Behind The Spotlight Chapter 176
That night, Arnold approached Mikael and the band members and expressed his intention. Collin was also there and personally introduced himself to the three band members. He shook hands with them and asked for their names while subtly observing their mannerisms and energy.
Then, Collin nodded at Arnold, indicating something, a silent approval that only the two of them understood.
Arnold slightly grinned and decided to talk to the four. If there was someone he could trust to read people, it was probably Collin, whose judgment had saved him from countless mistakes before. This guy never missed when it came to judging people, unless his feelings were involved.
Arnold said that he wanted to sign them, not individually, but as a whole, with Mikael Wagner as the vocalist so that the band could establish its identity from day one.
Mikael was surprised, and so were the other three. They looked at one another. For Mikael, everything was happening so fast that he couldn't think straight. As for the other three, they had known each other long enough to speak freely.
After working with different vocalists, Mikael was probably the best one they had ever worked with. Mikael made their blood boil in excitement, reviving a passion they thought they had lost. They fell in love with music again. And honestly, they wanted to work with Mikael again.
However, they also couldn't make a quick decision because passion alone wasn't enough, trust mattered, too.
Just like Arnold and Collin discussed earlier, the three didn't know Mikael well enough to trust him yet. If they wanted to form a band with a new vocalist, they wanted to make sure it wouldn't fail like what happened last time.
As for Arnold's invitation, it would be a lie to say they were not interested. Apex Talent Network was just on the next street, and the three knew about the agency. They confirmed that Arnold and Collin were real and not scammers pretending to be industry professionals. They were even shocked that an executive was interested in signing them. Especially when Arnold said he was Jolyne Robs and Brody Paige's agent, that was huge. It meant Arnold had ways to help them succeed.
The four expressed that they wanted to think about it carefully before making a decision. Opportunities this big shouldn't be rushed.
Of course, Arnold understood and gave them some time.
When Arnold and Collin left the bar, Collin reminded Arnold of something important.
"Mikael is the most important part of the band. It doesn't matter if you can't convince Pulse Static to sign. As long as Mikael agrees, you can form a band around him."
"I'll keep that in mind." Arnold nodded. Earlier, he confirmed that Mikael Wagner had the X-factor, the charisma and talent to be a star.
Collin decided to give Mikael to Arnold because he didn't want to handle a band. He already had a lot of clients, and adding a band consisting of four people would be too much for him.
And now, he further realized that creating a band for Mikael would be tough. Although he admitted that the price would be worth it once Arnold successfully created the band. Mikael's potential was that huge, perhaps comparable to Princess Chantal, which was saying a lot.
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The next day, Arnold started his research. He wanted to know more about the members of Pulse Static, their background, personalities, and any previous issues. Even resorting to hiring a private detective. He also searched for another band that needed a vocalist.
He kept in contact with Mikael and promised him stardom. Arnold was confident in that. He kept this venture a secret for now because he didn't want to piss off the music department and start an internal war.
As for Collin, he attended a business meeting of Moonrise Music.
With four shareholders, Collin, Vivian, Lila, and Niko, the small table was immediately filled. However, out of the four, only three could converse well. Niko was more into his coins, smelling their scent like they were drugs, completely ignoring the seriousness of the meeting. The only way to get Niko's attention was by giving him coins, preferably the vintage ones.
Furthermore, he only accepted coins from women. It was rare for him to respond to men. Collin tried giving him coins, but Niko just glanced at him before returning to his smelling session, making Collin sigh internally. It was impossible to sign him as a client, and Collin accepted that a long time ago.
Collin talked to Vivian about it, and she said Niko also accepted vintage coins from men, but only those who were talented at singing. That meant Collin was not good at singing.
Anyway, Vivian handed out the documents and started the yearly meeting. Even though the record label had earned a huge amount of money, its staff was still not enough to make a proper business meeting. Hence, Vivian hosted this year's annual meeting with just the four of them and four copies of documents.
"This year, our revenue grossed $130 million."
This was Collin's first time attending this kind of meeting, so he was nervous despite having only four people at the table. Lila slightly smirked while watching him, she recalled when she first met Collin.
"Excuse me, is that, um, a good thing or a bad thing?" Collin curiously asked. That amount was huge, but it was revenue nonetheless.
"It's good, no, it's amazing." Vivian corrected.
"Our profit is $88 million this year alone."
Including album sales, singles, merchandising, endorsements, licensing, and the national concert tour, Moonrise Music had profited $88 million, which was very nice, almost unbelievable for a company their size.
"That's great, haha." Collin grinned. Even Lila nodded in approval, while Niko was inhaling "oohh" and "ahh" in the background like a man possessed.
Naturally, it was time to divide the profit. Collin didn't think much about the others' money. All he wanted to know was how much he earned and whether his investment truly paid off.
Looking through the documents, his 22% share had given him over $17 million in profit. He grinned and looked at the others, Lila and Vivian were satisfied, while Niko was being Niko.
'I can't believe that the $3 million I invested brought me $17 million in just a year. I think this is better than doing stocks, at least I'm confident in Moonrise Music's future.' Collin thought to himself.
After that, Vivian discussed the company's performance in 1999.
She explained that Princess Chantal's debut album, "Princess," had sold 10 million copies worldwide. This was the biggest contribution to their revenue reaching $130 million. The young diva had proven herself to the record label and to the whole world. Her fame skyrocketed and she became the best female singer of the year. Yes, she won the Best New Artist at the Granny's Award, the biggest music awards in the country.
Collin didn't know the exact amount of money Princess Chantal earned, but it was probably more than $100 million because he handled all of her endorsements.