New York 2006

Chapter 50 Restarting Propaganda
Just after a commercial performance, everyone gathered in the RV to chat. Luo Ji looked at the "Blender" music magazine in his hand. It announced the sales list of records in the past month.The top-selling album is Fergie's "The Dutchess" with 56 copies, followed by Akon's "Conviction" with 50 copies.

The number one single sold was not Irreplaceable, which was ranked number one on Billboard, but actually Viva la Vida.

Despite the general decline in single sales in the market, his single's physical and online sales in the past month have actually reached 63.Among them, 23 physical singles were sold, and 40 digital singles were sold on various platforms, 15 more than Beyoncé’s Irreplaceable.Fergalicious has 23 more copies than Fergalicious, which ranks third on Billboard.

After having the sales data, the agent Braun and the publicity manager proposed to restart the publicity.Stop staying in Chicago and visit other cities.

Manager Braun looked at Luo Ji: "Logic, your single has been stuck for two or two weeks. I thought Beyoncé's song sales were good at first, but it turned out that her single sales were so much lower than yours. So, then It’s obvious that her songs are getting more plays on the radio than yours, and as long as we work hard on the radio this week, we can very well knock out her No. [-] single.”

The person in charge of publicity poured cold water on it: "It's not that simple. The Billboard points of Beyoncé's Irreplaceable are slightly more than those of our singles. The Billboard points of Fergie's Fergalicious, which ranked third, are actually the same as those of Luo Luo's. There is not much difference between the two albums. This proves that Luo Ji’s single can reach the second place on the Billboard, which is entirely supported by sales.”

Only then did manager Braun react. He took out the Billboard magazine and flipped through it: "Well, although the weight of Billboard has changed, black people still have a great influence on radio. Look at Fergie. Ken also has Beyoncé’s singles, and they occupy four of the top five spots.”

Blake, a good gay friend who was eating melon next to him, was confused: "You all say that black people have great influence on radio, but Fergie is white."

Luo Ji explained: "Although Fergie is white, she is a member of the Black Eyed Peas. The Black Eyed Peas are black. They established their own record label and signed Fergie. And her album distribution company is Interscope Records, this record company is the base of black rap on the West Coast. Eminem, Dre, and Snoop Dogg are all from here."

"I see."

Luo Ji was a little tempted to have the opportunity to take the No. [-] spot on Billboard for his first single. He was a man of action: "Don't talk nonsense. So what if black people have great influence on the radio? It's not like there are no other people who have taken No. [-] on Billboard." The number one card, last year’s number one on the annual list wasn’t Daniel Bout’s Bad Day? He’s still a white Canadian. Make a publicity plan right now, my life is in your hands this week, you can arrange it as you like.”

I want to win, Luo Ji said in his heart. The single Viva la Vida could be heard by myself in China in the previous life, so it should be possible that it ranks first in the announcement.

Max and Jeff Busker had gone to New York a few days earlier to find and furnish the music company.Mother Sami has almost recovered from her injuries, and her life is completely fine. The doctor has arranged for her to be discharged from the hospital.But Sammy turned back to tend to Frank, who was still in the hospital.

Luo Ji increased Sami's living expenses, asked him to take more care of Karl, and guided him on the right path to avoid going astray.

Luo Ji then arranged for his grandmother Queenie and his brother Chucky to return to New York first to clean up the house that had been unoccupied for almost a month and take care of Chucky to go to school.Afterwards, Luo Ji said goodbye to his relatives and friends in Chicago, including William Daley, Fiona, Debbie, Carl, etc.

Of course, there is also his own attending physician, Bianca Samson. Bianca is a standard American good girl. For 28 years, like most middle class people, she has stabilized her class through education.College, then medical school, internship, and now residency.That's how it is to be a doctor in the United States. The learning process is very long, but once you get through it, it will be fine. Doctors' income is very high.

She is somewhat introverted and has few friends around her.Perhaps due to the influence of the star's halo, Bianca, as a doctor, was very kind to him and was very relaxed in front of him. Her personality became much more cheerful when she was with him. After going back and forth, the two became good friends during this time.

"Bianca, you have my personal phone number. If anything happens, you can call me."

Bianca smiled cutely and bumped Luo Ji with her shoulder: "Logic, it's settled. As a big star, you can't say you don't know me when I contact you."

"Haha, of course not." Luo Ji bumped back with his shoulder: "You will help me take care of my mother Sammy during this period. Will she stay in Chicago to take care of Frank?"

Bianca patted her chest like a big sister: "Leave it to me. I promise to complete your mission."

Starting from Chicago, the next stop arranged by the publicity manager is Nashville, the country music capital of the United States.His singles were very popular among the Christian country community.

