Burbank.

The headquarters of Alista Records is located on Oliver Avenue north of Warner Studios.

Today is Wednesday, June 7th.

Clive Davis, president of Alista Records, arrived early in the morning and welcomed Mark Belford, the director of Daenerys Entertainment in charge of the promotion of "Bodyguard". Mark Belford was personally transferred to the "Scream" publicity team by Simon at a conference last year, and was quickly promoted to vice president of Daenerys Distribution through his outstanding performance in the promotion process of the subsequent films.

In the office, Clive Davis warmly welcomed Mark, but he tried his best to shirk his hope that Whitney Houston would return from Toronto as soon as possible to continue the follow-up work on "The Bodyguard".

After the release of "The Bodyguard", the reputation quickly collapsed, and Clive Davis saw that the opportunity was not good, and immediately sent Whitney Houston to Canada in the name of vacation, hoping to avoid the impact that the failure of "The Bodyguard" might have on Whitney Houston's singing career.

In fact, judging from the box office alone, "Bodyguard" is not a commercial failure. Just the expected $50 million domestic box office in North America is basically enough for Daenerys Entertainment to recover the entire budget cost. It's just that the reputation of this movie is too bad, and many critics also point the finger at Whitney Houston's acting skills.

It took years of ups and downs for Alista Records to finally welcome a top superstar, and Whitney Houston was the lifeblood of Clive Davis, and out of prudence, he had no intention of letting the company's pillar be like Madonna in Hollywood.

As for the soundtrack record of "Bodyguard", Clive Davis has no expectations, and he now only hopes that fans will not give up their support for Whitney Houston because of this low-quality album.

"Mark, Whitney was tired from the first few months of promotion, and now that the movie has been released, I don't think she needs to participate in these subsequent events. ”

"It's just an interview with MTV, Clive, or, if Miss Houston can't find time to come back, we can have the MTV setup team fly to Canada, and you just have to arrange for someone to work with you over there. ”

MTV was originally the best platform for singers to promote themselves.

It's just that Clive Davis has already made up his mind to let Whitney Houston get out of the entanglement with "The Bodyguard" as much as possible, so he insisted: "It's a pity, Mark, Whitney is on vacation right now, and she doesn't want to be disturbed." ”

Mark Belford continued to patiently communicate with Clive Davis, and seeing that the other party's attitude was insistent, the atmosphere inevitably became deadlocked: "Clive, the success or failure of a project is always a matter of certainty in Hollywood. If it's just because a movie has a bad reputation, Miss Houston responds negatively, and it's hard for her to develop much in Hollywood. ”

Clive Davis remained unmoved, saying, "Mark, after this experience, I don't think Whitney is too suitable to develop into an actress, and she will focus on her singing career in the next few years. ”

Mark Belford didn't give up so easily, and was about to try harder, when there was a knock on the office door, and Clive Davis's secretary came in, with a look of wanting to say nothing, and he also saw the figure of the company's distribution manager.

If it were any other time, Clive Davis would definitely be unhappy with the secretary's actions, but this time, he happened to get up and said, "I have other work here, Mark, let's talk next time I have time." ”

Seeing off Mark Belford, Clive Davis brought his subordinate Charles Rhodes into the office, and asked casually as he turned behind his desk, "Charlie, aren't you going to New York in the morning?"

Without waiting for Clive Davis to sit down, Charles Rhodes handed over a folder and said, "Clive, there seems to be something strange about the soundtrack of 'The Bodyguard'. ”

Clive Davis frowned slightly when he heard his subordinate mention the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard", sat down and opened the folder and looked at it: "What is this?"

"Since yesterday afternoon, we've been getting calls from record distributors. This is a record of all the relevant phone calls from yesterday to now......"

Clive Davis had a bad premonition and interrupted, "They're all going to return it?"

Originally, it was expected that the sales of the soundtrack of "Bodyguard" would not be too good, but at the insistence of Daenerys Entertainment, the two parties jointly filled the first batch of 500,000 records, and completed the distribution through the sales channel of Alista Records.

blurted out the words just now, and Clive Davis reacted.

