บท 260: Chapter 257: Hanging Out in the Recording Studio
It was almost afternoon, and the Los Angeles sun had risen high in the sky. The clear blue sky and the sun were exceptionally bright.
Link drove his Ferrari convertible along the West Coast Highway, speeding all the way to the Big Machine Records' Big Guitar Studio.
When he walked into the studio, Taylor was sitting at the mixing console with her blonde hair disheveled and headphones on.
Her head was bobbing to the beat.
There was also a sheet of manuscript paper on the mixing console.
She was holding a pen and writing and drawing on it.
The other staff in the recording studio were also busy, including songwriters, musicians, production assistants, and about fifteen or sixteen other people. It looked busier than the Link Music studio.
Link didn't disturb her and asked Emily to distribute drinks to the staff. He took a cup of coffee and put it on the mixing console.
"Emily, I told you not to put coffee on this and not to disturb me. I don't need anything."
Taylor said without looking up.
Link quickly picked up the coffee and wiped his forehead. When Taylor got angry, her voice became cold, and her expression became serious, looking a bit scary.
He didn't get any closer, handed the coffee to Emily to keep warm, and sat on the sofa, picking up this week's "Billboard" magazine to read.
Just like in the film industry, the end and beginning of each year were peak periods for releasing new works.
In January alone, 63 new albums were released in the music industry.
This included Ke$ha's debut studio album "Animal" released on January 5th, the famous country music group Lady Antebellum's second studio album "Need You Now," and the famous black blues singer Monica Arnold's sixth album "Still Standing."
Ke$ha's "Animal," after two consecutive weeks at the top of the album chart, was pulled down by Lady Antebellum's album, but Monica's new album sales were increasing rapidly and had a chance to compete for the championship.
Judging from the January sales data, the competition in the music industry was fierce.
In addition, many singers released promotional singles for their new albums in January. The three most popular singers were:
Justin Bieber, following the release of his debut album in November last year, also planned to release his second album "My World 2.0" in March. The first single was "Baby."
This single was released on January 1st and entered the top ten of the singles chart in three weeks, currently ranking fifth.
It was also the current hot song.
The second singer was Link Music's rapper Wiz Khalifa, who planned to release his new album "Deal or No Deal" at the end of February. The first promotional single was "Black and Yellow."
This single was originally Wiz Khalifa's championship single. Last year, Link gave Wiz some creative ideas, and the rest was completed by Wiz.
In this process, Link also gave some of his own modification opinions.
The song was similar to the original version.
This single was released on January 5th, with first-week sales of 35,000 copies, ranking 42nd on the singles chart and 5th on the rap chart.
This week, it entered the top ten, ranking sixth, and first on the rap chart.
The third singer was Justin's mentor, Usher, who planned to release his new album "Raymond v. Raymond" in March.
The production lineup for this album was super strong.
The producers included the Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z, the famous producer RedOne who created Lady Gaga's famous album "The Fame," and Mariah Carey's royal producer Jermaine Dupri, among 12 other gold medal producers.
He also released his first single "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)" this week.
It debuted at number 32 on the singles chart in its first week, a good start.
These three albums represented pop music, rap music, and R&B, respectively. Together with Lady Antebellum's country music album, musicians from several mainstream genres in the music industry had released new songs at the beginning of the year.
The competition was fierce from the start, which also put some pressure on Link to release his album in March.
Link then looked at the other rankings on the album chart.
His debut album "The Fighter," after being released for a year, had dropped out of the top 200 on the album chart, but its overseas sales were still considerable, with cumulative global sales of 6.83 million copies.
His second album "Fearless" was still stubbornly ranked in the top 100 of the album chart, with sales of 4,053 copies this week, ranking 73rd. Its cumulative sales in the United States were 3.223 million copies, and it was expected to catch up with Taylor's second album "Fearless" in US sales.
The overseas sales of "Fearless" had already exceeded 10 million copies, reaching a cumulative 12.25 million copies. With the ongoing tour, album sales were also slowly increasing.
This album also became Link's first diamond album.
There were also two singers under Link Music. Lana's debut album sold 8,229 copies this week, ranking 28th on the album chart, with cumulative sales of 682,000 copies in the United States.
This album sold well in the UK, selling 150,000 copies in more than two months, with total overseas sales reaching 1.35 million copies.
