Rise To Stardom - Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Hype
The hype for [Paradox], only seemed to have begun.

Despite not even hearing the full song, a lot of people already had the tune of the song, stuck in their heads.

There was just something about it that was… compelling, to listen to.

Enough that it refused to leave their heads, even after a week.

Maybe it was the hauntingly mesmerizing tune?

Or was it the lyrical verse in the song’s teaser;

🎶

Chasing things beyond our reach,

Running towards a foggy path singin’

🎵

Who… am I?

🎶

Either way, the song, simply put, despite still releasing next year, had become an earworm for a lot of people.

TicToccers especially, had used the song’s teaser in their videos.

ViewTubers, some of whom did more philosophical content, used it in their short videos.

Casual and music enthusiasts, at least those of whom had listened to the song, sometimes hummed the tune whenever it came to them.

It was safe to say, at this rate, the hype for [Paradox], really had only just begun, especially since all of this exposure, had been spread organically.

As a result of all these, critics, kept heavy tabs on the song.

Considering it was a song from Kyle Kestis, a young musician with no label backing him up, they were free to review the song as they pleased when it finally dropped without any form of bias.

It was quite literally, a breath of fresh air for a lot of them, compared to having to review songs from more mainstream artists whom, to a certain extent, they were more careful about how they reviewed said songs.

That said, while critics were keeping tabs on it for their own reasons, two other companies in particular, were keeping heavy tabs on it for another reason entirely.

The first, was DiscoTune, the mid-sized music distribution company that had helped Kyle, promote his first few songs.

In a modernly-designed, well-furnished office, one that served as a meeting room for both important and mundane discussions, a bunch of employees, along with their CEO, were having an important discussion.

“Sir. Considering the last time Mr. Kestis released [Strange Canvas], Mr. Stone didn’t contact us, there might be a possibility of it happening again.” an Account Manager said, giving his own input on the matter.

“And to be fair, it’s perfectly understandable that he wouldn’t need to contact us this time too since [Paradox], already has enough hype to make it a success, regardless of whether we help promote the song or not.” the Manager of the Marketing and Promotion team chipped in.

“Besides, considering he wouldn’t need to pay 5% royalties to us for helping in the promotion of his song, which frankly and deservedly so, for a song that’s very successful, is a huge sum, I’d say my colleagues are right on the money.” one of the Specialists who handled the Royalty Accounts for Artists and Labels, stated.

To his words, every other employee, sitting around the long, rectangular, ergonomically-designed table, nodded their heads in agreement.

Those were all solid points that couldn’t be ignored.

As a result, after waiting for about a minute, giving their CEO who sat at the forefront of all the company’s decisions enough time to chew on their words, they heard the man speak;

“Let’s get in contact with his agent, Mr. Stone. Have the royalties reduced by 1% if he decides to renegotiate how much we get. However, if push comes to shove, reduce it by 2%. No lower than that.” the elderly man spoke, his words absolute.

“Alright sir. We’ll get to it.” the Label Relations’ Manager responded with a curt nod, all of which was also followed by similar curt nods from other employees working under him.

“Good. It’s necessary that we make good connections with musicians that could go on to give us big returns.” the CEO stated with a shrewd gaze, after which he then asked;

“Now, what other important things do we need to discuss?”

“Yes sir. There’s being an issue with…” the Operations and Logistics Manager, soon began to read out the other important topics they were yet to sort out.

As that was happening in DiscoTune, the second company, which was similarly keeping close tabs on Kyle’s new song, was GrooveBox themselves.

Well…

To be fair…

It was more or less a certain Executive whom was mainly keeping tabs on Kyle herself.

“Whenever the song releases, ensure it gets maximum exposure in the vein that it can.” Alicia stated, one to which the employees in the Marketing and Communication’s team nodded in understanding to.

“One good turn, deserves another after all.” Alicia, along with her secretary, walked out of the expansive room whilst smiling.

