With the Time Shop, I Too Am the Greatest Conglomerate of All Time

Episode 59. Business trip to USA.(4)

Ethan introduced the man.

“Mr. Kang. This is our boss, Mr Turner.”

I greeted him, who seems to be in his late 50s.

“nice to see you. This is Jaewoon Kang from Damoyeo.”

“Nice to meet you. This is Daniel Turner, the head of the group. We sit and talk.”

Since the major discussions had already been concluded, the atmosphere of the meeting flowed lightly.

“Mr. Turner. Thank you for your positive consideration of our offer.”

“You’d better thank Ethan here than me. I also thought that the only answer was to disable the use of MP3 files. It was Ethan who persuaded me.”

“It is. Mr Colin. Thanks to your insight, a new world of digital music will open up. I am so lucky to have met someone like you.”

Ethan laughed.

“I was just persuaded by Mr. Kang. What.”

“haha. is that so?”

“yes. So we made a contract, would you like to check it out? The contract is in front of you.”

I picked up the paperwork in front of me and looked through it, but there were two things that caught my eye.

One was that there were empty spaces.

The other was that the contract was valid for one year.

“Is the profit share part empty?”

“I think that part needs some discussion.”

It’s the most sensitive part, so we should have listened to our story.

“What percentage of Haner Music are you thinking about?”

Ethan cautiously opened his mouth.

“Isn’t 20% appropriate?”

“20% is too low. When it comes to selling albums offline in the US, I know that retailers usually take about 40% of the price of a record. We are a kind of distribution store, so I think we should get that much.”

“Well. There are some unavoidable aspects of offline distribution stores because they include store maintenance costs, publicity costs, and labor costs. Digital music does not require store maintenance or labor costs, right? Even if it’s only about 20%, it will be enough to make a profit.”

“There are a few things I missed. We do not have any store maintenance costs, but instead, we have to rent a server because we have to provide digital music online. Besides, it was quite expensive to develop this sales platform, and the labor costs continued to rise as we had to manage the site.”

“..then how about 5% increase and 25%?”

“Give me 5% more. We will do our best to promote it properly and increase our market share.”

Ethan looked at the CEO Daniel next to me.

Daniel nodded his head slightly.

They say it’s like squirrels.

From the beginning, I thought it was 30%.

Ethan continued.

“good. We agree on 30%.”

“yes. I like it too.”

In the future, the revenue share received by Atunes was also 30%, so I had no major complaints.

But it’s time to point out the other thing that caught my eye.

“And although this contract is said to be valid for one year, it doesn’t take up to one year to increase the market share to 6%. Could it be reduced to six months?”

If I failed to increase the market share by 6% within the contract period, I was supposed to make up for the loss in the overall profit.

“It’s good for us. Will it really be six months?”

It was enough.

Rather, it was difficult after six months, when the other two record labels came running to me to sign a contract.

If I sign a contract with two other record labels, Haner Music’s market share will drop again, so 6 months was the best contract period for me.

After that, you just have to sign a new contract with Haner Music on the condition that you exclude damages.

“If Mr. Kang wants to do that, we will modify the contract period.”

We signed the revised contract and shook hands with the people of Haner Music.

“I hope to go along well. Mr Turner.”

“We would like to thank you. As promised, please sell a lot of music. Did you see the claim for damages? haha.”

I thought I was saying it like a joke.

I know it’s serious.

“of course. Don’t be surprised that it sold too much later. haha.”

I reached out to Ethan too.

“Please make only good music in the future. I’ll take care of selling it.”

“All right. We are happy to have such a reliable partner.”

“So am I. Mr. Colin.”

Ending the contract with Haner Music.

I contacted Korea’s CEO Oh-chan Jung.

Even though it was quite late at night due to the jet difference, President Jung answered the phone right away.

“Chief Jung. This is Jaewoon Kang.”

“yes. Anyway, I was waiting for the results to come out by now. Did the story go well?”

“I have to say it was half a success. It was universal and was rejected by Shawnee. However, the contract with Hana Music has ended well, so please upload only the songs from Hana Music to the P store. Also, please hire an advertising agency from the US and request a P store advertisement.”

Hang up the phone with Mr. Jung.

I looked at Park Si-woong.

“Now that one is done. Shall we go take care of the other one?”

It was very disappointing that I couldn’t sign a contract with all three major record labels.

It was not in vain since the contract with Haner Music Group was completed.

New York and Minneapolis, where Bestsell is headquartered, were both eastern United States.

Even by plane, it took more than two hours.

By the time we arrived at Minneapolis Airport, the sun was setting.

After an overnight stay in a hotel near Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

The next day, I stopped by Bestsell’s headquarters.

“haha. It’s been a while. Mr. Kang.”

The treatment was completely different from when I first came to Bestsell.

Acquisition manager Richard Dunn showed up less than five minutes after he heard that I had arrived.

He waved his hand in delight when he saw my face.

“yes. Long time no see. Mr Dunn.”

“Did you have a hard time coming here from Korea?”

“no. Aren’t Best Sellers our best customer? I flew with joy.”

