TAIPEI – Mandopop idol Wang Leehom has filed a police report against those who pirated his Yuexue app which teaches singing and songwriting.
Launched in February, the first semester of classes were immensely popular, attracting 20,000 students and reportedly made him $7 million richer.
A second semester started on Monday (July 26), but unscrupulous pirates attempted to secretly record the classes and even lured away students, causing the app to lose about $360,000.
Wang, 45, issued a stern warning against the unauthorised versions, which have proliferated to more than 1,000 websites: “Don’t be deceived. Only the original version will have classes, classmates, homework and critiques.”
The latest classes also include a new teacher, renowned lyricist Vincent Fang, best known for collaborating with megastar Jay Chou on many of his hits.
To drum up publicity ahead of the second semester, Wang had shaved off his massive pandemic beard on Douyin on July 12.
Watched by 12.31 million viewers, the 70-minute live-stream managed to recruit an additional 3,450 students to sign up to Yuexue.
