America's Top Player

Chapter 115: Surfing in the overwhelming traffic

According to online information, Charlie Evans was not once a radical.

But his political leanings took a sharp turn after 2008, and since then, New York State has plunged headfirst into the blue abyss under his guidance.

Various awakening organizations are emerging like a breeding ground for insects, and they are forming a force that cannot be ignored to influence the ideology of this country.

"This bastard Fxxk will tell any lie just to get votes." Li Ang threw down the mouse and stared at the ceiling with empty eyes.

"Compared to those politicians, even you, a jerk, look cute." Phil wrinkled his rosacea and continued, "Keep your distance from these guys. You should focus on music. How's your new song with Robbie going?"

“I’ve put all the recording projects I was doing on hold.”

"what?!"

After receiving such an answer, Lao Deng stood up from the sofa instantly, and his drunkenness subsided a little.

"What are you doing? You're in the ascendant of your career right now. You can definitely take advantage of this momentum and establish yourself completely within a year like Lady Gaga did!"

Li Ang twirled the pen in his hand and whispered, "I'm worried that releasing a new work now will cause some negative consequences in the future. JAY-Z will still take 15% of the commission for my feat."

This explanation obviously did not satisfy Phil.

It is common sense in this industry that when singers from two different companies collaborate on a record, the two record companies each take their share of the sales.

It is impossible for a record company to lend its own singers to singers from other companies to sing Feat without charging a penny.

Phil was so angry that he kept complaining about Leon's greed.

"Listen to me first!" Li Ang waved his hand to signal the other party to be quiet. "This isn't about the 15% share. I'm worried about the future disputes over the mastering rights!"

Phil's mood eased after hearing this. He lowered his head and didn't know what he was thinking.

As a staunch supporter of the decision to switch jobs, Phil dreamed of Warner Records offering an attractive signing bonus while he himself reaped the benefits of kickbacks.

However, if Li Ang really parted ways with ROC, the ownership of the master rights to the released records would be a big problem.

If this matter is not handled properly, it will be impossible to record and sell previous records after changing the team.

After a moment of silence, Phil said, "It seems that you are not the only one who has encountered this trouble. There is also a popular little queen who has encountered the same problem."

"Who?" Li Ang asked curiously.

"Taylor Swift!" Phil's eyes lit up at the mention of the name. "In fact, you're not Warner's top target at all. Taylor is the most coveted Venus in the industry!"

Since her debut in 2006, Taylor has been signed to the little-known record company Big Machine Records.

The record company was founded by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott, who personally benefited tens of millions of dollars from Taylor's popularity.

Phil continued, "Big Machine is not much bigger than Apocalypse Music, and it's completely supported by Taylor alone."

"But the cunning Scott has also been strangling Taylor through mastering rights and copyrights, leaving those coveting record giants helpless."

"Maybe I should talk to Taylor and ask her how she handles this situation." A hint of bitterness appeared at the corner of Leon's mouth.

"That's not necessary." Phil shook his head. "You're in a much better situation than she is. The owner of Big Machine Records once obtained the copyright to some of Taylor's works by coaxing Taylor's father."

"And ROC never owned any copyright to your work."

Hearing this, Li Ang suddenly understood and asked hurriedly, "So, should I prepare for the future lawsuit now?"

Snapped--

Phil snapped his fingers.

"That's right! With the help of a professional lawyer, even if you don't have any other financial disputes, you're guaranteed to win the lawsuit!"

"But you can't be as stingy as usual when dealing with lawyers. Every one of those elite lawyers is more greedy than you think!"

Li Ang understood clearly that Apocalypse Music had never had a professional legal advisor, and the files of copyright lawsuits in the entertainment industry accumulated every year were as high as El Capitan.

As long as you are in this industry, infringement lawsuits are inevitable, so hiring a professional team of lawyers is essential.

Thinking of this, Li Ang immediately gave Bonnie instructions, asking her to contact an authoritative law firm that handles rights dispute cases.

"Shxt, no matter how much money he makes, it's never enough to spend." Li Ang gritted his teeth in anxiety when he thought of the sky-high expenses of signing a contract with a top law firm.

As the company expanded, the monthly employee salaries alone reached over $100,000.

