Tug-of-War

The deafening, earth-shaking heavy bass poured energy into the park through dozens of subwoofers arranged in a matrix, transforming Bayfront Park into a sea of revelry at sunset.

Deadmau5, wearing his plush mouse head, jumped straight onto the DJ booth, bouncing on his toes in time with the beat.

Below the stage, the audience moved in unison with Deadmau5, as if participating in a collective fitness routine, jumping in perfect sync to the rhythm.

Caught up in the atmosphere, Taylor and Abigail joined in. Taylor raised her arms and flailed about randomly. Though she was fully immersed, her stiff, uncoordinated body made her movements look anything but graceful—a zombie dance, a stir-fry hand motion. In comparison, Abigail looked much more natural. Clearly, Taylor had no talent for dancing at raves.

On stage, Ryan finally witnessed the "wild dancing" scene from Tremor's MV. In the front rows, several foreign girls in nothing but underwear rode on their boyfriends' shoulders, dancing freely, while others waved flags from various countries.

Still, the live lighting setup fell far short of what was in the video, let alone the smoke machines, flame jets, foam cannons, and paper confetti that had heightened the atmosphere in the MV.

It seemed that, like electronic music itself, the live performances still had plenty of room for improvement... Ryan thought to himself.

By now, Tremor had reached its outro. Normally, Deadmau5 would have synced up another track and used the mixer to "blend" them, but Ryan noticed Deadmau5 beside him wasn't moving—just standing there.

Just as Ryan hesitated, wondering if he should nudge him as a reminder, he saw the masked Deadmau5 suddenly turn and walk toward the backstage.

Ryan's scalp tingled. After a moment's hesitation, he decisively took over the turntable himself. Thanks to his previous experience DJing at nightclubs in Nashville, this wasn't difficult for him.

Meanwhile, the moment Deadmau5 reached backstage, his body gave out and he collapsed. Staff swarmed around him. Someone pulled off his plush mouse head, revealing a face flushed bright red, his short hair soaked with sweat. He was naturally frail, and the high temperature inside the plush head, combined with his constant jumping, had caused heatstroke.

Russell, the music festival's co-founder who had been backstage earlier, had already left. Deadmau5 was rushed to a local hospital by the staff. The burly man who had been speaking with the festival founder earlier was now making his final preparations before taking the stage. Worried about Deadmau5, he clearly hadn't realized that the unique sound currently playing on stage was being created by a high school student.

Ryan managed to save the set without incident and exited to the cheers and applause of the audience. As soon as he returned backstage, he saw a man about his height and build ready to take over for him.

The man noticed Ryan wearing the same red suit as Deadmau5 and looked a bit surprised. They passed each other.

It was then that Ryan spotted Deadmau5's VJ and learned about Deadmau5's heatstroke. He hadn't expected Marvin's prediction to come true.

"By the way, who was that guy?" Ryan asked.

"Tiesto, you don't know him?" The VJ was astonished.

"Should I?"

"Of course. He's a leading figure in the DJ world. Before you were even born, he was already playing new beats and acid house in nightclubs. He's won several European music awards. He topped the Top 100 DJs for three consecutive years from 2002 to 2003, and in 2004, he performed at the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics!" The VJ introduced him with great seriousness.

The prestige of an Olympic opening ceremony went without saying. The "Top 100" mentioned referred to the annual Top 100 DJs ranking by DJ Magazine, based on reader votes—a highly respected honor in the DJ industry at the time.

Afterward, Ryan and the VJ went to Jackson Memorial Hospital near Bayfront Park, where Deadmau5 was receiving treatment. By the time Ryan arrived, Deadmau5 had already woken up. His first words to Ryan were asking about the performance.

"The crowd's reaction was even stronger than when Justice was on stage," Ryan replied.

Deadmau5 breathed a sigh of relief.

