At eight the next morning, Beyoncé was still fast asleep in her room.
The Texas cowgirl had been defeated five times in last night's showdown, completely exhausted.
She ignored the seven or eight missed calls from JAY-Z on her phone.
Leon dressed quickly, stretched, and felt refreshed from the inside out.
After dealing with JAY-Z's frustration, he immediately got ample value back from Beyoncé.
The only downside was that his legs felt a bit weak when walking.
"This is the royalty income for this quarter."
As soon as Leon returned to his New York office, Aisha placed a document an inch thick on his desk.
The dense numbers and complex sub-items were headache-inducing.
Leon skipped directly to the end to see the statistics.
The bulk of the income came from performance royalties and synchronization royalties.
"The gap is actually this big..." Leon exclaimed.
The income from performance royalties caught his eye.
In this income composition, Robbie's Faded and Ariana's Senorita completely crushed his own debut album Demons.
Any performance of a work generates revenue, which in today's digital age can be simply understood as streaming plays.
Commercial users must pay a certain percentage of royalties to the author.
There is revenue where there are plays.
The revenue from each play seems negligible.
But with the involution of the streaming music industry, more and more streaming platforms have launched free models.
By burning money, they intend to kill traditional platforms like Apple Music Store and Spotify that rely on selling copies for profit.
Performance royalties are managed by PROs agencies.
Fortunately, whether it was Robbie or Ariana's works, Leon almost exclusively handled the songwriting, arrangement, and mastering.
Therefore, he could exclusively enjoy this part of the copyright income.
Counting the more lucrative synchronization royalties, the total income in the first quarter of 2011 was nearly 1.5 million US dollars.
This indirectly proved the commercial value of hit works.
This money wasn't a huge sum for Leon now, but it was enough to cover the huge personnel expenses of his multiple companies.
As soon as Aisha left, Leon's phone rang incessantly.
Radio interviews, commercial performance invitations...
After the Billboard Music Awards, his controversy rose to another level.
The mysterious lawyer Luca Vincent from the law firm Aisha contacted previously was also confirmed to visit this afternoon.
This meeting was crucial for whether the two parties would sign a cooperation agreement.
Bored, Leon played with the poker cards in his hand while refreshing social media.
Chatting enthusiastically with Kardashian's two younger sisters on Facebook.
"Kendall, your figure is amazing. If you become an actress, you might be as popular as Angelina Jolie globally!"
"Kylie, you are a born singer~"
He painted various rosy pictures, making the two sisters dizzy.
Kendall and Kylie, one 17, the other only 16.
But they had already shown strong commercial potential.
The former was already a somewhat famous model, frequenting major fashion shows.
The latter was an influencer, with over 1.5 million followers across the network just by sharing makeup tips online.
This was a considerable volume at the moment.
If Leon entered the film and television or self-media industry in the future, the two sisters would be good resources.
Young, beautiful, hot bodies...
And easy to control.
After witnessing Leon mocking Diddy at the Grammy Awards with their own eyes, their admiration reached its peak.
Not inferior to the fanatical fans in the fan community.
Especially the youngest sister Kylie, she was like an upgraded version of her sister Kim Kardashian.
More exquisite features, taller height, curvy figure.
This girl had such strong capital at a young age.
The key point was that it contained no technological components, a natural body without silicone.
Just as the scale of the chat escalated, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
"Boss, Ms. Maggie wants to see you." Bonnie reported.
"Maggie? What does this old woman want with me?"
Leon turned his pen and pondered carefully.
As Robbie's manager, their relationship had reached freezing point.
There was definitely no good news when the other party visited at this time.
"Let her in..."
A minute later, Maggie entered the office.
"Long time no see, Ms. Maggie." Leon handed her a cigarette.
This American mature woman and workplace strongwoman was a standard chain smoker.
"Congratulations Leon, for winning two awards at Billboard." Maggie lit the cigarette and puffed, "Compared to that kid Justin Bieber, you were the focus of the whole audience."
"You flatter me, ma'am." Leon said perfunctorily.
The current situation seemed a bit awkward, with polite exchanges back and forth.
Leon determined that the other party came for Robbie's matter.
To break up or not, this matter must have an explanation.
But Maggie's next question was somewhat unexpected.
"Has Leonard from Warner Music talked to you?"