The monthly staffing expenses of the clothing studio in Los Angeles are roughly the same, but fortunately, the revenue from the Evil Angel brand is enough to independently cover this part of the expenses.

Although Evil Angel invested nearly $70 in its offline flagship store in Miami, its overall revenue has seen a qualitative increase since the store opened.

Just with a price tag of $10, the most basic crotch-less T-pants can sell tens of thousands of pairs every month.

The production cost of these underwear is only a few dozen cents, and even the more fancy transparent lace styles cost no more than $1.

Another major benefit for the underwear industry is reflected in tariffs.

The tariffs imposed by the United States on textile products from Southeast Asia are usually 16 basis points, and double that on chemical fiber products.

However, the tax rate for women's underwear is only 7%, and even for chemical fiber products it is less than 16%.

The tariff pressure is so small that it can be ignored. Just relying on this cost advantage, Li Ang has the confidence to compete with Victoria's Secret.

Now, he already has the outline of an underwear fashion show in his mind, and it won't be long before this idea becomes reality.

dong dong——

Leon and Phil were chatting enthusiastically when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Turn on the oil pipe quickly!" Bonnie was holding a stack of colorful magazines in her hands, looking hurried.

"What happened?" Puzzled, Li Ang opened the oil pipeline as the other party said.

Just refresh the page twice and you will see several videos with the keyword "Li Ang" in the title.

But the cover characters of the videos are all different.

Popular singers such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Pitbull and many more appeared in it.

Most of the video titles are not very friendly, and words such as "fake gangster Li Ang" and "traitor Li Ang" appear very frequently.

"What?" Li Ang frowned and clicked on a random video, which was the content of Lil Wayne being a guest on an interview program.

During the show, Wayne, who was unconscious and laughing, lay on the sofa in the studio and pointed at the singers.

The content involving Li Ang alone lasted for half an hour. In an extremely confused state, he used all kinds of vicious language to launch an all-round attack on Li Ang.

From works to character.

"Do I know this Nick?" Li Ang tapped the table with his fingers. He had no connection with this "avant-garde rap master".

If there was any, it was only a brief encounter at various music award ceremonies.

Lil Wayne's short stature, thick dreadlocks and face full of tattoos make it hard not to leave a deep impression.

He and Kanye West are widely considered the leading rappers of this generation. "If it were just Lil Wayne, I'd completely understand why he did this," Bonnie rubbed her head, as if she'd done a lot of homework. "His new single, 'Look At Me Now,' has already been released as a pre-release for his new album."

"You must be familiar with the singers he feats."

"Who?" Li Ang leaned forward, eager to know the answer.

Chris Brown

"Fuck that damn Niko! Looks like he hasn't learned his lesson enough!" Li Ang raised his hand and raised the magazine on the table, feeling a little depressed. "Is it only taking a bullet to make this bastard stop?"

If it was just Lil Wayne, he could understand it, but Nico and Didi were very close, and both were smokers who couldn't live without Ye Zi for a second.

It is completely understandable to use oneself to build momentum for the new album when it is released.

But what about the others?

Bonnie thought for a moment before answering, "Pip Paul has also released news about his new album, and the pre-release single will be officially released in the middle of this month."

After hearing this, Li Ang finally understood everything, whether it was Diddy, Lil Wayne or Pitbull.
They all happened to be releasing new albums and were intentionally using themselves to create topics.

Thinking of this, Li Ang's expression couldn't help but feel a little bitter. The master of playing with black traffic was once again inevitably played by others for traffic.

Bonnie continued, "You're a hot topic right now. Your name was once mentioned alongside former Egyptian President Mubarak."

"Is this beef so popular? Can it be compared with the Arab Spring?" Li Ang was full of doubts and opened the Reddit community.

His name appears very frequently under the topics of "rap", "Grammy" and "East and West Coast".

In the minds of the American people who are obsessed with entertainment, how can the "Arab Spring" that shocked the world thousands of miles away be as interesting as the dramas in the entertainment industry?
West Coast rappers such as 50 Cent and Kendrick expressed their support for Li Ang on social media.

The flames of this beef war quickly spread to the entire English Internet community.

Music fans who love to play memes and fan the flames even called this Beef the "Second East-West Gang War."

What makes people laugh is that the trigger of the incident was a white rock singer from the East Coast.