It's only been two days since the record hit the shelves, and it's impossible for a distributor to request a return. After all, no matter how bad the reputation of "Bodyguard" is, with the popularity that Whitney Houston has accumulated in recent years, 500,000 records can definitely be sold.

Charles Rhodes also immediately shook his head to deny Clive Davis's speculation, saying: "No, Clive, they seem to be asking for additional orders for the soundtrack of "Bodyguard". ”

If his guess is unlikely, Clive Davis thinks Charles Rod's words are more unlikely.

Additional order?

Are you kidding.

500,000 records is a huge number for Clive Davis, and more than 90% of the world's music albums sold are not necessarily that much. After Whitney Houston became famous, the second record released two years ago, after a series of long-term chart promotion, finally landed on the Billboard 200 chart, and the sales statistics in the first week were only 460,000 copies.

This is already a rare good result for female singers.

Now, a romantic movie that has been overwhelmingly criticized by the media as 'bloody cliché' and 'lack of novelty', a patchwork mash-up record, and a distribution of 500,000 copies, in just two days, distributors have begun to ask for additional supplies.

Is this possible?

Or.

If true, what does that mean?

After staring at his subordinates for a moment, Clive Davis suddenly glanced down at the document, found a familiar name, picked up the phone on the desk and dialed it.

The phone was answered, and Clive Davis changed into a sophisticated and familiar tone: "Hey, Jeff, good morning...... Oh, it's almost noon over there in New York, I forgot about it, haha...... yes, Charlie said you called yesterday about the soundtrack of Whitney's "Bodyguard," ......"

After five or six phone calls in a row, Clive Davis put down the microphone and looked back at the file with a long list of phone records, a little stunned.

Unexpectedly, it really happened!

Although the retail network has not yet been sold out, distributors in various regions have generally said that based on the sales of the previous two days, this "Bodyguard" soundtrack record is selling much better than expected, and the first batch of sales is simply not enough, and at least needs to be doubled.

Double.

That's 1 million.

Clive Davis is 57 years old this year and has been in the record industry for more than 20 years, and in the past 20 years, he has always watched other singers enviously achieve first-week sales of more than one million, or only Michael Jackson and a few others can achieve this miraculous goal.

Founded in 1974, Alista Records has been on the verge of bankruptcy several times in 15 years, and the parent company has changed from Columbia Pictures to RCA, and now it has become Bertelsmann.

Clive Davis didn't expect that in his career, he might even create a record that sold millions in the first week.

After a moment's pause, Clive Davis grabbed the phone again, dialed a hotel number in Toronto, Canada, and quickly told Whitney Houston to return to Los Angeles as soon as possible.

Ending the call with Whitney Houston, remembering that he had just perfunctorily removed the top of Daenerys' entertainment distribution department, Clive Davis only struggled for a moment, and decided not to inform the other party for the time being. Alista Records should now have a lot of initiative.

It's just that, thinking about the sharing contract signed with Daenerys Entertainment, Clive Davis immediately felt pain again.

According to Clive Davis's more than 20 years of experience in the industry, the global sales of the "Bodyguard" soundtrack record in the next few years should be about 40 to 50 times the data of the first week, that is, 40 million to 50 million copies, which is more than the combined global sales of Whitney Houston's first two records.

At the end of the '80s, the average price of a record was about $10, although there were different materials such as vinyl tapes. Total global sales of 40 million to 50 million copies translate into $400 million to $500 million in revenue. Based on the calculation of 50% gross profit, Daenerys Entertainment also has a 50% gross profit share, which is equivalent to taking $2.5 from each record, which is multiplied by the total sales, which is $100 million to $125 million.

With a single record of more than $100 million, even the newly integrated Bertelsmann Music Group, the parent company of Alista Records, may not have that much net profit in a year.

