Chapter 62 Family-style hideout
Chapter 62 Family-style hideout
This year.
The supervision of many counterfeit products in the market is not as strict as it will be in the future. Unless someone reports it or it is involved in a major case, they often turn a blind eye.
Just look at the audio-visual stores all over the street and you will know.
Just pick a few and go shopping.
Not only are there music and film and television discs that are priced much lower than the genuine ones, but some counters even have many romantic and action movies that adults love hidden under them.
Because the purchase price is low and the selling price is high, not only is the profit extremely high, but there is no need to worry about no one buying.
Whenever some audio-visual store owners see a young man walking into the store, they will make a lewd expression and ask, "Do you want any nice discs?"
This situation will gradually disappear only after "free sharing of resources on the Internet" becomes widely popularized.
The demand has not decreased, it has simply shifted to the Internet.
In 2004, merchants who came from all over the country to purchase goods were still the main force helping various dens to sell stolen goods, and they could easily digest the huge amount of counterfeit products.
Where there is demand, there is a market. Nowadays, there are counterfeit dens everywhere. It’s just that Fan Wumian had no connections when he came for the first time, so he wasted several hours.
Like the employer of the chartered car driver's friend, he spent more than 200 million yuan in one go to buy two imported production lines, which can produce tens of thousands of various DVDs every day. Obviously, he is quite powerful.
It's almost like holding two money printing machines in your hands. No wonder they are willing to take risks.
Two days ago, Fan Wumian was looking for relevant information.
I have seen the record company that cooperated with Jay Chou to release and sell the "Qilixiang" album publicly complain that the genuine "Qilixiang" album sold more than 40 copies, but the counterfeit and pirated album may have sold 400 million copies.
Tao Ge's album "The First Snow of 2002" sold over 200 million genuine copies without any initial publicity, and the market estimated that the total sales would exceed 1000 million.
As for what happened to the extra 800 million tickets, Fan Wumian could see it clearly after just one look at the small workshop in front of him.
Looking inside through the garage door, although the scale is rather simple, the equipment seems to be quite complete. It happened to be delivery time, and an old man rode a three-wheeled motorcycle and moved a large cardboard box into the rear truck bed.
Upon learning that Fan Wumian came from Gangcheng, the young man in the double-ribbed vest finally put his heart at ease.
Fan Wumian asked him curiously:
"I see you guys are actually making an album called 'Ba Li Xiang'. Can this really be sold?"
Thinking of the opportunity to help his family get some orders, the young man enthusiastically explained:
"It's easy to get checked if you put the name of 'Seven Miles of Fragrance' on it, but it's okay for 'Eight Miles of Fragrance'. It contains 30 songs, including those in 'Seven Miles of Fragrance', and it sells well in some places."
"The box of goods I just took away was ordered by a boss from the Northeast. I sent it directly to the station and it will arrive in two or three days."
"What kind of goods do you want to process? I'm here to help open the door and move the goods today. I'll call my dad right away and ask him to talk to you."
The chartered car driver was tired of driving, so he came over to listen to the fun, standing there puffing smoke without saying a word.
He exhaled a large puff of smoke from his mouth and inhaled it through his nose. He paused for a few seconds before exhaling again. It was obvious that he was afraid that his lungs would have problems. After smoking one hand, he smoked two more.
Fan Wumian thought it would be a good idea to talk to the boss directly, so he nodded and said with a smile:
"Don't worry, how many people do you employ? If you work at full capacity, how many music albums can you produce in a day? I need a lot, probably 200,000 or 300,000."
"so much?"
Thinking that he had a chance to earn Hong Kong dollars, the young man smiled even more brightly.
It can be seen that he is not very experienced in the world and is wary of strangers, but not too much. He answered Fan Wumian honestly:
"The fastest time was when we produced more than 4000 discs in two days. In May, we were inspected, a batch of goods and machines were confiscated, and we were fined 5 yuan. After that, business was not good. There are some things my family dare not make. There are only me, my father, and my mother in the factory. My grandparents are responsible for installing and sealing the discs. If we work overtime, we can help you make the goods quickly."
I sighed in my heart, what a great thing, it’s actually a family-style den.
If we get caught, no one in the family can escape.
But after being investigated, they resumed business as usual, which shows that the cost of breaking the law is indeed not high.
