American Entertainment 1978: New York Night Fever

Chapter 112 Global Licensing

"Matthew, my company is very small, and currently I only have the copyright to two of my own songs, 'YMCA' and 'Sweat'."

"Dreams. The recording rights for *Sweet Dreams* are still with Casablanca Records, so your workload isn't actually that heavy. I hope you can take over the record company's affairs in the future."

The following evening, Zeke met Matthew Steinberg in a quiet restaurant. Matthew was a very old-fashioned Jewish man; even though it was summer in Los Angeles and the heat was oppressive, he was still dressed impeccably in a three-piece suit and a neatly tied tie. Zeke guessed from this sense of formality and neatness that he was most likely of German Jewish descent.

“Um, Mr. Rossi,” Matthew looked at Zeke with some confusion, “Managing the record company is no problem, but the publishing company only has two songs? What kind of work do you want me to do for you? This workload—it feels a bit too easy. I’ll feel uneasy sitting here and taking the money.”

"It's very simple. There are two main issues right now, both revolving around the song 'YMCA'." Zik leaned forward and lowered his voice. "First, the Villagers currently have exclusive recording rights to the song, but they are Jacques Morali's employees and don't receive artist royalties. Now that I've gotten the recording rights back, Jacques certainly won't be giving them bonuses anymore."

"So, to keep them performing this song and help me gain recognition and make money, I plan to give them an artist royalty," making them feel that it's still their song, three percent of the wholesale price. But Jacques can't know about this; you have to reach an agreement with them privately. Understand?"

"That's a bit of a strange request," Matthew chuckled wryly, adjusting his glasses. "But in this love triangle, motivating the core artists is definitely the most important thing. I'll reach out to them. And what about the other thing?"

"Promote cover songs and adaptations." Zik smiled. "You help me contact record companies or singers in other non-English speaking countries and have them adapt the songs for local audiences. We'll take the money and split the profits. You need to make sure the price is reasonable and that I get every penny back accurately worldwide."

Now that he has all the rights to "YMCA," Zeke plans to fully exploit the song's potential. While the villagers' exclusive recording rights prevent him from giving the original version to someone else, there are ways to circumvent that restriction.

Matthew, being a seasoned accountant, instantly grasped the business opportunity. His eyes lit up: "Your move is brilliant! These foreign language cover versions will be brand new recordings, not subject to the villagers' group's exclusive rights. And with the song being so popular right now, we can not only collect a substantial licensing fee and get a share of the profits, but also collect corresponding mechanical reproduction royalties and performance royalties for every French, German, or Japanese version of 'YMCA' that appears."

"Hehe, I do know a little about copyright, but I'm still in school and don't have time to deal with these trivial matters." Zik grinned. "Speaking of which, I know you have old connections in Europe, so I'm not worried. But the Japanese version—do you have any connections in Asia?"

"No," Matthew admitted honestly. "I used to only handle European accounts and had no experience with Far Eastern business."

Zeke stroked his chin, thinking for a moment. He'd heard Peter Chris's black sidekick, JR, mention something about a particularly generous Japanese guy named something like "Udon Noodles," and this connection might come in handy. Besides, Gene had asked him to persuade Peter at the New York premiere; he could do both things at once.

"It's alright, at least I can help you make connections in Japan." Zike stood up, picked up his coat from the back of the chair, and said, "How about this, I'll take you to Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. KISS is filming a movie there, and they have a good relationship with the Japanese entertainment industry. They've done several tours there."

Zik got up and left, getting into his Mercedes. Matthew was still a little confused: "Mr. Rossi, didn't I come here for an interview today?"

"You've passed the interview." Zeke smiled and started the car, the engine humming softly. "Now it's time to get to work."

Six Flags Magic Mountain, known as the roller coaster capital of the world, was also the main filming location for "KISS vs. Phantom of the Park." The crew continued filming night scenes after the park closed at 6 p.m.

