America's Top Player

Chapter 62 Streaming

The next morning, Li Ang led the team onto a flight back to New York and quickly escaped.

After the plane landed, Li Ang turned on his phone and saw several missed calls. The caller was Lenny.

"What is so urgent?"

As soon as he walked out of Kennedy International Airport, he rushed to ROC Kingdom to see Lenny.

"Oh my God, I almost thought our young genius would stay in Los Angeles forever." Lenny narrowed his eyes, with an unconcealable smile on his face.

Leon pulled up a chair and sat down face to face with Lenny: "What's the matter that makes you so anxious to see me?"

Lenny turned the computer screen towards Leon.

"check it out."

Li Ang stared at the screen. On Bluebird social media, Cardi B took the top spot in trending searches.

No matter how you refresh the page, you can see Cardi's shiny bronze peach in the most prominent position.

During last night's conflict, Cardi's butt-shaming of Chris was captured by many onlookers and uploaded to the internet.

Cardi has become popular again thanks to the nightclub conflict incident and is the well-deserved queen of topics.

As he was flipping through the pages, Li Ang actually saw himself on social media.

A short leaked video showing Leon ordering Cardi to put away her gun has become the most discussed topic in major hip-hop communities.

Almost everyone was discussing the relationship between Street Coconut Crisp and the Daughter of the Blood Gang.

As fans dug deeper, Apocalypse Music came into the public eye.

How could a white guy make a gangsta girl from the Bronx behave like a pet?
So the spectators made up a so-called "truth" that they could justify themselves.
In these versions of the legend, Leon is described as a tough gangster from Brownsville.

In Brownsville, where more than 80 percent of the residents are black, he is the first white godfather in history!
This also reasonably explains how Cardi B was able to bring a large group of masked Nicks to confront the infamous "Magnum" George head-on a month ago.

"WTF"

Li Ang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry when looking at these imaginative words.

"Apocalypse Music. No wonder it's so hard to find you. It turns out you're doing big business behind the scenes." Lenny leaned back in his swivel chair, the smile on his face unfathomable.

"We are just a small workshop, nothing big."

"Small workshop? Small workshop means signing a Billboard Top 10 singer?"

Li Ang just learned from Lenny that there have been various incidents of mischief in recent days.

Cardi B's big taillights are like a nightmare that lingers everywhere, and you can see them just by opening social media.

Under this brainwashing-like offensive, "Bodak Yellow" finally made a breakthrough on the Billboard charts and successfully entered the top 10.

In this issue of the Billboard charts, the crown jointly achieved by Eminem and Rihanna was finally taken away.

A short man from Hawaii broke a seven-week monopoly.

Bruno Mars won the championship with "Just The Way You Are".

The first album released by this unremarkable newcomer in the music industry caused a sensation, and three songs from the first album entered the top 20.

Lenny knocked on the table and said, "JAY-Z once asked me who signed a talented girl like Cardi."

"When he found out it was you, I often dream about his jaw-dropping expression."

Leon knew that Lenny was criticizing him by saying this.

In JAY-Z's view, the entire New York music scene is his own kingdom, and potential newcomers must be acquired by the ROC kingdom.

Unexpectedly, a gang girl from the Bronx who caused a stir in the rap circle was discovered by his younger brother right under his nose.

Li Ang shrugged and said, "Dude, this isn't what you think."

"No need to explain, JAY-Z is happy to see you grow so quickly." "No king would not like to watch his soldiers grow into generals step by step."

“Keep up this momentum!”

Li Ang instantly understood the implicit meaning of the words.

Whether generals or soldiers, they are essentially working for the king!
After seeing Leon being so close to West Coast rappers, especially 50 Cent.

JAY-Z wants to remind him: Don’t play tricks!
"Let's not talk about this anymore, let's talk about things that make you happy."

"Something that makes me happy?" Li Ang asked subconsciously.

Lenny grinned, "Besides money, what else could possibly make a greedy bastard like you happy?"

Li Ang was even more confused after hearing this.

ROC's record sales dividends are never late every week, and today has only been three days since the company last transferred money to my account.

Lenny threw a check in front of Leon. "Here's to you."

The amount on the check was a full forty thousand dollars, which was still not a small amount of money for Leon today.

According to the contract he signed with ROC, he would only get that much money if "Take Me to Church" sold at least 40,000 CDs.

"Hey man, what's up with this money?"

“Streaming.”

After receiving this answer, Leon nodded thoughtfully. He had not paid much attention to this emerging product before.

Lenny said with a smile: "'Take Me to Church' has sold a total of 15 digital singles since it was released on streaming platforms a month ago."

"Combined with the revenue from broadcasting on some free platforms, this is what you deserve."

"Sales figures on streaming platforms change all the time, so we can only settle accounts once a month. I hope you understand."

Li Ang nodded, he fully understood this.

The price of a single song on the streaming platform is $0.99. Whether it is the old giant iTunes (Apple Store) or the rising Spotify, the sales price is similar.

But the streaming platforms will take a huge share of the profits.

Take the Apple Store as an example. It can take 30% of the sales for every digital single sold.

But this is still very cost-effective for record companies because digital music products save a lot of printing and logistics costs!
Although the contract signed between Li Ang and ROC Company stipulates that the singer creates his own content, the singer himself owns the full copyright.

But the "master rights" are firmly in the hands of record companies.

Master rights are the most fundamental power for a record company.

Owning the master rights means that any form of recording and distribution must be authorized by the master owner, allowing the master owner to reap generous profits.

"The consensus among the company's top executives is that streaming platforms will eventually replace physical records."

"Physical record sales have been stagnant for a decade and are even showing signs of decline."

"Perhaps in the near future, the RIAA (Recording Association of America) will include streaming sales in the scope of record certification. Let's wait and see."

There was a hint of sadness in Lenny's eyes as he said this.

As a veteran who has been working in this industry since the late 80s, the decline of physical records is like an elegy of an era for him.

Li Ang, who was sitting opposite him, didn't hear any of this heartfelt speech.

After hearing about the promise of streaming, he had only one word in mind.

Knife music.

(End of this chapter)