Rise To Stardom - Chapter 199
Chapter 199: Hotcakes, Paparazzi
It only took a few minutes after the showcase and press conference was over.
DiscoTune, swiftly capitalized on the spur of the moment and uploaded the two-hour plus video session, straight onto ViewTube in its uncut, rawest, unedited form!
In about an hour, the video went viral as it got over a million views, further bringing in some extra-chicken change for the distribution company whom were just glad to be able to easily capitalize off the young star’s fame.
And for Kyle’s fan group, most of whom, albeit busy with their own day to day schedules, still squeezed in a few minutes or an hour to at least, to watch as much of the video as they could.
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WeDoABitOfTrolling: Kyle is moving mad people… in the best ways possible! You can’t tell me otherwise! I mean, who in their right minds, learns a song in effin’ reverse, just for a one-time music video?!
Peter_Writes_Fantasy: @WeDoABitOfTrolling; It’s things like that that make us love him even more and more. The epitome of being a Hollywood artist to me I feel, stems from the artists, coming to the realization that they are also entertainers in a way. And well, if we’re being honest, Kyle’s shown us, his fans especially, time and time again that he definitely enjoys entertaining us.
Princess Peach: I often see a bunch of randos online saying Kyle’s been lucky with his fame and all the other shenanigans (you know how it goes). I’m not gonna disagree with their take (each to their own opinions, I guess…), but I do think a lot of them tend to always forget, just how much effort Kyle puts into making the very best opportunities of the things he has. He’s limited in resources and connections yes, but he makes the very best use of those connections and resources! Of course he’d be famous!
Mamma Mia: I completely agree with your statements @Princess Peach!
Alice_In_Wonderland 88: Is it me or does Kyle’s voice, sound so much better live? I’m not tripping, am I? I’ve been re-watching the actual showcase sections in the video for a little over an hour now and I just can’t help but notice that.
Kyle’s Girlfriend: @Alice_In_Wonderland 88; I get what you mean! Sure the produced version feels more refined overall but, Kyle’s voice, specifically, sounds like it’s actually being held back by the constraints of the produced version. Can’t even believe I’m saying that, especially with every artist out there using autotune these days.
The 78th Curator: I laughed so, so hard when Ryan read Kyle’s e-mail message out loud! Then I fell off my bed when Jasmine narrated her trapeze experience on the set of the music video! Never knew I could roll around the carpeted floors of my bedroom in hysterical laughter until I heard Kyle subverting the rumors of he and Christina dating with his witty responses! I can’t! I really just can’t with Kyle! He’s such a comedian low-key, I swear.
Trix or Treat: @The 78th Curator; I thought I was the only one feeling the exact same way you were! I’m still giggling unrestrainedly just remembering those moments.
Annie Are You Okay?: [On The Verge] playing at my sister’s highschool graduation today was divine. I can’t wait to have it play on mine too!
ShrekLovesFiona: @Annie Are You Okay?; I mean, considering Kyle mentioned at the conference that it was inspired by his own experiences of wishing he showed up for his graduation ceremony and after party after his friends told him how fun it was, as opposed to him simply recieving his certificate alone over the desk, it checks out that it’d be a really inspiring, upbeat song.
Wendy The Witch: @Annie Are You Okay; Soon baby sister. Soon. Also, that song just grows on you, doesn’t it?! I mean, every song (and I love them all to bits), on the album is fantastic don’t get me wrong but, maybe, just maybe because it wasn’t promoted as heavily as the top four in the album, it isn’t as popular as it should be?
The Impostor: @Wendy The Witch; Ditto.
–
Like that, more and more messages kept pouring into the fan group, with even more and more people, joining said fan group.
If before, their numbers had been around 170K+ after Kyle’s fame surge with [The Curator], along with his more recent Grammie wins, the group had now, effectively, reached 200K+ and rising!
* * *
It was around 6:00 pm when Kyle, finally arrived home.
Even though the conference had ended around 2:00pm prompt, he still had a few personal plans for the day, same as his friends and his team who similarly had plans of their own.
As a result, by the time he was done grocery shopping and branching at SpawnPoint Studio to retrieve something from Carlos, it was already late into the day.
Not lingering on his thoughts as of the moment though, Kyle casually brought up his panel of notifications as he opened the door to his apartment.
| You have performed your debut album before everyone! |
| Huge bonus will be applied! |
| You have obtained a huge amount of exp. points! |
| 15,000 exp. points have been awarded! |
| Total exp. points available (45,535) |
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| Instrument Mastery (Piano) has advanced from level 11 to level 12! |
| Instrument Mastery (Guitar) has advanced from level 11 to level 12! |
| Advancement in Instrument Mastery will become even harder from here on out! |
| You are close to breaking through to level 16 in singing! |
| Keep singing and performing to improve your skills! |
___________________________
{Kyle Kestis} – Exp. Points (45,535)
⸶Skills⸷
| [Soulful Vocals (P)], [Growth Spurt (P)], [Appraisal(A)], [Resonance (P)] – {S}], [Charisma (P)], [Polyglot (P)], [Deep Dive (A) – {S}], [Recollection (P)], [Scene Stealer (A)], [Action & Stunt Mastery (P)], [Bleeding Effect (P)], [Detoxification (A)], [Peak Human Conditioning (P)], [Flow (P)], [Choreography Master (P)]…
* Exp. Points can be used to create skills.
