FYN Chapter 44 Publicity Crisis
Chapter 44 Publicity Crisis
At noon that day, the school cafeteria was bustling with activity. The crisp sound of metal plates clattering together and the laughter of students mingled together, filling the air with the aroma of hamburgers, fries, and hot cocoa.
"Zick, here are the notes you asked for. I've also written the short essay for literature class; you just need to copy it once."
Greg, holding a stack of notebooks and writing papers, strode up to him with a somewhat ingratiating expression.
Greg's mother is a real estate agent. Zeke had contacted her to inquire about the rental rates for the cliff cabin, and the two became acquainted over time.
"Thanks, My Mook~ That's kind of you." Zeke put away his nonchalant expression, smiled and took the notebook and writing paper, and gave him a high five.
"No big deal!" Greg grinned, slapped Zeke's hand hard, turned and strode back to his table to sit with his best friend.
"Greg, why are you so eager to be that Italian kid's sidekick? You're copying his notes and doing his homework every day, what are you getting out of it?" As soon as he sat down, Greg's best friend couldn't help but come over.
"You don't know anything. We're buddies, Mook, understand? That's a term of address used between close friends, not some kind of lackey."
"I'm your buddy too, your best friend since childhood, how come you never help me with my homework?" The best friend retorted indignantly, his expression full of grievance.
"How can that be the same?" Greg scoffed, his tone full of smugness. "Zick can get tickets to KISS's show, can you?"
"What's so great about this?" My best friend scoffed. "It's just a few tickets. I'll buy them for you. Besides, you have plenty of pocket money. It's not like you can't afford them yourself."
"Tch~ You don't know anything." Greg rolled his eyes, his excitement barely concealed. "At the last Angels concert, do you know where I sat with the inside ticket Zeke gave me?"
My best friend paused for a moment, then asked curiously, "Angel Band? Rock concerts are so chaotic, they can't possibly have VIP boxes, can they?"
"A box seat? That's nothing!" Greg's voice rose a few decibels before he quickly lowered it again. "I was fucking seated right on the side of the stage, just meters away from the band members, practically watching the show from the front! It was fucking awesome! And I even got to meet a bunch of gorgeous bodybuilders, it was amazing!"
"Shit!" His best friend's eyes widened, his face filled with envy and jealousy. "You didn't tell me you had this connection... No way, I want to be Zeke's Mook too, you have to help me get in touch!"
Listening to the faint whispers around him, and hearing that someone was willing to be his "little brother," Zeke secretly found it amusing.
These days, Zik hasn't just been burying himself in French and music theory books at school. After all, in order to gain a foothold in this school full of children from wealthy families, studying alone isn't enough.
With his status as a Casablanca-signed musician, he could easily pull out tickets to popular band concerts or some limited-edition band merchandise. In addition, he had a cheerful and unpretentious personality, did not try to curry favor with the children of wealthy families, and did not look down on any of his classmates. He quickly became familiar with a group of students from relatively ordinary families.
What made these teenagers even cooler was that Zeke grew up in Brownsville and spoke fluent, authentic Italian gangster slang.
Ordinary people greet each other with common phrases like "Dude," "Buddy," or "Hey Man," but Zeke constantly uses "Goombah" and "Mook," exuding a street tough guy vibe that clashes with the sophistication of this elite school, yet somehow resonates with the boys' tastes.
Just a few years after the release of "The Godfather," its popularity remained undiminished, and the entire United States was obsessed with the Italian Mafia style. These teenagers were even more deeply immersed in it, imitating gangster slang and vying to become Zeke's Mook, considering him one of their own, and taking pride in it.
They just didn't know that the two words were very different. Goombah means "brother" or "buddy," which is intimate and equal; Mook usually refers to a reliable follower or one of their own, and is often a half-joking term used by a boss to address a subordinate, similar to the Chinese word for "brat." Zeke was simply taking advantage of their ignorance to secretly benefit from them.
As time went by, Zeke, a newcomer, gained more and more prestige at the school. Before he knew it, he had become a leader among the ordinary students, with a group of people following him wherever he went. Even Sam Robards, who had mocked him before, no longer dared to provoke him easily.
