Chapter 826 Pearl Harbor Day

"Ha ha ha ha!"

On the 7th, Song Ya’s tour in New York was slightly smaller than the Chicago show, and all the tickets were sold out. Ticket prices for singers who are new to the tour are generally very affordable, and they would rather make less money to keep their attendance.

In the afternoon, Song Ya lay comfortably on the sofa in the lounge watching the financial program.

Today is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Microsoft held its Internet strategy seminar on this day. As Netscape’s market value is only close to 10 billion, and seven Internet companies have successfully listed one after another, the Internet tide should be undeniable. Here, the software giant seems to have a sudden plan to make up for it. Bill Gates, the boss of Microsoft and the richest man in the world, turned to talk about the Internet enthusiastically. He said: ‘I think what the internet will do over the next few years will define the direction of the industry for a long time. Now I assign the highest level of importance to the Internet. I want to make it clear that our concerns about the Internet come first. '

But now the whole industry thinks he's obviously slow to respond. The software giant's new operating system is selling well, and the stock keeps going up, but so what? You guys seem to be missing the future completely.

He also said that 'Netscape browser is not some great software. ’ This sentence further exposed the arrogance and ignorance of the established software giants towards emerging companies and technologies.

Some financial guests who were quick to follow the wind began to imitate Netscape President Baxter and new technology hero Mark Anderson, teasing Microsoft with humorous words, saying that their slow pace is completely unable to keep up with the new behaviors of Internet companies It took three years from Windows 3.1 to 95, and the Netscape browser released major updates every three months.

Even Big Blue IBM, which has always been reprimanded as the most bureaucratic and slow to respond among technology companies, has officially launched by acquiring Lotus Software and modifying Lotus Software's Notes program to a www server program. Oracle has also announced its own browser plan early .

And what about Microsoft? I bought an outdated Mosaic browser from Mark Anderson's college days, which was slightly modified and released as IE1.0, which was extremely difficult to use.

However, the software industry has always been number one. Microsoft should have a deep understanding of it, and now it has realized that it wants to come from behind? late!

The cynicism and ridicule of the financial guests has been going on for a while, and all of them have spoken very nicely.

After deciding to divorce, the feeling of depression that always lingered in the past seems to have disappeared. Netscape has a market value of 10 billion, what is 3% of 10 billion? Song Ya grinned silly at the TV.

The staff serving him, such as Fu Huadao, were busy in this superstar-treated super-large lounge, holding their voices and breaths very professionally, and doing the work at hand lightly.

"Yo, APLUS."

NAS brought the manager Newman, as a New York landlord and best friend, he will help as the opening guest at this concert.

"Hey, where's Daniel?"

After Song Ya bumped his fists with him, he looked behind Newman. The president of Sony Columbia Records unexpectedly did not show up. The stadium is very close to the headquarters, and he should have arrived long ago.

"The head office has a very important meeting about music piracy on the Internet." Newman replied.

"sit down."

Song Ya turned off the TV and started chatting with them. The music industry is the hardest hit by piracy. Top singers like her are now hurt the most by NAS and small and medium-sized singers with lower coffee status. They are called street poets. NAS's reputation in the East Coast rap circle is getting higher and higher, and he is almost one of the favorite rappers among professional music critics, but the record sales still can't match his fame at all.

Another example is Common, a subsidiary of A+ Records. The album’s music reviews are super high, but it can’t sell records, because rap music has a tradition of promoting songs and selling records through "underground records", and that channel has become more and more convenient in the past two years. The pirated CDs that were burned and disseminated took over, bad money drove out good money, and records that were distributed and circulated through underground channels could not return a dime to singers and record companies.

NAS is getting more and more angry. In New York, he was marginalized by the 'bad boys' headed by Puff Daddy and Biggie through [biquge.xyz] wars between the east and west coasts. Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, etc. There are countless up-and-coming stars who want to gain popularity through DISS, but they are stuck in the middle and suffer from splints.

"The Jazzy under your banner is very capable of doing things," he said.

