Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

"Link, you are so popular now. Many record company agents have come to me and want to discuss signing with you. Take a look at these. Do you have any record companies that you like?"

At noon, when he was lifting a barbell in the equipment area, Simon came up with a stack of documents.

During this period, he still trained in the boxing ring. When Taylor or Selena were free, he would learn guitar and piano with them. All matters related to songs were handled by Simon.

It's just that Simon is a boxing agent and is not very good at music.

Link put down the barbell in his hand, sat up and wiped the sweat with a towel.

"Can't we release it ourselves?"

Dynasty Promotion Company has a publicity and distribution department and a certain distribution capacity.

"Yes, it's not bad in Florida and Miami, but if we want to sell records to the whole United States or even the entire America and Latin-speaking regions, our channels and manpower are very limited. In addition, Dynasty Promotion is a sports company and has no experience in promoting and distributing music. The operation cost is too high. It's better to leave it to professionals."

Simon said.

Link nodded. It was fine to leave professional matters to professionals. He opened a few documents and took a look.

At present, there are more than 30 record companies that have contacted him, including Universal Music, Sony Music, RCA, Hollywood Records, Sony Music, and many small record companies, including Big Machine Records where Taylor is.

There is no signing bonus, only the proportion of song album royalties, various packages for promoting songs, etc. For example, Hollywood Records said that he would give him a B-level singer package, investing no less than 2 million US dollars in album release and promotion, and holding a concert tour around the world in the future.

Link didn't understand these things. After looking around, he didn't know which company had better conditions.

Simon was also an outsider.

So he called Catherine and Taylor to seek the opinions of two industry insiders.

Catherine told him that large and small companies have their own advantages and disadvantages. Large companies have wide channels and strong distribution capabilities, but they have many artists, limited resources, fierce competition, and less royalties.

Although small companies have limited resources and channels, if you can become a leading singer and be fully promoted by the company, it is much better than joining a large company.

Taylor directly persuaded him to join Big Machine Records, and the two joined hands to conquer the music scene.

Link naturally would not agree to her. Big Machine Records was established in 2005 with a registered capital of less than 5 million. There are too few resources and channels. It is difficult for Taylor to promote and package alone, let alone two people.

If he joins Big Machine, the company's resources will be more strained. Even if he doesn't want to compete with Taylor, the team behind him will compete secretly, which will inevitably affect the relationship between the two. This is not the result Link wants.

In addition, Scott, the boss of Big Machine, is not a good person. After Taylor's contract with Big Machine Records expired in 2017, he announced that he would not renew the contract.

Scott was very angry and sold the copyright of her first six albums to the person Taylor hates the most, Justin Bieber and Kanye's agent, another guy named Scott, without telling Taylor.

Afterwards, Taylor was not allowed to publicly sing the songs she wrote herself.

This incident caused a big stir on the Internet that year. Taylor had a war of words with Justin, Kanye, Scott and others on Instagram, which caused a shock in the European and American music scene.

Link also had a taste of the melon that year and knew a little about this matter, so he would not join Big Machine. He was also ready to find an opportunity for Taylor to terminate his contract with Big Machine in advance.

"Don't persuade me. Big Machine Records is a new company. It is already very difficult to operate a singer like you. If I add it, it will be full of capacity, which will affect your development in the future. That's not good. If you don't believe me, ask Mrs. Andrea. She must know the situation better than me."

"Hey, how do you know my mother is next to you?"

Taylor laughed.

"I guessed."

"You guessed right. My mother said that if you are a new singer who only releases a few singles occasionally, joining Big Machine is a good choice, but you are too famous. The first single has been on the Billboard before it was officially released. You have great potential. The Big Machine Records platform seems too small for you."

"Yes, Mrs. Andrea is right. It is more appropriate for me to choose another company, but I still have a few questions to consult you."

Link asked a few more professional questions, such as the sharing of record royalties, the ownership of album copyrights, and the sharing of streaming media income after signing.

Taylor told him that according to the contract between the singer and the record company, the singer can get 20% to 40% of the royalties for each album, and the main creative personnel such as songwriters and producers will share 5%, and the rest will belong to the record company.

As for the copyright of the album, even if it is a song created by the singer, the record company also participated in the song production and MV shooting process, which is equivalent to joint creation, so the copyright basically belongs to the company, and the singer only owns part of the copyright.

Only independent musicians who create, produce and distribute their own music can own the copyright of all albums and get all royalties.

Independent musicians are mostly very strong or well-known musicians. They have strong creative ability and a fixed fan base. They can sell albums without the support of record companies.

This path looks cool, but it is only suitable for those famous singers, not for newcomers.

After listening to Taylor, Link felt that he was more suitable to be an independent musician. He was a celebrity with his own traffic. The songs he had were basically hits. He didn't need much promotion from the record company to sell well, and he didn't need to give money to others.

But being an independent musician was like fighting alone. He had to train every day and didn't have so much time and energy to manage the company.

He told Taylor his ideas and asked for her advice.

Taylor told him that he could find a professional to cooperate with, such as Scott Borchetta, the owner of Big Machine Records, who was once a music producer of the Nashville branch of Universal Music. He left Universal in 2005 and founded Big Machine.

There are many people like Scott. If you look carefully, you can always find a few suitable candidates.

"You're right. I'll consider it. What time can you go home today?"

Link asked.

"Do you miss me?"

Taylor asked sweetly.

"Yes."

"I miss you too. I want to go home now, but "Fearless" is about to be released. I have a lot of work recently. It will take about seven o'clock today to finish the work."

"It's okay. Come back early. I'll cook and wait for you."

After hearing Taylor hang up the phone, Link put away his phone and thought about who to find for cooperation.

Catherine is a suitable candidate. She is an insider and a relative. It is very convenient to cooperate. It's just that the current mode of getting along between the two is good. If they become business partners, I'm afraid there will be more trouble.

But apart from Catherine, he can't find a more suitable candidate.

Just when he was hesitating, Ivaka called and asked him if he had time to go to Madison Square Garden to watch the boxing match between Holyfield and the oriental giant Valuev. She had two tickets.

Link was a little surprised. After returning from Miami, Miss Ivaka called him several times, but she only talked to him about the arrangement of the boxing match and rarely talked about personal matters. This time, she took the initiative to invite him to watch the boxing match.

Link thought about it and agreed, thinking it was probably a serious matter.