New York 2006

Chapter 281 Luo Ji’s Troubles

After staying in Washington for a day, Luo Ji returned to New York early the next morning.

On May 2009, 5, Luo Ji, Fiona and her manager Braun were sitting at home on Broadway, watching music-related news on TV.

"In recent years, the music market has gradually shrunk, and each singer has sold fewer and fewer albums. However, the sales of some hit singles are getting higher and higher, and some songs have even broken records. The market has shown a polarized development."

"Just like last year, Lady Gaga's album "Super Popular" only sold 731 million copies, but her three hit singles "Bad Romance", "Poker Face", and "Just Dance" sold more than 1000 million copies worldwide."

"More than 75% of the sales of these singles come from online sales."

"This data shows that more and more people are now more inclined to buy the hit songs in the album rather than buying the entire album."

"Moreover, you can now purchase the singles in the album directly on the Internet on the day the album is released, instead of having to purchase the entire album to listen to a specific single in the album."

"So, last week, Billboard officially changed the rules of the Hot Singles Chart. From now on, as long as the album is released, all songs in the album will be included in the statistical scope of the Singles Chart. Unlike before, only the songs on the album are released. Only physical singles will be included in the statistics."

"In the first week after Billboard changed the rules, Logic responded quickly and uploaded the MVs for all the songs in the second album "18" on MTV and YouTube at once, plus the previously uploaded "Perfect", " Counting Stars" and "Let Her Go", a total of twelve MVs. In one week, the total views of these twelve MVs reached an astonishing 8300 million times."

"Among them, "Let Her Go" was recommended on YouTube's homepage for four days, and its views soared to an astonishing 2300 million times in five days, directly breaking many of YouTube's viewing records."

"This week, Logic's album "18" has more than 7 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at the same time."

"Among them, Logic has three songs in the top ten of the Billboard singles chart. His second physical single "Let Her Go" released last month ranked first, and "Counting Stars" ranked fourth. The only thing that can make everyone What is more surprising is that "Perfect" actually re-entered the top ten and got No. 9."

"Hahaha."

The host laughed meaningfully: "Actually, the inclusion of "Perfect" on the list is not that surprising to everyone. Since Logic started promoting the single "Let Her Go", everyone started discussing who Logic wrote this song for. "

"I believe I don't need to say more. Everyone knows who he wrote it to. When many DJs play "Let Her Go" on the radio, they will play the song "Perfect" together. When many fans request the song, they will also Play these two songs together on demand. The radio DJ is also very cooperative."

Fiona and Braun both looked at Luo Ji curiously, but Luo Ji simply pretended not to see it.

"Logic, you really wrote the song "Let Her Go" well, especially the lyrics, which are full of poetry." Braun then asked: "Who is this song for? I promise, Never tell anyone."

Fiona also pricked up her ears curiously.

"People only want to believe what they want to believe." Luo Ji looked at the two of them with serious faces and said, "I already explained to the media in February that I wrote it to Audrey Hepburn, but no one wanted to believe it. .”

Fiona immediately complained: "Tsk, you are so boring."

Braun hesitated for a moment, and then suggested: "Actually, if you admitted in the media that it was written for her, the sales of the song might be higher. You have no awareness of being a celebrity at all. Celebrities are there to entertain the public, including When it comes to romance, the public loves this kind of horse-catching story.”

"Stop talking about that."

Luo Ji didn't want to discuss the matter further and directly changed the subject: "How does Universal Music arrange the changes to Billboard's rules for the singles chart?"

"They plan to release the singles that you created in the second album on physical CDs in the next few days." Braun then added: "Now the factory is rushing to work."

"Okay. No matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat."

Luo Ji then complained: "The rules of Billboard have changed like this. In the past, a single was released every three months to promote the album, which could always maintain the popularity of the album. Now when an album is released, all the songs in the album must be on the charts together." , competing with their own songs to share the popularity. In the future, the album promotion time will become shorter and shorter."

"You should never troll Billboard magazine in the media."

Braun quickly said: "Actually, they have wanted to change it for a long time, but several major music companies are suppressing it. Now 80% of the sales data of singles is online. If they don't change it, they will fall behind the times."

Luo Ji immediately said: "I know that changing the rules of Billboard is a historical trend. I just complain. I am not that stupid to complain to the media."

Fiona looked worried: "Will this affect your album sales data?"

Luo Ji replied: "I don't know."

"Indeed, Billboard's rule has just been implemented, and no one can predict what impact it will have on album sales."