"Jazzy didn't mess with you, did he? I greeted Damon Dash and him." Song Ya also heard Linda mention that Jazzy has become more and more famous in Brooklyn recently.

He should be a natural star, as can be seen from the lyrics of the apocalypse in Heart of Empire, give him a little sunshine, and he can take advantage of the opportunity to boast, such as being valued and signed by APLUS, Sony Columbia Records, one of the top six He will release his songs, and he also has his own record company Roc-A-, etc., coupled with his prison experience, he has packaged himself as a street gangster, and soon pulled up followers in Brooklyn and forces.

He also picked two or three New York rappers to play beef, stepped on each other all the way to the top, and developed a relationship with Biggie. He was recommended by Biggie several times in Brooklyn as a younger brother. I heard that Biggie was even willing to cooperate with him. Song……

In short, this guy is getting more and more famous in New York, and he can be seen wherever there is a little trouble.

"No."

NAS didn't come here to put eye drops either, Jazzy's status was far behind him, and he didn't dare to touch him after being warned by himself, but he should be a little wary of Jazzy's rise, and besides, he looked down on that guy from the bottom of his heart before. "You know APLUS, now I'm tired of those little singers who can't get rid of it like chewing gum."

"Hey! Alicia, and Ms. Sloane!"

After chatting for a few words, Song Ya saw two beauties in the workplace appearing at the door of the lounge, and laughed out loud with some surprise: "Come in! We are talking about the music circle in New York."

"Really?" Alicia was in a good mood. She came in and took off her windbreaker and handed it to Linda. "Hi Linda, are you back as an assistant again? Where's Taraji?"

"No, I just came to watch the boss's concert. Taraji was outside responsible for communicating with the director." Linda smiled and helped her hang up, "Congratulations, Mrs. Flock, oh, now I'm going to call you Mrs. Governor. Sloan Give it to me too, ma'am." She helped Sloan take off his coat again, "Isn't New York warmer than Chicago?"

"Yes." Alicia cordially extended her hand to Newman and NAS with a formal smile for voters, "Hello."

"Hello, Mrs. Governor Flock." Newman rose to shake her hand.

NAS had no choice but to shake hands with a puzzled face. He might think that the governor's wife is a nickname, but Newman led him away with a wink.

"You don't need to come over to Alicia at this time. The work on my side can be dealt with after Peter's inauguration next month." Song Ya stretched out her fist while lying down.

She froze for a moment, then smiled mischievously, learning how to make a fist, "He is him and I am me. I like to do my own job, not the so-called governor's wife, women are independent, right? Sloan."

"Hmm." Ms. Sloan's eyes were sharp, "Are you looking for me? APLUS."

"Yes, Linda, close the door. Go out first, all of you." Song Ya sent all the staff away, and said in a lower voice with a more serious attitude: "Rep. Rangel is looking for me Now, your next task is to help him and the Inner City Broadcasting Company keep the operating rights of the Apollo Theater according to the gentleman's agreement we made with Rangel."

"So soon? I thought Giuliani wouldn't do anything until at least his second term," Ms. Sloan asked.

"It's not Giuliani. It seems that a jazz singer was caught selling narcotics in the theater. The elephant party members of the New York City Council took the opportunity to attack. This is not the first time that they have proposed to withdraw the right to operate, you know." Song Ya said: "Rangell's foundation has also been caught in some other financial dealings."

After New York was replaced by the Elephant Party, the city government has always wanted to take back the operating rights of the Apollo Theater from the Manhattan gang, instead of being plundered by the inner city broadcasting company with cheap leases.

Song Ya spent more than 30 million to inject capital into the inner city broadcasting company, and has just been elected as the chairman. Of course, he must desperately keep this most stable profit point, not to mention that he and Rangel have also carried out a battle involving the commander in chief for this matter. A series of complicated exchange of interests with Whip Underwood.

"So now the 'battlefield' is mainly concentrated in the New York City Council, right?"

Ms. Sloan learned something, "It seems that the problem is not serious, and we can hold on."

