Chapter 134: Free vs. Paid

Crash!

Bang!

In the office of the Penguin Group, Li Daode was like a wild beast gone mad!

He smashed the phone, the chair, even the famous painting on the wall!

In just three days of battle!

Li Daode had to publicly apologize twice!

The first time was due to the failure of Soulmate!

The second time was for infringing on Diyi's songs!

He was being driven to madness by the Creator!

And now, he had learned that the Creator had acquired a large number of copyrights from independent artists.

This drove him even further to the brink!

Could it be that Twins Music would succeed again?

Would they dethrone his Penguin Music, which had dominated the market for years?

Li Daode found it hard to accept!

Teng Hualong had just called.

Despite being a seasoned business tycoon, even Teng Hualong was out of ideas!

And this time, Li Daode couldn't be blamed entirely, as the copyright scheme was his own idea!

In their despair, the two of them devised a strategy—defense!

In his utter collapse, Li Daode sat in his wrecked office.

Clenching his teeth, he issued a command: 18 hours later, all paid songs on Penguin Music would be free to stream!

And for a whole month!

Both he and Teng Hualong knew!

This would cost them billions!

But.

It could effectively curb the momentum of Twins Music!

After all, Penguin Music had been the leading music software for years, with countless fans!

Their song library was massive!

And the quality was top-notch!

The only complaint had been the requirement to pay for membership and individual song purchases!

So Penguin decided to completely remove those restrictions!

And 18 hours later.

That would be exactly when Twins Music had announced their launch time!

Li Daode had no choice!

This was their only option!

Your music library doesn't have famous songs, and the quantity is far less than ours.

Even if you have loyal users.

There won't be many!

At the very least, I can ensure you don't have a successful launch!

I'll make you look bad!

When Penguin Music announced that all songs would be free for a month.

Sure enough, the internet buzzed!

"Even though Penguin's ethics are questionable, they do have a lot of songs. Free? Not bad!"

"If it's free... Hmm, sounds good!"

"Okay, okay, I'll use it for a month. Might as well enjoy a free month while it lasts!"

Seeing these comments.

Li Daode forced out a smile.

Spending a few billion wasn't in vain; at least users liked to take advantage of free stuff!

But unexpectedly.

When Li Daode saw the latest post from Creator's Disan.

He genuinely laughed out loud!

Creator Disan: "To ensure the rights of independent artists, Twins Music will adopt a membership model at 15 yuan per month, with a 55% revenue share for the artists!"

Paid?

15 yuan a month?

Li Daode laughed!

You haven't done anything yet, and you're already talking about charging?

And you're doing this when my Penguin Music is free?

This time there can't be any tricks!

It seems you, Disan, and you, Zhang Tianjia, have lost your minds!

But as Li Daode continued to scroll through the comments.

The smile on his face slowly froze!

"Hmm... I think Twins has a point!"

"After all, music creators need to make a living too! Without money, who will make good music for us?"

"Right, I support Twins, I support reasonable charges! This is a healthy cycle!"

"15 yuan a month to listen to music, not bad!"

"Sharing half the income with the artists, Twins has integrity! I'm okay with this!"

"Just take the money I saved on Penguin's membership and give it to Twins, no problem!"

*Pfft...*

Li Daode felt like coughing up blood.

These ingrates!

When Penguin charged, why didn't you all speak so righteously?

Li Daode trembled as he scrolled through the comments.

Thankfully, the comments weren't as heated as before!

After all, you haven't released any content yet, so people don't have a reason to support you!

But Li Daode still felt a bit of pressure!

He called in the relevant person in charge of Penguin Music.

And set up two activities.

First, 18 hours later, not only would Penguin Music be free, but they would also allocate 10 million yuan for a raffle!

They would select 100,000 users from those online at the time, each receiving a 100 yuan prize!

This would certainly increase user engagement significantly!

Second, they would invite two popular singers to hold a live interview on Penguin Music exactly 18 hours later! With live performances!

To attract their fans to stay on the platform!

However.

After setting up these two plans.

Li Daode still felt uneasy.

He had a nagging feeling that Twins would keep coming up with unexpected and terrifying moves!

He felt overwhelmed!

My powerful Penguin Group has never been this panicked!

What other tricks do they have?

Li Daode furiously knocked on his own forehead!

*Knock, knock, knock!*

A knock on the door sounded!

"Come in!"

Li Daode saw who it was and suddenly brightened up, "Director Wu, you've got to bring me some good news!"

The person who entered was Director Wu, whom Li Daode had sent to investigate Twins' background!

Director Wu cautiously navigated through the mess and approached Li Daode, lowering his head without a word.

Li Daode immediately felt something was wrong and tentatively asked, "Can the major download platforms block Twins?"

Director Wu shook his head, "Their momentum is too strong; we can't block them, and even if we could, it wouldn't help. They've already surpassed us in users."

Li Daode gritted his teeth, "Did you find their servers? Can we expel them?"

Director Wu continued to shake his head, "The Twins' server is a mystery! I've asked all the server rental companies, and no one knows!"

"Damn it!"

Li Daode let out a long sigh, clinging to his last hope, "They must have investment companies, right? Can we pressure them to cut off their cash flow?"

Director Wu continued to smile bitterly!

"I've asked all the investment companies in the market; they want to invest, but the Creator isn't giving them a chance!"

"The current Creator is privately funded! Completely privatized!"

*Damn it!*

Li Daode was utterly disappointed, feeling like his energy had been drained. He slumped back in his chair!

Is the Creator invincible?

Do they have no weaknesses?

This is too hard!

*Knock, knock, knock!*

Another knock on the door.

"Come in."

Li Daode called out weakly.

A slightly chubby, balding middle-aged man cautiously entered the office.

Seeing his appearance, it was clear he was likely a programmer.

Li Daode's expression changed, "What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you..."

"Boss Li, I bring good news!"

The programmer cautiously looked around, "I've got the core code of Twins!"

"What??"

*Boom!*

Li Daode jumped up!

"Are you sure?"

The programmer nodded, pulling out a USB drive, "I'm sure; it's all here, I copied it entirely!"

"You did a great job!"

Li Daode was almost in tears with joy!

He quickly stepped out from behind his desk, "Don't worry, I won't shortchange you a cent of what I promised!"

"Quick, get that useless tech director in here!"

The programmer, now grinning slyly.

Was the mole Li Daode had planted in the Creator's company days ago!