Chapter 267: Chapter 267: Unexpected Record Sales
Burbank.
The headquarters of Alistar Records is located on Olive Avenue, north of Warner Bros. Studios.
Today is June 7, Wednesday.
Alistar Records President Clive Davis arrived at the office early in the morning, only to be met by Mark Belford, the director responsible for the promotion of "The Bodyguard" at Daenerys Entertainment. Mark Belford, who had been personally transferred to the promotion team for "Scream" by Simon Westeros during a meeting last year, quickly rose to the position of Vice President of Daenerys Distribution Company due to his outstanding performance in the subsequent film promotions.
In his office, Clive Davis warmly entertained Mark Belford, but was evasive about his wish for Whitney Houston to return from Toronto as soon as possible to continue with the subsequent promotion of "The Bodyguard."
After its release, "The Bodyguard" quickly faced a decline in its reputation. Seeing the unfavorable situation, Clive Davis immediately sent Whitney Houston to Canada on a vacation, hoping to avoid any potential damage the film's failure might cause to her singing career.
In reality, "The Bodyguard" was not a commercial failure in terms of box office alone.
With an expected domestic gross of $50 million in North America, it was enough for Daenerys Entertainment to recoup the entire budget cost. However, the film's reputation was so poor that many critics pointed fingers at Whitney Houston's acting skills.
Alistar Records, after many years of ups and downs, finally had a top star like Whitney Houston. Clive Davis, being cautious, had no intention of allowing his company's mainstay to repeatedly face failure in Hollywood like Madonna.
As for the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard," Clive Davis had little expectation and only hoped that the fans wouldn't abandon their support for Whitney Houston because of this low-quality album.
"Mark, Whitney was already very tired from the promotion in the past few months. Now that the film has been released, I don't think it's necessary for her to participate in these subsequent activities."
"It's just one interview with MTV, Clive. Or, if Ms. Houston really can't find time to come back, we can have the MTV setup team fly to Canada. You just need to arrange someone there to coordinate."
MTV was originally the best promotional platform for singers.
However, Clive Davis had already decided to disassociate Whitney Houston from "The Bodyguard" as much as possible, so he insisted, "I'm sorry, Mark. Whitney is on vacation now and doesn't want to be disturbed."
After further patient communication with Clive Davis and seeing his steadfast attitude, the atmosphere inevitably became tense. "Clive, success and failure in Hollywood are always uncertain. If Ms. Houston reacts negatively just because of one poorly received film, it will be difficult for her to make significant progress in Hollywood in the future."
Clive Davis remained unmoved, saying, "Mark, after this experience, I think Whitney is not really suited to be an actress. She will focus on her singing career for the next few years."
Mark Belford didn't give up easily and was about to try again when there was a knock on the office door. Clive Davis's secretary peeked in, hesitating to speak, with the company's distribution manager also in sight.
Under normal circumstances, Clive Davis would be displeased with his secretary's interruption, but this time, he took the opportunity to stand up and say, "I have other work here, Mark. Let's talk some other time."
After seeing Mark Belford off, Clive Davis entered the office with Charles Rodd, the head of his distribution department. Sitting down behind his desk, he casually asked, "Charlie, weren't you supposed to go to New York this morning?"
Charles Rodd handed over a folder without waiting for Clive Davis to sit down, saying, "Clive, regarding the soundtrack of 'The Bodyguard,' there seems to be something strange."
Clive Davis frowned slightly upon hearing his subordinate mention the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard." He opened the folder after sitting down and glanced at it, "What's this?"
"Since yesterday afternoon, we've been receiving calls from various record distributors. These are all the related call records until now…"
A bad premonition hit Clive Davis, interrupting, "Do they want to return the stock?"
He had already anticipated that the sales of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack would not be very good. However, due to Daenerys Entertainment's insistence, the two parties jointly pressed the first batch of 500,000 copies and completed the distribution through Alistar Records' sales channels.
As soon as he uttered those words, Clive Davis realized something.
It's only been two days since the record was released, and distributors wouldn't ask to return the stock so soon. Even with "The Bodyguard"'s poor reputation, with Whitney Houston's popularity over the past few years, 500,000 copies would definitely sell.
Charles Rodd immediately shook his head to deny Clive Davis's guess, "No, Clive. They, it seems, are all requesting additional orders for 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack."
If his guess was unlikely, Clive Davis thought that Charles Rodd's words were even more implausible.
Additional orders?
That was a joke.
In Clive Davis's view, 500,000 copies was already a large number. More than 90% of music albums in the world couldn't even reach that amount. After Whitney Houston became famous, her second album released two years ago, after a series of long-term chart promotions, finally debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with a first-week sales tally of only 460,000 copies.
This was already an excellent achievement among female singers.
Now, a romance film criticized as 'melodramatic' and 'lacking originality' and a 'patched-up' mix tape, with an initial distribution of 500,000 copies, began receiving requests from distributors for additional stock within just two days.
Was that possible?
Or.
If it was true, what did it mean?
Staring at each other for a moment, Clive Davis suddenly lowered his head to scan the document, found a familiar name, and immediately dialed the phone on his desk.
The call connected, and Clive Davis switched to a seasoned and familiar tone, "Hello, Jeff, good morning… Oh, it's already noon in New York; I forgot about that, haha… Yeah, it's about that. Charlie said you called yesterday regarding the soundtrack of 'The Bodyguard' starring Whitney…"
After making five or six calls, Clive Davis put down the phone and looked back at the document with a long list of call records, somewhat in disbelief.
It actually happened!
