My capital is quite large.

Chapter 112 Haofeng's Threshold for Male Artists

As Tencent invests heavily in video and music copyrights, the prices of copyrights in the Chinese entertainment industry and the internet have begun to rise at a visible rate.

But inside the Haofeng Network headquarters building in Jinling Xianlin Science and Technology City, Li Feng observed this with a somewhat cynical and mocking air.

Han, the director of the film and television department, stood in front of his desk and handed Li Feng a thick list of copyright acquisitions, his face full of admiration.

"Mr. Li, based on the list you gave us before the New Year, our film and television department and copyright department have been making moves everywhere these past few months, basically cleaning up the entire online literature and animation industry!"

"The film, game, and animation adaptation rights for these online novel masterpieces—'The King's Avatar,' 'Covering the Sky,' and 'The Snow Sword'—have been permanently acquired!"

"And U17, currently the largest original comic platform in China, was also acquired for just over ten million yuan!"

"The film and television department has also spent a lot of money to poach several veteran animators and storyboard directors from Japan who previously worked at Studio Ghibli and Toei. Currently, we are working hard to build our own top-notch 2D and 3D animation production team!"

Li Feng flipped through the priceless IP list and nodded in satisfaction.

Tencent spent 500 million yuan to buy the current so-called new dramas, which can only maintain the popularity for a year or two at most.

The batch of online novels and domestic animation IPs that Li Feng holds in his hands are the perpetual motion machine that will support billions of views and hundreds of billions of mobile game revenue in the next ten years!

"The copyright moat is already deep enough."

Li Feng closed the file. "Old Han, from now on, the focus of the film and television department will shift to our own artist management. Go, sign a few male artists."

Old Han was taken aback and quickly took out his memo, but when he saw the background check information for those names, he looked constipated.

"Mr. Li... are you sure you want to sign these people?"

Old Han swallowed hard, trying to persuade her tactfully: "Let's not even talk about the female artists. Yang Mi, Liu Yifei, Tang Yan...aren't they all top-tier traffic stars in the Chinese entertainment industry? Even the newly signed Nazha, Dilraba, and Zhao Liying have visible, limitless potential!"

"But look at this list of male celebrities..."

Old Han pointed to the first name on the list: "Zhang Ruoyun? This kid is notorious in the industry for his connections! His dad is a director, and his stepmother is a famous actress. He always gets roles through family connections. This kind of rich kid who gets in with his own money has mediocre acting skills and practically no fans. What would we gain from signing him?"

A mysterious smile appeared on Li Feng's lips.

What's the point? It's for his future legendary drama, "Joy of Life"! It's for his "husky face," which may not seem remarkable now, but grows on you the more you look at it!

In later years, this guy, with his superb acting skills and discerning eye for scripts, went from being a resource-backed actor to becoming the leading man in male-oriented dramas in the Chinese entertainment industry!

"Sign it. Give him a long-term contract with a 50/50 split. Tell his father that Lai Haofeng has resources a million times better than his little workshop." Li Feng said confidently.

Old Han nodded helplessly, then pointed to the last three names on the list, his expression now even more pained.

"What about those three singers? Mr. Li, our Haofeng music division has only signed Deng Ziqi, the champion of 'The Voice of China,' who's currently riding high!"

"But the three people you asked me to sign..."

"Xue Zhiqian? He disappeared completely after his talent show debut. Apparently, he's now running a hot pot restaurant selling women's clothing to pay off his debts!"

"Li Ronghao? This guy's just a behind-the-scenes songwriter and producer. His eyes are as small as mung beans; he has absolutely no idol aura!"

"And then there's Xu Song... Mr. Li, this... this is an online singer! In the traditional record industry's hierarchy of disdain, online singers are synonymous with non-mainstream and unprofessional, they're not considered mainstream!"

"Old Han, your perspective is still too traditional."

Li Feng didn't explain how terrifying Xue Zhiqian's ability to make money on variety shows would be after he became popular again as a comedian, nor did he explain Li Ronghao's amazing talent of being "a one-man army".

He simply tapped the name "Xu Song" lightly with his finger.

"Never underestimate online singers, and never underestimate the aesthetic sense of the lower-tier market."

"Go check the data backends of QQ Music or various forums. Look at how ridiculously high the number of plays and how widely Xu Song's songs are among college and high school students!"

"This is a massive goldmine that has been overlooked by the arrogance of traditional record companies! His fan loyalty and fighting spirit are absolutely on par with any of our current top stars!"

"Go sign! Bring all four of them back to Haofeng!"

The boss gave the order, and even if Lao Han had a million questions in his mind, he could only obediently follow it.

……

a few days later.

When Haofeng Network and Haofeng Film and Television officially announced the addition of four male artists—Zhang Ruoyun, Xue Zhiqian, Li Ronghao, and Xu Song—to their team, an unprecedented wave of criticism erupted across the internet and the entertainment industry!

"Holy crap? What's wrong with Haofeng? Is he blindfolded picking people out of a garbage dump?"

"No way! Haofeng's female artists have such high standards, they're all stunningly beautiful and top-tier actresses! How come the standards for male artists are so incredibly low?!"

"Zhang Ruoyun is acceptable, at least she's a second-generation star with connections. But Xue Zhiqian is a washed-up talent show contestant who sells hotpot, and Li Ronghao is a small-eyed, ugly guy working behind the scenes. What makes them think they can get into Haofeng's family?"

"The most outrageous one is Xu Song! Haofeng actually signed an online singer?! Being under the same company as Liu Yifei and Yang Mi lowers Haofeng's overall prestige!"

For a time, the entire internet was questioning whether Li Feng, the big boss of Haofeng Network, had made a serious mistake in his judgment.

Netizens even summarized a pattern on Weibo:

"I can see it now, Boss Li is practicing extreme double standards!"

"The female celebrities are all top-notch. As for the male celebrities, Han Geng only signed a three-year short-term contract, so he's basically a mercenary. Yang Yang is handsome, but he didn't have any representative works before. He was only made famous by 'Meteor Shower'."

"Now they've signed a bunch of weird-looking men... Does Boss Li have a prejudice against male celebrities?"

In the entertainment industry where looks matter so much, Haofeng's extremely low entry requirements for male artists have become a huge temptation!

The day after the news broke, Lao Han's office phone was almost ringing off the hook!

Countless fringe male artists and ordinary people who consider themselves to be good-looking or have some talent are frantically sending their resumes to Haofeng Film and Television.

Even the hashtag "Haofeng Male Celebrity Threshold" inexplicably made it into the top ten trending topics on Weibo!