Considering that GrooveFest 10, which had been a resounding success this year had been hers to handle, she was very well aware, of how sourly the incident at Vancouver could’ve turned out.

It was already bad enough that the internet could’ve ripped GrooveFest into shreds for such a small incident but, that wasn’t even an issue in her own opinion.

What could’ve turned out even worse, was how her fellow Executives, would’ve completely berated her for not taking her position seriously or doing her job properly.

Considering most still had a bit of superiority complex over her, especially since she had been the youngest ever in the history of the company to ever become an Executive even without her father, the CEO’s backing, she was sure some would’ve even plotted to boot her off the panel.

Yet, all that had simply cascaded over due to how Kyle Kestis had handled the incident, something a lot of other artists would’ve genuinely been pissed about or disappointed by.

In fact, it had even helped give GrooveFest 10 a lot of PR, hence, making hers the most successful and profitable till date.

As a result, her position as an Executive had been solidified and no one was questioning her capabilities anymore.

In return, Alicia White only did what she felt was necessary.

Paying back her due.

One which she was planning to do in the form of giving a lot of free PR to Kyle’s next few songs, regardless of whether they were great songs or not.

* * *

“January 10th huh…” Kyle mused as Oliver dropped a printed copy of the e-mail Jon had sent over to him.

“Yeah. Also, no script was sent over.” the agent stated as he took a seat on the other side of the table.

Currently, both were in Oliver’s office, discussing about the e-mail Jon Quentin had sent regarding the screening of [The Curator].

Rays of the late morning sun, shone through the partly opened blinds and into the modernly-furnished office, casting a nice, warm, golden glow to it.

“But, as you’ll have noticed from the e-mail too, they asked you to pick any scene of The Curator you liked from any of the previous seasons of the series and act it out.” Oliver added, fingers interlocked as he leaned gently on his table.

“Hmmm…” Kyle mused out loud as he read the e-mail for a few minutes.

“I’m guessing they really want an actor who actually understands and gets the feel The Curator then…” he soon stated a few seconds after with a thin smile, one that earned a gaze of interest from Oliver.

Sure enough Kyle, despite being a big fan of the show, never really followed everything that surrounded the series itself.

Things like the behind the scenes, the producers or the directors… all of it didn’t really matter to him, especially since he had been watching the show since he had been in high school.

Added to that was the fact that he was chronically offline most of the time and voila, his knowledge of the show’s actual production was barebones.

It was also because of that same reason that he had no idea that Jon Quentin had being the previous showrunner for the first five seasons, all of which were the absolute best in the series.

Still, he remembered hearing rumors here and there that the previous actors in the first five series, had been selected with a more, unconventional approach.

Now that he was actually experiencing it though, he could understand just what they meant.

Jon, really wanted to find out if the actors he had selected, perfectly grasped how The Curator’s brain ticked.

That was why he was having them go through the show to decide which scene they felt was more indicative of who The Curator was and have them, act said scene out.

Yet, Kyle was almost certain, that not every actor had the time to sit through nine seasons of a show just to act, one singular scene out.

Still, Kyle also knew, that a lot of them would try their absolute best to go through the show, especially if there were some amongst them who probably also grew up with the show like he did.

Added to that, considering he wasn’t going to be the only one going for the private screening, Kyle had a feeling that everyone else that was being considered for the role, would probably pick the more iconic scenes from The Curator.

Yet, for him, there was another thought process going through his mind entirely.

Since, presumably, the main goal of Jon was to find out if an actor, actually understood how the Curator behaved, there was actually no reason for him to pick out a single scene in the entire show.

Rather, why not show Quentin, that he did in fact, comprehend how The Curator’s brain ticked, with a script of his own.

Sure Kyle wasn’t a writer.

But, he did know one.

One, very talented, writer.

Yet, as Kyle began to fill Oliver in on his plans, one to which his agent found very interesting, the young man, had next to no idea, that he was, quite possibly, one of the very few, if not the only actor who was actually planning on going to such great lengths to nab the role.

However, that was something he would be finding out, much later on.