Rebirth in America

(This is thanks to Mr. Killer Scorpion for the reward. I will add another chapter today! But I won’t be able to add another chapter next week. This book finally made it to the top ten of the new book list, and I have to stay on it for a few days before talking about it!)

The victory of World War II brought great benefits to the United States, and also caused profound changes in the domestic economy and culture. Due to the post-war economic prosperity, the literary and artistic undertakings developed greatly, and the music field also developed rapidly. period.

In the 1950s, more people went to concerts than to baseball games. Coupled with the proliferation of weekly music programs played by radio stations, the rapid development of the recording industry, and the surge in music audiences, there is a need for fresh music from time to time to attract a large number of music listeners.

In addition, due to the development of industry, a large number of rural residents have been attracted to move to cities, especially poor whites and blacks in rural areas in the South. They have come to big cities to find jobs and a better life. These foreigners not only increased the urban population, but also brought the culture and music of foreign lands into the big cities.

This reality had a profound impact on the city's popular music production rate. In fact, in the early 1950s, in addition to the traditional Ding Bang Alley style songs and jazz that were popular in major cities, novel country music, pure folk style songs, and white songs with a strong black singing style had begun to become popular in society. wait.

Alex’s song “That’s All Right” came out just right. At this time, there was no such thing as rock music, but some people were already trying to create in this area, but they didn’t go as far as Alex.

When Alex, who comes from the 21st century, sang this song, although he used the singing method of Elvis, he unconsciously used a more mature rock style and rhythm in many details. It makes this song even more perfect.

The impact of Alex’s version of “That’s All Right” was huge, and soon other stations picked up the song’s record and aired it in prime time. One program was even played seven times in a row!

Shortly after the broadcast, the radio station's front desk phone started ringing. People are eager to find the person who sang this song and to hear more songs of this type.

After many radio stations played "That's All Right", they would also play "Song for Mom", another song sung by the Carpenters. Although this song also comes from later generations, it itself is country music. After modification and adjustment by the Carpenter brothers, its country flavor is even more highlighted.

Country music in this era was booming and had many listeners. Most of these listeners are adults over thirty years old. They particularly like this song, but they are not as crazy about it as young people, but they will definitely spend money to buy this record.

Neither Alex nor Richard knew about these things, but one day soon after they arrived at the tavern to perform, they were interrupted by Bart and Angel who came in a hurry.

"Alex! Richard!" Angel pulled the two brothers off the stage. Bart stood beside her with a smile on his face.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Richard looked at Angel very puzzled.

Bart quickly explained: "The phone at home rang countless times today, and a total of 47 people specified that they were looking for you!"

Richard looked at his father in surprise and said in disbelief: "Looking for us?"

Alex, who was standing aside, was thoughtful, biting his lip gently, thinking, is it finally here?

"Yes, they want to interview you!" Angel said excitedly. She felt very accomplished now and wanted to shout to everyone: "This is my son, my son!"

Bart couldn't help but said: "Live interview by phone, now, right away!"

Angel added: "He said to call your sons over and start the interview now!"

"Wow!" Richard jumped up happily!

Alex couldn't help clenching his fists: "Succeeded! Finally succeeded!"

There are many radio stations that want to interview them, so they can only come one by one. Two brothers who were less than ten years old shocked the world with a record! What big news this is, all American reporters want to interview them!

The penetration rate of television in this era is still relatively low, and it should only become popular after the late 1950s. One way people receive news is by reading newspapers, and the other is through radio.

Information about the Carpenters quickly spread throughout the United States, and nearly everyone who listened to the radio knew about them. Two brothers come from a blue-collar family. The eldest brother, Alex, is 8 years old this year, and the younger brother, Richard, is 5 years old. They already have more than a year of performing experience and can even compose their own songs!

"Hi! This is WJZ New York. I'm Nighthawk! Who's over there now?" came a rich voice on the phone. He was Jim, the famous host of New York Radio. He was nicknamed because he often hosted late-night shows. It's called "Nighthawk"!

"Hello! Mr. Nighthawk, I'm Richard!"

"Wow! Wow! Did everyone hear it? It turns out to be Richard, the younger brother among the genius brothers! Where is your eldest brother Alex? Is he around?"

Richard quickly handed the microphone to Alex! Bart and Angel had already turned on the radio nearby and were listening to the station's program.

"Hey! Hello Nighthawk!" Alex's behavior was much more natural. He had been prepared for it!

"These days, what surrounds everyone's ears is your singing of "That's All Right" and "Song for Mom"! It is said that "Song for Mom" ​​was written by the two of you. Is this true? "

"Of course it's true!" Richard put his ear close to Alex's. When he heard Nighthawk's question, he immediately replied loudly.

"Yes, we wrote this song specifically for our mother as a birthday present for her." Alex said calmly.

"Oh my God! Listen, everyone, what a pair of genius brothers they are!" Nighthawk exclaimed again on the other side of the microphone. Before the Carpenters could answer, he continued: "This reminds me of Mozart. ! You are all so smart and genius!"

The interview lasted for half an hour and was a success! The telephone interview was broadcast directly to the radio, and thousands of people tuned in to listen to the program.

