George Slander is ready to give up. It's not passive slacking, but that's what it was meant to be.

When preparing the "Don Quixote" album, George was already well aware of the difficulties they would face, not to mention that records and releases would be hard to find, and even if they went on sale, they would probably be drowned in the flood of the market. Even so, he decided to make this album without hesitation and in desperation, hoping to be able to make music that returns to the essence wholeheartedly.

Abraham's attitude, George had already anticipated, and he could not and could not blame Abraham. It's just that in the process of making this album, I became more and more surprised and expectant, and the excitement and excitement reawakened those memories from 20 years ago, when the music was pure, simple, and simple, but profound, rich, and connotative.

It's like the song "My Hands" just now, even simpler than the original arrangement of "Old Pine", except for a folk guitar, there is no musical instrument, but the faint sadness and warmth in the lyrics are outlined, in Lan Li's mellow and hoarse voice, like a cup of coffee in a rainstorm, the world is reckless and noisy, the room is quiet and comfortable, the rich aroma of coffee travels through the humid water vapor, lonely, bitter, but happy and beautiful.

Involuntarily, uncontrollably, George became greedy.

He knows that he is greedy, he hopes that more people can hear such pure music, he hopes that more people can regain their simple happiness, he hopes that more people can appreciate the emotions in the notes, he hopes that ...... Abraham could summon the courage and courage to give Don Quixote a chance. However, he was still delusional after all.

Songs like "My Hands" are destined to go unnoticed. Even if it is released, it is destined that no one will like it.

No one will be quiet, quietly listening to a melody on a rainy afternoon, as if no one will slow down, calm down and read a book carefully, feeling the charm and precipitation of the words between the lines, those seemingly ordinary words, musical notes, but tell about the years, emotions, but also life. In the age of fast food, they will be submerged in a sea in the blink of an eye, and then disappear without a trace, no one knows.

Dreams, Art, Freedom?

Now it has been reduced to a nihilistic slogan, wrapped in the cloak of money supremacy and entertainment to death, and has become a means for people to entertain themselves and become a means for enterprises to stimulate sales.

Abraham's concerns, George knew better than anyone. He is now seriously thinking about whether to abandon the physical distribution channel and choose to upload and distribute the entire album in the form of digital sound, just like the two previous singles of Lan Li. However, those real music lovers, those veteran folk lovers, and those target audiences of "Don Quixote" are just outside the main consumer group of digital music sources, they are all complete fans of physical albums, and even vinyl lovers.

It's like a paradox, a paradox that is doomed to fail.

Listening to Roy's arguments and tirade, George's eyes couldn't help but reddened slightly, he tried to change, and he was changing, but it was really too difficult, he looked at Roy in front of him, and then at Lan Li who was recording, and the tip of his tongue was filled with a burst of bitterness, perhaps, they were a group of outsiders who were destined to be excluded from the margins of society.

"I think it's a very interesting album, but I don't know, is Lan Li interested in giving it to our studio to release?"

The sound in his ears made George stunned, turned his head to look over, and then saw the man with a simple expression, and said seriously, "Of course, we are only a very small studio, and the publicity resources and distribution channels are very limited, and the budget cannot be too much." ”

George was so surprised and surprised that he couldn't speak for a while, but Abraham spoke George's inner thoughts first, "Teddy, are you serious?"

Teddy-Bell, CEO of Eleven Studios. The studio was founded and developed by the two Bell brothers, and as Teddy said, it was a very small independent studio, not even a "company", and they have always been dedicated to the production and distribution of independent music. Jason Mayez's two albums, as well as Bruno Mars' first album before heading to Atlantic Records, were both released by Eleven Studios.

However, Eleven Studios has a very small workload and has always been locked into the indie music scene, having only produced and released five albums in the past three years, not to mention the top big companies, even most of the independent labels. It really takes "essenceism" to the extreme.

