Chapter Nine #2
“You look amazing,” Evan said.
“Thanks.” Jesse sat down beside him and rested his hand on Evan’s thigh. He looked into Evan’s eyes, recognizing an already familiar glint. He smiled and wet his lips with a slow lick of his tongue to let Evan know they were thinking the same thing.
Kenny loudly cleared his throat.
Jesse flicked him a quick glance, then turned back to Evan. “Can you give us any idea of what to expect?”
Evan took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Well, I was seventeen when I got signed, went on my first tour at eighteen, and even though my contract was updated before I started my third album, Allegro, some things have changed.”
“Hmmm, right,” Jesse said. “So, what you’re saying is that it was so long ago you can’t remember, and the stone tablet your contract was on got washed away in the Great Flood.”
Evan aimed a sarcastic smirk at him. “I’m sorry, I was going to tell you about record contracts, but since you’re still working your way through Curious George Goes to the Zoo, it’d go right over your pretty little head. However, I will talk to Kenny since he’s a lot nicer than you.”
Jesse let out a cynical snort. “He just hides it better.”
Kenny punched Jesse on the arm. “Please, for five minutes, just close it! Some of us are nervous about this.”
Evan put his index finger to Jesse’s lips. “Shhh, be a good boy for five minutes.”
Jesse caught Evan’s finger in his mouth and sucked it down to the middle joint before slowly drawing back and letting it go.
Out the corner of his eye, he saw Kenny’s mortified expression and fought to keep from yelling at him to chill.
He knew Kenny would be shocked at finding out about him and Evan, and maybe springing it on him like this wasn’t the best way to go, but when Evan asked if he could come with him to see his apartment, he couldn’t say no.
He wanted to greedily snatch every second with Evan he could, and he figured Kenny would freak out for a moment, then shrug it off and go back to being his laidback self.
That’s how Kenny was, he accepted everybody, so he didn’t understand why he was being intolerant now.
Evan chuckled at what Jesse did and Kenny’s reaction to it.
“If you are offered a contract today, get ready for some heavy reading. Record contracts are made with the label in mind, not the artist. They want to make sure they have their asses covered every which way they can and squeeze out every penny that’s possible.
There’ll be points set aside that are supposed to summarize what’s of interest to you, but read the whole thing.
Really, you should have an entertainment lawyer with you or at least a manager, but,” he gazed around their apartment, “I can see your extravagant lifestyle doesn’t leave you with a lot of extra cash. ”
Jesse bumped his shoulder against Evan’s. “Hey, you may have a kickass view of the lake, but you should try looking out our window between midnight and four and watching what goes on in the alley. It’s better than TV.”
“Yeah, I bet. So anyhow, with the cutbacks Phoenix has had I’m thinking you’ll be dealing straight with Greg and he’s pretty honest. He used to handle everything for me from managing to publicity.
Granted, I might have driven him into the ground, but I don’t like having a lot of people in my business.
So don’t worry, he’ll explain everything.
You’ll probably still end up feeling like a two dollar hooker on a discount dollar day, but at least you’ll understand why. ”
“Damn,” Kenny muttered.
“What else?” Jesse asked.
“Watch your royalty percentage. Depending on where an album is sold, your royalty rate can fluctuate. Normally you’ll get more when your CD is sold through normal retail stores, but its all about Internet downloads now, so make sure you’re not getting screwed on a low percentage for album or individual song downloads, and watch that the points are coming out of retail sales not wholesale. ”
“What’s the average percentage?” Jesse said.
“It varies, but if you get ten points out of Phoenix, then that’s about average for a new band. Even though Phoenix isn’t the size of the big boys, they’ve always been able to hold their own, even before I signed with them.”
Kenny said, “I bet you could go into any record company and demand the highest percentage you wanted.”
Evan shook his head. “When I renegotiated my contract before Allegro, Phoenix got me locked into a ten album deal, moving it up from the five I had originally signed for.”
Jesse snapped his head toward Evan. “Does that mean you have to make six more albums?”
Evan let out a single humorless laugh. “Don’t get your hopes up.
All it means is that if I do decide to make another album, I can only do it with Phoenix unless I get out of my contract or they let me go, neither of which will likely happen.
It’s not unusual for record companies to do that, especially if they think the artist has some staying power.
But it doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to make ten or however many albums either.
If your first one doesn’t sell they can cut you loose and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Also, when they throw the advance at you, don’t get excited over the large number.
It includes your recording budget. You won’t see any royalties until that’s paid off first. On the plus side, if your album bombs you don’t have to pay that cash back, so shoot for as high an advance as you can. It might be the only cash you’ll see.”
“Well, that’s good at least,” Kenny said.
“It’s a plus, but you have to sell a lot of albums to make that money back. It takes selling 500,000 just to hit Gold, 1,000,000 for Platinum, and there’s a hell of a lot of expenses in between to eat up your royalties before you ever see a check.”
Kenny stood up. “This is a lot to remember.”
Evan rose and walked toward the door with Jesse. “You’ll be fine. Just don’t sign anything if you have any doubts, not even a Post-it note. And don’t agree to anything verbally either. You’d be amazed at what a label can turn into a binding agreement.”
Kenny led the way down the stairs. Jesse lingered beside Evan, walking so close their shoulders touched. He grazed his fingers against Evan’s hand, and Evan lightly hooked his fingers with his.
“That was the most I’ve heard you talk,” Jesse said softly.
Evan gave him a sideways glance, his lips curved up in a wicked grin. “Well, that’s because my mouth has been full most of the time since we met.”
Jesse laughed. “And I thought I had a perverted sense of humor.”
Kenny leaped down the last two stairs and darted for the door. He held it open for them, standing with his eyes focused out on the street.
Evan pulled Jesse to a halt by his hand.
“I’m going to be in the city for a while doing some shopping.
If you have any questions or need anything, call me.
And don’t take any shit off Greg or anyone else down there.
Like I said, Greg is trustworthy enough, but his bottom line is always making money.
Your music is a commodity to him, and you wouldn’t be going to his office if he didn’t think he could make money off you, so keep that in mind while you’re negotiating. ”
Jesse nodded. “Okay. Thanks, for everything.”
Evan caressed Jesse’s cheek with the back of his hand, then kissed him. Jesse heard the door slam close and knew Kenny had moved away. He leaned into Evan, wrapping his arms around him. Evan held him tighter, and it was all Jesse could do to force himself to break the kiss first.
“Quit trying to make me late. I have a contract to sign, music to make, and all your record sales to break.”
“That’s so cute. You really think you can compete with me,” Evan said, tousling Jesse’s hair.
Jesse ran his fingers through his hair, trying to fix it by feel. “You’re just nervous because you know it’s true.”
Evan opened the door for him. “I don’t think I’ll lose any sleep over it.”
Jesse walked him to the Escalade and leaned through the open driver’s side window once Evan climbed in. “I’ll call you after we wrap things up.”
“Alright. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Jesse backed away from the truck and watched the taillights disappear around the corner, already missing Evan’s warm body beside him. He took a deep breath and spun toward Kenny’s car.