Different Circles

“Come on, Jake!” Matt said. “You’re not some fuckin’ heartless record company suit! I know you’re not! You don’t want to dictate how my music should be just because you can!”

“That is true,” Jake said. “But I also cannot just let you slap down whatever strikes your fancy onto a CD and put our label on it. Your first release—Next Phase—proves that you do not always act in your own best interest.”

“Next Phase was a mistake,” Matt said softly. It obviously pained him greatly to admit this. “I learned from it. I let them do engineering and overdubs on the next two releases and that is why they sold so well. I will do engineering and overdubs on my next CD as well.”

“If they are recorded under our label,” Jake said, “you most certainly will do them. And that engineering and overdubbing will be done at the direction of myself and the Nerdlys. I am not saying you will not be allowed input during the process, but I will have the final say so. That is the non-negotiable part. I will not put KVA’s name on a single track that I have not personally approved of. I am not doing this to be a dick or to throw my weight around or to get revenge on you for all the shit you’ve put me through over the years, but because I want anything that we release to be quality, to be something that all of us can be proud of.”

Matt continued to stare at Jake for a moment and then finally dropped his eyes. He muttered something inarticulate.

“What was that?” Jake asked.

“I said I can live with that,” Matt said curtly.

“That’s good to hear,” Jake said, “but can you live with me being at your sessions, telling you which tunes you should do, telling you where to put in that extra guitar section, where to double-track, how to shape your intros and outros?”

Matt took a deep breath. “I don’t know,” he said at last. “I guess we’ll have to give it a try and see.”

Jake nodded. “That’s kind of my take on the matter as well, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”

“As am I,” said Nerdly.

“Well, all right then,” Matt said. “Maybe we’re fuckin’ gettin’ somewhere here.”

“Maybe,” Jake allowed. “Let’s talk some numbers now. This does not mean we have an agreement to even sign you—we still have to vote on that—but we need to at least make sure we’re all in the same universe here when it comes to the financials.”

“Fair enough,” Matt allowed.

“Now,” said Pauline, “we know you are an established artist, Matt. We know you expect a certain amount of royalties from any deal you sign. You may or may not have heard that we at KVA are very fair to our artists, as fair as we can be, but that we need to maintain a reasonable profit margin of our own. Please keep that in mind during this part of the negotiation.”

“Fuckin’ A,” Matt said. “And I’ll make it easy on you. I’m not greedy, just needy. I’m willing to accept thirty-five percent. I was going to ask for forty with National on the next run, but they were not willing to go higher than twenty-eight. Thirty-five seems a nice middle ground, doesn’t it?”

“No,” Pauline said plainly. “Not really.”

“I can’t go much lower than that,” Matt told her.

“Then we probably won’t be able to agree to terms,” Pauline suggested.

“What is your offer then?” Matt asked, obviously struggling with his temper again.

Jake handled this part. “We’re paying twenty percent to Brainwash for their second CD,” he said. “Their first went multi-platinum so they are now an established band and have earned that much. V-tach is going to release their first CD next week. You’ve probably heard their debut song on the radio these past few weeks. We’re paying them fifteen percent.”

“But I’m Matt Tisdale,” Matt said. “Former guitar player for Intemperance and someone who is guaranteed to go multi-platinum.”

“Nothing is guaranteed in life,” Jake pointed out. “We would be taking a risk of losing a considerable sum of money if your CD tanks. And, though I’m pretty certain it will not do so, can we reasonably expect that you are going to sell more copies than Brainwash II? Not really. The more we pay you in royalties, the more copies of the CD we have to sell before we start operating in the black—which, as I’m sure you’re aware—is how a business is supposed to operate.”

“I’ve heard that,” Matt said sourly.

“I’m glad you appreciate the concept,” Pauline said. “Let’s take Brainwash as an example. At twenty percent band royalties, combined with the twenty-five percent royalties we are obligated to pay Aristocrat for promotion and the rather large sum we pay them in bulk for manufacturing and distribution, we will need them to sell approximately seven hundred thousand copies of the CD before we start making a profit from them. This is far above the profit point that any of the major labels are willing to accept.”

“You have to pay royalties to Aristocrat?” Matt asked, surprised.

“Did you think they were using their promotional apparatus to get us radio airplay out of the kindness of their hearts?” Jake asked.