Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 292: Chicken feathers all over the place

Although Steve Ross entered the entertainment industry late, acquiring Warner and all its subsidiaries for US$400 million ten years ago, since he chose to engage in cross-border operations, he had already done his homework in advance and had an in-depth understanding of the entire industry.

For example, he knew that the three major record companies in North America were Columbia Records, EMI Records and Warner Records. Among the three, Columbia had the largest market share, EMI Records did the best in performance ticketing, and although Warner Records was a giant, it still had a lot of room for growth.

For example, he knew who the most popular music artists were at the time.

Among a handful of names, there are only four artists who can ignite North America with their music. They are the godfather of pop, Elvis Presley, who died of a heart attack two years ago; the king of soul, Ray Charles; the queen of dynamite, Brenda Lee; and the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin.

Among them, most of the copyrights of Elvis Presley's music recordings are in his own hands, soul king Ray Charles has held his own music copyright since 1962, dynamite queen Brenda Lee's music copyright is in American Music, and soul queen Aretha Franklin belongs to Warner Records.

That’s right, Warner Records and the Queen of Soul had a distribution contract, and this was the real reason why Warner was able to become one of the three giants of American music in a short period of time.

There’s no way around it, the influence of the superstars is just so great.

They are a company all by themselves.

In addition, before acquiring Warner, Steve Ross already understood that even though Warner was experiencing a serious financial crisis at the time, it was still a high-quality asset. As long as all non-entertainment assets that dragged down the company were divested, the Warner Group would be able to usher in a new life, because the three major sectors of film entertainment, television entertainment, and music entertainment all had great room for growth.

This is indeed the case. After he intervened in the split, Warner did undergo a transformation.

When Steve Ross could talk endlessly about the North American entertainment market to his friends, his understanding of the American entertainment industry was definitely at the expert level. It was precisely because of his deep understanding of North American entertainment that a few months ago, when Ethan Jones said that he wanted to take Michael Jackson from Columbia, Steve Ross personally studied Michael Jackson's resume. He wanted to know why Ethan Jones suddenly wanted a black singer.

To be honest, at first, Steve Ross really thought that Ethan Jones had discovered another future star. Because when his secretary handed him the report on Michael Jackson as he requested, the thickness of the dozens of pages was simply the standard of a supernova.

But after watching for a full hour, he found out...

I've been worrying too much!
Although Michael Jackson, like countless other superstars, started his music career at a young age and debuted in a band with his brothers, they did not make any noticeable splash in the music scene for many years afterwards.

Even though they had been touring the Midwest since 1965, the venues they performed in were either dance clubs or cocktail lounges, and the departments that invited them to perform were either small government auditoriums or some high school dances.

Their level cannot be said to be mediocre, but at least there are a lot of them in North America.

Even though they got a contract with Motown Records in 1968 and appeared in the Miss Black America beauty pageant in 1969, covering the Isley Brothers' single "It's Your Thing" from the same year, the performance did not receive much response.

It was not until 1970 that they made their debut on the Billboard charts. "I Want You Back" defeated countless competitors with its invincible momentum. After selling two million albums in six weeks, the Jackson 5 officially entered the public eye as winners for the first time.

It has been six years since their debut.

For the music industry, this speed is really slow.

Because everyone in the industry knows that music is an industry that relies on talent, and the gap between the top and the best is like a chasm. In this industry that relies on talent, all the top singers are famous overnight, but those who become famous over time basically cannot reach the top of the pyramid.

And the fact is...

That's roughly the case.

In 1970, they became very popular. In the second year, they started to tour the world. In 1973, Michael Jackson even participated in hosting the first All-Michael Music Awards. But in 1974, the whole group began to go downhill. First, they terminated the contract with Motown Records due to profit issues. Later, due to family problems, Michael Jackson's third brother announced his withdrawal from the group. In order to keep the name of the five-member group, Michael Jackson's younger brother Randy Jackson joined. But unfortunately...

They never touched the previous sensation again.

After that, Michael Jackson, who entered adolescence, began to release albums independently, but his unstable voice and off-stage problems brought him a lot of controversy.

Although the album sold well, no one dared to say that the iconic black accent had the status of a superstar.

As expected, when the news came out that Michael Jackson would release a new work again this year, both his record company Epic Records and other people in the industry felt that Michael Jackson's new album should still be a money-making project, but the final result could only be good sales.

A few months ago, when Steve Ross finished reading Michael Jackson's materials and listening to his hits, he made the same judgment as the experts.

He felt that with Michael Jackson's current growth rate, even if Ethan Jones bought his contract, he would not be able to make Destiny Music a new giant.

And if you can trade the contract of an ordinary celebrity singer for the stability of Hollywood...

Then for them, this deal is definitely a sure win.

But the problem is...