Fan Wumian didn't beat around the bush and continued:
"I want to make some legal music albums, the kind that have obtained copyright authorization. Do you have many customers? Can you help me contact them to sell them?" "You should ask my dad. My second uncle has more ways. He specializes in selling goods outside. My brother even bought an Accord when he got married. It seems that he made a lot of money."
Listen to what the guy said.
Fan Wumian thought that these days people with money don’t buy houses, but instead use the money to buy Accord.
A house may be worth millions in 20 years, but it is not certain whether a 20-year-old broken Accord can be sold for 3000 yuan.
Seeing that the other party couldn't make up his mind, Fan Wumian asked him to help contact his parents, while he went into the garage to walk around and listen to the "Balixiang" album.
I unexpectedly discovered that it also contains some popular songs such as "Jiangnan", "Persian Cat", "Look at My 72 Changes", etc. The sound quality sounds average, but few people care about these things in this era.
Unlike movie CDs, music CDs do not have such high requirements for burners. There are 6 old computers that are not turned on on the table, plus a bunch of burners with "4X" written on the boxes.
According to the young man's explanation, although there are high-speed burners on the market, many portable players use CDs that are either difficult to read, or even if they can be read, there will be various track-skipping noises.
The burning effect here is good and it is not easy to fly discs, but the price is that the production speed is relatively slow.
While the young man was contacting his parents, Fan Wumian continued to listen to a few albums.
I unexpectedly discovered that it wasn't just "Bali Xiang" that was sold under false pretenses. There was also Chen Yisen's photo and album title printed on the box, but the actual album was Wang Fei's "A Woman Easily Hurt".
According to the young man, it is less likely to be investigated this way, as all the record companies and singers have hired people to file lawsuits all over the country. His parents are worried that if the case goes to court, they will be fined a large sum of money and end up going to jail.
Although it is simple, this small workshop just meets Fan Wumian's needs.
It doesn't matter if the production speed can't keep up, it can be solved by spending more money to add equipment and hire more people. If it is a large den with a professional assembly line, he can't afford to buy it.
----------------
The competition in the counterfeit industry is also very fierce, and it is uncertain at any time, so it is impossible to sustain it for a long time.
After meeting the young man's parents, Fan Wumian discussed with them for more than half an hour.
Not only did he propose to buy the place, but he also wanted to hire the three of them to work, giving them a guaranteed salary of 1000 yuan per month and charging them an additional fee on a piece-by-piece basis.
He checked the average salary in Shenzhen in advance.
According to official statements, the monthly income is already around 2500 yuan.
But as for the average salary, those who understand know that the vast majority of people cannot get this number.
As for the elderly couple who are responsible for packing and sealing, that is, the young man’s grandparents, their wages can also be calculated on a piece-rate basis, but there is no guaranteed income.
With almost no effort, the two sides agreed on the acquisition cooperation.
The reason is that the parents of the young man named Zhong Zhixing felt that Fan Wumian was a formal company after all, and the total price of 6 RMB, including computers, raw materials, CD burners and venues, was not low.
More importantly, even if we calculate that they make a total of 2 cents for processing one album, the output of "at least 20 in the initial stage" is equivalent to a profit of 4 yuan.
Other money is still flying in the sky, so we must grab the money in front of us first. If we add some computers and CD burners, we can complete this big order in one or two months.
Even if the small workshop fails, there is no need to worry. After all, it is not the first time to start a business in a new location. With an investment of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan, you can make a comeback.
There are indeed people who can really make a fortune, but they are basically involved in big cases.
This kind of business is half-dead, and the small dens that fish for three days and dry the nets for two days can barely earn a salary to make a living. Since there is a chance to clean up the mess, most people will not refuse this temptation.
A two-way business deal will certainly go smoothly.
In the evening, Fan Wumian also invited them to dinner, mainly to learn about the sales channels of the counterfeit albums in advance.
During this period, I learned that in addition to some powerful wholesalers, people often come to the Yiwu Small Commodity Wholesale Market in groups to purchase goods. However, the products sent there are easily inspected, and some record companies have sent people to stay there to protect their rights.
As a result, wholesalers are afraid to put samples in their stores, but if familiar customers ask about them, it does not prevent them from continuing to make money.
Before he started doing business, Fan Wumian almost forgot about the Yiwu Small Commodities Wholesale Market, a Feng Shui treasure land.
After listening to it, my eyes brightened up. Other places that produce infringing products are afraid of being investigated, but his album is not afraid.
(End of this chapter)