I’m in Hollywood

Los Angeles, Firefly Studios. .

In an office in the administrative district, Seagram Group eo Edgar Bronfman and Universal Recorder eo Doug Morrison are working with Eric around a machine with a bank teller machine, listening carefully to fireflies. An engineer from Electronics explained the purpose of this machine.

The ‘bank teller’ in front of us is actually a digital music sales terminal, and Firefly Electronics named it ‘mini music store’.

This machine is also an unexpected surprise that Firefly Electronics brought to Eric when Eric took part in the Firefly Electronics Annual Conference a few days ago.

Because Eric approved the development of the digital music sales terminal equipment submitted by Firefly Electronics in the second half of last year, it has only been less than a year. Moreover, because of the original time and space, Eric did not hear about the emergence of a digital music sales terminal similar to a vending machine, and he did not pay special attention to the plan.

But a few days ago, I saw the prototype of Firefly Electronics, and Eric was really a little surprised.

Because this machine is completely based on the capacitive touch technology solution developed by Firefly Electronics, the whole machine does not have any physical buttons, all of which use touch screen operation. Moreover, the internal chip and operating system are also independently developed by Firefly Electronics based on the tablet technology that the company has accumulated.

Moreover, Firefly Electronics' research on the market prospects of the 'mini music store' also made Eric pay more attention to this machine.

In the past, mp3 players should be popular around 2005. Apple opened the ipod player access to Microsoft's indos operating system, which caused the explosive growth of the mp3 player market.

At that time, the popularity of the Internet in Western society was enough to support users to download digital music to their mp3 players through their personal computers.

But now, the number of Internet users in the world is less than 200 million. Most of them are concentrated in North America with a total population of only 300 million. The total number of Internet users in the world's other 5.7 billion people is less than 100 million. The scale of such Internet users is far from supporting the explosive growth of digital music players.

In fact, it is the same.

Last year, the irelyer second-generation player was released in North America and Europe. Although the shipment of irelyer players in Europe was similar to that in North America in the beginning, in the next few months, due to the size of personal computers and Internet users, The shipment speed of the irelyer player in the European region has slowed significantly. In the whole year of 1998, the second generation of irelyer shipments of 19.7 million units, the population of which is twice that of North America, accounted for only 7.7 million units in Europe, and another 12 million units, still being digested by North America.

The most important reason for this is that a large number of European consumers do not have a convenient way to copy or download music to the irelyer player, thus greatly reducing their desire to purchase digital music players.

Although stimulated by the wave of new technology in North America, countries all over the world are sparing no effort to invest in their own information industry, it is obviously impossible for Firefly Electronics to wait for the entire market to improve the basic hardware facilities in this area. The channel of digital music has become a hot issue for fireflies.

It is foreseeable that even if it is launched now, it will take a few years. With the further popularization of personal computers and the Internet, the mini music store will gradually be eliminated like a public telephone booth, but as long as such a digital music from firefly electronics Sales terminals can be popularized, and there is no doubt that Firefly Electronics' irelyer player will gain market advantages that other digital music player manufacturers can't match.

However, the biggest difficulty in promoting this device is music copyright.

After all, Firefly Electronics can let it go privately and even encourage users to crack the irelyer player to download free music through pirated d or pirated websites, but it is absolutely impossible to put it on the table.

Therefore, this digital music sales terminal can only sell genuine digital music content through the Yahoo Music Store.

Although the size of the music copyright that can be sold abroad by Yahoo Digital Music Store has been expanding over the past two years, the world's five major record companies still have very little authorization for Yahoo's digital music store. If they can't solve the content of digital music store. The problem, this device wants to be promoted on a large scale, will undoubtedly hinder.

In the office.

The engineers who listened to Firefly Electronics explained in detail the series of music purchase processes such as user login, selection, payment, etc. Universal Music's eo Doug Morrison first said: "There is also a very important question, I just saw that you passed Yahoo's e-account is paid for, but if it's a passer-by user without a Yahoo! account?"

"Mr. Morrison, we have the same solution in this regard," said Firefly Electronics' engineer: "Look, here, there is a point card purchase option. In our plan, a large part of this equipment will be placed. In supermarkets, subway stations and other downtown areas, users only need to buy a card at a nearby store, and the music can be purchased through the temporary account password given on the card. The basic principle is the same as the prepaid calling card."

Doug Morrison nodded and looked at Edgar Bronfman next to his eyes. Although he didn't show any special expression on the surface, in fact, Doug Morrison was surprised that he couldn't add any more. .

The promotion speed of the irelyer player has already made the traditional portable music player manufacturers and several major record companies unprepared. Doug Morrison is keenly aware that once this digital music sales terminal is widely popular, it will definitely be even more Thoroughly disrupt the existing landscape of the entire record industry.

On the other hand, with the two platform tools of the irelyer player and the digital music store, the influence of Firefly Electronics on the entire record industry will also expand without limit.

At this time, the first thought in Doug Morrison's mind is that Universal Music has either reached an absolute close cooperation with Firefly Electronics in order to gain a more favorable position in the upcoming new industrial structure. Either, we will resolutely resist the Firefly Electronics program and do our utmost to maintain the original order of the record industry.

Moreover, from the perspective of a good professional manager, Doug Morrison actually prefers the former.