"Yes, uh, at least that's what Rangel told me." Song Ya actually didn't know the details of the new situation in her busy schedule, "You are my political consultant, this is your job, and Let him get in touch."

"OK."

Sloan got out his address book and started making phone calls on the spot.

"What about me? What mission do I have?"

Alicia glanced at Sloan, who was focused on nothing else, and sat opposite Song Ya with her hair brushed, "I heard Delay said that the listing of DTS was not a success? Sorry, I didn't pay much attention to it because I helped Peter's election."

"It fell below the issue price on the first day, but...it doesn't matter, just raise money."

Song Ya waved her hands and joked, "I don't dare to ask you to help now, Mrs. Governor."

"It's okay, you are a big client of me and my law firm, everything is at your command." She raised her feet and changed to a comfortable sitting position.

Haha, this woman, "Well, it's still the inner city broadcasting company..."

After becoming the chairman, Linda, Dr. Chen, Morningstar and Alicia's law firm worked together to complete the divestiture and spin-off of the non-performing assets of the Inner City Broadcasting Company. Long talk.

At the same time, Sony Building, "Well, before the meeting continues, I want to announce a news about the company and myself." Sony Electronics Beimi President Schulhoff announced to the executives gathered on both sides of the conference table with a dignified look , "Due to health reasons, I will retire on the 31st of this month, and I will no longer hold any management positions in the company..."

The bomb immediately detonated the conference room, all of which had gone through the storm, and everyone adjusted their sitting postures to digest the news, trying not to show the dew.

Daniel put his fingers on his lips, and looked at Motura on the opposite side of the conference table. The other party was very calm, calmer than himself, and completely silent.

It is no secret within the company that Schulhoff is under the protection of Norio Ohga, the father of CD, and the current CEO of Sony, Nobuyuki Idei. Lost? Still need to watch.

And Motura has a close relationship with Schulhoff, now that Schulhoff is gone, then...

Daniel carefully considered the pros and cons. In fact, Schulhoff's departure was not good for him. After all, he finally made the decision to let him be the president of Sony Columbia Records, and he was the one who transferred Motura to Sony Entertainment. He's dorky, pompous, low-energy, doesn't like change and is a recording industry layman, almost the 'perfect boss'.

However, Sony should have replaced him a long time ago. The book has been dragged on until now, so we have to wait and see who the next successor will be! Life must go on, Daniel comforted himself.

"Regarding Sony Columbia Records' response to online piracy, Daniel Glass will introduce us..." The lengthy meeting continued, and Schulhoff brought up the record industry's agenda near the end.

"Alright, currently the six major record companies have agreed to form a response alliance, led by Mr. Bronfman Jr., the owner of Universal Music. The first meeting will be at..." Daniel cleared his throat and began to state.

"Hahaha! Alicia, you can enjoy Delay's performance later, that A+ audio president is a crappy third-rate rapper."

More and more concert-related personnel began to take their positions. Song Ya's business was repeatedly interrupted by directors and others who came to report the situation and communicate details. She could only choose to talk about some political gossip, such as last month. Due to the federal budget, the federal government was forced to shut down for five days. On the 5th of this month, it continued to close its doors to thank guests. The negotiations between the commander-in-chief and the book, and the Pearl Harbor Memorial Day activities were all suspended. I don’t know when it will end...

When sending Alicia and Sloan out, Song Ya made a cheerful face, "Linda, send them to the VIP box, and be careful not to let the reporters see."

"I understand." Linda led the way.

"See you at APLUS." Alicia quietly made a helpless expression at the back of Sloan in front of her.

Do you hate light bulbs? Are you still looking for opportunities here? Wow is it that urgent? Song Ya couldn't help being happier, "There is food in the box, please feel free to Alicia..."

