Every reporter: Du Wei, Song Meilu, every editor: Yang Xia
"The first Jay in the mainland" "It's not that Jay Chou looks down on him, but that Hei Lun is more cost-effective"...... Relying on these labels, "Hei Lun", who became popular by imitating Jay Chou, has recently transformed into a guest of high-end bars, and has taken off to many cities in China since June to open a "concert".
The "Daily Economic News" reporter learned from an interview that Hei Lun's national tour is in cooperation with a chain of bars called "Ringing Livehouse", and to see his performance, the "admission fee" can reach up to 6,000 yuan. As of June 27, Hei Lun has toured 5 performances in Foshan, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other cities, performing songs "All the Way North", "Stranded" and "Zhou Daxia" are all Jay Chou's works. However, Hei Lun, who exploded after the tour, caused dissatisfaction among many Jay Chou fans, who said that it was difficult to accept the copycat Jay Chou.
Helen toured Taiyuan field. Image source: Video screenshot
"The show is canceled." When the reporter of "Daily Economic News" interviewed the bar where Helen was on his next tour with consumers, the clerk of the Xiamen Wenzao store of Livehouse said that "some seats were originally booked, but they were suddenly cancelled." Not only in Xiamen, the reporter exclusively learned that in the next few days, Heilun's tours in Hangzhou (July 4), Wuhan (July 7) and other places were pressed the "pause button". Why was Helen's tour suddenly interrupted? And who is supporting his performance?
Hei Lun, who helped the bar make money and became famous, is his imitation of Jay Chou's image and cover of Jay Chou's songs suspected of violating the rules?
"Copycat" Jay Chou toured 5 cities in 1 month, and the organizer's single income may reach 330,000 yuan
"I didn't expect you to really do it and start your own concert." Recently, Helen has been busy traveling to many cities, and fans are also supporting his performance with real money.
Some people pay for Heilun, because of the accumulation of his "Internet celebrities", as of June 29, on the Douyin platform alone, Heilun has more than 1.11 million fans. The reporter of "Daily Economic News" learned from an interview that the "organizer" of the Black Lun tour is the chain bar Livehouse, and the brand bar invites it to perform in different cities as an "exclusive guest". Hei Lun originally planned to tour the country seven times in June, and as of June 22, he has completed performances in five cities: Foshan, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Taiyuan and Xi'an.
Helen has more than 1 million followers on Douyin. Image source: Douyin screenshot
Some bar staff said that Helen's performance does not have tickets, and is sold in the form of regular booths in the bar, but a minimum consumption is set for each table (hereinafter referred to as low consumption). The reporter learned from the interview that the price of each table at Heilun Foshan Station ranges from 600 yuan ~ 3000 yuan, compared with the price of previous weekends, each stall has been greatly increased. For example, the 800 yuan scattered platform (which can sit 1~4 people) "Heilun Field" on weekends is sold for 1,500 yuan, and the price has increased nearly 2 times, and there is no regular free "standing ticket", that is, you have to pay at least 600 yuan to enter the door.
In the five performances that have been toured, Helen sold 6,000 yuan at the highest low cost in Hangzhou, which attracted the attention of many netizens, and some people believe that this price is 3 times the highest ticket price of Jay Chou's concert of 2,000 yuan. Bar clerks in many places claimed that the seats at the "Black Lun Field" would be sold out on the night of the performance. The reporter of "Daily Economic News" obtained the price list of Helen's tour in 3 cities, and roughly calculated according to the low consumption price that was sold out of the whole venue, the income of Helen's tour in Foshan, Suzhou, and Hangzhou was as high as 198,000 yuan, 241,000 yuan, and 331,000 yuan respectively.
Who was watching Helen's performance? The reporter noticed that Hei Lun's short video account is more active, the earliest one was released on July 21, 2022, and 277 video contents have been released so far, most of which are imitating Jay Chou and covering Jay Chou's songs. Hu Jia (pseudonym), a consumer who watched Heilun Foshan Station, told reporters that he was originally a fan of Jay Chou, but after seeing Heilun's performance on the short video, he became curious about him and booked a seat for Heilun at a local bar for a low cost of 800 yuan in advance.
Image source: short video platform
Hu Jia watched the performance that night with the mentality of "missing Jay Chou's peak, can't miss Heilun's peak anymore", according to his account, Heilun sang about 5 songs at the performance, all of which were Jay Chou's songs, with a total duration of about half an hour. "The atmosphere was great and Helen was a very interesting person."