"Which aspect do you mean?" Leon asked, "I'm not familiar with Mr. Leonard."
"About merging the Apocalypse label into Warner Music." Maggie went straight to the point.
Hearing this, Leon squinted at her.
Obviously, Maggie and Leonard had already communicated.
This matter had crossed the line. The issue between two record companies was not something a manager should interfere with.
"I'm still considering this matter." Leon said in a deep voice.
"Don't consider it." Maggie put out the cigarette and waved her hand, "Cooperation will take everyone's career to the next level. It's beneficial for both you and Robbie, you will earn much more than now."
The implication was obvious: Warner Music's promotional resources were not on the same level as Apocalypse Music.
Just the energy of the Spotify platform shareholders could increase the exposure of works massively.
They also controlled a large number of radio stations, magazines, and countless internet marketing accounts.
Before being sold by Time Warner Group, Warner Music's promotional ability in traditional media channels was even stronger than now.
"Ms. Maggie, I don't think this is something you should consider." Facing the other party's chatter, Leon's patience was reaching its limit.
"Why?" Maggie retorted, "You have to know I treat Robbie like a daughter. You have already hurt her emotionally once, do you want to hurt her again in her career?"
Hearing this, Leon completely couldn't hold back.
The other party was treating him like a child who hadn't grown up.
An old fox who had been in Hollywood for more than twenty years, emitting a pungent smell of copper all over.
To actually use such childish rhetoric as "hurting feelings" as a bargaining chip.
Just thinking about it was laughable.
"Listen, ma'am, this is my company." Leon said, "Although I don't want to say this, you must understand who is paying for Robbie's achievements in the music industry..."
"But..."
"No buts!" Leon looked down at his watch.
Luca Vincent would arrive in half an hour.
It was time to see the guest out.
Sometimes he felt that the profession of manager, the faces were all equally disgusting.
At this time, Leon began to miss Phil being by his side, using his magical check-in technique to shut Maggie's mouth hard.
"Let's talk about the movie. How is the shooting progress of Skyfall?" Leon turned the tables and asked.
"Everything is going very smoothly. Robbie has been promoted to the first female lead, returning to the traditional Bond girl image." Maggie's voice became smaller and smaller, a sign of guilt.
Even this role was won for Robbie by Leon.
"Very good, Robbie is on the right path, her career is booming... what else are you dissatisfied with?" Leon said, "Don't be too greedy, it will interfere with your judgment."
Lectured by a young man in his early twenties, Maggie seemed to have no temper.
She could only nod repeatedly in agreement.
"By the way, help me pass a message to Robbie."
"What?"
"I want to restart the recording of We Don't Talk Anymore, ask her to find time to come to the company."
"No problem!" Maggie couldn't hide her excited expression, the previous gloom swept away.
Manager is actually "Economic Man," everything looks towards money.
"You have to persuade her well, I mean, she hasn't come to the company for a long time."
"Yes! Please rest assured on this point! I will make her open her mind!"
Leon's plan was that the day We Don't Talk Anymore was released would be the moment the breakup was officially announced.
Maggie didn't know this, and Robbie wouldn't know either.
Taking advantage of the heat of the breakup announcement, this fitting love song would definitely achieve a sensational effect.
Let this song burst with maximum commercial value.
Just after sending away the greedy vampire Maggie, the sound of leather shoes stepping came from outside the office.
Crisp and orderly, definitely not Phil.
After Bonnie announced him, a young man in a suit walked in.
Medium build, blond hair, about 30 years old.
Dressed decently, behaved appropriately, with a smile fixed on his face like a mask, a typical elite lawyer image.
"Oh~ god~ finally meeting you Mr. Leon, you look even more handsome in person than on TV!"
Although it was the first meeting, Luca showed no trace of restraint.
As soon as they shook hands, it was a burst of flattery: "Look at you, like a vigorous young lion, no wonder young people nowadays go crazy for you~"
"Let's sit down and talk." Leon waved his hand, signaling Bonnie to bring two cups of coffee.
While waiting, Luca kept chattering non-stop, mostly nutritious-less flattery.
The more Leon listened, the more wrong it felt. Could this glib clown be a qualified lawyer?
He looked more like an experienced Indian telecom scammer.
Leon took a sip of coffee and threw out the question directly: "Mr. Luca, you should have some understanding of my needs before coming, right?"