Thinking about how to find a way to intercept more profits next, Clive Davis neatly ordered Charles Rhodes to convene an emergency meeting of the company's top management. In any case, make sure that this record sells first.

Clive Davis did not immediately inform the unexpected sales of the soundtrack record of "The Bodyguard", and Daenerys Entertainment quickly received the news.

Initially, it was Daenerys Entertainment Records employees who heard the news and reported it to Nancy Brill, who was in charge of the company's record business. Realizing the importance of this matter, Nancy Brill immediately called Clive Davis's office, and then rushed from Santa Monica to Burbank.

In this era, it is not uncommon for a record to sell 10 million or 20 million copies worldwide, which is roughly equivalent to a Hollywood blockbuster movie with a box office of more than 100 million. However, a record that is expected to sell 40 or 50 million copies worldwide is completely at the level of phenomenal movies like "Alien ET" and "Star Wars".

Aside from Simon, neither Daenerys Entertainment nor Alista Records expected the soundtrack of "Bodyguard" to sell so well. Everyone's original expectation was that the box office success of "Bodyguard" would lead to the sales of the soundtrack, and as long as the global sales of this record exceeded 10 million copies, it would be a success in the eyes of many.

In the memories of later people, when it comes to the original soundtrack of the movie, most people may think of "Titanic".

But in fact, until Simon's rebirth, the best-selling movie soundtrack record in music history has always been "The Bodyguard". "Titanic" sold only 30 million soundtrack records, while "Bodyguard" sold a staggering 45 million albums. Even on the overall list of records sold across all genres, the sales of the soundtrack of "Bodyguard" can squeeze into the top five.

Now, the word-of-mouth failure of the "Bodyguard" movie, and the unexpected best-selling soundtrack record has become a breakthrough for the box office of the movie.

Clive Davis is also a man who is good at seeing the wind and steering the rudder.

The North American hot sales of the original soundtrack of "Bodyguard" has been formed, however, the sales of this record, the overseas market, if you want to achieve the hot sales situation in North America, you must cooperate with the "Bodyguard" movie, although this film does not please the filmmakers, but it is also a carrier to convey the influence of the original soundtrack. If it weren't for the emotional conveyance of the film's story, an old song from the 70s like "I Will Always Love You", which is the main track of the soundtrack, would not have become a hit.

Therefore, when the record was successful, Clive Davis immediately forgot about his previous refusal to let Whitney Houston continue to participate in the promotion of the film, and took the initiative to negotiate with Daenerys about the follow-up promotion of the film and the record.

In order to maximize the effect of 'event marketing', under the active control of Daenerys Entertainment and Alista Records, the second batch of distribution of the "Bodyguard" soundtrack record was artificially delayed by one day in some designated areas. As a result, in the last few days of the week, New York and Los Angeles, cities with huge media influence, soon appeared in the news that the "Bodyguard" soundtrack was out of stock because it was too popular.

Things are always unexpected.

Dolly Parton's 1974 song "I Will Always Love You" has not attracted much attention for more than a decade, and "The Bodyguard", a bloody romance movie with a bloody plot, has also been criticized by film critics as incomplete, but the combination of the two is like a well-concocted wine, producing a magical chemical reaction.

With the popularity of the soundtrack record of "The Bodyguard" and the rapid popularity of "I Will Always Love You", audiences who were originally prejudiced against "The Bodyguard" due to the influence of media word-of-mouth began to pay attention to the film again.

In the week from June 2 to June 8, "Raiders of the Lost Ark 3" easily held the throne of the weekly box office champion, collecting another $30.85 million, and the cumulative box office reached $86.76 million. The box office of "Bodyguard" was as expected, ending up at $23.63 million in the first seven days of the first week, which is almost half of the box office figure of "Raiders of the Lost Ark 3" in its first full week.

However, when the news spread that the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard" had miraculously and unexpectedly sold well, both the studios and the outside media generally no longer believed that the domestic box office potential of "The Bodyguard" was only $50 million.