: What a coincidence! I was just about to go to Shenzhen to find an MP3 manufacturer, and I can go to Tang Lei on the way, invite him to be a mystery singer, and then sign him up for a ringtone contract. That's killing three birds with one stone!
He continued scrolling down and came across a post from a netizen who claimed to "know Tang Lei":
"Tang Lei is from Guangxi, and he sings at a bar in Luohu, Shenzhen. He's a really nice guy, and he sings well. Anyone want to come and support him?"
Some people below lamented: If this song had been properly recorded, it would definitely have become a hit. It's a pity that no one promoted it.
Lin Feng stared at the screen, thinking that his chance had come.
In Shenzhen in 2003, a down-on-his-luck singer performing at a bar had a song that was only moderately popular online but hadn't been discovered, and he had absolutely no awareness of ringtone copyright...
This is a rare commodity!