America's Top Player

Chapter 177 National Auditions

Taylor was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say. After a few seconds, he mumbled, "Having children is a successful life? Children are just a by-product of love."

"You mean to say that parents are true love and children are just accidents?"

"That's right!"

Li Ang had expected Taylor to say this.

This popular young diva has repeatedly stated in front of the media that she will not bear children for any man.

Like many leftists, childbearing is a shackle that patriarchal society uses to control women.

Li Ang didn't respond directly, but instead talked about Hollywood history. "It seems that beautiful actresses like you have little interest in children. Vivien Leigh, Marilyn Monroe, and silent film queen Greta Garbo all thought the same."

Upon hearing this, Taylor immediately showed a happy expression.

The star-studded names mentioned above are all symbols of an era in Hollywood.

Doesn't this just illustrate a point from the side: outstanding women do not need to leave behind offspring to prove their existence, history will remember them.

But before she could be happy for a few seconds, Li Ang immediately poured cold water on her. "But the fate of these women is not good. You know what happened to Monroe. When Vivien Leigh was suffering from lung cancer, she had no relatives around her. Garbo retired from the entertainment industry at the age of 36 and lived alone in her New York apartment for 50 years. People who met her described her as dry and withered like a corpse that had never seen the sun all year round."

Taylor felt a chill as he heard these stories.

Leon paused for two seconds, curling his lips into a wicked smile before continuing, "No matter how obedient a cat is, it can't sing for its owner at a funeral. In fact, they'll probably pounce on the corpse, as excited as if they'd found a can of meat."

"Leon!" Taylor shouted, and Leon spread his hands and stopped talking.

The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward, and the movie was about to come to an end.

Taylor tried to find another topic. "I heard you were planning a hip-hop reality show?"

"How did you know?"

Li Ang was surprised by this, as the contract for the show had not yet been formally signed and no promotional activities had been carried out.

"Braun told me that he seemed to know everything that happened in the circle."

Leon had an inexplicable aversion to Braun's name.

An ambitious man's aversion to another ambitious man is instinctive.

What's more, the other party is a Jew.

Whether in Hollywood or the music world, there are various small circles divided by nationality and skin color.

British gang, French gang, Canadian gang, etc.
But the most influential among them are undoubtedly the Jews.

They take the upper-class route and stand at the top of the media and entertainment industry.

David Geffen, Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, and Steven Spielberg
These famous figures are all Jewish and have close ties with each other.

Braun was less than 30 years old when he achieved great success in the brokerage industry, and this was inseparable from the help of the Jewish gang.

He was introduced to Spielberg as early as high school, where he filmed a 10-minute video titled "Hungarian Conflict."

It tells the story of the Jewish people before, during, and after the Holocaust.

A member of Braun's family sent the film to Spielberg's office, who in turn submitted Braun's video to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

From then on, his life began to go on the fast track.

At the age of 19, he became the executive director of marketing for So So Def.

The sophomore year of college hosted large-scale entertainment events, including a party for the 2003 NBA All-Star Game and an after-party for Britney Spears' Black Onyx Tour.

Considering the close relationship between Braun and Big Machine Records owner Scott, Leon was really afraid that one day Taylor would be sold out by them.

He warned: "Stay away from that guy."

"I don't like Braun. He's an extremely conceited guy." Taylor seemed to suddenly think of something. "By the way, he's been asking about your company lately."

"My company?" Li Ang quickly sat up straight. "Tell me about it in detail."

"Leonard, the vice president of Warner Music, has a good relationship with Braun, and they've been talking about Apocalypse Music a lot lately," Taylor said. "They talked about Robbie and Ariana, but I don't know what they talked about specifically. You know, I always keep my distance from these people."

Li Ang understood that Leonard had always had feelings for him and was more interested in Apocalypse Music.

In order to make Apocalypse Music a sub-brand of Warner Records, he made many small moves behind the scenes and even came up with a way to cooperate with ROC.

However, these plans came to an end with Didi's arrest.

Now he is hanging out with Braun from SB agency, and Leon is almost certain what these two are planning.

"Cunning Jew." Leon lowered his head and smiled grimly, then walked out of the cinema with Taylor.

The next morning, Taylor took a flight to New Jersey. She had four concerts in Newark in the next week.

Inside the Lion's Nest Media headquarters building, Li Ang was sitting on the swivel chair that belonged to Sean.