Zeke was eating lunch absentmindedly, flipping through Greg's notes, when a girl with a ponytail walked over quickly: "Zeke, someone is looking for you at the public phone in the lobby downstairs. They say it's urgent."
"Thanks." Zeke put down his plate, grabbed his coat, and hurried downstairs.
Neil Bogart's voice came from the other end of the phone, with background noise from conversations and the ringing of a telephone: "Zick, come to the company immediately, it's urgent!"
Qi Ke's heart tightened, and he quickly asked, "What's wrong? What happened? Is there a problem with the YMCA?"
"It's not that there's a problem, it's just too popular!" Neil's tone couldn't hide his excitement. "We're in a crisis with the publicity. The data for 'YMCA' has exceeded all of our expectations. The previous publicity efforts were far from enough to unleash its full potential. We're short-handed now, so you'll have to come and help with the promotional activities and catch up on the schedule."
Qi Ke was overjoyed and almost laughed out loud. The more songs he sold, the more royalties he would receive. Just yesterday, he heard Marco, who was already working in the mailroom, say that the first week's sales of "YMCA" had reached nearly 20 copies, which was definitely a blockbuster.
"Okay, I'll be right there." Qi Ke hung up the phone, feeling quite pleased with himself, and turned to run towards the academic affairs office.
Seeing his eagerness and knowing his Casablanca contract, the academic affairs teacher didn't ask any further questions and readily approved his leave.
The Mercedes headed straight for Sunset Boulevard.
Casablanca's promotional strategy for Village People followed the industry's most mature production line: record the entire album first, select the most catchy single to promote on Top 40 radio stations, and simultaneously release a 7-inch vinyl record; once the single becomes a hit, release the album to reap a wave of profits. For record companies, singles are cheap and worthless; albums are the core of their profitability.
These days, cross-state signal is very poor, and there are no national music radio stations. If you want to speed up the promotion of songs, radio stations are a key weakness.
Especially for the Top 40 mainstream pop radio stations, which are highly regional, if record companies want their songs to become hits nationwide, they have to negotiate and work with each station in each city. There is no shortcut to "getting on one national station and you're good to go." It all comes down to local connections and the effort put into making connections privately. Each station requires separate contact and maintenance.
Casablanca is now facing a "sweet dilemma": the song is too popular, but there aren't enough people to promote it. Village People is a fledgling six-member group that can't be split up to run promotions, and producer Jacques is also overwhelmed.
Bringing in songwriter Ziklar to save the day was a crucial step in breaking the deadlock. It not only appeased the radio station's insistence on artists appearing in public, but also created a new buzz around the creative story.
Furthermore, the Top 40 chart only counts single play counts and sales, not album sales—which suits Qi Ke perfectly, as he can receive 20% of the artist royalties for singles according to the agreement, which is higher than for albums.
He was well aware that now was the perfect time. Once the album was released, mainstream audiences would immediately discover that Village People was a gay gang, and there would be no way to deny it. At that point... he wouldn't even agree to promote it.
Seeing Zeke come in, Neil quickly covered the receiver and rapidly assigned him tasks: "Zeke, you have to leave today. TJ will go with you to meet up with the West Coast publicity team. Start with local radio stations in Los Angeles, go to each program and do interviews, and work with them to increase the publicity for YMCA."
After saying that, he picked up another phone and continued working.
Qi Ke felt a pang of panic. These days, radio hosts have so many jokes coming up, he felt he couldn't keep up.
"Uh, Neil, wait a minute, I've never been on a radio show before, and I don't know what to say or do. Is there anything I should be careful about? What if I mess it up?"
"Don't worry, TJ will teach you on the way, don't be nervous." Neil waved his hand, then shouted into the phone, "Buck, we have to get those radio stations in San Francisco working today, no matter what method you use, we have to get them to increase their airplay!"
"Oh, right, there's one more thing, on the night of the 14th..."
Neil lowered his voice, and Zeke couldn't hear what he said next.
"Let's go, Zeke, we need to get going." TJ, with a cheerful smile, walked over and patted Zeke on the shoulder.