At this moment, Michael Jackson's new album is expected to top the Billboard charts?
In the future, is it possible that Michael Jackson's new album will become the sales champion of this year?
What an outrageous situation!

Steve Ross couldn't believe his ears at all, and hurriedly urged his subordinates to collect the latest information about Michael Jackson, and then...

He was completely overwhelmed by the overwhelming praise!
The Village Voice, which has a place in the record industry, published a comment by well-known music critic Robert Christgau: "I don't know how Michael Jackson did it all, but I know that Off the Wall is definitely the biggest surprise in the music industry this year! His voice is like a note from heaven, and he can smoothly slide into one amazing falsetto after another!"

Well-known American journalist, Randall Taraborrelli said: "When I heard Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones' new album "Off the Wall", I was instantly petrified. His voice is very charming! Very sexy! It is in sharp contrast to his previous immature voice, which can vividly make me feel that he has grown up!"

Not only that, the article by independent writer Stephen Holden was also selected by Rolling Stone magazine. He said in the article, "Michael Jackson will definitely be the next superstar! No! Now he has stepped onto the steps to the temple! His transformation is amazing! Especially his grasp of skills! Now he is definitely the most skilled singer in the world! No one else!"

When various media outlets used lavish words to praise Michael Jackson, the fact that he was so popular made Steve Ross's face turn pale after reading the report.

Since simple text descriptions could not give him a true sense of the quality of the work, he asked the general manager of Warner Music to get him a copy of the album.

When he put the palm-sized tape cassette into the Philips player, "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" on the first page came out of the speaker.

The iconic disco tune made him frown;

The energetic, dynamic score gave him a whiff of a Quincy Jones breakthrough;
And when Michael Jackson drenched the cheerful melody with his lively falsetto…

"MFxxk..."

He opened his mouth slightly and made a murmuring sound.

"This is impossible, this is impossible..."

He took deep breaths, his chest rising and falling.

“How could a song like this be ignored in Colombia?”

“How could such a skill be ignored by Colombia?”

"Columbia was willing to sell a Michael Jackson of this caliber to Ethan Jones?"

"Oh--"

"Are their entire management team full of idiots?"

"Their entire management team has no appreciation for music at all!"

"Will their entire management team not listen to an artist's new album before selling it?"

Steve Ross is crazy!
Although he had indeed conducted in-depth and detailed research on Michael Jackson before, all his judgments were based on existing public information!
What he could see was the fact that Michael Jackson had not been very popular in the past fifteen years!
What he could hear was that Columbia Records didn't take Michael Jackson's new album seriously!

When an artist has been in the entertainment industry for almost 20 years without any major breakthrough...

Anyone would think that this guy has talent, but not high; he has luck, but not strong.

When an artist's contract company thinks that the artist is not for sale...

Others who want to pursue their own interests will naturally urge them to sell!

Of course, if Columbia Records simply sold the superstar it had, Steve Ross would not be angry. Instead, he would think that these idiots did a good job.

Because when everyone is one of the three major families, the weakening of others will be the strengthening of ourselves.

But the problem is that the guy who bought Michael Jackson from Columbia Records is Ethan Jones, Warner's current biggest enemy!
When Ethan Jones already has absolute advantages in the four major fields of video games, computers, software, and movies, why not add another cash cow to the game of Destiny?
How do we fight this battle then?
Moreover, this incident is too outrageous, isn’t it?

If Steve Ross remembered correctly, their layout in Hollywood was completed at the end of last year and was officially implemented at the beginning of this year.

The interval between them was not even more than a month!

Not only that, those who knew about the plan were all heads of well-known companies!
With such a short time and the members in high positions, it was impossible for anyone to leak the news! But the problem is, after they made all the preparations, Ethan Jones first overturned their Hollywood rules in February this year? Then he asked Columbia for Michael Jackson? When Columbia had no intention of selling, Ethan Jones relied on the complicated relationships in their Hollywood company and the psychological curve of wanting to beg for mercy to successfully get Michael Jackson?
This method -

There's something wrong no matter how you look at it!

If I had to describe it——

It was just like Ethan Jones was setting them up!

"Could it be..."

"Can Ethan Jones predict the future?"

"Impossible... Impossible... This is absolutely impossible..."

"No one can predict the future!"

"There is definitely something else going on here!!"

Steve Ross roared—

At this moment, the old man who had been playing against Ethan Jones for almost three years suddenly realized that his competitor had superpowers! Why was Ethan Jones always able to turn danger into safety every time he encountered difficulties? Why was Ethan Jones always able to come up with amazing products every time he fought back?
If this miracle only happened once, it would be a stroke of luck for Ethan Jones.

If this miracle happened twice, it would only mean that they were really unlucky.

But when this magical thing happened three, four, or even five times...

