Rhythm and Ray: A DJ’s Journey

[Chapter 60: Agent]

On the afternoon after finals, Ryan didn't head home. Instead, he returned to team practice. He felt a bit guilty about missing so much training, but he also had some personal image promotion plans set up by his PR manager, Paula. Up in the bleachers of the school sports field, Ryan's photographer Jack was snapping photos of him while he trained, just a moment ago he had taken some candid shots of Ryan's life around school.

During a break, Ryan made his way back to the bleachers to check out the photos Jack took.

"Hold on, at this moment you need to roll your sleeves up and show off your muscles. Yeah, just like that," Jack pressed the shutter.

"You look great, Ryan. These photos will help fans get to know you better. But I'll need some extra time to polish them. It'd be great if you could also do a quick interview, maybe a little introduction about yourself that I can send out tonight..." Jack struggled to remember the girl's name.

"Social media assistant, Elizabeth Olsen," Ryan replied without looking up.

"Right, that's her." Jack nodded.

"You know her email." Ryan handed the camera back to him.

"I know."

...

At that moment, Ryan directly called Elizabeth, only for the call to be quickly cut off.

[I'm in class, Ryan,] she replied, accompanied by an annoyed emoji.

Ryan texted her about the evening's work, including editing, a brief introduction, formatting, and publishing.

[I might have other plans tonight.]

[Well then, you need to act fast. I want to see the blog published by eight at the latest.]

[But it's almost five now.]

[That's why I said you need to move quickly.]

Ryan didn't waste more time on excuses. Just last night, Elizabeth had posted her first social media post after becoming a social media assistant, summarizing the feedback from various electronic music outlets on Harlem Shake and Tremor.

...

Resident Advisor detailed features on Dr. Ray, naming him as the hottest new DJ in North America. They claimed that Ryan could lift the spirits of party-goers with his music, and that Tremor played a part in that.

Ryan agreed with the article; after all, there weren't many well-known new DJs in North America.

Mixmag had named Tremor as last month's best track, urging anyone who hadn't bought it yet to get a digital copy. DJ Magazine highlighted Harlem Shake's viral rise in North America, calling it "an organic merger of electronic music and internet dissemination, a great party anthem, and possibly the start of electronic music's popularity in North America."

XLR8R, known for its focus on avant-garde art, had begun analyzing the distinctive sawtooth waveforms in Tremor, predicting this sound would quickly become a trend in electronic music.

Additionally, Ryan's music appeared in various European electronic music media outlets, such as Pitchfork, FACT Magazine, and Electronic Beats. Mainstream electronic music media gave Tremor incredibly high ratings, while Harlem Shake had a slightly weaker reception in terms of media reviews.

As for the newly created track... Ryan felt confident the media reviews would be even better. Nowadays, electronic music either focused on pure, carefree partying or dealt with love and relationships. Taylor was particularly skilled in this area.

From this perspective, Wake Me Up managed to elevate the thematic content, boasting a simple yet harmonious structure, with only a few instruments used and an incredibly catchy melody.

Yet, there were still challenges. Much like the sawtooth sound earlier, the electronic version of this song featured tones Ryan hadn't heard before. However, considering Deadmau5's versatile sound plugins, he figured it wouldn't be too difficult to replicate.

Just then, Ryan's phone rang again.

...

"Hey, Ryan, I admit I misjudged you. I didn't expect you to rise to fame this quickly," a gruff voice came from the other end.

It wasn't hard to guess the speaker was a big guy, given the timber of his voice.

Ryan thought for a moment and suddenly recalled, "Just lucky, huh? Tiesto."

The call had come from one of the most famous DJs in the world, known as Tiesto. "I was backstage during your performance at Ultra. I thought Tremor was a Deadmau5 song, only later to find out a high school student made it. I said it was worth it to sign you at all costs; I didn't expect you to be taken by a Jewish guy," Tiesto recounted the past.

What sounded like a simple greeting turned into a casual chat between them. Tiesto extended an invitation for Ryan to join him on a European tour. It didn't feel like just pleasantries; Tiesto mentioned their agency had its own representation in Europe.

Ryan declined the offer, feeling it wasn't the right time to head to Europe yet.

"Okay, we'll always welcome you in the Netherlands. Many people here want to meet you, and there are plenty who want to remix your original tracks," Tiesto added.

"Remix?"

"Exactly. Plus, your song is already being played in several big clubs across Europe. To be honest, those clubs should be paying you licensing fees," Tiesto continued.

Internationally, music copyrights fell into five categories: reproduction rights, distribution rights, public performance rights, derivative work rights, and public display rights. Master recordings and songwriting were considered separately, adding up to ten rights in total.

A number of clubs infringed on Ryan's public performance rights alongside those of the record label.

"Then I'll have to let the record label's legal team handle this matter," Ryan responded. Domestic infringement had been covered, but Europe was still a mess.

"That's true; the label's legal team would need to travel all the way to Europe. Just gathering evidence would be a big challenge. However, I can help. If your label is open to it, we could establish a licensing agency agreement, which would ensure you gain an extra income, and the same for the record company. What do you think?" Tiesto finally expressed his intentions.

"I need to discuss this with Scooter first," Ryan replied.

"No problem; I'll be waiting for your call."

Ryan turned and called Scooter.

...

"Clubs? Republic Records hasn't had this issue before; UMG probably won't agree to it. There are local legal departments in Europe, but this involves uncharted territory, and Europe is leading in this aspect. I think a collaboration is worth a shot," Scooter said on the other end.

"Can you handle the parent company?"

"I think so."

"Great, then it's settled. Also, I've found candidates for PR and legal teams," Ryan mentioned about his crew.

"You found them on your own?" Scooter sounded surprised on the call.

"Yep, through a friend's introduction."

"Sounds good; as long as you think the price is right, it's your team after all," Scooter replied with a smile, seeming unconcerned about this matter and not keen on exerting control over Ryan.

"By the way, I've written a new song that I think is pretty good." Ryan shifted the topic.

"Really?" Scooter expressed genuine surprise.

"You didn't let me down, Ryan."

"This song isn't just composed of lyrics; it's a mainstream electronic music hit and has two versions. This time I could collaborate with a country music artist."

"A country artist? Country music is Sony's turf, and there aren't many country labels under UMG. Who are you thinking of collaborating with?"

"Taylor Swift. If her voice fits, that's the plan," Ryan stated.

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.