Clive Davis, president of Arista Records, simply didn't believe that Daenerys Entertainment would make such an irrational decision that would harm both sides. Upon hearing Nancy Brill's direct notification, he argued with Nancy in shock and anger, then remembered to contact Simon Westeros, believing that Nancy Brill was acting on her own initiative.
Simon's answer was predictable.
However, Clive Davis still didn't believe that Daenerys Entertainment would suspend sales of 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack. The two sides were at a stalemate for a full day, and the news inevitably reached the media.
As of Sunday, September 17, 'The Bodyguard' had been released in North America for 15 and a half weeks, with a cumulative box office of $116.35 million. The film's weekly box office had also fallen to within the $500,000 range, and it was about to leave theatres. However, when news broke that Daenerys Entertainment and Arista Records would stop selling 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack due to a revenue-sharing dispute, this film, which was already winding down in North America, once again attracted strong attention from the media and the public.
Regardless of Clive Davis's reaction, shipments of 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack were indeed halted, and related work in overseas regions such as Europe and Asia was also completely stopped.
The strict copyright protection in Western countries is well-known.
The dispute between Daenerys Entertainment and Arista Records was originally limited to unclear revenue sharing. If Arista Records insisted on selling 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack after Daenerys Entertainment, a co-copyright holder, made a request, it would involve copyright infringement.
A revenue-sharing dispute is easy to resolve as long as both parties reach an agreement. Even if it goes to court, Arista Records is unlikely to suffer significant losses. But if it involves copyright, a copyright lawsuit worth $1 demanding $100 in compensation is not excessive, and Daenerys Entertainment could sue Arista Records into bankruptcy.
On September 20, seeing that Daenerys Entertainment showed no signs of backing down and had truly stopped all business activities related to 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack, Clive Davis finally woke up.
Daenerys Entertainment has many other income sources as a foundation, so the lack of income from 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack would have a negligible impact on the company. However, this album was the main source of income for Arista Records. According to original predictions, this single album alone was expected to contribute over 70% of Arista Records' profits this year.
Clearly, it was obvious which side this album was more important to.
Just after 8 AM, Clive Davis, who had been tormented all night, arrived at the Arista Records headquarters on Oliver Avenue in Burbank. Media reporters were already staking out the area even earlier than him.
As soon as Clive Davis parked his car in the public parking lot next to the company headquarters, a group of reporters surrounded him. He pushed open the door and got out with a blank expression, and his ears were immediately filled with various questions.
"Mr. Davis, will you reconcile with Daenerys Entertainment?"
"Is Arista Records planning to sue Daenerys Entertainment?"
"Will Arista's parent company, Bertelsmann Music Group, intervene to mediate this matter?"
"Rumour has it that Whitney is already preparing for her second film. Will this incident have a negative impact on her development in Hollywood?"
"..."
"..."
"Clive, with such a huge loss to the company, will you be fired for this?"
"..."
Clive Davis pushed through the crowd towards the company office building without saying a word. Suddenly, he heard this question right by his ear, a question that touched upon his deepest fear, and he instantly lost his composure. He turned around and angrily retorted, "I haven't caused any losses to the company. You should ask Simon Westeros. That insatiably greedy brat is the culprit behind all of this".
Upon hearing this, the group of reporters immediately became even more agitated.
This kind of irrational public shouting match was exactly the kind of material the media loved most.
"Clive, do you mean to say that Simon Westeros is to blame for this?"
"Isn't it obvious? Just because of some minor dispute, he forcibly halted an excellent album that could have gone down in music history. This is an absolute desecration of music. Of course, I'm sure that brat doesn't consider it desecration, because all he sees is money. Otherwise, why do you think he became the richest man in the country?"
"However, according to Daenerys Entertainment's announcement, the cause of this incident was Arista's embezzlement of Daenerys Entertainment's rightful share of the profits".
"They would, of course, say that from their own perspective. If it weren't for Whitney's songs, that lousy movie might not even have recouped $10 million at the box office. They've already made enough profit, yet they're still not satisfied and want to squeeze even more out of Arista. In my opinion, this is nothing but insatiable greed".
"..."
"..."
After an outburst, Clive Davis finally entered the Arista Records office building. However, his comments about Simon Westeros being 'insatiably greedy' and 'The Bodyguard' being 'crap' quickly spread. A local TV station in Los Angeles and the national CNN news channel soon featured similar topics, sparking a wider discussion about the incident.