Another meeting was held at Microsoft headquarters, the atmosphere was very oppressive, Bill Gates chaired, and he was reading from a document: "One, in the process of browsing the Internet, I can hardly find a file format that Microsoft can support. .I've spent over ten hours with it, but I don't see a single Word document, AVI file, EXE, or file format that we can support. I see tons of Quicktime files that all movie studios use to deliver movie trailers , that belongs to Apple. Second, another popular file format on the Internet is PDF, and even the US Internal Revenue Service provides tax forms in PDF format. Currently, HTML is still somewhat limited, so PDF is a standardized alternative solutions, and Adobe is investing heavily in this technology. Quicktime and PDF are popular on the web because they are cross-platform and freely available to readers."

Now he is not the image of the technology geek next door when he introduced his products. He put down the document with a sullen face, "This is the content of the internal email 'Internet Tidal' I sent in May. It is now the end of the year. The situation has not changed at all! I also wrote at the time: 'One competitor on the Internet is Netscape, and their browser is dominant, with a 70% share'. Now! Their share is 100% Eighty-five out of 10, or even higher! We're being laughed at by everyone."

Others in the conference room were silent. At this time, only Ballmer dared to say, "Now we see that every online service can add additional value to the Internet. We need to make its overall value more and more prominent to attract users to overcome Cost considerations, really joining in, let the Internet reach the critical value of explosive growth. We were a little conservative in judging the time point of reaching this critical value before, but it is not too late now, and we have caught up and surpassed it more than once in business competition It's not a problem this time."

"Internet services are very cheap, even free." Someone answered: "The common version of Netscape browser is distributed in the form of shareware, and users can use it normally even if they don't pay. The profit prospect of this industry is still unclear..."

"The sales of their server software in the enterprise intranet are very good. A set of licenses is about 1,000 meters long, and it is used in conjunction with SUN's servers and operating systems. They are negotiating deployment contracts with many large companies such as AOL and GE. We will continue to It’s really too late to do something.” Ballmer shook his head.

"APLUS! APLUS! APLUS!"

As night fell, the lights on the stage were shining, and the audience had already taken their seats. Most of them were young people. They took the time to entertain themselves before the show started. Waving the fluorescent stick endorsed by Ya, "You Want to Want Me!" The female fans cried out excitedly.

'Boom! ’ Suddenly, fireworks exploded over the stage, and the screams of the audience reached a high point.

"3, 2, 1! Gogogo!" The director began to urge in the ear, Song Ya took a deep breath, and the staff on the side of the stage bumped fists one by one like basketball players before going on the court, and then rushed out.

"Ah! Ah! APLUS, I'm here!" The girls in the "standing ticket" area directly in front of the stage began to go crazy.

"Hello, New York," he said into the microphone with a tugging bass.

NAS wore sunglasses and went on stage with Al and others, he fluently said, "Yo, ladies and gentlemen, today is my brother APLUS's first big concert in New York, you want to hear the first song What is he singing!?" He pointed the microphone downstage.

The audience chanted wildly.

"Huh!? Louder!" NAS yelled, "Speaker louder!"

"Empire State Of Mind!" The audience finally unified their opinions and shouted in unison. It seems that New Yorkers still like this song the most.

"Okay, this is Remember The Name! Thank you!" NAS signaled to the band, and the accompaniment sounded.

The brothers sang lively and lively on the stage, and the audience on and off the stage were very excited.

"My vision is! Platform business, that is, making sure that Windows is the best choice for Internet users, that's our moat. Apps and content departments need to figure out how to monetize your services."

Microsoft's meeting is still going on, and Gates said: "We still have considerable advantages in the future, which is based on the huge user groups of Windows and Office. Internet-style adjustments are also opportunities. I plan to use next year's IE2.0 integrated with the operating system and provided free of charge to users..."

"Uh, if this is the case, will there be any legal risk of being involved in bundled sales?" Someone raised his hand hesitantly, "Currently, there are very high calls for anti-monopoly in various industries."

"We will have $2 billion in capex for the alliance that beats our competitors."

Gates ignored the man, "After Netscape rejected our offer in June, we should take decisive action. The lost half a year is my responsibility, but from now on, I want everyone to drive at full speed. I won't allow it." Failure! The user experience of IE2.0 must be greatly improved to grab as much market share as possible from Netscape browser!"

