Reborn in America

Chapter 28: Act immediately when there is news

The victory of the Second World War brought great benefits to the United States, and also brought profound changes to the domestic economy and culture. Due to the post-war economic prosperity, the cause of literature and art has been greatly developed, and music has also entered rapid development. period.

In the 1950s, there were more people attending concerts than people watching baseball games. Coupled with the surge in music programs broadcast by radio stations every week, the rapid development of the recording industry, and the surge in music audiences, it is necessary to have fresh music from time to time to attract the majority of music audiences.

In addition, due to the development of industry, a large number of rural residents flock to the cities, especially poor whites and blacks in the southern rural areas, who are looking for jobs in big cities in order to seek a better life. These foreigners not only caused a rapid increase in the urban population, but also brought the culture and music of the foreign land into the big cities.

This reality has a profound impact on urban mass music. In fact, in the early 1950s, in addition to popular traditional Ding Bang Alley style songs and jazz, the society has begun to popularize novel country music, pure folk style songs and white songs with a strong black singing style. Wait.

Alex’s "that’sallright" appeared just right. There was no such thing as rock music at this time, but some people have begun to try this kind of creation, but they have not gone as far as Alex.

When Alex from the 21st century sang the song, although he used the style of Elvis Elvis, he unknowingly used a more mature rock style and rhythm in many details. It also makes this song more perfect.

The impact of Alex’s version of "that’sallright" was huge. Soon, other radio stations also got a record of this song, and it was broadcast during prime time. One program even played seven times in a row!

Soon after the broadcast, the front desk phone of the radio station began to ring non-stop. People are eager to find someone who sings this song and want to hear more of this type of song.

After broadcasting "that’sallright", many radio stations will always broadcast another song "Song for Mom" sung by the Carpenters. Although this song is also from later generations, it is country music in itself. After the Carpenter brothers modified and adjusted it, it has highlighted its country atmosphere.

Country music in this era is booming and has many listeners. Most of these listeners are adults over the age of 30. They especially like this song, but they are not as crazy about it as young people, but they will definitely pay for this record.

Neither Alex nor Richard knew about these things, but one day shortly after they arrived at the tavern to perform, they were interrupted by Bart and Angel who rushed over.

"Alex! Richard!" Angel pulled the two brothers off the stage. Bart stood beside her with a smile on his face.

"What's the matter, mother?" Richard looked at Angel very puzzled.

Bart hurriedly explained: "Today the phone rang countless times at home, and a total of 47 people indicated to call for you!"

Richard looked at his father in surprise, and said in disbelief, "Look for us?"

Alex, who was standing beside him, thoughtfully, bit his lip lightly, thinking, is it finally here?

"Yes, they want to interview you!" Angel said excitedly. She has a sense of accomplishment now and wants to shout to everyone: "This is my son, my son!"

Bart couldn't help but said: "Interview by phone, now, right now!"

Angel added: "He said he asked your sons to come over and the interview will begin now!"

"Wow!" Richard jumped up happily!

Alex can't help clenching his fists: "It's a success! It's finally a success!"

There are many radio stations that want to interview them, and they can only come one by one. Two brothers under ten years old, a record shocked the world! What a big news, all American journalists want to interview them!

The penetration rate of TV in this era is still relatively low, and the real popularity should be after the end of the 1950s. One way people receive news is to read the newspaper, and the other is through the radio.

Information about the Carpenter brothers quickly spread across the United States, and almost everyone who listened to the radio knew them. A pair of two brothers from a blue-collar family, the eldest brother Alex, who is 8 years old this year, and the younger brother Richard, who is 5 years old this year, have more than a year of acting experience and can compose and write songs by themselves!

"Hi! This is wjz New York radio station, I’m Nighthawk! Who is there now?" There was a strong voice on the phone. He is the famous host of New York radio station Jim, because he often hosts late night shows, so his nickname It's called "Nighthawk"!

"You, hello! Mr. Nighthawk, this is Richard!"

"Wow! Wow! Have you heard that! It turned out to be Richard, the younger brother among the geniuses! Where is your eldest brother Alex? Is he by his side?"

Richard quickly handed the microphone to Alex! Bart and Angel had already turned on the radio on the side and were listening to the program.

"Hey! Hello Nighthawk!" Alex's performance was much more natural, he had already prepared for it!

"These days, what surrounds everyone's ears are the "that'sallright" and "Song for Mom" you sang! It is said that "Song for Mom" was written by the two of you. Is this true? "

"Of course it is true!" Richard put his ear close to Alex's, and when he heard Nighthawk's question, he immediately replied loudly.

"Yes, we wrote this song specially for our mother to give her as a birthday present." Alex said calmly.

"Oh my God! Everyone, listen, what a pair of genius brothers!" Nighthawk exclaimed from the microphone again. Before Brother Carpenter could answer, he continued: "This reminds me of Mozart. You are all so smart and so genius!"

The interview lasted for half an hour, and the interview was very successful! This telephone interview was sent directly by means of radio broadcasting. There were thousands of people watching the program in front of the radio.