Bruno Mars' debut album, in its 8th week of release, sold 21,000 copies this week, with cumulative sales of 787,000 copies in the United States, surpassing Lana, and had a good chance of breaking one million copies.
The overseas sales of this album were average, with only 350,000 copies sold in more than a month.
But it also passed the million mark.
Link Music launched three singers this year, releasing four albums, with one diamond album, one six-times platinum album, and two platinum albums.
All were platinum or above.
This news also caused a sensation in the music industry.
Although the five major record companies also had singers who sold platinum albums last year, they had to sell dozens or even hundreds of albums to have one platinum album.
But Link Music's debut was platinum, and four consecutive albums were platinum or above.
This achievement was too dazzling.
It showed that Link Music had found the magic formula for selling albums and could continuously release platinum albums.
This also led to the continuous rise of Link Music's market value, from 120 million to 150 million US dollars at the end of last year to the current 160 million to 180 million US dollars.
The five major record companies all sent acquisition offers, hoping to become the parent company of Link Music and grab this golden egg-laying hen.
However, Link and Ivanka had no plans to sell their shares for the time being.
He planned to sell some shares to the five major companies after releasing four albums, on the one hand to strengthen cooperation, and on the other hand to cash out some funds.
Selena's debut album "Come & Get It" was in its 13th week of release, with sales of 1,027 copies this week, ranking 151st on the album chart, and cumulative sales of 887,000 copies in the United States.
The reason why Selena's album was able to sell nearly 900,000 copies was not only because of a few hit songs, but also because she was a popular actress with her own traffic, and Disney's publicity ability was strong enough and willing to spend money on promotion.
In this regard, the singers under Link Music couldn't compare to her.
It was also because of this that Link didn't sign Selena to Link Music.
In the last few pages of "Billboard" magazine, there was a survey report on the music industry in 2009.
From January 5, 2009, to January 3, 2010, the total sales of the US record market reached 373.9 million copies, a 12.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2008, which was 428.4 million copies.
At the same time, digital download sales increased by 16.1% compared to last year, reaching an all-time high of 76.4 million copies.
This data also showed that physical records would be in a downward trend in the future, and digital sales channels on online platforms would become more important.
Link decided to strengthen promotion on online platforms in the future, communicate more with fans online, and strive to sell more albums.
"When did you arrive?"
Suddenly someone asked in front of him.
Chapter 257: Frolicking in the Recording Studio
Link looked up and saw Taylor staring at him in surprise, blinking her blue eyes.
"It's been almost forty minutes," Link said, looking at his watch.
"Why didn't you tell me? This makes me look so silly."
Taylor pouted, dissatisfied.
"You are silly!"
Link reached out and pinched her nose.
Emily came in with a cup of coffee and smiled, "Link just came to deliver coffee, and you scolded him for putting it on the table."
"Really?"
Taylor patted her forehead, embarrassed, and wrapped her arm around his, "You're not angry, are you? You know, I often forget everything when I'm busy."
"Do you need to apologize? It's not the first time this has happened, I'm used to it."
Link shrugged and smiled.
"Used to it? You make it sound like I have a bad temper. I'm only like this when I'm working. I'm very gentle at other times, right?"
Taylor tilted her delicate, fair face up, asking seriously.
"Of course! You're always gentle, that's the truth."
"That's more like it!"
Taylor wrinkled her nose and smiled, her fingers releasing the skin on his waist.
Link smiled gently and asked her about the preparation of her new album.
Taylor's third album was also a love album.
She had prepared more than a hundred songs and planned to select more than ten high-quality ones for the new album.
All of these songs were written and composed by her, and she also served as the music director and producer of the new album, which meant that she would be responsible for the main work of this album.
Link was filled with admiration. Compared to Taylor, a versatile musical talent, he could only be considered a singer.
"Our third albums are all love songs. Do you want to compete to see whose album sells more?"
Taylor asked, leaning on his shoulder.
"No way! I'm a pop singer, a boxing champion, and a movie star. I have more fans than you. Competing with you is bullying you."
"What do you mean? Are you saying you'll definitely win?"
Taylor pointed her finger at his chin, making a gun shape.
"Is there any doubt?"
Link put his hand into her clothes, touching her smooth waist and smiling.
"Hmph! It's too early to say that. Whether an album sells well or not mainly depends on the quality of the songs, not hype. Every song on my new album is carefully selected. I don't think I'll lose to you. How about a bet? If I lose, I'll make you breakfast for ten days. If you lose, hey, don't touch me there."
