America's Top Player

Chapter 16 Music is a Business
"2000 CDs sold out. My expectations of your market performance were too conservative."

Inside the gang's lair on Chister Street, T-RAY stared at the pile of change on the table with a greedy look in his eyes.

The success of this autograph session exceeded everyone's expectations. Not only were the CDs sold out, but there were only a few hundred cassettes left.

The final sales figures can be easily calculated without professional accounting statistics.

The 2000 CDs generated $6000 in revenue, while the cassette sales brought in $7400.

It is said that due to the shortage of record stocks, many fans who did not attend the autograph session are suffering from not being able to buy CDs, and the owners of some chain audio-visual stores have already asked T-ray to increase the printing volume.

"So, can we split the money now?"

Li Ang stared at the banknotes, his eyes almost spitting sparks.

According to the contract, he will directly take 15% of the sales plus 10% of the copyright income.

The total amount is more than 3000 US dollars, which is undoubtedly a huge sum of money for Li Ang who is struggling on the poverty line.

T-Ray not only didn't answer directly, but he slowly smoked his cigar, "You want to share the money now? Are you kidding me, Bro?"

"My investment in you is much more than that. Excluding printing costs and taxes, it will probably take another ten thousand dollars to fully recoup the cost."

Hearing this, Li Ang couldn't help but frown. The current situation was similar to what he had guessed before.

If you cooperate with gangs, you must be prepared to be in breach of contract.

In the eyes of Nigo, who has only dropped out of primary school, the contract may not be as valuable as toilet paper.

Li Ang sighed, stared at T-RAY and said in a clear voice: "Fuck you Nigel~"

"What did you say!"

Being called "Nico" is not a big deal in the black community, but it is only limited to the black and gold limited edition skins.

They gave many insulting nicknames to people of other nationalities, but they would not allow others to call them Nige.

Before, Li Ang always mentioned "Niger" and T-Ray tolerated it, but adding the "F-word" in front of it was a naked provocation.

When T-RAY's personal bodyguard, Big Martin, saw his boss being humiliated, he immediately walked up and stared at Li Ang with his egg-sized eyes.

Li Ang didn't seem to be at all panicked by the 1.9-meter-tall black beast staring at him. He waved his hand and said, "Don't stare at me like that, you bastard. You look like a fag."

Big Martin was immediately furious and raised his fist to teach the other party a lesson.

"stop!"

Li Ang was not panicked at all, but T-RAY was anxious and shouted loudly to prevent the conflict from escalating further.

He squinted his eyes and puffed out a huge puff of smoke. "Bro, have you forgotten who I am after knowing me for so long? You seem to have lost respect for me."

Li Ang was so angry that he didn't expect this fat guy to dare to show off.

If the tall and strong bodyguard wasn't there, he would have rushed up and given T-RAY a beating.

"You were the one who broke the agreement first. I don't have to respect you." Li Ang knocked on the table and said solemnly, "You broke the sacred contract. Isn't the respect between us based on this contract?"

Li Ang has a firm grasp of T-RAY's mentality. Now he is the other party's cash cow, and even if he goes too far, T-RAY will not dare to do anything to him.

The office fell into a long silence. T-RAY stared at Li Ang for a full minute and suddenly burst into laughter.

"You're such a greedy bastard! Aren't you afraid of getting shot for such a small sum of money?"

“I have to tell you, art is a business, and no one can accept losses.”

"But fortunately, you still have some value."

As he spoke, T-ray grabbed a pile of bills from the table. After counting, he found that there was a full $3000. He threw the money directly to Li Ang.

"It seems like there's still a few hundred dollars missing." Li Ang took the bill and counted it again and again, a look of displeasure on his face. "You seem to have forgotten that we still have to file taxes, you piece of shit! I've been generous enough to you!"

Li Ang shrugged and looked noncommittal.

"I've got a very important announcement for you. You're going to be performing at a nightclub in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn this Friday."

"This is crucial for the sales of your next album. The second batch of albums is already being printed."

When Li Ang heard about the performance invitation, his eyes lit up, which meant that he had truly become a singer.

Performing in American nightclubs is different from the usual money-making gigs. Many superstars choose to perform in nightclubs when they are just starting their careers, especially luxurious nightclubs with famous DJs.

The consumption in these nightclubs is extremely exaggerated, often costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Therefore, these places are not affordable for the middle class. Those who can come here to consume are either rich second-generations, sports stars, or entertainment company executives.

If "Take Me to Church" can be successfully promoted in an influential nightclub, it will not only mean that the song's popularity will soar.

As long as it becomes popular in one nightclub, other nightclubs will follow suit.

Nightclubs have to pay a hefty copyright fee to play these songs.

Of course, what is more concerning than these quantities is the printing and distribution of the second batch of records. The only data that can truly reflect a singer’s market influence is record sales!
"One hundred thousand CDs and ten thousand cassettes."

This number really surprised Li Ang. If he had released an album instead of a single, the sales of this batch of CDs alone would have brought in millions of dollars in revenue!
The fact that only 10,000 cassettes were printed also showed that T-RAY had finally figured it out.

In order to save costs and avoid risks, he chose to print a large number of cassettes, a product that has been eliminated by the times.

Considering how popular Li Ang is now, such worries are completely unnecessary.

After the dividend distribution, the atmosphere on the scene obviously eased up, and the air was filled with a happy atmosphere.

At this moment, T-RAY's expression suddenly changed and he asked, "What do you think about the agent contract and the record company contract?"

"I'm still thinking about it."

"Don't even think about it. You'll have a steady stream of commercial performances in the future. Don't try to play me, you piece of trash!"

T-ray changed his attitude faster than turning the pages of a book and kept putting pressure on Li Ang.

Since there was no agent present at Friday's commercial performance, according to the law, the profits should be entirely earned by the copyright owner and performers of "Take Me to Church".

However, T-RAY aggressively charged a 30% intermediary fee.

This is absolutely unacceptable to the money-loving Leon, but T-RAY is extremely tough on this issue.

Take it or don't get a penny.

Although Li Ang was so angry that his teeth were itching, he had no choice but to accept it.

"This is the last time."

After leaving Chester Street, Leon seemed to have made some kind of decision.

He pulled out his phone and called Phil: "I'm going to have my first performance at the Star Club in Sheepshead Bay this Friday."

"After the performance, the second batch of records will be officially put on the market."

"Let everything go according to plan."

Phil on the other end of the phone was so excited that he screamed, "Let's do something big together!"

"Trust me we will have it all!"

(End of this chapter)