Surging news reporter Qi Yeyun
"Does anyone think about how I feel? 28 years to be a singer, standing on stage and being insulted by others! ”
On the evening of August 17, after a recording of a suspected famous singer Li Min complaining about the variety talent show "The Voice of China" was exposed, on August 18, the stock price of Star Chinese Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Star Chinese", 06698.HK), the parent company of "The Voice of China", fell sharply, and as of the close of the day, it was HK$94.950, down 23.43%, with a total market value of HK$39.14 billion, evaporating nearly HK$11.6 billion from the previous day.
Suspected Li Min questioned
The Voice Officer: Malicious editing
The Paper learned that the online recording was 9 minutes long and divided into three parts, and the content was suspected to be Li Min's unfair treatment during the recording of "The Voice of China". Li Min said, "It doesn't matter if I sacrifice myself, I didn't expect that they were all a bunch of bad people, go and fix me, because I said the truth, I don't want my life, I just want to help these children, I said the format is not fair, the program group said that the format is like this, and no mentor can change it." ”
Li also mentioned that because of the objection to the "unfair format", "they (the program team) want to do something with me, they say, you have to leave this stage." ”
In the middle, Li Min almost choked up to restore the truth of his fall on the stage of The Voice. Li Min said that because of his severe leg disease, he could not stand alone, so he communicated with the trainee in advance, "asking him to stand by my side and support me." But during the final recording, the director team cue the trainees to the other side of the stage, and eventually fell on the stage themselves.
On August 18, another video of Li Min's denunciation at the recording scene of the program before his death was leaked, in which Li Min shouted: "Just because we have few people, we don't have this fifth opportunity." The "other group has a minimum score of 73" and can get a second chance just because there are more people. But his group of students with a score of 88.3 did not have the opportunity to question that "The Voice of China" "is not a choice of singing." The program team staff tried to get started, and Li Min shouted "no one else touches me" and "everyone told me to calm down".
Li Min mentioned that going to Good Voice "is to give up your life", and the reason is only because she likes the show, "I think these young people are full of hope, love music is our common language, it doesn't matter if I sacrifice myself... I'm going to help (them make their dreams come true). ”
On the night when the 9-minute recording video was circulating, the official Weibo of "The Voice of China" issued a statement in response, saying that "Recently, some self-media accounts have spread maliciously edited recordings on online platforms 'Li Min complained about 'The Voice of China 2022' before his death', which is disrespectful to the deceased and seriously damages the image of the program, and we strongly condemn it." The Voice of China also said, "As the mentor of The Voice of China 2022, Ms. Li Min devoted herself to her work, and the misunderstandings during the period were eliminated by communication. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not explain too much about this matter, and will always remember her true dedication to the show. May the dead rest in peace! ”
However, in response to the "malicious editing" of "The Voice of China", some media asked Li Min's eldest sister Li Qiulin and second sister Li Silin for verification. According to the Yangcheng Evening News, Li Qiulin responded: "The fact coco said it in the video, we will not respond." Li Silin responded: "We are still in the pain of losing loved ones, and we need time and space."
On July 5, Li Min's sister Li Silin revealed on social media that Li Min died at home due to depression on July 2, and died on July 5, 2023 after ineffective rescue. In 2022, Li Min succeeded Liao Changyong as the mentor of "The Voice of China".
The Voice's revenue declined
According to the prospectus released at the time of listing, Star Chinese is an IP creator and operator with a variety of popular variety show IP, including celebrity singing, dance variety shows, talent variety shows, talk shows, outdoor/cultural variety shows and other variety shows.
One of the main operating entities of Star Chinese in China, Shanghai Canxing Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Canxing Culture"), "The Voice of China" is the largest and most representative variety show IP under Canxing Culture, in addition, representative works include "This! It's street dance", "Masked singers will guess" and so on.
A program produced in Chinese in 2022
According to the prospectus, Star Chinese's revenue has continued to decline in the past three years, from RMB1.807 billion in 2019 to RMB1.560 billion in 2020, and further reduced to RMB1.127 billion in 2021. According to the annual report data released after listing, Star Huawen's revenue in 2022 was further reduced to 873 million yuan.
The decline in advertising budgets for corporate clients also led to a decline in revenue generated by The Voice of China.
In the past three years, the revenue generated by The Voice of China has decreased from 490.5 million yuan in 2019 to 324.5 million yuan in 2020 and then to 252 million yuan in 2021, and the gross profit margin has also decreased from 46.6% in 2019 to 16.8% in 2020 and then to 2.2% in 2021. In 2022, Starry Sky Chinese did not disclose the revenue of "The Voice of China", only said that the gross profit margin was higher than in 2021.
Starry Sky Chinese launched "The Voice of China" in 2012, and this year, "The Voice of China 2023" has gone through 12 seasons. With the sharp reduction in revenue, the reputation of "The Voice of China" has also declined year after year.
Douban shows that the first season of "The Voice of China" has a score of 7.9 points, while the Douban score of "The Voice of China 2022" participated by Li Min is only 3.6 points, and the latest season of "The Voice of China 2023" has not yet announced a score.
Senior Editor of this issue Zhou Yuhua