Although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of organs. Eleven Studios has a very good reputation in the industry, and has maintained a good cooperative relationship with Warner and Sony among the five major record companies - Bruno Mars went to Atlantic Records, or Teddy personally arranged to persuade Abraham to sign a contract.

George had never considered Studio Eleven before, because he had never dealt with Studio Eleven, and his connections could not extend to this studio, and if even the well-known Abraham lacked confidence in "Don Quixote", George did not have the confidence to convince Teddy.

As for renting a recording studio, it's just renting. After all, there aren't many options in New York to find a studio with the right price and high-end equipment.

Today, Abraham came to Studio Eleven as a guest, and Teddy came to entertain him as the host, and came to visit the studio and chat for a while. To put it simply, Teddy is just a companion. Therefore, when Abraham and George discussed the possibility of cooperation, Teddy did not interject, but seeing that Abraham was not interested, he took the initiative to stand up.

"Of course. Teddy smiled and said that he was sure that his brother would love the Don Quixote album very much, and now he could imagine that he couldn't put it down, "We have a lot of disadvantages, and it's really not the best choice, but we also have advantages that the Atlantic can't match." ”

There was a sense of confidence in the simple words, "We are willing to keep all the style of this album as it is, respect the wishes of the creators, I think, this is the essence of the whole album, and then, in terms of royalties, we are also willing to give up one or two percentage points, in exchange, the production budget of the album must be controlled within 100,000 US dollars, and the exact number can be discussed slowly." ”

Thousands of butterflies fluttered in George's chest, and the whole person was immersed in irrepressible excitement.

Is Studio Eleven the best choice? Of course not! Their scale is too small, the distribution channels are too narrow, the publicity resources are too small, and even the production budget is limited, according to Teddy's conditions, in order to finish the album, George is bound to post upside down, and with the scale of Studio Eleven and the style of "Don Quixote", it is estimated that this album will hit the streets.

But is Studio Eleven the best choice? Surely, they are willing to respect Don Quixote's creative philosophy, they are willing to commit to fifteen percent royalties, even one or two percent, and most importantly, their emphasis and dedication to independent music will be a positive factor in the production and promotion of the album.

"......What if," George found his voice trembling slightly, "I mean, what if, the whole album has more than fifteen tracks?"

"Fifteen?" Teddy muttered for a moment, "If that's the case, fifteen percent in terms of royalties might be our limit, but as I said earlier, it's just an exchange of intentions right now, and we can sit down and talk about the specifics, and I'm sure we'll come to a consensus for this album." ”

"No problem, of course. For more than two months, George was frustrated, and Abraham was his last straw, and if that didn't work, digital was their only option. Suddenly, another window opened behind him, and that joy, that kind of happiness, that kind of happiness, made George so overjoyed that he lost his temper.

Looking at George dancing with his hands, Abraham smiled dumbly, and he looked at Teddy, "But, why?"

Any reasonable person can judge that "Don Quixote" is a project that is bound to fail, a project that is doomed to lose money, a project that has no future, and only an idealist like George would make a desperate bet, even if it is bankrupt.

Teddy smiled innocently and looked at Roy, who was sitting diagonally across from him, "He's right. Everybody wants to be commercially successful, so who is going to do the art work? I can't imagine a day when all movie theaters will show movies like 'Transformers.'" There's nothing I can do about making art, but at least, I can support it, within the limits of my ability. ”

Roy's gaze fell on Teddy, and then he saw Teddy say lightly, "That's what dreams are, sometimes all you need is a little irrational, and a little crazy." Such a simple sentence made Roy's blood boil.

For many years, he has witnessed the disillusionment of one dream after another as a public broker, and even he himself thought that he had given up dreaming, hard work, and resistance. But now, at this moment, in Teddy, in George, and in Lan Li, he felt the light in his heart again.

"What do you think?" said Teddy with a smile, Roy knew that he was saying it to himself, and he nodded, "Maybe that's where the album's name comes from." ”

Don Quixote, the fool who fought against the giant windmills.