“We at Aristocrat are fully prepared to finance such a tour,” Crawford said generously. “It would be under the same terms we use for Celia’s tour contract; with the same distribution of profits.”
“Really?” Jake asked, his eyebrows spiking up a bit, correlating with his suspicion level. “And why would you offer such a thing, Miles? We haven’t even presented the masters for the next CDs to you yet. We haven’t even started to negotiate the terms of the next MD&P contract. Why are we talking tour when it’s not even a given that you’ll be promoting my next CD?”
“We have faith that KVA will sign with us for the upcoming projects,” he said. “You have finally made your point to us that you know what you’re doing. The Brainwash project has been extremely profitable for our stockholders and is proof positive that you have an uncanny, almost supernatural ability to correctly predict musical success. We are very eager to keep up our relationship with KVA and I have been assured that we will not allow ourselves to be outbid when the time comes to award a new MD&P contract to KVA.”
“So ... this is about Brainwash then?” Jake suggested knowingly. “You’re trying to kiss my ass a little so we’ll be sure to involve you in their next CD?”
“That is not what this is about,” Crawford assured him. “Although now that you bring it up, when do you plan to have those fine musicians report back to the studio for the next round?”
“Probably not until next summer at least,” Jake said. “Their debut album is still charting quite nicely, as I’m sure you’re aware. And their latest single release is still climbing the Top Forty. You know as well as I do that it would behoove no one to have their current CD competing with their next CD.”
“We do know that, of course,” Miles said. “But it never hurts to start working on the next release anyway. You can always hold it in reserve until the time is right.”
“Why, thank you for the advice,” Jake said sarcastically. “If it’s all the same to you, however, we’ll make our own decisions about when Brainwash starts working on round two.” He gave him a steely look. “Are you sure that this meeting isn’t about Brainwash now?”
“Quite,” he said. “This meeting is about a Jake Kingsley North American tour, as I informed you. We want this to happen, Jake.”
“And you’re prepared to finance such a tour?” Jake asked. “Assuming we do, in fact, sign with Aristocrat for MD&P.”
“That is correct.”
“Why?” Jake asked.
“Because we believe in you, Jake,” he said warmly. “We know you like touring and that you’re eager to get back out on the road to promote your music and let it be heard by the people. And the people want to hear your music. We genuinely wish to help you and the people achieve that noble goal.”
Jake was unmoved by this speech. “Uh huh,” he said. “I feel like I’m about eyeballs deep in the bullshit here, Crawford. What’s the real reason?”
Crawford sighed. “Profit, of course,” he said. “This new custom of charging market value for concert tickets has resulted in an unexpected, though very welcome surge in profits for our industry. Sending Jake Kingsley out on tour and charging the new industry standard rates for reserved seating would bring in an estimated three million dollars for each leg of such a tour. That is why we are suggesting this. And, of course, that profit will be split fifty-fifty, just like with Celia. And we will pay all promotional costs and arrange all of the logistics of the endeavor.”
The idea was growing on Jake. But something still did not smell quite right here. “You think people will pay triple digit prices for Jake Kingsley tickets?” he asked. “The same prices they pay for Celia Valdez tickets? For U2 tickets? For Eagles tickets?”
“Perhaps even more,” Crawford said. “The numbers I’m hearing tossed around are ninety dollars for the rear bleacher seats, one hundred and fifty for the lower level side bleachers, and up to two hundred and fifty for the stagefront seats forward of the sound board.”
Jake scowled a little as he heard this. “No way in hell,” he said. “Nobody is going to pay that to see me get up on stage and perform my solo tunes. The only way they would pay that much would be if I were...” The scowl turned to a glare as realization struck him. Of course! Now he knew what the game was! “ ... if I were doing Intemperance material.”
“Exactly!” Crawford said, delighted that he and Jake were on the same page now. “We’re figuring on a set that contains at least two-thirds Intemperance material. Now, we understand that you’ll probably want to sing primarily your own compositions, and we’re okay with that. The fans will still pay the price.”
“No,” Jake said simply.
“But they will!” Crawford insisted. “And if you’re worried about the rights for those tunes, you don’t have to be. We’ve already talked to the executives at National Records, who owns those rights, and they’re willing to play ball on this. They’re asking for twenty-five percent royalties on ticket revenue and ten percent on merchandising profits.”
“No!” Jake said, more firmly this time.
“You don’t understand, Jake,” he said. “I’ve been authorized to tell you that we will pay National’s cut out of our half of the profits! Your entire revenue stream will stay intact. You can’t beat a deal like that.”
“I’m not planning to try,” Jake told him. “I will not perform Intemperance material in concert. Not a single lyric of it. Not a single note.”
“That’s an absurd stance to take, Jake!” Crawford cried, seemingly near tears. “You wrote those songs! They’re a part of you! And the people want to see them performed by you! They will be willing to pay top dollar to see that! You have to give the people what they want, Jake! You simply have to!”
“No,” he said mildly. “I really don’t. And I really won’t.”
“But why?” Crawford cried.
“I don’t really think you would understand, Crawford,” Jake told him.
“Try me.”
Jake sighed. “Those are Intemperance tunes, not Jake Kingsley tunes. Yeah, I wrote the lyrics to my tunes we did, and I composed the basic melodies, but I was not singular in making those tunes what they are. Matt Tisdale came up with the riffs that were born from my basic melodies and Matt Tisdale came up with the solos in those songs. And Matt and Nerdly and I all worked collectively on the engineering of those tunes. They belong to Intemperance. They are Intemperance tunes. I will not perform them as a solo artist.”
“Are you saying you are incapable of performing those tunes without Tisdale?” Crawford asked.
“Not incapable, just unwilling. It wouldn’t be right.”
Not it was Crawford who sighed. “You’re right, Jake,” he said.
“So ... you understand where I’m coming from?” Jake asked.
“No. I mean you were right when you said that I would not understand. I don’t. I just know that you want to throw away millions of dollars in potential profit.”
Jake shrugged, and then quoted Popeye. “I am what I am. Now then, was there anything else you needed to talk to me about?”
“No,” Crawford said sadly. “I think we’ve covered it.”
“Groovy,” Jake said. “I’m gonna head back downstairs then. I got a show tonight, you know.”
Bigg G was experimenting with the new concert ticket pricing as well. For the first two shows in Los Angeles, the show in San Jose, the show in Portland, and the two shows in Seattle, the prices had been set at seventy-five dollars for the rear bleachers, ninety for the side bleachers, one hundred and twenty for the floor level seats behind the sound board, and one hundred sixty for the floor levels forward of the soundboard. There had been some grumbling about this in some circles—words to the effect that Bigg G was putting on airs and had forgotten where he came from—but all six shows had sold out quickly and the reports were that the scalpers were charging as much as four hundred dollars for the premium seats and two hundred for the not-so-premiums. For the month worth of shows scheduled beyond Seattle—dates in Boise, Salt Lake City, Denver, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Las Vegas—the tickets had been placed on sale, but at even higher prices. Some tickets had been sold, but most were still awaiting buyers willing to pay those prices. It was hoped that those buyers would materialize after word spread that Jake Kingsley might actually show up on any given night; though Aristocrat and Bigg G would be extremely careful not to imply his commitment even indirectly to any particular date.