When I heard that Luo Ji was coming to Nashville to promote, many radio and television stations rushed to interview him.The publicity person in charge screened and found five relatively large radio stations and local TV stations to prepare for a two-day publicity.

"Logic, do you think God exists?"

"I think God should exist, but He is not the kind of existence described in the three religious cultures. He may be some kind of higher-level existence. He may have promoted the Big Bang and created everything in the current universe. The universe Everything happened naturally with that gentle push from Him.”

The white DJ in Nashville was speechless. It felt like Luo Ji had not answered, so he directly asked: "Are you a Christian?" "In terms of belief in the moral system, I support the morality derived from the Bible. system, which has played a great role in the stability of modern civilization. I usually practice this moral system, so I am a believer in Christian ethics and morals."

"A believer in Christian ethics?"

"Yes, justice, love, mercy, integrity, kindness, helpfulness, kindness to others, no killing and other good qualities."

After Luo Ji's perfunctory talk, the interview finally ended. Luo Ji went straight to the RV, looked at the people chatting and laughing, and complained: "What happened to the DJ just now? He kept asking God , Christianity, the Trinity, etc. Why doesn’t he ask about shootings and scandals like other DJs?”

The person in charge of publicity said: "Haha, the mainstream audience of the radio station just now are all Christians, so it's okay to ask some religious questions? Today's promotion is over. The commercial performance in the evening is still a bit early. Where should we go next?"

A thought suddenly came to Luo Ji's mind: "Isn't Big Machine Records in Nashville? Their records are also distributed around the world, right? My record company is just being established. Can you take me to visit? I can learn from my peers. .”

Every time the business ends, the person in charge of publicity gets a few hundred dollars, and now he does whatever Luo Ji says.After making several calls, the publicity manager came back: "I first contacted my colleague and asked for Taylor Swift's phone number, and then asked her to contact her boss Scott Borchetta for me. I agree to your visit request."

Scott Borchetta was originally an executive at DreamWorks Records, working a decent and stable job. As a result, the recording industry shrank and upper management began to lay off employees. After he was laid off, he applied for jobs many times to no avail, so he started his own business in 2005. Created Big Machine Records in [-].

Luo Ji came to visit Big Machine Records. After all, he was a former industry executive. Big Machine Records was small and exquisite, and he took care of it in an orderly manner. Scott Borchetta was on the side to explain.

"This is the AR department. The most important thing for a record company is singers and copyrights. AR is mainly about discovering potential singers and training them. Helping singers contact suitable songwriters and producers is the most important department for the sustainable development of a music company. "

"This is the publishing copyright department of our company. It mainly contracts songwriters, helps them contact singers' record companies, and gives the songs they write to singers to sing. It is the same as Sony/ATV, but they are the largest in the industry in the United States. There are also countless song publishing rights companies, large and small.”

Luo Ji knew this. Jeff Basker had said before that the West End Independent Publishing Rights Company he signed with was of this nature.

Scott Borchetta, the boss of Big Machine Records, continued: "Isn't your company an independent music company? You can let this department manage the recording copyright part-time and handle Universal's debt collection. This saves the need to build another department. Our independent records are not that Pay attention to how to save money."

Scott Borchetta taught Luo Ji his little tips as a capitalist, and Luo Ji listened attentively the whole time.

"This is the finance department, this is the administration department, and this is the recording department. When my company continues to develop, I also want to build a staff restaurant. This is the publicity department, Logic. I actually want to ask you about publicity. Question, I heard someone from Universal said that before you even signed a contract with them, you had already got your single to number 93 on the singles chart, how did you do it?"

Scott Borchetta explained the operation of independent records in detail, and Luo Ji was not a stingy person. He told him one by one about his use and experience of new media, and then concluded: "Youtube, Myspace, iTunes , Amazon MP3, Twitter, Facebook. The emergence of these new media actually means that individuals can completely bypass record companies and release songs independently. This is what I did at the beginning."

"You young people have such vivid minds that you can even think of this."

"Hi boss, Logic. Hello!"

Suddenly someone interrupted the conversation between the two. Scott Borchetta saw the person and introduced: "This is the signed singer of our company, Taylor Swift. She is a little genius, a songwriter like you. She She was signed by Sony/ATV when she was 14 years old, and she released her first album of the same name when she was 16 years old, and all the songs in it were composed by her."

Luo Ji had previously asked his manager to buy her album, which had her photo on the cover.However, today she is bare-faced and has no makeup. She looks much younger than in the photo. She has fair skin, slightly red cheeks, blond hair and blue eyes. She has light pigment spots on her face that are unique to white girls. This girl is really tall. She is not as tall as herself. almost.

Luo Ji extended his hand to shake: "Hello, Taylor Swift."

Taylor Swift smiled and said: "Logic, just call me Taylor. I like your music very much."

(End of this chapter)