After driving the Porsche back to New York from Atlantic City, Leon's life for a long while looked like this:
Commercial performances, promoting songs on the radio, vocal practice, handling business for the Apocalypse label and the Evil Angel brand...
With a jam-packed schedule, he also had to fly to Los Angeles from time to time to inject some positive energy of love into Robbie.
Leon drove to the Apocalypse Music office, bleary-eyed.
Bonnie handed him a brain-awakening Americano as usual, then immediately ran downstairs. She posed from various angles, twisting her hips against that eye-catching Porsche 997, snapped photos, and uploaded them to social media.
Leon smiled helplessly; he wasn't averse to this behavior.
Bonnie was already a blogger with 50,000 followers on social media. The two offline stores of the Evil Angel brand had broken $50,000 in sales just two weeks after opening.
Besides the credit due to the brand designer Jones and Cardi B, this success was inseparable from Bonnie's hard work promoting it online.
Whenever Evil Angel had new products launched, Bonnie was always the first to record outfit VLOGs, showing the try-on effects to fans.
Of course, the underwear she had worn was also resold by her at dozens of times the price to groups with special hobbies, earning her a tidy sum.
Knock knock—
"Come in."
Aisha held a thick stack of documents in her hand; this was the weekly routine financial report.
The heat of Take Me to Church had completely passed, with current weekly sales maintaining around 30,000 copies.
Cardi B's debut album Bodak Yellow sold a total of 160,000 copies in the first month, with current weekly sales hovering around 50,000 copies.
The most dazzling performer in the company was undoubtedly Robbie. Faded had overcome all obstacles, even tangling with the chart-topper Rihanna's Only Girl (In the World) on the Billboard charts.
Just one month after launch, both streaming and physical sales exceeded 700,000 copies—a surefire phenomenal performance!
Leon had already asked Bonnie to start compiling materials to apply for "Gold Record" certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Three months ago, he could never have imagined that the company's first "Gold Record" honor would be achieved by a Hollywood "flower vase" actress like Robbie.
Regarding the initial contract issues, Robbie's manager Maggie had been very assertive. To prevent losses to Robbie's acting career, she had set very harsh conditions.
According to the contract, Robbie would take 30% of the record sales share.
Counting the 30% copyright revenue, the final share ratio was as high as 33%, plus another 20% copyright revenue given to the beat maker DJ David Guetta.
Such a share ratio was a contract that only superstars like Rihanna could possibly get from a record company.
According to Aisha's calculation, Faded was sold at $0.99 on streaming platforms, with a total sales volume of $687,261.
Spotify took a 20% cut, and the Apple Store unreasonably took 30% directly.
"Fxxk... those Silicon Valley geeks are robbing me?"
As the most dominant streaming platform nowadays, even if Leon was extremely unhappy with the Apple Store, he could only endure it.
In the end, after layers of exploitation, the streaming revenue for Faded that reached Leon's hands was only about $260,000.
The real bulk of the revenue still came from the contribution of physical records.
After a series of complex calculations, the total sales reached a terrifying $3.3 million.
Just the 50,000 vinyl records alone contributed more than $700,000 in revenue.
After deducting printing, promotion, recording, shooting, personnel salaries, and the shares given to Robbie and David Guetta...
Leon got $1.3 million, pre-tax.
Due to acquiring the clothing studio, opening offline stores, and acquiring a large number of radio stations recently, his wallet, which had just become flush, quickly deflated.
The reason he dared to spend money so unscrupulously relied entirely on the currently booming Apocalypse label.
Two female generals were printing money with their bodies day and night, constantly replenishing Leon's wallet.
After reading the financial report, he lay on the sofa to rest, casually opening social media to see if Chris Brown was throwing another fit today.
Now Chris and Kanye had become "electronic pets" in his mind; reading their delusional tweets every day became his pastime.
"Stop taking pictures, Bonnie. Although this Porsche's tail lights are beautiful, in my heart, your tail lights are the most perfect!"
"Find a time, I'll give you a good maintenance session..."
"No woman doesn't praise my technique endlessly!"
Followed by Bonnie's response of "Fxxk off."
The wonderful rest time was interrupted just like that; the old scumbag Phil came to the door.