With that, the performance matters were settled. The music festival would continue for another full day tomorrow. Before Ryan could even bring up the Winter Music Conference, Deadmau5, lying in the hospital bed, spoke up first, mentioning the issue of releasing Tremor's single album in Canada.

The reason Deadmau5 only mentioned Canada and not all of North America was that his current distribution channel was through an independent record label based in Australia, which had no capability to release in the U.S. market.

Admittedly, Deadmau5 could have hidden this fact from Ryan, but he chose to be honest.

"Ryan, this could be the start of our collaboration," Deadmau5 said. What he valued was the talent emerging from Ryan.

Ryan had no reason to refuse, either. Although Canada wasn't among the world's top ten music markets and accounted for only a small share (2% to 3%), it was still a formal first step.

"Next, let's talk about the split. Considering that the original track for Tremor is already finished, production costs are negligible. We'll only discuss the sales split. Industry practice is for record labels to take a higher share of sales revenue from newcomers and unsigned artists—typically 50%. The sales revenue I'm referring to is net income after deducting distributor profits and promotional costs," Deadmau5 said.

A simple calculation: if the single album sold for $3.99, after deducting the sales platform's cut and promotional costs, then half of the net income went to the label, Ryan's pre-tax earnings per album sold would likely be no more than $1—and that was in an ideal scenario. If Deadmau5's label played games with promotional costs, that number wouldn't exceed $0.50.

And don't forget, the single album would also include remixes of Tremor by two other DJs, otherwise it couldn't be priced at $3.99. Factoring that in, his share would be even smaller.

"This isn't a normal situation. We just finished a performance together," Ryan said immediately, feeling that these terms weren't worth signing at all.

"Kid, do you know what 'industry practice' means? It means no one is exempt. Not just me, but everyone else too—including you. This isn't negotiable."

"You think the split is too small? Of course it is, because this is just the beginning. We'll have other opportunities to work together. Business isn't a one-time deal. By the second or third release, the label can take only 30%. If you blow up, we can discuss the split further."

Deadmau5 reiterated that business was business. He valued Ryan's talent, but that didn't mean he had to sacrifice his own interests.

"You might not know my situation. I'm living at someone else's place. I need the income!" Ryan brought up Trey as a shield again.

"Then I'll take you on tour. After Ultra Music Festival, Marvin has arranged for me to perform at a dozen nightclubs across North America. The first stop will be New York," Deadmau5 offered a compromise.

"How much will I make per show?"

"Five hundred to seven hundred dollars a show. If we hit a generous club, the pay could be higher," Deadmau5 said after a moment's thought. "You'll handle the warm-up and opening set—about an hour and a half. Then I'll take over. You'll also need to perform for the extra set in the early morning hours."

"What about travel expenses? I'm still in school in Nashville," Ryan said.

"You won't have to cover that," Deadmau5 said generously, though in reality, travel costs were covered by the promoter and weren't part of the performance fee.

At least it paid better than being stuck in a Nashville nightclub.

"Forty percent. That's my bottom line. Otherwise, no deal," Ryan finally stated his limit.

Deadmau5 looked somewhat helpless, feeling for the first time that this high schooler was incredibly difficult to deal with.

"You can only choose one: the performance or the split," Deadmau5 said, taking a deep breath.

"Don't be like that. These two things don't conflict. I can perform even harder. I really need this income to finish my studies. It's my living expenses," Ryan said, his tone suddenly pleading, his face changing faster than flipping a book.

Before Deadmau5 could respond, Ryan saw his hesitation and quickly added, "Okay, then it's settled."

Deadmau5 let out a long sigh, looking mentally exhausted.

Ryan had seemingly gotten the terms he wanted, but he didn't look relaxed either. Deadmau5's record label was, at best, a small company. Negotiations with other labels would only be tougher.

As he left the hospital, Ryan pulled out his phone and saw a text from Abigail.

"That performance was amazing. You have no idea how many people cheered for you. Taylor and I just arrived in Miami this afternoon..."