Borrowing Strength

Ryan didn't stay in Orlando. The day after the DJ performance, he returned to Nashville with Joel.

He arrived home exhausted and walked into the living room, where he saw a man in a short-sleeved shirt sitting on the sofa.

Trey's curses were still coming from the kitchen.

The man stood up and said warmly, "You must be Ryan."

Ryan smiled awkwardly, feeling he'd come home at the wrong time and interrupted Trey's date.

Just then, Trey came out of the kitchen. "I tried calling you earlier, but your phone was off."

She pointed at the man with her spatula. "He's from the Netherlands. He was lurking at the door just now and said he was here to see you."

Here to see me?

Ryan froze, then realized that someone from the Netherlands was most likely with an electronic music record label.

Sure enough, the man introduced himself as an A&R manager at Spinnin Records.

"Tiesto recommended you to us. He really likes your music and played it on his radio show, Club Life. Everyone, myself included, thinks you're incredibly talented in the field of electronic music."

Was this Spinnin Records, the label on the cover of the first Tremor single? Ryan had searched online for information about them before, but there wasn't much.

Ryan quickly invited him to sit down. "How did you find me?"

"I asked Deadmau5. He told me where you were. I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced." Smiling, he took a couple of gifts for Ryan from his bag: a rather expensive pair of headphones for monitoring, and a microphone.

In response to Ryan's questions, the man was straightforward: Spinnin Records wanted to sign him. From the sound of it, their terms were considerably more generous than those of their American counterparts.

"Compared with the Big Four record companies, we're a small label. To stay competitive, we're naturally more flexible on certain terms. Besides, your talent is more than enough reason for us to make some concessions."

"Last, and most importantly, electronic music depends on technological advances and represents this new era. Traditional pop music is in a saturated market, while electronic music is a growing one. So we won't be as fixated as our competitors on certain terms, such as the length of a contract. We're looking to the future," he said calmly.

Being in a rapidly growing market naturally gave them a different perspective.

He continued, "We could even form a joint venture with you, provided you're ready to do most of your work in Europe."

"In Europe?" Ryan was taken aback.

"Of course. Americans don't understand electronic music at all. You'll only know what real enthusiasm looks like once you come to Europe," he said.

"Crash!" A plate hit the floor and shattered.

Ryan turned around and saw that Trey had accidentally dropped the plate she'd been carrying.

"Carry on talking," Trey said quickly, then began cleaning up.

Ryan's discussion with the man lasted nearly three hours. Afterward, he had a general understanding of electronic music and the music market as a whole.

After dinner, Ryan walked the man to the door.

"I'll give you an answer within three days, whatever I decide," Ryan said.

"Please do." The man closed the door behind him.

Ryan turned back toward the dining room. Trey was clearing the table, her brow furrowed.

"You're not going to Europe!" she said, annoyed.

"Why not?"

Trey looked up, her hair falling beside her face. She was clearly displeased. "Who's going to support me when I'm old if you leave for Europe?"

"Isn't it a little early to be thinking about that?" Ryan laughed.

"Not at all. Anyway, you're not allowed to go."

Ryan went back to his study. After a long period of thought, he called the man. "The US accounts for nearly half of the global music market. I've decided to focus on it."

"I completely understand. Spinnin has no plans to operate in the US in the near future, but given the global influence of American pop music, the time will come. We'd even be glad to see someone open up the electronic music market here. It would benefit us greatly, too."

"Would it be possible for me to sign with another label for the US market and leave the European market to you?"

"Absolutely impossible," the man said, rejecting the outlandish idea.

"Then, why not do me a favor..." Ryan explained what he wanted.

"Well..." The man hesitated. "There's no precedent for this."

"That's right. There are still plenty of gaps in the electronic music market. Like you said, you'd be glad to see someone open up the US market. In other words, helping me would be helping yourselves."

"If this gets out, Atlantic Records' European office probably won't be happy," the man said, considering the possible consequences.

"I haven't signed with Atlantic Records yet. This is just normal business negotiation," Ryan reminded him.

"All right."

"See you later." Ryan hung up.

"Hello, Khalid." At Nashville Airport, the young man Ryan had ignored earlier was holding up his phone and talking to someone.

"I'm in Los Angeles right now. Did you forget that I co-founded a joint venture with Young Arthur? Yeah, the Raymond Braun Media Group (Young Arthur's surname is Raymond, and Scooter's is Braun). We set up a record label under it. Put that boy under the label. This was an agreement between his mother, Young Arthur, and me. Now I need a few old white guys from Universal Music Group and Republic Records to finalize the details."

"Dr. Ray? Forget about him. Haven't you heard that Atlantic Records already sent someone to negotiate with him? We've got no shot with this guy. That's it." Scooter hung up.

He claimed that negotiations with Universal Music Group executives in Los Angeles had ended the day before, and that he'd come straight to Nashville, where Ryan was.

That was completely at odds with what he'd said.

"I said the revenue from online video views isn't part of this discussion." On another call with an Atlantic Records A&R representative, Ryan sounded confident.

"Agreed. There's no need to get hung up on the details." The voice on the other end backed down.

She hadn't sounded like this a few days ago in Orlando.

"A wise choice." Ryan nodded with a smile and gave Trey, sitting across from him, a look that said, "We did it."

It was already night. Ryan and Trey were in the dining room at home, where Ryan was negotiating with the record label.

"Now, let's discuss the most important condition: the contract term." Ryan tapped his fingers on the table.

"I've already consulted the head of A&R and Mr. Craig Kallman, Atlantic Records' chairman and CEO. We can reduce the record deal to three albums over five years, including the supplemental clauses."

So they were finally making concessions?

But Ryan still wasn't satisfied.

"Thank you for believing in me. I truly appreciate it, but the market changes quickly. Five years is still a little too long for me. I'd be much more motivated if we could do two albums over three years."

"Ryan, don't do this," came the reply over the phone.

"If you're willing, you can pack your bags and come to Nashville." Ryan hung up, then high-fived Trey.

"What did I tell you? Spinnin's arrival threw them off balance!" Ryan laughed.

That morning, he'd posted a photo of himself with Spinnin Records staff on social media and said that negotiations with them were going very well. It had completely disrupted Atlantic Records' negotiating strategy and forced them to make concession after concession.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Who would be knocking this late?" Trey wondered aloud, then got up to answer it.

"Why are you here?" Ryan's excitement disappeared as soon as he saw who it was.

The woman went in and hugged Trey, then looked toward Ryan. She seemed to have come specifically to see him.

"I've been recording until now. To be honest, I'm a little hungry." Taylor then noticed the untouched food on the table.