Braun then suggested: "Logic, since you've been idle lately, why don't you go promote the album or hold a few autograph sessions to increase sales. Do you think that's okay?"

"I don't have time." Luo Ji yawned and said, "Now the company involves too much of my energy."

"Okay." Braun nodded and didn't press any further.

Luo Ji looked at his watch. It was already eight o'clock in the morning.

He patted his cheek to cheer himself up, and then looked at Fiona: "Make arrangements, I'm going to work."

…………

Luo Ji sat in the office of Future Records and started a new busy day, dealing with various company affairs on the computer.

Multicultural New Media Company: "The high school education course videos shot last year have a very high number of views on YouTube, surpassing news review videos. In view of this, we are preparing to produce various teaching course videos for junior high schools and elementary schools."

"approve!"

Multicultural New Media Company: "The company needs to purchase a batch of books to shoot teaching videos, the amount is about 3000 US dollars, the details are as follows, California public high school third grade history textbooks, mathematics textbooks..."

"approve!"

……

Holi Game Company: "The number of users of the company has surged recently. According to the forecast of the analysis department, by the end of July, the monthly active users of all the company's games will reach at least 7300 million, and the daily active users will be at least 3700 million. In order to deal with this problem, the company Need to add servers around the world..."

Luo Ji read the entire report and thought about it. When he was trying out his own social game recently, he really felt that the connection was not stable. It was time to upgrade the server, which would cost a lot of money.

Luo Ji looked at the figure of 1000 million dollars on it, his hand trembled slightly, and then he replied with approval.

Holi Game Company: "The company needs to recruit ten customer service personnel, five game developers, and eight server maintenance personnel..."

Luo Ji thought for a while, then picked up his cell phone and dialed Yang Jian's number: "Didn't the company just recruit a group of new employees last month? Why are we recruiting again?"

Yang Jian explained: "Due to the popularity of the "Stealing Food" game recently, the company has added 10,000+ new users every day. The company still has many new games to develop, and the staff is gradually running out."

Luo Ji knew that the wages of Americans were very high, especially those of formal workers.

He thought of a news he had seen some time ago, so he said to Xu Youyu: "I saw a news a few days ago that Accenture's outsourcing employees have exceeded those in the United States. IBM even plans to outsource its employees by 2010. The number of employees has expanded to 10. Can our company follow suit?"

"How to say?"

Luo Ji said: "Outsource some unimportant positions to other low-wage countries, such as India. We will only retain the core game design and important game development. You should have heard of such news. Well, Internet giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft do the same thing. They outsource some jobs to India."

CEO Yang Jian thought for a moment and said, “I’ve heard of it, but we don’t have anyone familiar with it in our company.”

"Hit a headhunting company to dig him up."

Luo Ji said, "The news I read said that the number of outsourcing employees in the UK and the United States has exceeded 400 million. This should be a huge industry, and there are always talents who are familiar with this area."

As the company's second largest shareholder, Yang Jian was naturally willing to save money. He said, "Okay, the recruitment plan will be put on hold for now. I'll ask the headhunting company first." Luo Ji warned, "Please keep it confidential."

"Ok."

After hanging up the phone, Luo Ji continued working.

"Holi Game Company needs to purchase five new computers to use as offices for new employees."

"About the company's supply of snacks."

“Electronic music needs to purchase a batch of vinyl records.”

"In the future, the stock of A4 paper for future records will be used up soon, and we need to purchase a batch."

……

Luo Ji was busy until eight o'clock in the evening before he finished handling all matters of various companies.He stood up and moved his body, but his butt and legs were a little numb.

Turning off the computer, Luo Ji picked up his personal belongings and walked outside.After walking around the company, I found that only a few employees were still working overtime, and everyone else had gone home.

His aunt Fiona was currently sleeping on the sofa in the tea room.She didn't even notice Luo Ji walking up to her. It looked like she was a little tired from the two-day flight.

Luo Ji patted her shoulder: "Get up."

Fiona woke up in a daze and rubbed her eyes: "What time is it?"

"Eight o'clock in the evening. Come on, it's time to go home."

Fiona then stood up, picked up her bag and walked outside. She complained: "You have fainted before because of overwork. Now you work so long every day and you don't know how to pay attention to your health."

"I'll pay attention," Luo Ji said.

Fiona complained: "You don't look like an artist at all, but like a workaholic."

"Hehehe." Luo Ji smiled at her.