People learned from this that the Carpenter brothers began learning the accordion at the age of three or four, followed by piano, guitar, violin, etc. Among their teachers are not only old musicians in the pub, but also professors who are teaching music at the university.

They started performing on stage when they were less than four years old and continue to this day. The two songs were recorded within two days. As for the original song, there is more than one, and there are many songs that have been written but have not yet been recorded.

What a genius!

People were stunned by such demonic geniuses, and there was not just one genius, but two! It's really amazing!

Most importantly, the song “That’s All Right” was so good that people called the radio station to ask about buying the record. The feedback I received was that the record had not yet been released.

The associated effect was that the original “That’s All Right” record suddenly grew in popularity. As a result, after listening to the version performed by the Carpenter Brothers, everyone was extremely disappointed with the original version of the song, and their desire to buy the Carpenter Brothers version became even stronger.

Major record companies in the United States heard the news and sent many managers to Carpenter's house to inquire about publishing records and the conditions for signing a contract with the Carpenters.

However, many radio stations refuse to play their songs. Even if there are many listeners on demand, it will not work. The reason for their refusal was that they did not want people to mistakenly think that the songs they played on the station were black songs.

This was blatant racial discrimination, but it was so reasonable at the time. Yes, black people and white people are from two different worlds. Some reporters even doubted whether the Carpenter brothers hired black people to sing on their behalf. They said: "How could a white person sing a song with such a black accent? We didn't see them recording with our own eyes. It must be a black person singing. After recording it, I said it was the work of the Carpenters.”

Some newspapers also said that this is a conspiracy by black people and everyone should be careful. They would never allow black songs to pollute the pure spirit of white people.

More people like the songs of the Carpenter Brothers, especially black people. They are the music pioneers of this era and quickly drew nourishment from this song. Various jazz styles were adapted into similar songs. For a time, the creative passion of many musicians was released.

While the Carpenter family was almost flying with joy, some people seemed to have fallen into the abyss.

"When will you give me an answer!" Rudy almost cried. He saw that he had a big gold mine in his hand, but he couldn't dig it. At the same time, the bank's debt deadline is approaching day by day. If he cannot raise enough interest money this month, he will go bankrupt.

"What's going on?" Angel asked in confusion when he saw this situation.

Bart then told the story in detail, emphasizing the huge debt. What he meant was that he didn't want to take over this hot potato.

After Angel heard this, he immediately asked: "What do Alex think?"

Everyone in the Carpenter family already understood that Alex was not only the eldest son, but also the lucky star of their family. The fact that their family has reached this point is all because of Alex. If it weren't for Alex, I'm afraid Bart would still be working hard in the factory.

Alex touched his chin and said: "I think we can talk about it, but we won't talk about the signing, nor about the ownership of the company. We will only talk about the contract for this record. Let's get this record on the market first." Say it again."

When Bart and the others heard this, hey! interesting. When he told Rudy this idea, he became anxious.

There are several types of contracts for singers. One is a contract equivalent to a contract of sale. This contract is equivalent to the singer's complete property belonging to the record company. Another type is the singer's record contract, which is equivalent to a cooperative relationship between the singer and the company.

However, this is usually only the case for big-name singers. Michael Jackson once signed a record contract with Sony, and Sony paid a high price of US$100 million to purchase the sales rights to 10 of Michael Jackson's records. This US$100 million is not included in the copyright tax. It can be said that this is a sky-high contract.

Rudy understood what Alex was doing, and he spoke quickly: "The master disk of the record has been burned a long time ago. As long as you agree, the record can be pressed and shipped immediately! But what is the share ratio you want? My suggestion is Forty to six, I’ll take 40%, how about you take 60%?”

He was very anxious, UU reading www. uukanｓhu. net is now desperate. If he doesn't have enough money to repay the bank, he will sleep on the streets next month.

The 60% Rudy mentioned refers to 60% of the total profit of the record distribution company. When converted into copyright tax, it should be around 30%. The so-called copyright tax refers to the remuneration a singer receives after releasing a record. It's not calculated by profit, but by the retail price of the record. Usually the copyright tax that singers can get is about 10%. For example, if the retail price of a record is $1, then 10% is $0.10. If you sell 100,000 records, you can get $10,000.

This is pre-tax income, and the singer needs to pay a certain amount of tax to the government based on the singer's total income for the year.

30% copyright tax, this is the price of a top singer. Very few people can get such high royalties.

Alex suddenly remembered a question: "This album has two songs, but we don't have the publishing rights to "That's All Right"."

Rudy smiled proudly: "I was prepared! After burning the record for you, I immediately found the owner of this song and I spent money to buy it."

When Bart heard this, he couldn't help but admire him: "You really dare to take risks! Is the copyright of this song expensive?"

"Hey! Anyway, if you can't pay back the money then you will be dead. I don't need that little money." Rudy avoided Bart's question and probably bought the copyright of the song without spending much.

The Carpenters discussed it carefully and felt that this condition was very generous and had no disadvantages. So they decided to let Rudy help them sell the record first and see how the sales went.