Ethan Jones is not lucky! Even if Ethan Jones took off the pants of the goddess of luck and put them on his head, he can't win all the time!

unless--

Ethan Jones is really like what Steve Spielberg said he would be…

Close your eyes...

You can see the future...

But...

"impossible!!!"

Just as Steve Ross held his head in his hands, racking his brains to figure out the key to the problem, at the same time, Cornelis van der Krucht, CEO of Philips North America, was sitting back in his boss chair with cold hands and feet, and in front of him was MJ's album sales report.

170,000 in the first week, 60,000 in the second week, back to 110,000 in the third week, and the fact that the number could reach 200,000 in the next four weeks made him dizzy.

Because he knows that according to the current trend, "Off the Wall" may get a double platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of the United States by the end of this year.

Although this number does not seem exaggerated, because many superstars can easily achieve this result after releasing an album, but Michael Jackson is now an artist of Destiny Music!
His success will be a great boost to Ethan Jones's digital disc project!

Before, Philips dared to join forces with Sony, challenge Ethan Jones, and compete with Destiny in the digital disc project because they relied on the rich music copyrights under their names.

Their PolyGram is invincible in Europe, and the music company under Sony is also a giant in the Japanese market. Only with such rich music content can they dare to make equipment.

He admitted that although they were wary of Ethan Jones before, they actually thought he was an idiot, because the best channel to promote digital CDs was music. In this case, how could Ethan Jones dare to make music equipment without any music content?

Who gave him the courage?

But now...

Cornelis van der Krucht just felt like an idiot.

Because a superstar can be as good as countless first-line singers.

His fans are loyal supporters of the digital disc standard of the Destiny game.

Thinking of this, Cornelis van der Krucht suddenly sighed.

"I always thought that Ethan Jones's target was Komodor and Rockwell, but I didn't expect that his first punch would be aimed at us..."

This fact made him smile bitterly and shake his head.

Although he felt bitter, at this moment, this matter had nothing to do with him.

Now he only has one goal, which is to make the North American branch's accounts look good. As for the problems brought by Ethan Jones? Let the guys in the head office worry about that!
When the news from North America reached Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Philips Group immediately held an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures. After they learned that although Michael Jackson was bought by Ethan Jones, his album "Off the Wall" was still released by Columbia Records, they immediately thought of Sony and hoped that they could come forward.

Because Sony's Neon Music Industry owns half of Columbia Records!

"Contact Sony immediately!"

"Let Sony and Columbia Records talk!"

"Try to do whatever it takes to suppress Michael Jackson's explosive momentum!"

"Including but not limited to directly stopping the release of Michael Jackson's albums!"

"We can't let Ethan Jones get a new king of music!"

Amid the roar of the Philips chairman, the vice president who was in contact with Sony immediately called Norio Ohga, hoping that they could contribute in the war to snipe Ethan Jones.

However, after Philips told Ohga Norio about his request, Ohga Norio in Tokyo now had a bitter look on his face and said, "I'm sorry, we may not be able to do this."

"Because I had already contacted Columbia Records before you called."

“Now, they are also quarreling among themselves.”

"The person who answered the phone was the CEO's secretary, who said that all the executives of Columbia Records were in a meeting because the CEO of Columbia Broadcasting Network, the parent company of Columbia Records, had come forward to inquire about what happened after learning about Michael Jackson's incident."

"CBS wants to know why Columbia Records reported that Michael Jackson had no potential when Ethan Jones offered to buy him?"

"They want to know, why was Michael Jackson bought by Ethan Jones?"

"They want to know, do the executives at Columbia Records want to get out en masse?"

"With CBS now involved, Columbia Records executives now have only one goal: to get out of this unwarranted vortex safely."

"At this time, they don't have time to communicate with me."

"It's even less likely that they would go against Ethan Jones at this time."

"Everyone knows that Ethan Jones is vindictive."

"When everything was stable, no one wanted to provoke him. Now, with Columbia Records in trouble, no executive is willing to provoke the Grim Reaper..."

The blunt words made Philips' top executives feel dizzy. At this moment, they suddenly understood why the North American subsidiary had always lost to Ethan Jones in previous confrontations.

Because Ethan Jones is a fucking troublemaker!

Every time he makes a move, he can make the competitor's internal situation stink!

"This person is really disgusting!"

"MFxxk!"

Note: ① The situation of Michael Jackson in this article is based on the situation at that time. Now the media calls Michael Jackson's status in the Jackson Five a cutting-edge model of black crossover artists, but there was none of these things back then. Not only that, during the Motown Records period, they also had very strict control over Michael Jackson and refused to let him perform freely. Not many media were optimistic about him back then. Even the descriptions of him as a "child prodigy" and "overwhelming musical talent" by Rolling Stone magazine were added after he became famous. It was completely based on the person.

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(End of this chapter)