Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 360 - 315: Willing to Take the Bait

Knock, knock, knock!

As he was processing documents, a knocking sound came from outside his office.

Thinking it was Ivanka, he called out for the visitor to come in.

But when the door opened, the person who entered was a man with light brown curly hair, wearing a gray suit, tall and skinny.

Scooter Braun, President of SB projects entertainment company.

In April, after the private video incident, Link Music struck a deal with SB projects, wherein Link Music exchanged 5% of its shares for a 38% stake in SB Entertainment and a 50% management contract for Justin Bieber.

At the time of the transaction, Link Music’s market value was between $200 million to $240 million, so 5% of its shares were worth about $12 million US Dollars.

After successfully launching Justin Bieber, SB Entertainment was valued at around $60 million to $80 million, making the 38% stake worth about $25 million US Dollars, plus the contract for Justin Bieber, valued at over $45 million US Dollars.

To outsiders, this was far from a fair deal; even with Link Music’s strong growth momentum, it did not justify SB Entertainment trading at a price four to five times higher.

Yet, this deal was successfully completed in mid-April, to the surprise of many.

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

Throughout March and April, personalities like Kanye West, Justin Bieber, and Usher were boasting about challenging Link, intending to beat him on the album sales chart and make him lose face in revenge for the previous year’s events.

But in the blink of an eye, Link became Justin Bieber’s boss and, indirectly, the boss of Kanye West and Usher as well.

This shift left countless peers in the industry dumbfounded.

Some media even speculated that the East Coast rap scene’s challenge to Link in March was a marketing ploy, intended to promote the new albums of Justin Bieber and Link.

The campaign was successful—Link and Justin’s new albums both sold exceptionally well, one nearing four million and the other nearly two million copies, respectively ranking first and third on the U.S. album sales chart for the first half of 2010.

Seeing their achievements, other musicians in the industry lamented, "It’s not that our albums aren’t good enough, it’s that our marketing plans are too low-end."

"Billboard" also described the deal as a ’big show performed by Link Music and SB Entertainment on the music scene.’

This was also why "Billboard" magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Steven Konop, frequently praised Link Music for their excellent marketing strategies.

No matter how the outside world viewed the transaction, Link Music had become a major shareholder of SB Entertainment, and Scooter had become a minor shareholder and part of the management at Link Music.

After the successful share swap between the two companies, Scooter continued as President of SB Entertainment, while also serving as a supervisor at Link Music, responsible for marketing and promoting the singers under his charge.

He and Link were now colleagues.

Link had been busy outside recently and hadn’t had the time to meet and talk with Scooter; today was their first meeting.

"Ha ha, Mr. Baker, after being in the company for over a month, I’ve finally met you," Scooter warmly greeted upon meeting.

"Welcome, Mr. Braun!" Link replied with a light smile, inviting Scooter to sit in the reception room and asking his secretary to bring in coffee, preparing to chat with Scooter.

There was no doubt that Scooter was talented.

At thirty years old, he had nearly ten years of experience in music brand marketing, and had served four years as the marketing director of the number one rap record company, Def Jam Records.

In 2007 he started SB projects from scratch, personally discovering and nurturing stars like Justin Bieber, as well as Ariana Grande and Carly Rae Jepsen, driving SB’s company value to nearly one billion US Dollars.

In 2021, he partnered with the famous South Korean talent agency HYBE in a merger, becoming HYBE’s second-largest individual shareholder.

Together they launched the hugely successful group BTS, earning a fortune.

His acquisition of Taylor’s six-album rights from Big Machine Records for $300 million US Dollars after she left the label also created hundreds of millions in revenue for SB, a very profitable deal from a business standpoint.

Now that he was a partner at Link Music, it was also a good thing for Link. Discover exclusive content at novelbuddy

After the secretary brought the coffee, Scooter reported on the recent promotional efforts of the company, primarily focusing on the image promotion and album marketing of several singers.

Currently, Link Music has five signed artists: Link himself, Lana Del Rey, Bruno Mars, Wiz Khalifa, and the newly added Justin Bieber.

Among these artists, Link is ranked as a diamond-level singer, and the other four are all above platinum, making it a star-studded lineup that could be considered top three among independent music labels.

Having these best-selling artists ensures that Link Music has the consistent ability to release hit albums and maintain a steady and reliable star-making and money-earning operation, which bodes well for the future.

However, Scooter believed that while Link Music was professional in album production, they weren’t doing enough in celebrity building.

Using Hollywood’s fame as a benchmark,

diamond-level singers are equivalent to top actors in the film industry, superstars.

Platinum singers correspond to A-list or popular actors.

Lana Del Rey, Mars, and Wiz Khalifa are platinum artists, but their celebrity status in the entertainment world doesn’t even match that of second-tier celebrities; their low profile limits their audience and, consequently, lowers the commercial value of the artists.

Scooter thought they should strengthen the promotion of a few artists.

By making more people aware of them, their commercial value could be increased. The bigger their fame, the higher their album sales, and the more money Link Music would make, which makes this kind of investment worthwhile.