Chapter 110: Song Removed from Platforms

Gu Zhiyin was highly efficient. Early the next morning, she issued take-down notices to all major short-video platforms. The employees who received the notices dared not delay and immediately reported the matter to their superiors.

The copyright manager at DY, upon hearing the news, remained unfazed. He had encountered such situations far too often. "They just want to drive up the price, that’s all. They’re putting on quite a show. Tell his agent that we are willing to increase Zhou Miao's revenue-sharing ratio by fifty percent."

Zhou Miao was currently the biggest hit-maker in the short-video background music scene. As long as his demands weren't excessively unreasonable, the platform would generally agree to his minor requests.

The employee took the order and went to contact Gu Zhiyin, only to return in less than ten minutes. "Manager, he seems to be serious. Even with the extra money, he won't budge. He asked me to arrange the take-down as soon as possible."

The manager was surprised. "Fine, I see. You go back to work; I will contact Rainbow directly."

In Hengdian, Gu Zhiyin watched from afar as Lin Ke'er filmed a scene, while simultaneously taking calls from various short-video companies.

"I am truly sorry, Manager Lin, but this is Zhou Miao's own decision. It really isn't about the money. Yes, don't worry, I will try my best to persuade him. However, I must trouble you to remove the songs as soon as possible. Alright, I will let you know the moment there is any news."

After hanging up, Gu Zhiyin let out a long sigh. She supported Zhou Miao's decision to remove the songs. On one hand, since Zhou Miao owned the copyrights to his music, he received all the revenue and bore all the losses himself, meaning the interests of his agent and the company remained unaffected. On the other hand, this move would help elevate his prestige, which would be greatly beneficial for securing high-end endorsements in the future.

A while later, Lin Ke'er finished filming and came over. Gu Zhiyin walked up to meet her. "How are you? Are you tired?"

"I'm not tired. My scenes for today are done. Where to next?" Lin Ke'er asked.

Gu Zhiyin handed her a cup of freshly brewed chrysanthemum tea. "Rest for two days, then we're going to join a variety show."

Another variety show... Lin Ke'er's face immediately fell. Her personality was rather reserved. During her previous appearances on variety shows, she had been like a background prop; most of her footage was edited out, and netizens even criticized her for being as silent as a mute.

Gu Zhiyin, aware of her concerns, comforted her: "Don't worry, Zhao Li will be going with you this time. She will look after you. You just need to stand by her side, and you'll definitely have plenty of screen time!"

Hearing that Zhao Li would be there, Lin Ke'er felt a bit more spirited. It wouldn't be as awkward with a familiar face around.

"Alright then."

...

Under Gu Zhiyin's urging, all major short-video platforms soon removed all of Zhou Miao's songs.

It wasn't long before users noticed the change. Overnight, all of Zhou Miao's songs turned grey, with a message stating: "At the request of the copyright holder, all songs by this artist have been removed."

While copyright-related removals were common on music apps, it was a first for a short-video platform!

Conspiracy theories emerged instantly: Zhou Miao had offended a powerful figure and was being blacklisted; Zhou Miao was greedy and was being frozen by his company for demanding more equity. Seeing the rumors spiraling out of control, Zhou Miao had to step in and say something.

"There's no big story here. It's just that whenever I scroll through videos, I kept hearing my own songs, and even I got sick of them. To extend the 'shelf life' of my music, I decided to take them all down."

His fans applauded this decision with both hands. True fans share the same sentiment: they want the music they love to be popular, but not *too* popular.

However, many others felt Zhou Miao was being pretentious, noting that other artists hadn't said a word, yet he was the one making the most fuss.

Just then, a netizen claiming to be a DY employee stood up to speak for him:

"Zhou Miao's decision to pull his music copyrights hurts him the most. Last year alone, the copyright royalties he received from DY exceeded twenty million, and combined with all the other platforms, it definitely surpassed thirty million!"

"You can just pick other songs for your background music, but Zhou Miao has genuinely given up a massive share of tens of millions! As a DY employee, I find it a pity he withdrew his rights, but as a fan, I admire him!"

This insider's account stunned many. If what they said was true, Zhou Miao's move was incredibly bold!

Following the DY employee, other industry professionals came forward to verify and add details.

"He left out one point. Last year was only Zhou Miao's first year since his debut. As the number of his releases grows, the royalties would only increase. If he decides to keep them off permanently, his losses will be immeasurable."

...

Yang Xiaoya watched this Weibo post and kept clicking her tongue. She nudged Zhou Miao. "Brother, is what they're saying true?"

Zhou Miao glanced at it. "It's not as exaggerated as he says. A song's popularity has a time limit. If I don't release new music this year, the royalties I'd get by the end of the year would likely be less than a tenth of what I got last year."

"But if you keep them down forever, wouldn't that be a huge, huge amount of money lost over ten or twenty years?" Yang Xiaoya counted on her fingers for a long time, trying to calculate how many hundreds of millions it would be.

Zhou Miao laughed. "That's not how you do the math. You only see what I'm losing, but you don't see the boost to my musical reputation and commercial value. These will all make up for my losses in the future!"

As they spoke, the van pulled up to the entrance of the Central Conservatory of Music. Zhou Miao got out and walked into the campus. Students greeted him along the way, and he responded with a smile, completely devoid of any airs.

He wasn't here for class today. With the college entrance exams approaching, all major universities were busy filming promotional videos, and the Central Conservatory was no exception. Normally, the Composition Department, being a non-performance faculty, wouldn't need to provide representatives, but Zhou Miao was famous, and such good promotional material shouldn't go to waste.

The shoot was taking place in the conservatory's music hall. Zhou Miao pushed the door open and found many familiar faces inside—the "Piccolo King" and the "Violin King" who had performed at the *Peak* live event were all there.

"Yo, the star is here." The Piccolo player waved at him happily.

Zhou Miao greeted everyone, then asked the director, "What's the plan for me? Just a cameo at the end?"

"No, you'll be playing the piano. Both the opening and the closing will be your piano solos." The director pointed to the only piano in the hall.

Zhou Miao was surprised. "I'm playing the piano? What about the representative from the Piano Department?"

The director gave him a sullen look. "I'm from the Piano Department. I was originally supposed to do the opening, but after you arrived, I was reassigned to be the director."

Zhou Miao let out an awkward laugh. "Well, you're quite multi-talented, senior."

The Piccolo player leaned in and whispered, "I heard they were planning to have you play the flute, but Professor Guan Yu strongly objected. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even been needed."

The flute... Zhou Miao scratched his head in embarrassment. In truth, besides piano and guitar, his flute playing was also top-tier, but everyone kept bringing up his performance during the art exams—playing two flutes with his nostrils—which made him quite resistant to performing the flute.

"Alright, everyone is here. Let's finish this quickly."