Chapter 14: Warner Records

Melancholy Mood's performance today not only managed to captured the hearts of many audiences but also the support of young fans. That was a good sign.

Evan Bell was drinking and chatting with Linkin Park in the bar when he found out that they had officially signed with Warner Records last night. Previously, Linkin Park uploaded "One Step Closer" on the Yahoo Music Community, which sparked heated discussions among fans. Warner Bros. Records noticed Linkin Park and felt they had a promising future. Their participation in the Eagle Rock Music Festival was also an opportunity for Warner Records to assess Linkin Park's live performance abilities. After all, a band that cannot perform well live has limited potential, no matter how good they are in the studio.

Linkin Park's performance yesterday impressed the agent, and they successfully signed the contract last night. So they plan to start recording next week to prepare for their album, which Warner Records hoped to release within the year while the Internet craze was still strong.

This was Linkin Park's 43rd chance since Chester Bennington joined, or more accurately, their 43rd attempt. Before Chester joined, Linkin Park's predecessor, Xero, was rejected by various record companies. Now, they finally got what they wanted.

Listening to Evan Bell's performance of "Oceans and Skies" today made Linkin Park even more emotional. They once truly believed that they had no future and could only stick to their obsession with music while playing in underground bands for the rest of their lives. The artistic conception of "Boundless Sky" touched Linkin Park deeply, leading them to want to know Melancholy Mood better. As for the guitar competition, it was purely accidental and a spontaneous idea from Brad Delson. Unexpectedly, it created a wonderful stage moment, which was an unexpected gain.

It was already past five in the afternoon when Evan Bell parted ways with Linkin Park and left the bar. They were supposed to be drinking together, but they spent more time talking than drinking. When they returned to the hotel, Evan Bell and the others were still sober and began to lazily pack their luggage.

The Eagle Rock Music Festival was over, and it was time to leave Los Angeles. When Evan Bell rejected Trevor Nunn, he mentioned that the fall semester of college was about to begin, which was true. So, his time in Los Angeles was over, and they needed to return to Boston.

The distance from Los Angeles to Boston was not short. From the map, Boston was even east of New York. In other words, the return journey was farther than when Evan Bell came. On the way back, after passing New York, he still had to drive about 120 miles, more than two hours, to reach Boston. Evan Bell first crossed the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast, and now he was going to complete the feat of crossing the United States again. Such a life was indeed colorful.

Because they drank in the afternoon and experienced the excitement of the noon performance, several people were in a state of ecstasy. After coming back, they were either still excited, like Gillen Haas and Jacob Tibo, or absent-minded, like Evan Bell and Bruce Stewart So when their room door was knocked, the four of them were stunned and no one responded. In the end, it was the excited Gillen Haas who ran to open the door.

After a burst of chattering from the door, Gillen Haas came back again. When Evan Bell looked up, he saw Gillen Haas's smiling face. His current state was different from the excitement just now. Gillen Haas now looked like he was hit by a pie in the sky. Even his eyebrows were flying up on his face, and his eyes were still rolling around as if he was dizzy.

Behind Gillen Haas, a middle-aged man with Mediterranean hair walked in with a smile on his face. When I say he is Mediterranean, I mean his hairstyle, and when I say he is middle-aged, I mean his beer belly. He looks exactly like a middle-level manager who has been sitting in an office for many years.

Gillen Haas had some remaining sanity to introduce the man he wasn't familiar with. This was the agent of Warner Records, Mr. Claire Dice.

For the band, time seemed to stand still for a second. Soon, Jacob Tibo came forward, and even Bruce Stewart stood up. Although his face was still calm, his clenched right fist revealed his thoughts.

Evan Bell had lived two lives and performed on the Broadway stage. He was a man who had seen the world. But at this moment, he was still excited. Although, he was noticed by Trevor Nunn when he was performing on the off-Broadway and had experienced this kind of excitement once, as a band, this kind of affirmation was completely different. In fact, as the lead singer of Melancholy Mood, Evan Bell had been appreciated once before by a small music company. But, Evan Bell had never even heard of the company's name, but that wasn't the point. The point was that they were interested in Evan Bell, not the entire Melancholy Mood band, so Evan Bell ultimately refused. Today, Warner Records, one of the top five record companies in the world, has come to them, which was of extraordinary significance.

