America: Child stars start with The Shining

Chapter 102 A Huge Obstacle to Album Promotion!

Los Angeles, the offices of Huamei Records.

The glass cabinet in the corner looked rather empty.

There wasn't much inside; just a lone, gleaming gold trophy on one of the display boards.

The base is engraved with "Best Young Actor in Film" and the name "Charles".

To be honest, this trophy looks a bit out of place here.

Charles stood in front of the glass display case, looking at the trophy with a very satisfied expression on his face.

This is his first trophy, and sooner or later he will fill this glass case with all sorts of trophies.

Of course, there are other reasons for satisfaction as well.

The trophy was also recognized by the system as a piece of equipment.

[Title: Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Film (Rare)]

[Holder: Charles Hamilton]

[Source: Young Artist Award Ceremony]

[Attributes: Acting Skills +50%, Immersion +30%]

[Limited conditions: This offer is only valid when the holder participates in film and television productions, auditions, etc., as a "child actor".]

[Entry: Child star performance (passive)]

[Effect Description: When equipped, it significantly enhances acting skills and performance when you are a child actor participating in film shoots or auditions, effectively reducing the traces of acting and making the character appear more realistic and natural.]

This is definitely a versatile piece of equipment; at least for now, it's very useful for him.

Ovitz sat on a sofa not far away, holding a newspaper in his hand.

The newspaper's entertainment section featured news about last night's Young Artist Award, with a very eye-catching headline.

"Charlie Hears Jr., the young actor from 'The Shining,' beat Oscar-nominated child star Justin Henry to win the Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Film."

Next to the article was a very eye-catching photo.

In the photo, Charles stands on the stage, holding the trophy, looking radiant.

Jodie Foster stood beside him, tilting her head slightly to look at him with a faint smile on her face.

Ovitz put down his newspaper, looked up at Charles, whistled, and said with a smile, "Congratulations, our little child star, this is your first trophy, it's very memorable."

As he spoke, he glanced at the trophies in the glass case, a hint of teasing in his voice: "How was it? How did it feel to receive the award?"

Charles sighed, "It's exhausting. Attending these kinds of events is so draining. I'd rather be making movies."

Of course, the fatigue he mentioned mainly refers to the social interactions that followed the awards ceremony.

At the dinner, a bunch of directors, producers and agents came to his door one after another, giving him almost no time to catch his breath.

He barely ate anything, spending all his time exchanging pleasantries with these people, exchanging contact information, and dealing with various subtle probing questions.

At first, Judy, who was sitting next to her, was covering her mouth and chuckling.

Before long, she herself was surrounded by a group of directors and producers.

Not only the two of them, but even Drew couldn't escape.

Of course, she seemed very happy.

After all, her life trajectory has changed, and without her participation in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," she has not yet become a sensation.

This is what is known as a social dinner.

Everyone in the film industry tries to find their purpose in such an occasion.

Directors want to find actors, producers want to find projects, agents want to find new talent, and actors want more people to remember their names.

If we can actually reach an agreement on a project in a place like this, maybe the problem of the next movie will be solved.

Of course, Charles doesn't have such thoughts for the time being. He has his own plans, and he won't easily touch those movie projects that he hadn't heard much about in his previous life, at least not in the short term.

Moreover, he didn't have much extra energy to join a film crew during this period.

Because AC/DC's first album, "Backin Black," is about to be officially released.

For this album, they spent almost every day and night in the recording studio, polishing the music again and again from arrangement and recording to post-production mixing, and finally completed the entire production in just a few days.

The real troubles for Ciel are just beginning.

That is the release and promotion of the album.

Whether an album can ultimately achieve sales success depends on two factors: the quality of the songs themselves and the effectiveness of the record company's release schedule and promotional strategies.

Song quality is certainly important, but in the commercial record market, a song is never guaranteed to sell simply because it is good enough.

Especially for a band like AC/DC, which has not yet truly established itself in the US market, whether Huamei Records can bring them to the forefront of the audience and let enough people hear this album is the key to their success or failure.

At that moment, Charles and Ovitz were having a headache because of something.

After listening to Ovitz's report, Charles frowned and said, "You mean, those white AOR radio stations don't want to play this album?"

His initial release strategy with Ovitz was to leverage word-of-mouth from radio and tours before scaling up album sales.

But now, it seems that we have encountered difficulties right from the start.

AOR radio is an industry term. AOR stands for "Album-Oriented Rock." This type of radio station originated from an industry policy rule enacted in the United States in July 1964.

Simply put, AM and FM radio stations of all sizes cannot simply broadcast the same content simultaneously; they must increase the diversity of their programming.

This gave the radio stations a real headache, since there wasn't much content worth broadcasting.

Some listeners come specifically to hear those popular songs.

Overall, however, this policy did give radio stations more freedom and openness in their broadcast content, allowing them to play long musical pieces or even entire albums at will, which led to the birth of AOR.

Many radio stations began to try playing the entire rock album, and the results were surprisingly good.

Among them, the most famous AOR rock band of this era must be Pink Floyd.

Their 1973 album, *The Dark Side of the Moon*, topped the Billboard 200 album chart and remained on the chart for 741 consecutive weeks, selling over 45 million copies.

Charles naturally wanted AC/DC to develop in this direction as well.

Therefore, partnering with those white-owned rock radio stations was absolutely essential.

Now, Ovitz is telling him that those white rock radio stations don't want to play the album.

What exactly happened?