"Next year's Window NT4.0 must provide the same user experience as SUN!"

"Our alliance with Inter will encourage DEC, HP, etc. to continue to challenge Sun's minicomputer and workstation markets."

"Our IIS (Internet Server Suite) will be benchmarked against Netscape's enterprise server software."

"We benchmark their JavaScript against the VBScript language!"

The boring meeting kept going on and on. At the concert, Song Ya looked up and glanced at the stunt actress who had been hung above the stage. She knew that it would be her turn to perform the song Earned It, almost exactly during the whole show. halfway through the concert.

A little tired, his body and face began to sweat, he skillfully took advantage of the chaos of the last song and dance troupe exiting and the seven female dancers holding stools on stage, while waving to the mesmerized audience, he walked to the On the side of the stage, he reached out and made a signal.

Taraji handed it over with water. He bit the straw and took a few sips. No matter how thirsty he was, he couldn't drink too much, otherwise it would affect the state of dancing later.

Someone bumped his back, he frowned, and looked at the young white men in the dance group.

The rookie perpetrator may have been too nervous to notice, and ran after the dancers who were leaving the stage without looking back.

"Yeah." He returned the cup to Taraji, and put on a towel to wipe off his sweat.

As the music started, the female dancers' stunning figures made the male audience howl and whistling, hey, they dressed more conservatively than in the MV today. Wait until the Earned It MV comes with the new music video Released, when the time comes, don't you rush to buy it and take it home for collection?

Song Yamei thought happily, raised the microphone and began to sing, "You make it look like it's magic..." Huh? There seems to be something wrong with the earphones, and I can't hear the sound.

The stage is very big, the sound is loud, and it is difficult for the singer to hear the rhythm clearly, or the rhythm heard is slower than the actual one. The bump fell off just now, don’t be in a hurry, but don’t be in a hurry now, he groped and sorted it out while singing.

"Fxxk!" Singing and playing, it didn't get better after about a minute. Song Ya observed that the enthusiasm of the audience in the front row seemed not enough, and their facial expressions were also a little subtle. Is it wrong? Or is the tempo slow? There is no sound and no reminder from the director!

The sweat on his forehead became more joyful, and looking back at the band when he found a chance, the violinist was trying to wink at himself, and he was really slow...

The song Earned It has a lot of its own harmony accompaniment. Once something goes wrong, it is easy to make yourself and your own voice compete, and the live effect will be very ugly.

He finally got the plug of the earphone, and went to fumble for the interface on the wireless transmitter.

This time even the female dancer who was dancing was winking.

Damn it! He turned his head quickly, and the stunt actress had been slowly hanging from the top of her head. At this time, there should have been some ambiguous movements of shaking and caressing, but both hands could not be free, so he simply walked behind the actress, intending to borrow her body cover and concentrate on getting the ears back.

ok, forgot the word...

With his head full of bags, he eagerly hummed to the live accompaniment to fool him, and finally plugged his ears back in.

The director was yelling angrily at the other end, 'This is the scene of a car accident! '

"We have to compete with our competitors in every product direction, regardless of whether we are good at it or not. Even if our user experience cannot be surpassed for a while, we can force them to make mistakes!"

Gates said: "We have a background that they can't match at all, and our management team is the best in the world today! I heard that Jim Clark now spends most of his energy on building new yachts? Baxter and Mark Anderson every now and then Just go to accept media interviews and spend a lot of time laughing at us!? They are a group of lucky rookies, completely! There is no experience in managing a company with a market value of tens of billions!"

"I know, I know." Song Ya walked off the stage with a sullen face, stopping the chatter of Taraji and the director, "There is no time to review now, you check the equipment again, where is the new dancer just now?" ? Fire him at the end of the New York game!"

"That guy is gone." The dancers ran over and shouted, "What if we have one less person for the next dance?"

"Huh?" Song Ya's eyes sharpened, and he smelled something bad.

"Get on the bench." The director pushed him onto the stage in a state of desperation, "I don't have time to worry about this right now."