A professional law firm should understand the client's background before formal cooperation negotiations, this is basic skill.
"Of course, understanding client needs is a lawyer's basic accomplishment." When Luca spoke, his gestures were like playing an accordion, full of emotion.
He could skillfully recount all of Leon's encounters since his debut, and even the little-known details of backstabbing T-ray and the record store shooting.
This made Leon immediately look at him with new eyes.
"I heard you often provide services for Mexicans?"
"I'm not a racist, I provide perfect services fairly to all people in trouble."
"It must be dangerous to do so, those Mexican drug dealers are not easy to deal with..." Leon didn't beat around the bush, the purpose was to test whether this lawyer, as rumored, specialized in serving felons.
"Drug dealers? I don't understand what you are talking about." Luca shook his head, "Before being convicted, they can only be called good people who temporarily lost their freedom. There is no such thing as criminals among my clients because they are rarely convicted."
"My clients are all law-abiding five-star good citizens who never forget to pay taxes on time."
"Do you really think so?" Leon lit a cigarette.
"Of course~ This is just a supply and demand relationship. Because the market has needs, my clients provide products to them." Luca said, "Like all walks of life, the adult industry sells happiness to the public, the music industry sells emotions to the public, where there is demand there is a market."
Seeing the other party straying further and further, Leon quickly interrupted this topic.
Leading the question to professional issues, "Do you understand music copyright disputes?"
"Of course, no one understands music copyright better than me!"
Leon's dispute with Roc Nation mainly lies in the master recording rights.
This issue is an industry consensus, there is no dispute.
Since the birth of the record industry, it has become an industry rule that master recording rights belong to the record company.
This means that even if you own all the copyrights to your works, you cannot re-record previous records after terminating the contract.
Once the contract with ROC is terminated, Leon will never receive a share from the sales of the Demons album again.
The new signing company cannot record and distribute this record either.
This is no different from giving away the child you raised to honor others.
"This is an industry-wide problem, but it's not without solutions."
"How to solve it?"
"Re-record the original works into a new record. The copyright is in your hands, this is the biggest weapon."
"Fxxk..." Leon deflated instantly.
He knew about this solution beforehand.
It's just that the cost of re-recording is too expensive, having to redo all recordings and MVs.
Considering that the original works have passed the golden sales cycle, doing so is difficult to bring economic benefits.
"In the long run, this is a cost-effective deal." Luca explained: "Moreover, you may not need to redo all the work..."
"What do you mean?"
"The original recording version, as long as it is re-mixed, changing some drum beats and synthesized audio, becomes a brand new work. This doesn't cost much money."
Leon frowned tightly. Can doing so really pass the review of the Recording Industry Association?
Maybe it will backfire, being sued by ROC for infringement.
"Listen, copyright is your most powerful weapon. You own all the copyrights for songwriting, arrangement, and singing, and you also have the best lawyer in America!"
"Even in court, I can easily settle everything."
Master recording rights are the scepter of record companies, a difficult problem for generations of singers.
Although Luca's suggestion wasn't groundbreaking, it was the most economical means.
As long as he could deliver on what he said and resolve a series of potential infringement disputes.
After some contact, Leon had a full understanding of him: although this guy had a greasy tone, his ability was very much online.
This is a typical high-level American shyster.
This was the important reason why Leon finally decided to choose him.
In the American legal system, having moral cleanliness and a savior complex does not make a qualified lawyer.
An excellent lawyer is one who spares no means, even using all inhumane methods, to protect the interests of the client and themselves.
From this point of view, Luca, with a negative moral index, can definitely be called a model of the lawyer profession.
The two were birds of a feather.
With the foundation of mutual trust, the subsequent cooperation negotiations were much easier.
Apocalypse Music pays Vincent Law Firm a fee of $500,000 a year to deal with various potential legal risks.
Luca Vincent will also become Leon's private legal consultant.
Compared to the consultant fees of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which start at millions per year, this money is spent with good value for money.
Adhering to the principle of "money has been spent," Leon talked with the other party for more than two hours.
Consulted on blind spots of knowledge he didn't understand much about, such as reputation rights and portrait rights.
At parting, Leon asked curiously: "Mr. Luca, you said before that as long as business is based on supply and demand, it is positive energy business... so what are you selling?"
Luca was slightly stunned, then touched his tie and answered with a serious face—
"Freedom."