Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 173 - 148: We’re Screwed! What’s with Showing His Hand?
"Fuck, is he ever going to stop?" Hu Zhicong cursed out loud when he heard the voice coming from his phone.
His opponent had already gotten the upper hand in the Wang Qiqi affair. What was he trying to do now? Drag this on forever?
He really couldn’t swallow his pride. He had to take a guy like this down.
Chen Jincheng, unaware of this, saw that the livestream audience was intrigued by his words and continued, "Everyone is very curious why I said Company CYH is so shady and that Qiqi never even considered them. Let me break it down for all of you."
"To put it simply, Qiqi was first discovered by CYH and was given an opportunity to join them. Naturally, she did some research on the company. After all, you have to do your due diligence before joining a company; you can’t be reckless!"
Wang Qiqi, who was sitting beside him, was visibly stunned when she heard this.
’When did I ever do that?’
But she wasn’t an idiot; she knew this wasn’t the time to interrupt.
The livestream viewers, however, grew even more curious:
"You definitely have to research a company before joining!"
"Yeah, I even Google a company for a job that pays 5,000 a month!"
"Qiqi must have done her research and found something wrong with Company CYH, right?"
"..."
Chen Jincheng continued, "After Qiqi did her research, she found that not only were there many rumors about Company CYH exploiting its artists, but their contracts were for as long as ten years. For their initial batch of artists, the contracts were even for fifteen years!"
"As everyone knows, the career lifespan of an internet influencer can be even shorter than a celebrity’s. A contract like this is basically an indenture agreement. If you land with a good company, then a long contract is just that—long. But if the company is no good, your entire life is ruined."
"So, naturally, Qiqi didn’t want to sign with Company CYH. You’ve all seen her talent; there’s no way she would sign that kind of contract. But they invited her so enthusiastically so many times that she felt she had to go and politely inform them she was declining their offer to sign!"
"But who knew that this Hu Zhicong was completely clueless, thinking that just because she wanted to be an influencer, she’d be desperate to sign. He even deluded himself into thinking he could use the casting couch on her. It’s pretty laughable, really."
As soon as he said this, the viewers in the livestream couldn’t help but laugh, and a barrage of mockery followed:
"Seriously, the girl doesn’t even want to sign with you, and you’re thinking about preying on her? How brain-dead can you be?"
"Haha, that guy’s ugly and short. He doesn’t have what Chen Jincheng has, but he insists on trying to act like him!"
"Hu Zhicong: I thought I was Chen Jincheng."
Watching these taunts fill the livestream chat, Hu Zhicong’s expression grew even darker.
’Assholes!’
’A whole bunch of sons of bitches!’
He grabbed another phone, opened WeChat, and typed into a group chat his assistant had made: "Everyone, you know why I’ve contacted you. I just need you to keep your eyes on Chen Jincheng and Second-Life Star and help me dig up some dirt on them. Name your price; we can negotiate."
While he was doing that, back on the livestream, Chen Jincheng continued, "Hu Zhicong is certainly a joke, but let’s get back on topic and talk about why Company CYH is so shady. You all know now that their contracts are basically 10- or 15-year indenture agreements, but contracts like that aren’t legally supported. I’m guessing most of you haven’t paid much attention to labor contract laws, have you?"
Indeed, many viewers in the livestream were baffled.
It was true that not many people had ever looked into it.
Chen Jincheng continued, "An influencer’s contract is actually quite similar to a celebrity’s. It can be a fixed-term contract, a non-fixed-term contract, or a project-based contract for completing a specific task. Fixed-term contracts can be renewed, while non-fixed-term contracts have no time limit and can last for decades."
"After several celebrity lawsuits over the past two years, almost nobody signs non-fixed-term contracts anymore. The courts no longer favor companies in their rulings and have established specific conditions for such contracts. The crucial point is that Company CYH cannot meet these conditions at all, so they can only sign fixed-term contracts."
"But the maximum length for a fixed-term contract is five years, yet they’re signing people for ten or fifteen years. Now does everyone understand why I say Company CYH is shady? Their contracts are completely illegal and aren’t supported by law. If anyone took them to court over this, Company CYH would be guaranteed to lose."
"And yet, Company CYH uses these contracts to trick newcomers. But that’s just the small-time scam. The real scam is the exploitative nature of the contract itself. Company CYH’s revenue split is extremely low, far below the industry standard."
As he explained this, the livestream viewers instantly understood.
In other words, while an artist could sign a 10 or 15-year contract, it required special conditions. The crucial part was that Company CYH didn’t meet those conditions, meaning they could only sign normal, fixed-term contracts with a maximum length of five years. But instead, they were tricking people into signing these illegally long contracts.
On top of that, the revenue split was low, so they were exploiting artists for a decade or more.
Damn, they weren’t looking for artists, they were looking for slaves.
No wonder everyone said Company CYH was shady.
It really was shady.
Wang Qiqi was utterly dumbfounded.
’She didn’t know any of this stuff her boss was talking about.’
Sister Hong was also stunned. ’If what the boss is saying is true,’ she thought, ’Company CYH’s signed artists are probably going to raise hell.’
’But the real question is, how did her boss know these Company CYH secrets?’
’If Hu Zhicong had known the boss was going to reveal this, he probably wouldn’t have provoked them for anything in the world, right?’
And indeed, on the other end, Hu Zhicong’s face changed instantly when he heard this. "How does he know?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
The face of the assistant beside him also turned incredibly grim.
This was something they had always done in private. Plus, they had non-disclosure agreements that forbade signed artists from speaking out, under threat of massive financial penalties.
’How could he possibly know?’
"Who leaked this?" Hu Zhicong’s face was now a mask of clear panic.