"Damn it." Li Ang slapped his head. When he heard Diddy leading a group of people to DISS himself in his new album in 50 Cent's mansion, he had a premonition that something big was going to happen.

I just didn't expect it to come so quickly.

He'll do anything to get a piece of this massive traffic!

He not only wants to rub, but also wants to roll and surf in the huge waves.

If a high-quality DISS work can be created during this period, then this album will undoubtedly be snapped up by music fans across the United States!

According to the news brought by Bonnie, taking advantage of this wave of popularity, the album "Demons" officially broke the 100 million mark while Li Ang was on his way from Los Angeles to New York, achieving platinum record achievement.

In addition, sales of Li Ang's other records are also soaring.

This trend even boosted the record sales of the entire Apocalypse music industry.

Phil, who had fallen asleep on the sofa, perked up after hearing this.

He sat up suddenly, dancing excitedly under the influence of alcohol: "Fuck! This is a rare opportunity! Bonnie, it seems you have fully proved that you are capable of the job of assistant!"

"Your brain is as big as your butt right now!"

Then he limped over to Li Ang and said, "Cheer up! Now's the chance to write a song full of venom and diss those bastards and give them a good kick in the ass!"

Li Ang stared at Lao Deng for more than ten seconds with a look of idiocy, "Go back and sit down!"

If he really had the same talent as Eminem or Taylor Swift, he would have started creating songs a long time ago.

The problem is that he has absolutely no experience in rap, and now he can only rely on the inspiration refresh mechanism.

But there's still a week until the inspirational refresh on the 11th.

Not to mention whether he can produce a killer work, just the fact that he can't take advantage of this wave of traffic...

This is even more painful than Didi directly sending two gunmen to shoot him!

After thinking for a moment, Leon asked Bonnie to call Sean, the marketing planning director.

Sean has worked in the media industry for many years and knows how to make rational use of traffic better than anyone else in this company.

Li Ang talked to him for nearly half an hour, and the solution he proposed was very simple and crude.

rub!
Do whatever it takes to get away with it!

"If you don't mind getting into trouble, you can put all your commercial performance plans aside during this period."

"On podcasts, talk shows, magazine interviews. High-intensity trash-talking on social media."

"Stir up the fans' emotions! It would be best if they could cause some kind of mass incident with the other side's fans."

"It would be even better if there was bloodshed!"

After a conversation, Leon was in awe of Sean. This guy's ideas were as perverted as his voice.

Most of Li Ang's fans are extreme white left groups, who are easily instigated.

Those who are keen on the music of Diddy and Lil Wayne are mostly a group of black street urchins.

When these two groups collide, it is only natural that bloody conflicts will occur.

Although doing so is really treating fans as non-human beings, Li Ang doesn't mind doing so.

There are many fanatical fans who are willing to make sacrifices for their idols. Shouldn't fans charge forward for their idols and their love at critical moments?
Just do it.

He immediately asked Bonnie to contact a professional team of internet trolls to produce a large number of inflammatory soft articles on social media.

About four hours later, with the influx of a large number of water armies, the war of words on social media became unprecedentedly lively.

Fans of both sides exchanged greetings in the comment section, and some people kept challenging each other to fights.

What Li Ang didn't expect was that the female artists under Apocalypse Music released strong statements of their stance on social media without any notice.

Even Ariana's words were extremely strong, and a series of slang and swear words unexpectedly appeared in her tweet.

Cardi B directly posted a photo of herself posing with a group of cousins wearing red bandanas in an abandoned factory in the Bronx.

The post reads: "Diss is being recorded. M-fxxkers who mess with my boss, get ready to be crushed by my ass!"

On the West Coast, under pressure from 50 Cent, rap king Eminem also wrote on social media: "West side is back!"

Although there was no explicit statement of standing on Li Ang's side, everyone knew that West Coast was on Li Ang's side.

Under such circumstances, more and more celebrities have joined the team and want to get a share of the huge traffic.

The "Second East-West Gang War" that music fans across the United States have been looking forward to is quietly becoming a reality.

The intensity is comparable to the largest beef incident in rap history in 1996.

A bloody war ensued between the West Coast label Death Row Records, led by Tupac, and the Bad Boy Records, led by Diddy and Big.

(End of this chapter)