The old geezer's styling was getting more exaggerated by the day. From head to toe, he was dressed like an old-school British gentleman.
Leon could blindly guess what the two most consumed daily necessities in his house were.
Shoe polish and hair gel.
"Good morning, Leon~"
"Look at you now. Luxury cars, beauties, fame... you lack nothing~"
"No young man in his early twenties wouldn't want to live like you do now."
Phil acted out of character, speaking extremely oilily.
This fawning attitude made Leon very uncomfortable. The old scumbag usually started speaking with "Fxxk" and ended with "Bitch."
He would say "Fxxk" at least a hundred times a day.
Leon got up from the sofa, sat in the swivel chair, and took a sip of coffee.
"It's rare for you to come so early today."
"Hehe~" Phil revealed a treacherous smile and said, "I am a messenger spreading happiness and positive energy. Look what good news I brought you again~"
Phil threw down a newspaper; it was a sports daily.
On the eye-catching full-color page, the two teams participating in this year's NBA Christmas games were printed.
The Los Angeles Lakers led by Kobe vs. the Miami Heat led by James.
One side was the Los Angeles hero who had just delivered the most exciting finals in history and led the Lakers to the championship this year.
The other side was the "Little Emperor" considered most likely to approach Jordan's achievements.
The heat of this duel far exceeded any previous Christmas game.
Almost all sports newspapers were warming up for this big battle in advance.
Leon was very interested in basketball; this was a peak duel not to be missed.
He asked immediately: "Do you have tickets?"
"No."
"Then do you have channels to buy cheap tickets?"
"You are a supernova now, the boss of a record company... If you don't sit in the front row, you'll be mocked by the media!"
Leon rolled his eyes, as if anyone wouldn't want to sit in the front row.
For such a heavyweight duel, front-row tickets were either given by the NBA officials to sponsors or celebrities, or had to be purchased at sky-high prices.
Given the popularity of this year's Christmas game, a conservative estimate for a front-row ticket would be over $50,000.
Spend $50,000 to watch a game?
This was impossible for Leon. He was rich but not stupid.
"Then what do you mean by talking to me about the NBA Christmas game?"
"I mean you can watch the game for free!"
"Free?" Hearing this word, Leon perked up completely.
"Yes... to be precise, the NBA will also give you a sum of money. It's a considerable income!"
Leon stared at Phil with a face full of doubt, unable to figure out how such a good thing could exist.
"Stop keeping me in suspense! Tell me what's going on!"
Phil walked to Leon's liquor cabinet with a strut, casually picked up a bottle of Macallan 21 Year Old whisky.
He let out a wretched laugh and asked, "Didn't you say you don't like luxury consumption? Why buy such expensive wine? I knew you were terribly hypocritical."
"Spit it out, don't test my patience."
Phil tucked the bottle under his arm and explained the ins and outs to Leon.
Simply put, he was invited by the NBA officials as a guest to perform during the halftime show of the Christmas game!
The organizer required Leon to sing two songs consecutively, one of which must be Sucker for Pain, a work that fits the NBA's main theme.
At that time, Kendrick Lamar, as a local Los Angeles star, would perform with him at the Staples Center.
"What?"
Leon showed a surprised expression. This was indeed a huge surprise.
Performing in this event watched by the whole of America would greatly boost his fame!
The NBA required two songs, so he would definitely choose the title track of his unreleased new album, Demons, for the second song.
No promotional method is more efficient than this!
After experiencing brief ecstasy, Leon quickly calmed down.
"Why would the NBA choose me?"
For a singer without even an album, the possibility of attracting the interest of a behemoth like the NBA was very slim.
Phil opened the whiskey with a face full of smiles, poured a glass for Leon first, then one for himself.
He grabbed the glass and gulped it down.
"Isn't it all because you have the best manager in this country~"
"You?"
Leon didn't believe Phil's boasting at all.
After repeated questioning, he finally learned the whole story.
Originally, he was not within the consideration range of NBA Commissioner David Stern. Achieving such cooperation was entirely due to Roc Nation's efforts.
Specifically, Beyoncé used her good personal relationship with Stern to facilitate this performance.
For this world-renowned Christmas game, NBA Commissioner Stern originally considered paying heavily to invite Beyoncé, the Grammy Queen, to appear.