Taylor pressed his hand on her waist and rolled her eyes at him.
Link smiled gently, kissed her, and said, "If you lose, I'll make you ten breakfasts, and you have to finish them no matter what I make. If I lose... how about we try some new positions?"
"Hey! You bad guy, I'm talking seriously, can you not be so perverted?"
Taylor sat on his lap, dissatisfied, and pinched his face, bumping her nose against his.
"Straight to the point, do you dare to bet or not?"
Link held her perky buttocks and smiled.
Taylor frowned her slender eyebrows, blinked her blue eyes, thought for a moment, and kissed him.
"Deal! I will definitely not lose."
"That's not necessarily true!"
Link smiled gently, put Taylor on the sofa, and lowered his head to kiss her red lips.
---
When Mrs. Andrea arrived at the Big Guitar Studio, it was past three in the afternoon. The weather in Los Angeles was getting warmer, and she was wearing a knitted jacket. After walking a few dozen meters in the sun, she felt sweat on her forehead.
In recent years, following Taylor around, she lacked exercise. Maybe she should listen to Link's advice and exercise more, like Taylor doing yoga every day.
When she arrived at the recording studio, she found that Taylor's studio door was closed, and only Emily was sitting on the sofa in front of the door, drinking coffee and reading a magazine.
"Where's Taylor? Did she leave early?"
Mrs. Andrea asked, taking off her sunglasses.
"No!"
Emily held back a laugh and pointed to the closed door.
"Link is inside!"
"Link? When did he come? What are they doing inside?"
Mrs. Andrea asked in confusion.
Before Emily could answer, seeing her strange expression, Andrea seemed to understand something, and a helpless smile appeared on her round face.
Logically speaking, she was quite pleased that Link and Taylor could maintain such an intimate and romantic relationship after dating for over a year.
No one knew Taylor's personality better than her - willful, strong, stubborn, and a bit selfish.
Andrea used to worry about Taylor's relationships, not thinking any boy could tolerate her for too long.
But Link and Taylor had been together for over a year, and although they occasionally had minor conflicts, they had never had any major fights.
She was happy for them.
But these two youngsters were too mischievous. It was still broad daylight, and there were staff outside, yet they were fooling around in the recording studio. It would be too embarrassing if word got out.
"How long have they been in there?"
"Almost an hour."
Emily glanced at her watch and couldn't help but laugh.
Andrea shook her head helplessly. Because of the soundproofing of the recording studio, she couldn't hear anything from outside. She took out her phone and checked the time.
It was time for the Grammy rehearsal.
Both Link and Taylor had to go, and she couldn't care less about breaking up the lovebirds. She directly called Link.
Because Taylor often didn't bring her phone into the recording studio, calling her was useless.
After three or four minutes, the studio door slowly opened, and Link walked out, holding Taylor's hand.
"Hi, Annie!"
Link greeted Andrea with a smile.
Taylor lowered her head and called out "Mom," patting Link's back twice.
Their clothes looked neat and tidy.
Except for a few faint red scratches on Link's neck, Taylor's loose blonde hair was a bit messy, her face was flushed, her blue eyes were watery, her blue jeans were slightly wrinkled, and she wasn't wearing a bra under her T-shirt.
Nothing else could be seen.
"It's time for rehearsal, get ready, we're going to Staples Center."
Andrea glanced at the two of them, picked up her bag, and left.
"Okay, Annie, we'll be right there."
Link responded.
"It's all your fault!"
Taylor punched Link's shoulder lightly, burying her flushed face and complaining, "Every time you come to the studio, you distract me and make it impossible for me to focus on recording. Emily, put up a sign outside my studio door in the future, saying 'Link and cats are not allowed.'"
"Okay!"
Emily smiled slightly and walked away on her own.
Link reached out and stroked Taylor's hair, letting it fall naturally over her shoulders, and smiled, "Don't be shy, Annie and Emily are adults, they won't say anything."
"But you distracted me. I could have written a really great song, it's all your fault, the inspiration for that song is suddenly gone."
"Okay, it's my fault, I'll definitely pay attention next time."
Link smiled gently.
The two of them got dressed again and left the recording studio together. They first drove home to change into performance clothes and then went to the Staples Center to participate in the rehearsal for the 52nd Grammy Awards.
(End of chapter)
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