⸶Levels⸷
| Singing › Level 15
| Acting › Level 14
| Composing › Level 15
| Dancing › Level 13
| Instrument Mastery (Piano/Guitar) › Level 12/12
* Levels will increase in accordance to your growth.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Staring at the translucent panel, a light smile spread across Kyle’s lips in pleasant appreciation.
Asides from his advancement in instrumental mastery, he was pleasantly surprised to see that he was nearing the next level in his singing stat, especially since it was exponentially harder to level up now.
Still, and in all fairness, it did seem reasonable when putting things into perspective that he did, after all, perform all of the songs in his album earlier in the day at the showcase.
Closing the panel though, Kyle soon dipped his hands into his pocket and retrieved a flash drive while simultaneously dropping all the groceries he had bought on the kitchen’s counter.
Fiddling with the drive in his fingers, the young man then mumbled to out loud, his gaze sweeping over his apartment curiously;
“Now, where exactly did I stash you away…”
No sooner had Kyle said that, he then proceeded to carefully rummage through his apartment to find where exactly he kept said item.
* * *
(A week later…)
Approximately 73,000 vinyl copies, poof!
An estimated 298,000 CD copies, swiped clean off record store shelves!
Digital sales of 1,750,000 sold off and still extremely high in demand!
All for a cumulated, rounded-up unit sales of about 2.1 million in just a week!
Kaleidoscopes was selling like hotcakes!
Considering a vinyl copy was sold for $24.99, CDs for $14.99 and digitals sales at $9.99, a cumulative total of roughly $23.7 million, had been made in sales!
This of course, made GrooveBox, very happy as they’d be receiving 10% of the total sales made on the album for being his partnered distributor.
Originally, the music distribution company had negotiated to have 20% of the total album sales but, Oliver, being the tactical and experienced businessman that he was when it mattered, knocked down their cut to normal industry standards, effortlessly at that.
No one was going to be ripping off his ward while he was around.
Typically, by normal industry standards, artists whom were signed to record labels, depending on their star power, would probably get about 10 to 20% of the total profits made off of the album, with the lion’s share, going into the pockets of the record label.
However, with Kyle being an independent artist, 70% of that profit would be going into his pockets, with the remaining 20%, going straight to Oliver’s.
And being the kind of people they were, their team was definitely going to be receiving some huge bonuses of theirs, to say the least.
Still, for the distribution company, they were practically set to be swimming in money and, since this was still, the very first week of the album’s release, there was still so much more to be made!
After all, asides from the record-smashing sales it’d eventually tally up to at the end of the month, there was still also their cut from Kyle’s GrooveBox streams which had cumulatively hit over a billion streams!
Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for his ViewTube account, one where all the music videos he released had cumulatively hit one billion views.
Still, as the distribution company watched their stocks, skyrocket to new highs, its employees, excitedly looked forward to the future… and some bonuses of course!
That aside, in addition to all the monetary and financial gains that came with the critical and commercial success of Kaleidoscopes, came the increased recognition and fame for DiscoTune, one that they welcomed openly with wide arms.
However…
For Kyle himself, the rest of his team and others closely related to him…
Well, they were all seriously wondering how they’d cope from now on.
Considering the young star wasn’t signed to a record label whose employees could be probed for details about his activities, the ever-persistent paparazzi, nasty as they were, soon turned their attention to those they believed were closest to him, hoping to extract information.
Owen, at the moment, was currently twitching his eyes in slight annoyance as he headed out of his apartment to head over to SpawnPoint Studios to check in on the DLC’s progress, only to realize, as usual, that he was being tailed by a few dozen paparazzi.
Camille, Jennie and Gwen, all of whom had planned a few days earlier to visit a newly opened restaurant near the office to try its food, sighed in resignation as they once again noticed a few ‘inconspicuous’ vans, conveniently parked across the street from the restaurant.
As for Miguel and Stuart, upon arriving at the office for the day to sort out a few backlogged tasks, found a bunch of paparazzi, lounging about the streets as they’d expected, cameras slung over their necks as they seemingly waited for Kyle to arrive.
Oliver, with his suitcase in hand though, already used to their shenanigans as he exited his house, refused to utter a single word as they began to bombard him with questions on Kyle’s next plans!
“Oliver. Oliver. Wait! Wait! Just one question!”
“A minute of your time is all we ask!”
“Why isn’t Kyle doing any live shows or post-album release promos?!”
Considering the man had an early flight to catch to New York to meet with Tiana whom he hadn’t seen in a few months now, he simply zoomed off in his Porsche without entertaining them, all whilst dialing Kyle and telling him that he was on the move.
As for Christina, no sooner had she gotten out of her house with her bulky manuscript, neatly stashed in her handbag, she was once again, swarmed with flashing lights as questions rained upon her.
Come back and read more tomorrow, everyone! Visit Novel1st(.)c.𝒐m for updates.