He had just finished a long phone call with Scooper, and they had a long conversation that lasted for a full hour.

The two parties finalized all the details of the contract for the show "The Rap of America" over the phone.

"Netflix is very satisfied with the mentor lineup~" Li Ang threw his phone on the desk. "Tomorrow, on behalf of the company, go to Netflix headquarters and sign the contract."

"Me?" Sean pointed at his nose, looking surprised.

I can't believe that my boss entrusted me with such an important task.

"Don't be surprised. You know more about reality shows than I do. Your performance will determine the final outcome of this show," Li Ang said.

Every entrepreneur has a different view on what makes a business successful.

But the reasons for failure are generally similar.

Managers exercise long-arm jurisdiction and insist on touching areas they do not understand.

Leave professional matters to professionals. Historically, managers who like to micromanage usually end up badly.

"I understand!" Sean puffed out his chest, his eyes shining. "This show will definitely be the most successful talent show this year!"

Seeing the other person's confident expression, Li Ang changed the subject and began to talk. "If this show succeeds, your name will be engraved in the history of reality TV. You will be on the Emmy Awards stage."

“But if it goes wrong, you know what will happen.”

Although Li Ang's tone was calm when he spoke, Sean got goosebumps.

He was very aware of his boss's character: cold, selfish, and profit-driven.
He is a typical utilitarian.

Tianqi Music does not keep idle people, and Li Ang never hesitates when it comes to laying off people.

If it weren't for the fact that he often expressed contempt for Jews in his words and deeds, Sean would almost have thought that his boss was Jewish.

No, he is more Jewish than the Jews!

"What are your plans for the auditions?" Leon knocked on the table to bring Sean back to his senses. "The success of the auditions directly affects the quality of the pilot, which is crucial for us."

In the contract verbally agreed upon with Scooper, the two parties still adopted a betting model.

If the two pilot episodes reach an average of 600 million views, Clause B in the contract will be activated.

Netflix paid $5000 million in one lump sum to acquire the exclusive broadcasting rights and renewed the show for the second and third seasons.

If the target number of views is not reached, the contract will be implemented as normal under Clause A.

Netflix paid $3000 million to the producer Lion's Nest Media.

600 million views may not seem like a particularly exaggerated number, but Netflix currently has only 2100 million users in the streaming sector.

The audience for hip-hop music is already very limited, so achieving this goal is not easy. Originally, Scooper wanted to increase the stakes again and include a buyout clause in Option B.

That is, after the number of views reaches the target, a one-time payment of US$7000 million will be made to the producer, along with the copyright of the program.

In Li Ang's opinion, this is a trick used by elementary school students.

If this show is successful, the copyright will be worth more than just 2000 million US dollars.

Of course, if it fails, it will definitely not be worth so much money, or even worthless.

"I've got some unique ideas," Sean said, shaking his phone. "In addition to the traditional registration channels, we've opened an online registration channel."

“Online channels?”

"That's right. Any ordinary person who wants to participate in the competition only needs to pick up his mobile phone to shoot a video and send it to the company email address to have the opportunity to participate in the program. This will not only save a lot of costs, but also help us discover potential players to the greatest extent." When he said this, Sean's face was full of pride.

Li Ang really appreciates this audition strategy.

This means that the production team does not need to travel to major cities in each state to set up audition registration points.

Just set up registration points in places with strong rap culture such as Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, New Orleans, etc.

But even so, in order to save costs to the greatest extent possible, offline auditions must be gradually launched in major cities.

Online auditions are conducted simultaneously across the United States, with almost no cost.

Li Ang made a request: "Contestants don't have to sing well, but they must be stunt."

"Is there work?" It didn't take the clever Sean long to understand what his boss meant.

The traditional talent show tactics of competing for favor by singing skills and playing the victim obviously does not work in this show.

As long as it is effective for the show, the program team will allow the contestants to do anything.

Whether it's insulting the instructor, real-life PK, or live striptease.
Even if the studio is burned down, it doesn't matter.

Two days later, the audition announcement for "The Rap of America" swept across the United States.

The program team shouted the slogan "Looking for the next rap superstar", igniting the enthusiasm of young people across the United States.

The company’s mailbox received nearly 10,000 registration emails within one day.

"What is this idiot doing?" An employee in charge of auditions stared at the computer screen.

