“Very well,” Crow said.
Here it comes, Jake thought. This is where they try to fuck us.
But they did not. At least not yet anyway. “National will agree to a twenty percent royalty rate for promotion of both CDs,” Doolittle said.
Again, the look was passed around between the KVA representatives. This time, even Matt joined in. KVA had paid forty percent royalties for the first Jake Kingsley and Celia Valdez CDs. And they had been paying twenty-three to twenty-five percent to Aristocrat for the subsequent ones. “Twenty percent?” Pauline asked. “Are you serious?”
“It seems a fair offer, does it not?” asked Doolittle.
“It seems suspiciously fair,” Pauline said. “What’s the catch?”
“There is no catch,” Doolittle said. “We’ve already explained our philosophy on CD sales to you. As long as we are covering costs and enjoying a small profit, we are happy with that aspect of the business.”
“That covers everything?” Jake asked. “You use all of your assets and pull out all the stops to get us airplay in the North American market? You follow my instructions on how the CDs are promoted and in what order the tunes are released for airplay?”
“Naturally,” Crow said. “Again, you have proven yourself quite worthy of that task over the years, Jake, and, quite frankly, having you do it means we do not have to pay someone to do it for you. We’ll promote just as we did for your first CDs and for all the Matt Tisdale CDs. As long as the radio stations are willing to play the tunes on the air, we’ll push for it and get you heard.”
“Uh ... okay then,” Jake said.
“Right,” agreed Pauline. “If that appears in writing without any of your little clauses slipped in, then I guess we have a deal for MD&P.”
“Excellent,” Doolittle said. “I promise we will slip no clauses in. Now ... can we talk touring?”
“The touring contract will be negotiated separately from MD&P,” Pauline said. “That is how we do business.”
“We would have it no other way,” Doolittle said. “We would like to get some basic stipulations out on the table now, however.”
“Okay,” Pauline said carefully. “Let’s hear what you got for us.”
“Well, in the first place,” Doolittle said, “we will have to insist that the agreement for MD&P be dependent on the successful negotiation and signing of a touring contract for both acts.”
Jake blinked. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Say that again.”
“It’s very simple,” Doolittle explained. “In order for the MD&P contract we just agreed to to be valid and in compliance, we must also agree upon and sign a touring contract for both Matt and Celia. If we fail to come to terms on touring, then the MD&P contract would be in a state of breach.”
Ahhh, Jake thought with sudden understanding of the game afoot, this is where they pull out the schlong and try to stick it in. “I’m sorry,” he said to the suits. “That is not how KVA does business. The touring contract will remain completely separate from the MD&P contract.”
“Goddamn right it will,” Pauline said with a shake of the head. “You have a lot of nerve suggesting something like that, Doolittle. Did you really think we would agree to such an asinine stipulation?”
Doolittle stood his ground. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to insist on this provision,” he said. “If you do not agree to make the MD&P contract dependent on the touring contract, we will need to increase our royalty rate and upfront costs for manufacturing and distribution considerably.”
“How considerably?” asked Celia.
“Well, without a guarantee of future touring revenue flowing in, we would have to make sure that we make a decent profit on the MD&P alone. We would accept no less than half a million dollars per CD for manufacturing and distribution and forty percent royalties for promotion. And even then, we would insist on considerable compensation for the performance agreement for Matt’s earlier catalogue if you were to sign with another entity for touring.”
“How much is considerable compensation?” Pauline asked through clenched teeth.
“Twenty-five percent of gross tour revenue for Matt’s shows,” Doolittle said.
“Twenty-five fucking percent?” Matt yelled, outraged. “Are you out of your fuckin’ minds?”
“We hold the rights to those tunes,” Doolittle said simply. “We have a reasonable expectation to profit from that one way or the other.”
“There’s no way in hell we would give you twenty-five percent of concert revenue just because you have the rights to the songs,” Pauline said. “That is not going to happen.”
“Then I guess we will need to come to an agreement on a touring contract then,” Doolittle said.
“We’re not going to make the MD&P dependent on that,” Jake said. “We’ll go to Aristocrat for MD&P and just not send Matt out on tour before we do that.”
Jake saw Matt tense up at these words. He hoped he would heed the warning he had been given and not say anything to reveal a crack in the armor. Matt was absolutely counting on his share of touring revenue to help pay down his debts and keep his head above water and the thought that they were potentially cutting that avenue off had to be digging into his brain. A few seconds went by, but Matt said nothing. He gritted his teeth audibly, but he said nothing.
“Is that really a reasonable attitude to take, Jake?” Crow asked. “You haven’t even heard our proposal for the touring contract yet.”
“That’s right,” Doolittle said. “As with our MD&P proposal, I think you’ll find it quite fair and comprehensible.”
Jake and Pauline looked at each other for a moment. They then looked at Celia. They all looked at Matt, who was still sitting and gritting. A few nods were passed among the KVA management team. “All right,” Pauline said. “Just for shits and giggles here, let’s hear this fair and comprehensive proposal of yours.”
“Well ... we can’t give you the details right now,” Doolittle said. “We haven’t signed the MD&P contract yet.”
Jake’s eyes darkened dangerously. “Are you seriously suggesting that we sign an MD&P contract that is dependent upon the negotiation of a touring contract without even hearing what you are proposing for terms of the touring contract?”
“That is exactly what I am suggesting,” Doolittle said. “If we were to give you the terms prior to the signing of the MD&P contract, that would give you an unfair advantage.”
“But it’s okay for you to have an unfair advantage by not revealing your terms first?” Jake asked pointedly.
“That is not how we are looking at things here,” Doolittle said smoothly (and with a straight face). “As I said, our terms are fair.”
“In your eyes, I’m sure they are,” Celia said.
“Let me just take a wild guess here, Doolittle,” Pauline said. “The MD&P contract would have wording that would let you go after us for breach of contract if we failed to come to terms on a touring agreement, right?”
“Well ... naturally,” Doolittle said. “Again, without such a stipulation there would be no reason for you to negotiate in good faith.”
“And with such a stipulation there would be no reason for you to negotiate in good faith,” Pauline said. “Sorry, boys. We don’t do this business this way.”
“Then you will be losing out on considerable revenue from Matt’s tour,” Doolittle said.
“Perhaps,” Pauline said, “but if we can’t come to terms and have to go to Aristocrat and shitcan Matt’s tour, you will be missing out on any and all revenue from both CDs and from Celia’s tour, which is going to be quite a money maker.”