Zike entered the filming location without any hindrance by using facial recognition and immediately found JR smoking in a corner.

This guy was tall and big, with a dark complexion, making him very easy to spot.

The general plot of this film is that KISS is invited to hold a last-minute concert. However, the park has been secretly taken over by a former special effects supervisor and mad scientist who has been fired. He has created a robotic clone of KISS in his underground laboratory to cause destruction.

Kidnapping employees and seeking revenge against park management.

Each of the four KISS members was given comic book-level superpowers: Gene could breathe fire, Paul could shoot laser eyes, Ace could make his guitar light up and control machines, and Peter had various cat-like agility tricks. In the end, the four of them joined forces to use their superpowers to destroy the underground base, defeat the villains, and save the park and the concert.

Listening to JR's explanation, Zeke burst out laughing: "Who even came up with this script? It's ridiculous!"

"Oh man, I don't know, but it's hilarious." JR was laughing so hard he almost dropped his cigarette.

"By the way, what was the name of that Japanese organizer who took you to the bathhouse? Does he have any influence in the Japanese music industry?" Zike cut to the chase.

"Mr. Udo? He has very strong connections in Tokyo—he can get anything done," JR recalled.

"That's great. JR, this is Matthew, the manager of my copyright company. Can you help me connect with this Mr. Udo? I want to sell licenses over there."

"No problem at all," JR said, patting his chest. "I'll make the call in a bit."

"Matthew, I'm leaving this to you," Zeke instructed, then looked towards the set, "JR, where's Peter?"

JR gestured towards the filming location with his chin: "They're filming over there."

Zeke strode over. An action scene was being filmed there; judging from the makeup, it was Peter and Ace teaming up against two masked warriors.

Qi Ke found it quite novel; he had never seen a movie made before, and he watched with great interest from the outside.

The director was shouting through a megaphone, "Peter, grab your opponent, flip him over to the side, dodge the sword and knife strikes, and then launch a series of powerful counterattacks!"

After observing Peter for a moment, Zeke felt that Peter seemed to be in no problem—his speech and movements appeared quite normal.

Filming then officially began. Peter dodged to the side, avoiding the sharp blade, following the script; his movements were fluid.

However, when he retaliated, he seemed to forget that he was acting, and a heavy punch actually pierced through the opponent's mask and hit his eye socket.

That force looked painful to Zik.

"Bang!"

The opponent collapsed to the ground, his mask shattered, and visibly bruised and swollen around his eyes.

Ace stood aside, watching this scene with no surprise, but instead burst into maniacal laughter. His laughter echoed in the empty set, sounding particularly eerie.

Only then did Qi Ke realize that the two people, who seemed normal, actually appeared unusually excited.

"Cut!" the director shouted urgently, rushing out from behind the monitor.

The stunt coordinator rushed over to check on the actor's injuries, then angrily berated Peter: "Are you crazy?"

Who gave you permission to actually punch someone? That's for stunt performers! It could kill someone!

"Nobody told me I couldn't really fight," Peter said, shrugging innocently. "I thought stunt performers all knew how to block and deflect force. I've been boxing since I was a kid, so I'm used to real punches."

"You seriously injured one of my actors!" the stunt coordinator exclaimed angrily, pointing his finger at Peter. "If it weren't for the sake of the film crew, I would have taught you a lesson on the spot!"

"Really? You try it if you dare! I fought in the Gold Gloves amateur boxing tournament for two years." Peter raised his fist, his eyes full of provocation.

"If you dare to mess around again, the entire movie will be shut down!" the stunt coordinator gritted his teeth.

This threat had no effect whatsoever; Peter ignored him completely, grabbed Ace who was laughing uncontrollably, and turned to leave.

The director sighed helplessly and said into the walkie-talkie, "Filming is finished for today. That's it! We'll start filming again tomorrow."

Zeke quickly followed, calling out, "Peter! Wait for me!"