“yes. Oh, and the person next to me is Park Si-woong, an employee of our company. He is a graduate of New York University’s business administration department.”

“ah. New York University? It’s a good place. You look like a Korean, but you must have studied in the US.”

Park Si-woong answered.

“yes. I graduated last year and am working here with Mr. Kang.”

“okay. nice to see you. This is Richard Dunn.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you.”

I smiled and continued.

“If it’s not very important, Mr. Park may come for me later. At that time, please don’t kick me out and treat me well.”

Park Si-woong is fluent in English and familiar with American geography, so it was perfect for him to go to the United States on a business trip instead of me.

When it is judged that his ability has grown sufficiently, it is not only the work that he gathers together.

I was thinking of entrusting the high-cast work related to the bestsell as well.

Richard answered with a puzzled face.

“haha. Absolutely. One mistake is enough for Mr. Kang. Shall we go then?”

I followed Richard into the meeting room.

Beautifully cut fruits were placed on the table with flower decorations.

“Thank you. I didn’t expect you to be so welcome.”

“What do you have with this? Mr. Kang’s MP3 player ranks in the top 3 in terms of sales among our best-selling items. Thanks to that MP3 player, I got a promotion. I am no longer a manager, but a director.”

I would have even gotten a promotion.

There was a reason for such hospitality.

“I didn’t know that. Congratulations. Mr Dunn. I am glad that my MP3 player was helpful.”

“So. But Mr. Kang contacted me a few days ago that he was bringing a new product. how much to look forward to I have been waiting for Mr. Kang to come since yesterday.”

“Your waiting will not be in vain. This time, the product came out well.”

Upon seeing the C-64, the MP3 player Park Si-woong took out of his bag, Richard burst into admiration.

“Wow! If the P-32 was just beautiful, this is a design that is both beautiful and powerful. Great.”

“Yes? Besides, this time we doubled the capacity. With 64MB of flash memory, you can listen to about 15 to 16 songs at once. Firmware can be upgraded from time to time, so the consumer response will not be bad.”

“okay. Are you saying that not only the design has changed, but the hardware has also improved?”

“yes. Besides, this time we created a platform called P Store. That will also increase the popularity of MP3 players.”

“P store? What role does that platform play?”

“P Store is a music download platform. Consumers can easily download the music MP3 files they want through the P store. Those files can only be played on our high-cast MP3 players, so it will be a reason to buy our MP3 players.”

At that, Richard put on a worried expression.

“It sounds good at first glance, but if you make music files freely downloadable like that, American record labels won’t stand still. I will file a lawsuit right away.”

The United States has traditionally been a country where copyright protection is important.

In particular, with regards to creative works, it was American culture to file a lawsuit right away even if there was a slight possibility of violation, so Richard, who did not know that the negotiations with the record company had ended, was worrying.

“haha. Do not worry. The contract with Hana Music, one of the three major record labels, has ended. First of all, we are going to release only the sound source for Haner Music.”

“Did Haner Music agree? I can’t believe it. It’s been a while since the three major record labels publicly talked about banning the use of MP3 files themselves.”

“The other two record labels seem to have the same idea, but Hana Music has a slightly different stance. There is a big difference in share with other record companies. It worked because I was persuaded to use MP3 files rather than being wary of them.”

“..okay. Although Haner Music’s market share is a bit low, it’s still a major record label, so even if you can only release the music from that side, it will be of great help to the sales of MP3 players. Well, then, should I change my plans again?”

“What are your plans?”

“Originally, I was only going to receive 35,000 pieces by reducing 5,000 pieces for the new P-32 to 10,000 pieces, but I should get 20,000 pieces for the new product and 40,000 pieces for the P-32 as it is. Can you send me like that from next month?”

“If that’s the case, anything is possible.”

“I think this will be a good deal again. Mr Kang. haha.”

“I am of the same opinion. Mr Dunn.”

The new product supply contract with Bestsell ended smoothly.

Park Si-woong asked while taking a taxi to Minneapolis Airport.

“Do you know what happened to that Richard-san in the past?”

“Ah, you’re asking because of what I told you not to kick me out?”

“Initially….”

I arrived at the airport after explaining what happened with Kim Yeon-hee in the United States.

Park Si-woong opened his mouth with admiration as he got out of the taxi.

“That’s great. You would use that strategy in that situation. I learned a lot.”

“It’s embarrassing to hear that. haha.”

As I smiled, I suddenly remembered the promise I had forgotten.

‘ah. I told Yeonhee that I would buy you a large suitcase. she was blinking I’ll have to order one when I get back.’

“It was a lot of work. Si-woong Mr. I think I’ve done everything I could do in America with this.”

“The director did a great job too.”

Two days after returning from a business trip to the United States.

“Director Kang. This is Lee Byung-hoon.”

“I got a call from Nell, USA.”

Sara Nell, the personal PC maker founded by the famous Michael Hill?

“At Nell? why?”

“I asked if they were developing an OS that supports drilling, but I said I would check it first because I didn’t know, so I hung up. Do you have any OS that is being developed by Director Kang?”