Fortunately, the rest of the performance went smoothly. It was just a car accident. Both passers-by, audience and fans will understand. They are not those critical music critics, "Encore! Encore!" They shouted reluctantly, "Empire State Of Mind!"

New Yorkers are really obsessed with this song, but Mariah Carey can't sing it by herself, and she's about to get divorced...

"No, no, no." Song Ya smiled and picked up the microphone, "It's still the old rules, Say Goodbye!"

"Well……"

The meeting at Microsoft was finally over. Ballmer scratched his bald head and left one of his subordinates in the meeting room, "How should I put it, Bill's personality is always a bit idealistic, and I think we need to use more brutal means of competition. You , go to say hello to AOL and other Internet service providers in private, and ask them if they can change the user access page from Netscape browser to IE next year."

"Isn't this a little dangerous? Unfair competition..." The subordinate hesitated a little, "They will definitely take the opportunity to open their mouths."

"Tell them Microsoft is willing to pay any price to beat Netscape!" Ballmer said firmly.

"Daniel."

Sony's meeting ended early, and the executives gathered to discuss the matter of holding a farewell dinner for Schulhoff. Motura came over and called him, "Mr. Idei wants to see you."

"He's here?" Daniel was a little surprised. He didn't see the Sony CEO in the meeting all day.

"Yes." Motura led the way silently.

"Mr. Glass."

Nobuyuki Idei maintained the usual politeness of the book, and bowed very politely when meeting, "I am sorry to inform you that we plan to let Tommy re-as the president of Columbia Records."

Daniel was stunned, "Aren't you... are you doing this too...too childish?"

"Maybe, but we've decided that we'll give you a decent way to leave, and if you're going to focus on managing your own record label, we'll support it, just like everyone else," said Nobuyuki Idei.

"Tommy... Motura!" Daniel looked at Motura viciously, gritted his teeth and read out his name word by word, "You villain, do you think it's time for you to return to Sony Columbia Records? Chance? Just so confident? You're going to be in bad luck!"

"Don't get me wrong."

Motura shrugged and pretended to be innocent, "I'm just as unlucky as you, and I also lost my position as president of Sony Entertainment because of that damn money train."

"Many singers under Sony Columbia Records don't like him." Daniel looked at Nobuyuki Idei again.

"We know, but... Anyway, we have already decided. I'm really sorry!" Nobuyuki Idei bowed again, and then held out his hand, "Don't be frustrated Daniel, we won't pursue some of your actions during your tenure, that's it, okay ?”

"Damn it, that newcomer seems to have really run away!?"

The backstage was in a mess, and the dancers and staff ran around looking for people under the urging of the director. Song Ya didn't care about this matter, walked into the lounge without saying a word, took off the performance clothes soaked in sweat and threw it on the ground, there were already many subordinates waiting, "I asked someone to go to his residence to find ’” Linda reported.

"Well, but even if you find him, don't use any coercive means, and be careful to fall into the trap and kill me as the defendant."

Song Ya feels that this is a trap, and she doesn't know who wants to make a fool of herself, it's naive! It's just a car accident, can it ruin my reputation or what? Um? Could it be the wife did it?

"APLUS, you have been summoned by Congress..."

Ms. Sloan walked in with an envelope, "It's the hearing of the Federal House of Representatives on the telecommunications bill. As the chairman of the Inner City Broadcasting Company, you are called to attend in January next year, which is next month. You will perform better then. .”

"What the hell? Can I not go?"

Such a coincidence? Song Ya took the envelope, he didn't want to participate in any stupid hearings now, a field he was completely unfamiliar with.

"Yes, but don't, the hearing committee has the power to issue subpoenas, and you still have to go there and have the obligation to provide the necessary documents. But don't worry, it's just a very ordinary hearing procedure. The hearing on the Telecommunications Act involves There are many people, from all walks of life. Contact your friends in the House of Representatives and let them take care of you. Maybe they are the ones who suggested that you represent African-American small and medium-sized media to help endorse the telecommunications bill." Sloan said with a smile : "It's a good thing."