But Beyoncé politely declined, saying she wanted to watch the game properly with her family and spend a relaxed Christmas holiday.
She proposed a very "cost-effective" suggestion to Stern—"Street Jesus" Leon.
Stern, known for excellent cost control, was an excellent manager.
With the diva's strong recommendation, plus Leon's high heat with the West Coast recently, he made the decision without taking much time.
"The American Music Awards at the end of this month... the NBA Christmas game in December..."
"These are all good opportunities to be in the limelight!"
"Congratulations, kid, you are advancing on the road to superstardom!"
After a glass of wine, Phil was obviously more excited.
Mentioning the American Music Awards, Leon suddenly remembered that Robbie would perform as a guest at the awards ceremony.
Approaching the end of 2010, good news indeed kept coming for Apocalypse Music.
After Phil left, Leon went to the Roc Nation vocal practice room to brush up on his singing skills.
It was already evening when he finished.
In the corridor, he noticed many young girls walking out of the company building one after another, looking desolate.
Some girls still had tear stains on their faces.
He could see such scenes almost every day at Roc Nation.
Girls from all over the US with dreams of stardom came here for auditions, but only one in a thousand could qualify to release a record.
This not only tested their appearance, voice, and creative talents...
It even tested their skills in bed. If they couldn't satisfy Lenny, who was in charge of artists, in this skill, then no matter how talented they were, it would be difficult to get a chance to become famous.
Leon once heard Lenny say personally that many girls would repeatedly watch adult action instructional films from "Brazzers Studio" before attending auditions.
Arming themselves with those difficult moves to cope with the toughest interview segment.
After returning to his apartment on Henry Street, Bonnie was constantly changing into various styles of crotch-less thongs to record VLOGs.
Leon went to the bathroom and filled the bathtub with hot water.
He opened a bottle of red wine, drinking while soaking in the bath, enjoying the rare quiet time.
Ring ring ring—
Just then his phone rang suddenly. The caller was Robbie.
Even though they lived apart on the East and West coasts and both had busy schedules, Robbie would maintain at least an hour of phone conversation with Leon every day.
Sometimes maybe longer.
Many times, Robbie, tossing and turning at midnight, needed Leon's verbal guidance on the other end of the phone to reach the peak of pleasure on her own.
"Honey! Why didn't you check the DM I sent you on Twitter!"
"I can't be staring at social apps all the time... wait a moment, I'll check it now."
Leon minimized the call window and opened the social app.
The moment he clicked on the picture, he almost couldn't hold his wine glass steady.
In the photo, Robbie was wearing a white gauze dress similar to a wedding gown, as holy as an elf queen in a novel.
But she had lifted the skirt.
There was nothing there.
Such a contrast-filled photo made even Leon unable to resist zooming in to observe carefully.
While looking, he lectured Robbie: "Shxt... don't send me these weird photos on social apps next time."
"Do you know that information leakage is a serious problem now... and what if you accidentally send it to the wrong person?"
Robbie on the other end of the phone giggled continuously and replied perfunctorily: "I know, I know~ This is my performance outfit for the Chicago tour. I thought it looked good during the fitting, so I took these photos~"
"You mean you took photos like this in the dressing room?"
"Yes, is there anything wrong? I think it's quite exciting!"
Facing the little witch's provocation, Leon was stunned for more than ten seconds before saying, "Good photos... next time don't take them in such a dangerous place."
Their hot chat lasted for an hour, during which Robbie kept complaining about her manager Maggie.
Since Faded became a hit, Maggie's attitude towards Robbie's singing career had undergone a super big reversal.
Now, she would prioritize the tour, even making Martin Scorsese's movie make way for it.
But at the same time, she put forward higher requirements for Robbie's singing career.
Approaching Christmas, she hoped Robbie could take advantage of Faded's irresistible momentum to leech off a wave of Christmas traffic.
For example, releasing a Christmas love song or something.
Empty-headed Robbie naturally couldn't accomplish this with her own ability, so she could only helpless turn to Leon for help.
When learning of the other party's request, a melody almost instantly popped up in Leon's mind.
That Señorita which he had once regarded as waste inspiration and shelved.