Although the retail network had not yet experienced a sold-out situation, distributors in various regions unanimously reported that sales of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack were much better than expected in the first two days. The initial stock was simply not enough, and they needed at least twice as much.
Twice as much.
That's 1 million copies.
Clive Davis, 57 years old, had been in the record industry for over 20 years. In these two decades, he had always enviously watched other artists achieve feats like first-week sales of over a million copies. And those who managed this miraculous goal were only a few, like Michael Jackson.
Alistar Records, established in 1974, had faced bankruptcy several times over 15 years, with its parent company changing from Columbia Pictures to RCA and now to Bertelsmann.
Clive Davis never imagined that in his career, he might actually produce an album with first-week sales reaching the million mark.
After a moment of shock, Clive Davis quickly picked up the phone again and dialed a hotel number in Toronto, Canada, urging Whitney Houston to return to Los Angeles as soon as possible.
After ending the call with Whitney Houston and remembering that he had just brushed off a senior executive from Daenerys Entertainment's distribution department, Clive Davis hesitated for only a moment before deciding not to inform them of the news for now. Alistar Records should now have considerable leverage.
However, thinking of the profit-sharing contract he had initially signed with Daenerys Entertainment, Clive Davis immediately felt a pang of regret.
With first-week sales reaching the million mark, according to Clive Davis's twenty-plus years of experience, the global sales of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack in the next few years should be around 40 to 50 times the first-week data, which is 40 to 50 million copies. This would already be more than the total global sales of Whitney Houston's first two albums combined.
At the end of the 1980s, despite different materials like vinyl and cassettes, the average selling price of a record was around $10.
Global sales of 40 to 50 million copies meant a revenue of $400 to $500 million. Based on a 50% gross profit margin, and with Daenerys Entertainment's 50% share of the gross profit, they would take away $2.5 from each record, multiplying by the total sales, this amounted to $100 to $125 million.
A single record bringing in over $100 million in revenue was a significant amount, even for Alistar Records' parent company, Bertelsmann Music Group, whose annual net profit might not even be that much.
While pondering how to retain more profits, Clive Davis promptly instructed Charles Rodd to convene an emergency meeting with the company's senior management.
No matter what, the priority was to ensure the sales of this record.
Clive Davis didn't immediately announce the unexpected success of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack, but Daenerys Entertainment soon got wind of it.
Initially, an employee from Daenerys Entertainment's record department heard the news and reported it to Nancy Brill, the executive in charge of the company's record business. Realizing the importance of this matter, Nancy Brill called Clive Davis's office immediately and then rushed from Santa Monica to Burbank.
In that era, it wasn't uncommon for a record to reach global sales of 10 to 20 million copies, roughly equivalent to a Hollywood blockbuster with a box office of over $100 million. However, a record with an expected global sales of 40 to 50 million copies was on the level of phenomenon-level movies like "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Star Wars."
Apart from Simon Westeros, neither Daenerys Entertainment nor Alistar Records had anticipated the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard" would be such a hit. Everyone's natural expectation was that the box office success of "The Bodyguard" would drive the soundtrack's sales. If this record's global sales surpassed 10 million copies, it would be considered a success in many people's eyes.
In hindsight, when people mention movie soundtracks, most think of "Titanic."
However, up until Simon Westeros's rebirth, the best-selling movie soundtrack in music history had always been "The Bodyguard."
While the "Titanic" soundtrack sold 30 million copies, "The Bodyguard" reached an astonishing 45 million. Even on the overall sales chart of all types of records, "The Bodyguard" soundtrack ranked in the top five.
Now, with "The Bodyguard" film's reputation in tatters, the unexpectedly hot-selling soundtrack became a breakthrough for the movie's box office.
Clive Davis was adept at adjusting to changing circumstances.
With the successful sales of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack in North America, the main sales potential, however, lay in the overseas market. To replicate the success in North America, the distribution of the film had to be coordinated with the soundtrack. Although not favored by film critics, the movie was a vessel for transmitting the impact of the soundtrack.
Without the emotional conveyance of the film's storyline, the soundtrack's leading song "I Will Always Love You," an old song from the seventies, wouldn't have become popular.
Therefore, when the record achieved success, and Daenerys Entertainment quickly approached, Clive Davis immediately forgot his previous refusal to involve Whitney Houston in further film promotions and renegotiated the subsequent promotions of the film and record with Daenerys.
To maximize the 'event marketing' effect, under the deliberate control of Daenerys Entertainment and Alistar Records, the second batch of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack was artificially delayed by a day in some designated areas. Thus, in the last few days of that week, cities with significant media influence like New York and Los Angeles quickly saw news of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack selling out due to overwhelming demand.
Things always turn out unexpectedly.
Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," released in 1974, had gone unnoticed for over a decade. "The Bodyguard," a melodramatic romance film, was brutally criticized by film reviewers. Yet, the combination of the two was like a finely mixed cocktail, creating a magical chemical reaction.
With the hot sales of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack and the rapid popularity of "I Will Always Love You," viewers who were initially biased against "The Bodyguard" due to media criticism began to pay attention to the film again.
From June 2 to June 8, "Indiana Jones 3" easily retained the top spot in the weekly box office, earning an additional $30.85 million, bringing its total to $86.76 million.
"The Bodyguard," ranked second in the box office chart, performed as expected in its first week, earning $23.63 million, nearly half of "Indiana Jones 3"'s first full week's revenue.
However, as news of the miraculous sales of "The Bodyguard" soundtrack spread, neither the film companies nor the external media considered the film's domestic box office potential to be limited to $50 million anymore.
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