Chapter 891: Chapter 297: Two Matters
"The situation is still somewhat chaotic right now, although the iTunes model is gaining more and more acceptance, and we have the advantage. So all we need to do is sit back and watch," Adrian said to the current CEO Lucian Grange in Universal Music’s office.
"Indeed, even though online downloads have become the mainstream model for music distribution, it will still take five to six years to fully stabilize, and traditional distribution channels will also fight back." Grange nodded in agreement, then changed the subject: "But we should have more say in iTunes, don’t you think? This would also help us set a high price."
"Yes, I know, but you should also know, Lucian, Jobs is not an easy person to deal with. To say it nicely, this guy is decisive and confident, not influenced by outsiders. To put it harshly, he is arrogant and autocratic. I spent a long time negotiating with him before he relented." Adrian said noncommittally. "I’ll relay this to him, but the specific negotiations will have to be handled by you."
"Alright." Although somewhat disappointed, Grange quickly adjusted. Jobs indeed is not easy to deal with, "Now about the international department..."
"Let Marcos start. Sony will cooperate, that’s something that was agreed upon years ago," Adrian said as he stood up and then gave a mischievous smile, "Be careful, they’ll definitely regret it, but no matter what, do not back down on rights and music library."
"But the Copyright Extension Act of 1998..." Grange reminded as he stood up.
"That’s indeed a problem," Adrian frowned slightly, "We’re having someone lobby Congress, and next month Senator McClean will propose an amendment. If the heirs of the songwriters need to apply for this right, there will be strict audits. If we can find loopholes here, we still have plenty to work with—let’s leave it at that."
He said and then headed out, turning around as he reached the door as if remembering something: "By the way, how are those two things I asked you to keep an eye on?"
"Based on the feedback received...there’s a market for it, if you want to follow up..." Grange’s tone became respectful, mixed with a bit of expectation.
"I’ll follow up," Adrian replied decisively, easily perceiving the underlying tone, "Keep it up, Lucian, I have high hopes for you."
Lucian Grange became the CEO of Universal Music at the beginning of the year. The previous CEO, Roy Moore, chose to resign last year due to internal conflicts coupled with his declining health. Then, with Adrian’s strong recommendation, Grange not only ascended to the CEO position of Universal Music but also became the Chairman.
Choosing him was not only because of his abilities but also because he has vision and is good at judging situations. When he was in charge of production, he would turn a blind eye to Adrian’s actions and often helped clean up messes. As a return, Adrian pushed him to this position, allowing him to enjoy his privileges more comfortably.
Fundamentally, Universal Music’s most well-known and popular female singers—Britney, Christina, Avril, the Simpson sisters, Beyoncé, Lopez—they all had slept with Adrian. Particularly Britney, Christina, and Avril, could be considered lovers. By placing someone more discreet in this position, it certainly allows for greater peace of mind, let alone...
"Sorry for the delay, making you wait for quite a while." Walking into his lounge at Universal Music, Adrian playfully commented to the somewhat restless lady sitting on the sofa.
"Not at all," her eyes lit up when he entered, immediately jumping up and plastering herself against him, her ample softness rubbing against his arm, "It was only a few minutes."
"You really know how to talk, Katie." Adrian laughed heartily, unabashedly gripping the soft flesh and playing with it, then extending his hand below her clothes a few moments later.
Katie softly moaned a few times, her face flushing but without a hint of shyness. Instead, she pushed her chest out, "Want to do it here?"
"Don’t rush; we have plenty of time." Adrian withdrew his hand and sat on the sofa, patting his lap. The lady promptly sat down and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"My proposal has already been approved. Once your song is finished, production can start immediately. It will be uploaded to YouTube at the beginning of next month, and all aspects of promotion will follow closely, so be prepared." Adrian said while pinching her cheek, "Don’t worry, I’ll follow up."
"No problem, I’ll start right away. The ideas you gave stimulated a lot of inspiration." Katie excitedly planted a big kiss on Adrian’s face.
"Very good," Adrian nodded satisfactorily, "However, to appear as a newcomer, Katie Hudson’s name won’t work..."
"Katy Perry," the lady promptly blurted out, "Perry is my mother’s surname. It shouldn’t be a problem for me to use it."
"Very well, Katy Perry." Adrian said with a smile, lifting her chin. Katy understood, leaned in, and their tongues entwined.
Those who’ve tasted the bitterness of obscurity despite the effort are more willing to seize opportunities, and Katy Perry is a good example. She became a signed artist with Universal Music’s Island Records in 2001 and released an album, but it unfortunately had little impact.