People learned that the Carpenter brothers began to learn accordion from the age of three or four, followed by piano, guitar, violin and so on. Among their teachers are not only old musicians in the tavern, but also professors who are teaching music at the university.

They started performing on stage when they were less than four years old and have continued to this day. The two recorded songs were recorded in two days. As for the original songs, there are more than one original songs. There are many songs that have been written but there is still time to be recorded in the future.

What a genius this is!

People were stunned by such enchanting geniuses, and there were more than one genius, but two! It's amazing!

The most important thing is that the song "that’sallright" is so good that people call the radio to ask about the purchase of records. The feedback received is that the record has not yet been released.

As a result, the original "that’sallright" albums suddenly increased. As a result, after listening to the version performed by the Carpenter Brothers, everyone was extremely disappointed with the original version of the song, and wanted to buy the Carpenter Brothers version even more intense.

The major record companies in the United States were moved by the news and sent many managers to Carpenter's home to inquire about the publishing of records and the conditions for signing with the Carpenters brothers.

However, many radio stations refuse to play their songs. Even if there are many listeners on demand, it won’t work. The reason for their refusal is that they don’t want people to mistakenly think that their radio is playing black songs.

This was blatant racial discrimination, but it was so reasonable at the time. Yes, black and white people are two worlds. Some reporters even wondered if the Carpenter brothers asked black people to sing on their behalf. They said: "How can white people sing songs in such a black accent. We haven't seen their recordings with our own eyes. It must be black people singing. After it was recorded, it was said to be the work of the Carpenters."

Some newspapers also said that this is a black conspiracy, everyone must be careful. They will never allow black songs to pollute the pure spirit of white people.

More people like the songs of the Carpenter brothers, especially the black people. They are the music pioneers of this era and quickly drew nourishment from this song. Various jazz music has been adapted into similar songs. For a time, the creative passion of many musicians was released.

Compared with the Carpenters and the Carpenters were so happy that they were about to fly, some people seemed to have fallen into the abyss.

"When can you give me an answer!" Rudy was almost crying. He saw that there was a big gold mine in his hand, but he couldn't dig it. At the same time, the bank's debt maturity is approaching day by day. If he can't raise enough interest money this month, he will go bankrupt.

"What's going on?" Angel asked very puzzled when seeing this situation.

Bart then narrated the story in detail, emphasizing the content of the huge debt. What he meant was that he didn't want to take this hot potato.

After listening to Angel, he immediately asked: "What does Alex think?"

Everyone in the Carpenters family already understood that Alex is not only the eldest son, but also the lucky star of their family. Their family was able to reach this level because of Alex. Had it not been for Alex, I'm afraid Bart would still be working hard in the factory.

Alex touched his chin and said, "I think we can talk about it, but we don’t talk about signing, nor about company ownership. Just talk about the contract for this record. Let’s put this record on the market first. Say it again."

Bart heard them, hey! interesting. When he said this to Rudy, he was anxious.

There are several types of singer’s contracts. One is the contract that is equivalent to a contract of sale. This kind of contract is equivalent to the singer’s complete property of the record company. There is also a record contract for a singer, which is equivalent to a cooperative relationship between the singer and the company.

However, this is usually only a big-name singer will get this treatment. Mike Jackson once signed a record contract with Sony, and Sony paid a high price of US$100 million to purchase the rights to sell 10 of Mike Jackson’s records. The US$100 million is not included in the copyright tax. It can be said that this is a sky-high price contract.

Rudy understood what Alex was doing. He quickly said: "The master disc of the record has been burned long ago. As long as you agree, you will be able to suppress the shipment of the record immediately! Just how much do you want for this percentage? My suggestion is Forty-six is divided into four or six, I get 40%, how about you get 60%?

He is very anxious. Now his eyebrows are burning. If he doesn't have enough money to pay the bank, he will go to the street next month.

Rudy said 60% refers to 60% of the total profit of the record distribution company, which should be around 30% when converted into copyright tax. The so-called copyright tax refers to the remuneration that singers get after they release their records. It is not calculated by profit, but based on the retail price of the record. Usually the copyright tax that a singer can get is about 10%. For example, if the retail price of a record is $1, then 10% is $0.1. If you sell 100,000 records, you can get $10,000.

This is pre-tax income, and a certain amount of tax must be paid to the government based on the singer's total income for the year.

30% copyright tax, which is the value of top singers. Few people can get such a high copyright tax.

Alex suddenly remembered a question: "This record has two songs, we don't have the publishing rights of "that’sallright"."

Rudy smiled triumphantly: "I was prepared! After I burned the record for you, I immediately found the owner of the song, and I paid for it."

When Bart heard it, he couldn't help but admire: "You really dare to take risks! Is the copyright of this song expensive?"

"Hey! Anyway, not being able to pay back is a dead end, and there is no shortage of that money." Rudy avoided talking about Bart's question, and it is estimated that the copyright of this song was bought without spending much.

The Carpenters discussed it carefully, and felt that this condition was already very generous, and there was no harm in it. So decided to let Rudy help them sell this record first to see how the sales situation is.