Early the next morning, Leon led his team onto a flight back to New York, slipping away as fast as possible.
As soon as the plane landed and Leon turned on his phone, he saw several missed calls. The caller was Lenny.
"What's so urgent?"
Immediately after walking out of JFK International Airport, he rushed to Roc Nation to see Lenny.
"God... I almost thought our young genius was going to stay in Los Angeles forever." Lenny narrowed his eyes, his face full of an unconcealable smile.
Leon pulled up a chair and sat opposite Lenny. "Is there something urgent you needed to see me for?"
Lenny turned his computer screen towards Leon.
"Look at this."
Leon stared at the screen. On Twitter, Cardi B occupied the number one trending spot.
No matter how you refreshed the page, you could see Cardi's shiny bronze peach in the most prominent position.
In last night's conflict, the scene of Cardi humiliating Chris with her butt had been filmed by many onlookers and uploaded to the internet.
Riding the wave of the club conflict, Cardi had broken out of the circle again, becoming the undisputed queen of topics.
As he scrolled, Leon surprisingly saw himself on social media.
In a short leaked video, the image of Leon ordering Cardi to put away her gun became the hottest topic of discussion in major hip-hop communities.
Almost everyone was discussing the relationship between Street Jesus and the Daughter of the Bloods.
As fans dug deeper, Apocalypse Music appeared in the public eye.
Why could a white kid make a gangsta girl from the Bronx as docile as a pet?
So the onlookers brainstormed a so-called "truth" that could justify itself...
In these versions of the legend, Leon was described as a ruthless gangster from Brownsville.
In Brownsville, where over eighty percent of residents are Black, he was the first white godfather in history!
This also reasonably explained how Cardi B could lead a large group of masked nggas to confront the notorious "Magnum" George head-on a month ago.
"WTF..."
Leon didn't know whether to laugh or cry looking at these imaginative texts.
"Apocalypse Music... no wonder it's usually hard to find you, you've been doing big business behind the scenes." Lenny leaned back in his swivel chair, the smile on his face inscrutable.
"We're just a small workshop, nothing big."
"Small workshop? Does a small workshop sign a singer ranking in the Billboard TOP 10?"
Leon only just learned from Lenny that due to various antics in recent days...
Cardi B's big tail light was like a lingering nightmare; you could see it as soon as you opened social media.
Under this brainwashing-like offensive, Bodak Yellow finally achieved a breakthrough on the Billboard charts, successfully entering the Top 10.
In this issue of the Billboard charts, the crown jointly held by Eminem and Rihanna was finally taken by someone else.
A short man from Hawaii broke the seven-week monopoly.
Bruno Mars took the crown strongly with Just the Way You Are.
The debut album released by this unassuming newcomer to the music scene caused a sensation, with three songs from the first album entering the Top 20.
Lenny knocked on the table and said, "Jay-Z asked me before, who exactly signed that talented girl Cardi..."
"When he found out it was you, kid, I often dream about the look on his face when his jaw dropped."
Leon knew Lenny was saying this to warn him.
In Jay-Z's view, the entire New York music scene was his personal kingdom, and promising newcomers must be acquired by the Roc Nation Kingdom.
Unexpectedly, a gang girl from the Bronx who caused a stir in the rap circle was dug up by his little brother right under his nose.
Leon shrugged and said, "Man, it's not what you think."
"No need to explain. Jay-Z is very happy to see you growing so fast..."
"No king dislikes watching his soldiers grow into generals step by step."
"Keep up this momentum!"
Leon instantly understood the implication.
Whether a general or a soldier, essentially they all work for the king!
After seeing Leon getting so close to West Coast rappers, especially 50 Cent...
Jay-Z wanted to remind him: Don't play tricks!
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about things that make you happy."
"Things that make me happy?" Leon asked back subconsciously.
Lenny bared his teeth and laughed loudly. "Besides money, what else can make a greedy bastard like you happy?"
Hearing this, Leon was even more confused.
Roc Nation's record sales dividends were never late every week. Today was only three days since the company last deposited money into his account.
Lenny threw a check in front of Leon. "For you."
The number on the check was a full $40,000, which was still not a small amount for Leon today.
According to the contract he signed with Roc Nation, Take Me to Church had to sell at least 40,000 CDs for him to get this much money.
"Man, what's this money for?"
"Streaming."
Receiving this answer, Leon nodded thoughtfully. He hadn't focused on this emerging product before.
Lenny smiled and said, "Take Me to Church has sold a total of 150,000 digital singles since it went online on streaming platforms a month ago..."
"Plus playback revenue on some free platforms, this is what you deserve."
"Sales figures on streaming platforms change every moment, so we can only settle once a month. Hope you understand."
Leon nodded; he completely understood this.
The price of a single on streaming platforms is $0.99. Whether it's the old giant iTunes (Apple Store) or the strongly rising Spotify, the sales price is about the same.
But streaming platforms take a huge cut from this.
Take the Apple Store for example; for every digital single sold, it takes a 30% cut of the sales revenue.
But this is still very cost-effective for record companies because digital music products save a lot of printing and logistics costs!
Although the contract Leon signed with Roc Nation stipulated that the singer owns the full copyright of self-created content...
The "master rights" were firmly held in the hands of the record company.
Master rights are the most fundamental power for a record company.
Owning master rights means any form of recording distribution requires authorization from the master owner, allowing the master owner to reap generous profits.
"The company's top management unanimously believes that streaming platforms will eventually replace physical records."
"Sales of physical records have stagnated for ten years, and there are even signs of decline."
"Maybe in the near future, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) will include streaming sales in the scope of record certification. Let's wait and see."
When Lenny said this, a hint of sadness appeared in his eyes.
As a veteran who had struggled in this industry since the late 80s, the decline of physical records was like an elegy for an era to him.
But Leon, sitting opposite, didn't listen to this heartfelt speech at all.
After hearing about the prospects of streaming media, his mind was filled with only one word.
Dollars.