With the rise of the Internet industry, the entire record industry was hit by the impact of Internet pirated music last year, which led to a decline in overall performance. It has already been determined that the industry will undergo earth-shaking changes. At this time, sticking to the rules will only make itself into the abyss.

Although from the media to the record companies, there is no lack of criticism of the irelyer player to fuel the piracy. But Doug Morrison is aware that the impact of the popularity of the irelyer player on piracy is far from the extent of the media's general description.

The impact of the record industry, in the final analysis, is due to the rise of the Internet industry. Most pirated users are now more inclined to download free music resources from music websites, and then copy them to d discs to play using traditional music players. According to statistics, in 1998, only in North America, the sales of blank d-discs exceeded 130 million, which is more than five times the sales of irelyer players.

Compared to an average of $20 for a genuine record, the cost of a blank d is even less than $1. Moreover, piracy in this area has no channel at all. At this time, the irelyer player, which is widely criticized by the industry as a pirate music accomplice, is precisely a platform that can turn Internet digital music from piracy to formal channels.

However, although there is already a series of calculations in the heart, Doug Morrison cannot make the decision in this regard alone. Everything needs to look at the idea of ​​Edgar Bronfman.

Next to Doug Morrison, Edgar Bronfman did not raise any doubts. When he thought for a moment of contemplation, he directly asked Eric, who was opposite: "Eric, how many fireflies electronic fireworks are going to put this Machine to the market?"

When Doug Morrison heard Edgar Bronfman's words, he immediately produced a rush of impulse.

What is the problem? How many machines does Firefly Electronics have to put on, and is it temporarily related to Universal? We should be more concerned about how Firefly Electronics intends to work with Universal Music!

Eric has been very patient and replied with a smile: "The first batch of 10,000 units, we will focus on the installation test in Europe. If the effect is good, the scale will be expanded rapidly."

Although I felt that I should not ask this question, but heard the answer from Eric Williams, Doug Morrison began to quickly calculate.

Ten thousand units.

This number is definitely not too much, or even too little.

It’s just an international metropolis with a population of six or seven million people like London. If you want to complete the coverage, 500 machines may not be enough.

Moreover, in Doug Morrison's view, such digital music sales terminals should pay more attention to second- and third-tier cities.

Because the popularity of PCs and the Internet in first-tier cities is often high, second- and third-tier cities also have enough digital music player spending power, but they do not necessarily have enough hardware and software facilities to access online music resources. Throughout Europe, thousands of cities, large and small, still exist, which excludes the lower-level towns. Thousands of cities, 10,000 machines, each city may not be able to be divided into ten, and there may not be many bank tellers in these cities.

Of course, these are not issues that Universal Music should consider, at least not for the time being.

Seeing Edgar Bronfman still want to talk, worried that he would ask any irrelevant questions, and even let his family get passive, hesitated, Doug Morrison still rushed to say: "Eric, we are all Be clear that you are showing the intention of this machine, so let's talk about your thoughts?"

Eric nodded and gestured to the nearby sofa. They took the two of them down on the sofa and told the secretary to take the coffee. "Ed, Doug, we all know that the current situation of the record industry is It used to be different. It was like the era when Hollywood was hit by TV stations and video recorders. At that time, the whole industry was on the verge of enemies, trying to prevent TV stations and video recorders from infringing on the interests of the Hollywood film industry. The two sides had been deadlocked for a long time. Finally, when Hollywood found that it was absolutely impossible to organize each other, it was forced to choose cooperation. But in the end, the facts proved that television stations and video recorders not only did not harm the interests of Hollywood, but also allowed Hollywood film companies to obtain additional revenue channels. At present, the record industry encounters the same situation as Hollywood in the past, but it is even more serious, because the popularity of the Internet is far faster than that of TVs and video recorders of the year, and the cost of digital pirated music is much lower than that of movies, often just one person. One server is enough to cause hundreds of thousands The spread of pirated music on the network, so you do not have much time to hesitate, once missed the opportunity to establish a regular digital music sales platform, leading to growing accustomed to the Internet for free music, the music industry will come to that end. "

The corner of the eye jumped a few times in a row, Doug Morrison interrupted: "Eric, you are alarmist."

"Is it alarmist, look at the degree of sales decline in the record industry last year," Eric shrugged and said: "So, I mean, we should reach a cooperation as soon as possible to achieve the formalization of the Internet digital music industry. Only in this way can we save the entire industry before the entire record industry collapses."

Edgar Bronfman also said again at this time: "Eric, let's talk about your cooperation plan."

"Of course," Eric nodded and said: "In fact, the current sales model of Yahoo Music Store is the cooperation plan I want to give. Universal Music puts its music resources into Yahoo Music Store, and the ratio of the two parties is three. Seven points, of course, you are 70%. In addition, if you insist, Universal Music and can be like a firefly record, with a three-month window, the newly released record, the physical record is exclusive for three months, and then the release is complete. The digital record, after three months, will be split for sale."

"Eric, if you only have the conditions," Edgar Bronfman continued: "I don't think we have to talk about it."

"Actually, I am just telling you two of the mini music stores that Firefly Electronics has just developed," Eric said with a smile. "The specific cooperation plan, and whether there are other requirements for Universal Music, we can talk. Of course, our physical music store plan will not be delayed. Firefly Electronics plans to officially announce the plan and launch the implementation of the irelyer three-generation player in April. Of course, if we can reach a cooperation before then. Intention, then I believe this will be good for both of us."