The tour pressed the "pause button" Online performances are still hot, and fans continue to give tips
"I really didn't feel how hot Helen was before, I thought it was just a weekend low." A staff member of a bar in a certain place of the livehouse lamented when talking to reporters about the recent explosion of Heilun, who led to a sharp rise in consumer prices in the bar, which he did not expect.
However, when Hei Lun, who has millions of fans, went from online to offline, and became popular in the circle, he also encountered unprecedented doubts. During this time, the controversy about "copycat Jay Chou can actually hold a concert" has intensified, and even many Jay Chou fans have begun to "boycott" Hei Lun.
The scene of the Suzhou station of the Helen tour Image source: Courtesy of the interviewee
This made the national tour of Helen in full swing, press the pause button in advance. On June 26, the reporter of "Daily Economic News" learned that Heilun's performances in Xiamen Wenzao and Mingfa stores on June 28 and 29 were temporarily canceled, and performances in Hangzhou, Wuhan and other places were also canceled. The explanation of the clerks in many places is not uniform, "the reason for the conflict in the itinerary" and "Taiyuan is too popular, so it can't be performed in other places now".
"The public opinion on the Internet is very stressful, and his voice is not very comfortable, so we decided to suspend the tour." On June 29, Manager Liu, who is in charge of the artist business of the livehouse, said in an interview with a reporter from the "Daily Economic News" that Hei Lun performed in a bar in Chengdu in May this year, "The effect is very good, so we planned a national tour for him, which is not a concert, but a fan meeting." Originally, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Ningbo and other cities were also arranged, but now they have all stopped. ”
Helen Tour poster (left) schedule (right) Image source: Courtesy of the interviewee
Regarding the fact that the price of Helen's performance exceeds the ticket for Jay Chou's concert, Manager Liu told reporters that the low consumption set by the bar is a fee charged per table, "for example, the most expensive big table can seat 8~10 people."
The reporter noticed that although Helen's offline tour was stopped, his online performance was not affected in the slightest. The 37-year-old Helen is very diligent, and from the evening of June 28th to the early morning of the 29th, Helen's live broadcast room will start broadcasting normally. "Thank you for liking me, when I can write 10 songs, I'll have a concert." While interacting happily with fans, Hei Lun sang songs such as "Stranded", "Sunshine Otaku", "Qili Xiang" and other songs, and in the process of Hei Lun's singing, fans continued to reward: 99 yuan of Swan Lake, thousands of yuan of rockets and other gifts generously.
Hei Lun live broadcast, fans reward. Image source: Video screenshot
Helen's performance of Jay Chou's songs may constitute infringement
"Please once, it will cost tens of thousands of yuan." The clerk of a bar in a certain place of the livehouse revealed to reporters that the appearance fee of Hei Lun, who is an "Internet celebrity", is higher, so the bar will temporarily increase the minimum consumption of each seat. In this regard, Manager Liu said that the expenses paid to Helen are only travel expenses.
The most concerned by the public is that Helen imitated Jay Chou in the performance and sang Jay Chou's songs, is there a violation? "Paid performances should be considered 'commercial performances.'" He Qi, a partner at the Shanghai branch of Beijing Longan Law Firm, said in an interview with the Daily Economic News, "Helen's performance of these (Jay Chou) songs is first suspected of infringing on the rights of songwriters. Most of Jay Chou's songs are composed by him, so if these songs are not legally authorized, they are likely to constitute infringement. ”
Some netizens questioned the infringement of Hei Lun's cover of Jay Chou's songs. Image source: Screenshot of the short video platform
He Qi pointed out that if the infringement is constituted, "[Helen] may bear civil liabilities such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact, apologizing, and compensating for losses; If the infringement also harms the public interest, it may bear administrative penalties such as confiscation of illegal gains and fines."
At the same time, the bar that invited Helen to the tour may also bear some responsibility. "Bars should check whether they are legally authorized in advance, and if they do not do so, they may be liable for aiding or complicity in infringement." He Qi said.
During the interview, several consumers told reporters that "the clerk of the livehouse advertised that Hei Lun imitated Jay Chou and paid the copyright fee". In this regard, the reporter tried to interview Jay Chou's company Jewell Music Co., Ltd. through multiple channels, but did not receive a reply as of press time.
"We train bartenders, but some people forget about it the next day... Manager Liu told reporters that Hei Lun came to the bar to perform, and the song list of the performance was normally submitted for approval.
In this regard, He Qi told reporters, "If it is true that there is no legal authorization, the promotion of the bar clerk may lead to deception and misleading consumers, constituting false publicity."
National Business Daily