In the video, a black girl is exercising vigorously with her boyfriend while taking a selfie and recording a Freestyle with her mobile phone.

"I like this! This girl passed!" Sean suddenly appeared behind the employee and excitedly slammed the table.

At the beginning, most of the videos received by the program team were normal.

The contestants faced the camera and sang their most proud works with full emotions.

But as more and more people communicated in the online community, the contestants gradually discovered that the program team seemed to have some quirks.

The more carefully a work is performed, the lower the chance of it being passed, while the pass rate for videos that are just for fun is surprisingly high.

At the beginning, even Netflix questioned whether such audition rules were reasonable.

Li Ang explained this to Scooper: "In a music talent show, apart from a handful of very talented contestants, the rest are just scraps to fill the show's time. 'American Idol' has been on the air for so many years, and only one person has emerged, Kelly Clarkson."

"In this case, it would be better to replace those marginal contestants with contestants who don't know much about rap but are more effective on the show, and turn them into fuel for the broadcast rate."

Under this strategy, young people who have dreams of rapping began to work hard.

Someone was recording the background and moved to the police station;

Some were recorded at funerals, performing street dances in the solemn and mournful funeral scene;

Someone was standing by the bedside, and Freeslye, with tears in his eyes, expressed his feelings for his grandfather, using the changing lines of the electrocardiogram as the rhythm;
More and more videos are flowing into the Internet, and the discussion about this program has remained high before it even started.

At this time, Li Ang, the initiator of this hip-hop craze, was on a plane to Montana.

David Guetta completed the final version of the accompaniment of "Old Town Road" a few days ago.

Li Ang completed the recording in just one day.

The purpose of this trip is to shoot a MV.

In just over a month, his contract with ROC will expire and he will become a free agent.

Columbia Records Chairman Stringer asked him to release an album of at least ten songs within a year.

Even Leon, who had a cheat, felt a lot of pressure.

There are still many works in his music library that can be used, and there are dozens of songs that were inspired by Da Dan alone.

But most of the best ones were used in his first album.

After another round of careful selection, he only chose the song "Natural".

This is not because the quality of his other works is not high. Dan's treasure trove of inspiration is enough to support two or three bands.

Li Ang has high expectations for his second album.

His first album "Demons" was undoubtedly a successful album, which allowed him to win the Grammy Award as he wished.

The sales of physical records in the United States exceeded 180 million copies, establishing Li Ang's position as a top singer.

But it's just a good album, not a great one.

Both music critics and Li Ang himself think so.

How does an album deserve the title of "great"?
Not to mention reaching the level of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", but it should at least be on the same level as Beyoncé's "I Am Sasha Fierce" and Adele's "21".

Let that year's Grammy be a one-person show.

There is a huge gap between Li Ang's current fame and his musical achievements, and he can't even put together enough works to support a concert.

Therefore, he urgently needs an album that will establish his historical status.

Including this month's inspiring track "heathens", he currently has four songs that are of sufficient quality to be included in his second album.

On the plane, Phil was talking to Cuddy on the phone, straining his neck and speaking in an excited tone, "You're just filming a reality show, no one asked you to do it for real!"

On the other end of the phone, Cardi fought back at the same high pitched voice.

The voice was so loud that even Leon, who was sitting in front of Phil, could hear it clearly: "You are not my father! You don't need to meddle in my affairs! I have always been like this. I can sleep with whoever I want~"

"Bitch!" Phil gritted his teeth in anger. "Look at your good idea. Anyone who participates in this show is either an idiot or a lunatic!"

Cardi B stunned everyone at the Atlanta auditions for "The Rap of America" by getting a rapper with a stutter through.

He took the singer back to his hotel that night.

Li Ang shook his head helplessly. Judging from the current situation, the situation of "female judges taking maternity leave" may happen faster than expected.

"Bonnie, send me a tweet."

"Okay." Bonnie opened the laptop she carried with her and skillfully logged into Leon's Bluebird account.

"Today is the official opening day of the New York auditions, and I suddenly thought of a very good Solgan (slogan)."

Bonnie tweeted at Leon's request: "Do you want to be the next P. Diddy?"

The tweet was accompanied by a picture of Diddi's lavish party.

Didi never thought that even in prison he could not escape the fate of being exploited by Li Ang.

(End of this chapter)