Warner Bros. Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Group, was one of the top five record companies in the world in the 20th century, along with EMI, Universal Music, Sony Music, and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). This year, Warner Bros. Records planned to expand its scale and started the merger plan with AOL and EMI at the beginning of the year. AOL was one of the largest Internet service providers in the United States, and Warner Records and EMI were one of the top five record companies in the world. If these two mergers were successful, they would undoubtedly surpass Universal Music and become the world's largest record company.

But Evan Bell knew that Warner Records would eventually succeed in merging with AOL, but the merger plan with EMI would be stopped due to the scrutiny of the antitrust officials of the European Commission. It should be around October or November this year when Warner Records was at a critical moment of merging with AOL. This merger was also under investigation by the antitrust organization, so for AOL, Warner Records eventually had to give up on EMI Music. 

Although, regardless of whether the merger between Warner Records and EMI was successful or not, Warner Records' position as one of the top five record companies in the world would not be affected at all. Moreover, the merger was still in progress, and Warner Records was gaining momentum. No wonder even an aloof independent band like Linkin Park couldn't hide their ecstasy after signing with Warner Records, not to mention Melancholy Mood, which was still relatively unknown.

For Evan Bell, personally, he thought that the size of the company didn't matter. Both had their pros and cons. Large companies had abundant resources and a complete system, but relatively speaking, they needed to consider the interests of the company and make certain compromises on their own music style, so they would have less freedom; although small companies had fewer constraints and frameworks, they would pay more attention to talent in the music itself. After all, it was very difficult for them to compete with large companies for resources, but the disadvantages of small companies were also very obvious, Which is that they have a very small channel to promote or distribute their music through. 

However, being recognized by a mega company like Warner Records was also a recognition for Melancholy Mood.

Claire Dice first took out his business card as proof of his identity and handed it to the four members, then smiled and said that the performance this afternoon was very exciting and really made people's eyes light up. After a few compliments, Claire Dice did not beat around the bush and asked in a more tactful way whether Melancholy Mood had an agent now.

Many independent bands actually had their own agents, most of whom were individual independent agents. There were several ways for these independent bands to sign with record companies. One was for the independent agent to help contact the record company; another was for the independent agent to help contact the large agency and then sign with the record company; the last was for the record company to come to the band, and after signing, the independent agent's stay or leave was decided by the band itself.

Therefore, the deeper meaning of Claire Dice's words should be to ask whether Melancholy Mood had signed a contract with a record company.

"No," answered Gillen Haas, who was full of adrenaline and completely in ecstasy, speaking very quickly. Everyone knew the band's affairs, so Evan Bell was happy to relax and let Gillen Haas negotiate.

After hearing Claire Dice's words, although he didn't understand the deeper meaning, Jacob Tibo and Bruce Stewart also knew that the opportunity had really come. So for a moment, their expressions were full of anticipation, and even Bruce Stewart's normally stoic face showed a slight change at this time.

"What about Mr. Bell?" Just when Evan Bell was sighing that the cool guy Bruce Stewart was also moved, Claire Dice's words made everyone present focus on Evan Bell.

Evan Bell subconsciously raised his eyebrows, and his left hand involuntarily reached for his right ring finger out of habit. "I guess I have one." When he first joined Broadway, his nominal agent was Catherine Bell, not a formal agent, but just a guardian. Later, Teddy Bell became an adult and took the agent certificate exam when he entered college to take over Catherine Bell's role as Evan's agent. 

Claire Dice's eyes flashed slightly, then he laughed twice and said, "Could you please tell me the contact information of Mr. Bell's agent? We at Warner Records would very much hope to sign a contract with Mr. Bell and have you join our record company."

What he was interested in was just Evan Bell, not Melancholy Mood.