The two came to the parking lot, Luo Ji and Fiona sat in the back seat, and the bodyguard drove towards their home in Burbank.

Fiona said seriously: "Feili, you really shouldn't work so long every day. This is very bad for your health. You should pay attention to it."

Luo Ji nodded: "I know, but there are too many things going on in the company, and there's nothing I can do about it."

Fiona asked curiously: "What do you deal with every day? Why are there so many."

Luo Ji explained casually: "The most common ones are funding applications and personnel transfers. Others include the company's strategic planning, the development of new projects, project progress, etc."

"Okay." Fiona nodded: "But it's not okay for you to work so late every day. Have you noticed that your working hours are getting longer and longer every day?"

Luo Ji nodded: "I noticed it, but I'm a little worried if I don't keep an eye on it myself."

Fiona was also a little helpless: "Anyway, you still have to pay attention to your body. It is not an option to continue like this."

…………

When I got home to Burbank, it was already nine o'clock in the evening.

Luo Ji usually lives alone in this house now.Sammy, Queenie, and brother Chucky all live in a villa on Long Island by the sea.

Occasionally, if it's too late, Fiona will stay here for the night.Fiona usually lives in her own rented house, and adults still need their own personal space.

Luo Ji bought another villa just to feel more comfortable and occasionally bring different girlfriends back.At this time, Luo Ji was the only one in the entire big house.He was standing in the backyard walking alone.

Luo Ji was a little sleepy now, but he couldn't sleep, thinking about the conversation he had just had with Fiona.In fact, she was not the only one who said this, Robin and Max also said it to him.

In fact, they didn't need to say anything, Luo Ji also realized the problem.

When Luo Ji founded his first company, Future Records, in order to prevent his subordinates from fooling him, embezzling or spending money indiscriminately, Luo Ji's approval was required for any expenditure exceeding a certain amount.

This habit was also brought to other companies, but as the number of companies increased, the daily working hours became longer and longer.

At first, several companies were relatively small, so this situation was not obvious yet, but as the company expanded, especially after the acquisition of Marvel.The hours he needs to work every day are getting longer and longer, and sometimes he cannot process applications in time that the company urgently needs approval.

It's time to make a change, otherwise one day he will be too busy, and this will wear him down.

Luo Ji thought about the people he knew around him and called Jobs.The two collaborated very closely on Apple mobile games. Luo Ji also attended the launch of Apple's iOS system. The two are considered good partners.

"Good evening, Steve Jobs."

"Logic, why are you calling so late? Is there something wrong?"

Luo Ji told him about the problems he encountered.Steve Jobs is considered the most successful person around him in running a business.

After listening to this, Jobs pondered for a moment: "The problem you encountered is something that almost every entrepreneur will experience. If you delegate power, you will lose some control of the company, but if you don't delegate it, the heavy work will overwhelm you, especially You still have so much company.”

"Do you have any solution?"

"Reform the company."

Jobs continued: "You only need to master the company's important personnel changes, large-amount fund approvals, and strategy formulation. No one can cover everything. Many modern companies are run by professional managers. You only need to give them enough For their interests, just let the company's interests be tied to their interests, and they will consider the company's interests when the time comes. Of course, these are not the only things that need to be changed, there are also regulatory systems, administrative systems, and also involve..."

The two chatted for more than 20 minutes, and the topic came to an end.

Luo Ji scratched his head and said, "But will this eventually lead to the "big company disease"?"

"Hahahaha." Jobs was amused: "Then your company must become a big company!"

"Hehehe, we can definitely become a big company!" Luo Ji said confidently.

"Cough cough cough..." Suddenly, Jobs' continuous coughing sound came from the other side. When we were chatting just now, we heard him coughing occasionally, but it wasn't serious just now, and now his coughing can't stop at all.

Luo Ji asked with concern, "Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell? Why do you keep coughing?"

"Ahem, cough...it's okay," Jobs said.

"Yeah." Luo Ji thought he had just laughed out loud.

"Ahem...Okay." Jobs continued: "On June 6 this year, Apple will release the iPhone 19GS. There will be a press conference in Los Angeles. Are you free to come?"

"Of course, I'm looking forward to the new generation of Apple phones." Luo Ji said with a smile, "Do you have the finished product now? Can you send me a dozen of them?"

Jobs was immediately stunned, feeling that he had seen it before. He paused for a moment and said with a dark face: "I will give you five sets at most."

(End of this chapter)