As the other party involved in this matter, or rather, the one unilaterally recognized by the media and some people as involved, Simon met with Janette at Los Angeles International Airport at 1 PM, and then boarded the still-rented Boeing 767 with his entourage, flying directly to Milan, Italy.
In reality, Simon had only made the decision; he had no intention of participating in subsequent matters.
As Clive Davis's remarks spread, Daenerys Entertainment immediately retaliated, accusing Arista Records of being truly insatiably greedy, having embezzled a quarter of Daenerys Entertainment's rightful share of the profits from 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack. This could no longer even be called insatiable greed; it was outright criminal.
Within the industry, there was a general understanding of why Daenerys Entertainment reacted so strongly to Arista Records' embezzlement of the 'The Bodyguard' profits, it was clearly a case of 'killing the chicken to scare the monkeys'. Therefore, while outwardly still very pleasant with Daenerys Entertainment, privately, there were inevitably some small actions stirring up trouble, preventing Daenerys Entertainment from fully controlling public opinion.
Whitney Houston's fans also jumped into the fray, gathering outside Daenerys Entertainment headquarters in Santa Monica and Burbank, demanding that Daenerys Entertainment drop its actions against their idol.
Clive Davis had actually begun to regret his words after he uttered them. However, since the situation was irreversible, he could only stubbornly hold on, hoping that Daenerys Entertainment would make concessions under pressure from public opinion and fans.
Daenerys Entertainment, of course, would not back down.
Nancy Brill stated firmly in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that unless Arista Records accepted Daenerys Entertainment's financial audit, paid all of Daenerys Entertainment's rightful share of the profits, and made compensation, 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack would never appear on the market again.
Influenced by Nancy's remarks, the prices of the small number of 'The Bodyguard' soundtracks still circulating on the market immediately rose.
As Arista Records' parent company, Germany's Bertelsmann Music Group had been quite pleased a while ago when 'The Bodyguard' soundtrack unexpectedly emerged, feeling fortunate that they had taken over this on the verge of bankruptcy record company from RCA two years prior. Now, seeing that Clive Davis not only failed to take measures to de-escalate the situation after the incident, but was clearly dragging things towards an even more unmanageable state, they quickly decided to intervene.
A senior executive from Bertelsmann Music Group also flew from Germany to Los Angeles the day after Simon flew to Italy. The first thing he did upon arrival was to announce that Clive Davis would temporarily be on indefinite leave, while also taking over Arista Records' operations and initiating negotiations with Daenerys Entertainment.
Italy.
Simon's residence in Milan was located on the famous Lake Como in the northern part of the city. It was a mansion of about two acres, built on a hillside overlooking Lake Como, surrounded by dense forests. From the lakeside road, one had to pass through a forest path more than a kilometre long to reach it, providing extreme privacy.
Today is September 22nd, 1989.
Gucci's Spring/Summer 1990 show was scheduled for the morning of the 23rd. Simon and Janette arrived in Milan on the afternoon of the 21st local time, only to watch the final rehearsal of the show in the city. They did not attend any of the opening ceremony events of Milan Fashion Week, and both returned to the beautiful mountain villa to rest.
Another month had passed in a blink of an eye. Compared to socializing with many strangers, the two preferred to stay together and chat intimately.
However, Simon and Janette were not the only two in the villa. Bodyguards, of course, didn't count. Besides Jennifer, the female assistant, Nastassja Kinski, who had specially come to Milan to support the Gucci fashion show, also stayed there. Because she was busy preparing for this big show, Sophia Fessey did not stay over this time.
Milan is still in the Mediterranean climate zone, but because it is more inland, the weather after autumn has become very cool here, and the warm afternoon sun is perfect for sunbathing.
Janette lay on a lounge chair by the swimming pool in the courtyard, completely covered, basking in the sun, and casually flipping through some news from Los Angeles.
A moment later, the woman's gaze slanted over, and she said to Simon, "They say you're an insatiably greedy fellow?"
Simon was flipping through a local Milan newspaper. Hearing this, he skilfully recited the classic line from "Wall Street": "Greed is good, greed is right, greed works!"
"Hmph hmph".
Janette was displeased with Simon's showing off. Her small foot, clad in thin socks, reached over and scratched Simon.
The woman was even afraid of her feet getting tanned.
Simon lifted his leg, easily pinning Janette's small foot underneath, and said, "Do you want to go to the city tonight?"
Janette immediately became interested: "Just the two of us?"