If there were no surprises, she’d switch to Columbia Records in a few years and, after floating around for some time, only then achieve fame by uploading songs on YouTube.
But now, she’s remained with Island Records. The reason? At Universal, whoever gets Adrian’s appreciation can become famous, as Britney, Christina, Avril, and Beyoncé have proven.
Sadly, Adrian didn’t focus too much on music, and Katie had no chance to meet him as a mediocre singer. Yet she persevered, even though she struggled to grab a new release opportunity last year and failed again, she chose to stay with Island Records. That’s persistence, isn’t it? And so, Katie was rewarded.
After Google’s IPO, their competition with Yahoo over YouTube intensified. Adrian intended to spin YouTube off, which necessitated making decisions. Thus, he noticed an interesting MV while paying attention to YouTube. The lyrics were simple, catchy, and had a touch of innuendo, and the singer was interesting, with a familiar face and name, only the surname differed.
After some investigation, Katy Perry or Katy Hudson’s information appeared before Adrian word-for-word, revealing her history of obscurity. Interestingly, she even wrote a soundtrack for "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."
It’s good; Adrian likes women who’ve hit rock bottom, and he likes talented ones too. So he specifically found an excuse to meet her, and Katie stuck to him like glue. Nevertheless, she wasn’t annoying; her smile was cute and sweet, and she was articulate and observant, giving her best in bed. One session with her made Adrian thoroughly pleased.
Though unexpectedly ending up in bed after the first observation, Adrian didn’t mind. Katie’s service quality was great, and Fruit Sister is worth supporting. Since 2005, albums selling over ten million have almost vanished, and selling a few million is already considered a hit. Katy Perry is not exactly explosive, but she can easily join the ranks of top-selling artists; hence, this current scene.
"Are you coming to my place tonight?" After their passionate kiss, Katy held Adrian’s neck, asking in a longing tone.
"I’m sorry, I have other commitments," Adrian smiled, "But don’t worry, Katie, there’s always time."
"Alright." Getting up from him, Katie showed some disappointment but quickly controlled it, "I’ll get to work right now, ensuring it’s completed by the deadline. Thanks again, Ed, for the material."
She stood before him, the soft curves that weren’t any less impressive than Ivanka’s, Amanda’s, or Keeley’s, wobbly and visually striking.
"Just a little help, I look forward to your performance, Katie." Adrian let her leave.
The so-called material was some ideas about "Ur So Gay." Katie’s music style is simple, or rather, her original successful music style was simple, irreverent with a hint of innuendo. There’s still a market for it, so using the hype of homosexuality on YouTube for promotion with her genuine talent, popularity is foreseeable.
Sadly, this talent is likely to fade away slowly. The record company initially wanted her to switch to writing and producing music, and Adrian thought it was viable, but Katie refused. She preferred being a singer. Makes sense, doesn’t it? No matter how high the income and prestige of a producer, can it compare to being a star? Only when she’s a star, running around everywhere, will her time for creating diminish, unless she’s like Adrian, capable of foreknowledge.
This is the common problem of all singer-songwriters. Initially, they write many good songs, but after becoming famous and work becomes busier, it turns into writing a few segments and letting professionals complete it. Eventually, they even develop into composing a simple tune but still adding their name in the producer column — since the producer’s credit is tied to royalties.
Avril has now reached a stage where she writes a few segments to be refined by others, while Britney, who came into the industry later, started with this model.
But if Katie insists on pursuing a singing career, that’s fine. As long as we squeeze a few good songs out at the start, it doesn’t matter. Even though Adrian really likes her eyes and softness, and even though Katie is fun, ultimately, it’s just a fling.
Speaking of which, Adrian suddenly had an idea. Since YouTube appeared earlier and caused Katie to become famous earlier, why not bring out little JB earlier too? He and Katie were among the first singers to rise with the wave of the internet, especially little JB... No, no, no, it doesn’t have to be little JB. Remember the saying? No one is irreplaceable. So, why not support a completely unknown boy?
It’s really simple. There are plenty of boys uploading their videos on YouTube every day. They don’t need to be great singers or have many talents. As long as they look pleasing, it’s enough. The most important is the promotion on YouTube. Not only can this create profits for the music group, but it’s also a great experiment, giving everyone a more intuitive impression of the already mature online publicity hype!
Just as Adrian was lost in thought, a sudden pain came from his arm, and then he saw a pair of fists waving in front of him.
"Hey, Vini, what are you doing!" Adrian quickly dodged, while the furious Avril remained silent and continued to chase and beat him.
They tussled for several minutes before Adrian finally managed to hold Avril firmly in his arms, asking with a helpless tone, "Did something happen?"
Avril didn’t speak, just pursed her lips and kept struggling, her face tense, her chest heaving violently, and her breath blowing the pink-dyed strands of hair out of place. Adrian rolled his eyes, suddenly flipped her over, and placed her across his knees, then lifted his hand and spanked her round, firm behind.
"Ah!" Avril cried out immediately, struggling even harder. Unfortunately, the more intense it was, the faster Adrian’s hand fell, and the cries and screams grew louder.
No one would come to check, especially after Grange took over.
"Calmed down now?" Only when Avril could only lie there and whimper did Adrian stop with a bit of satisfaction.
The young girl immediately scrambled to the other end of the sofa, curling up into a ball and glaring at Adrian with hatred in her eyes, but her face was also red, carrying a hint of inexplicable shyness.
"Now, can we talk calmly?" Adrian asked, raising his hands with a cheeky smile.
"Hmph!" Avril huffed heavily, turning her head away in disdain, but soon realized how silly it looked, so she reluctantly sat up while muttering.
"Another one," she said through gritted teeth, "How many is this, Ed? How many more in the future?!"
Undoubtedly, Avril saw Katie leave here. Even with just her toes, she could guess what happened between her and him, even if it wasn’t here on the spot.
Adrian chuckled, just looking at her without saying anything, his expression joyful.
"Are you listening to me?" Avril was somewhat angry.
"I’m listening, I just wanted to hear more," Adrian said, raising his hands, "Even though we’ve talked about it a lot, only saying it counts as making you my woman."
"Counts as?" Avril frowned, her face immediately darkening, "Are you showing off?"
Judging by her look, she seemed ready to jump up and bite him.
"No, no, no, Vini, I’m saying that way I know I’ve always been in your heart," Adrian replied with a smile.
"But you never put me in your heart!" Avril raised her voice, "You’ve been playing with me, you’ve been controlling me! I’m just one of your many toys. When you think of me, you pick me up and play, when you forget me, you leave me in the corner to gather dust...sob sob..."
Before she could finish, Adrian scooped her up and silenced her with a kiss. Even though she whimpered and struggled, being too petite, she was held suspended with nowhere to leverage strength, and her voice gradually softened under his rough invasion.
"Satisfied now?" After a long, intense kiss and pressing her onto the sofa, Adrian finally let her go.
"...No," Avril replied, breathing heavily, her hair a mess, biting her lip with a flushed face, "I want a new song, like Britney’s."
Upon hearing this, Adrian couldn’t help but laugh silently. He roughly understood what was bothering her. Just weeks ago, Britney released a new single, a good one, which topped the Billboard charts—it’s connected to Katie since it’s an inspirational song called... "Firework."
Yes, that’s right, it’s "Firework," quite fitting Britney’s image and voice, which Adrian gave to her, hence feeling quite apologetic when meeting Katie.
In the currently generally sluggish record industry, Britney achieving such a result is worthy of her current popularity and fame. In such circumstances, neither Christina nor Avril would be too pleased. However, Adrian, while reasonably scheduling his time, really hadn’t spent much energy on music, coupled with this and that, no wonder Avril would act out—were it not so, she wouldn’t be the rock ’n’ roll pixie.
"This hint of pink dye is nice, suits your flamboyant personality..." Adrian promptly switched the topic.
"Hey, that’s not what I’m talking about? You trying to avoid it?!" Avril clenched her fists.
"I’ve always been glad you considered my feelings and didn’t get tattoos, maybe I should ease up on that condition a bit..." Adrian continued without changing his expression.
"Adrian! I want you to listen to me!" Avril jumped up and glared at him fiercely.
"...Alright, Vini, you have to know, inspiration always... Did Britney and Kristen do something to provoke you?" Adrian remained unyielding.
"They didn’t provoke me, they thought I was easy to bully, thought they could squeeze me in the middle..." Avril suddenly stopped, her mouth agape as if she saw a ghost.
Adrian was taken aback for a moment, quickly catching on and wearing a surprised expression, while Avril shrieked and swiftly dashed out of the lounge like the wind.
Seeing this, Adrian could only chuckle alone a few times, then silently praised Britney and Christina. However, it’s curious why they didn’t tell him about doing such a thing, perhaps they were too excited?
Though puzzled, he didn’t dwell on it as he still had something to handle here today.
Soon, a knock was heard, after permission was granted, a pretty face cautiously peeked out from behind the door.
"Hi, Tyler." Adrian greeted with a smile. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian () to cast recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)