boxer to hollywood

"620,000 copies in two days?!" 

At SB Projects Entertainment, Scott saw the figures published on the Link Music Twitter account and couldn't help but twitch his eye muscles. His face darkened considerably. 

He had expected that, given Justin's current fame, his album sales might be slightly lower than Link's but not by much. 

But reality slapped him hard. 

Link's new album's sales in just two days were already 100,000 more than Justin's album's total sales over two weeks. 

The numbers were so outrageous that he found them hard to accept. 

Scott squinted and looked at his assistant, Alex. "How's the investigation going? Have you found any evidence of Link Music manipulating the numbers?" 

Alex shook his head. 

"Boss, I just contacted two informants. They said they haven't found any evidence of Link Music manipulating the data. They also mentioned that Link Music has been exceptionally busy these days, especially the distribution department. Everyone there is shouting and stressing out, with some distributors urgently requesting 50,000 copies, and others asking for 100,000. 

Initially, Link Music estimated album sales at 3 million. Now it looks like that won't be enough. The marketing department is also calling the pressing plant, demanding an additional 2 million copies, and the packaging and shipping companies are being pushed to expedite their work. 

While I was on the phone, I could hear from the other end that Link Music is incredibly busy. The internal staff said they started working overtime since yesterday, only getting five or six hours of rest daily, and there's no time even for phone calls. 

Given the current situation, it seems Link Music doesn't need to manipulate the numbers—the album is genuinely in high demand. Even if they tried, they wouldn't be able to keep up." 

Scott's face grew even darker. 

From Alex's description, he could imagine just how hectic Link Music's office must be: phones ringing off the hook, operators yelling out requests for additional prints in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, their voices hoarse from shouting. 

This kind of bustling scene was the dream of Scott and all other record company owners. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't happening at SB Projects. 

Justin's second album had just crossed the 900,000 mark, with over a million units still in stock at the packaging company. There was a long way to go before running out of stock. 

Moreover, since Link's new album release, Justin's second album had been significantly impacted, with sales dropping 12% from the day before yesterday and nearly 30% today. 

Such a significant drop was not only due to market saturation but also because many people who had planned to buy Justin's album ended up purchasing the higher-quality "The Woman I Love" instead. 

This is the nature of competition in the industry—the pop music market is limited. If Link Music eats more of the pie, SB Projects and other record companies get less, and those left out risk going bankrupt. 

Scott didn't want to go bankrupt, so he had to compete with Link Music. 

He had originally planned to arrange for two insiders to investigate dirt on Link Music and release it in a couple of weeks. But those two were now working overtime at Link Music. 

Scott snorted coldly, loosened his tie, and asked, "Any updates on the investigation into Link's scandals?" 

"No! Link's lifestyle is very regular. He runs in the morning, works at noon, trains in boxing in the afternoon. He hasn't been to bars, nightclubs, or strip clubs. The people investigating him haven't had a chance to catch anything scandalous." 

Alex said helplessly. 

Scott didn't believe it. If he hadn't seen that video, he might have thought Link was a model citizen. But after watching it, he was convinced that Link must have issues in his private life. It was just that he was cautious, making it hard for paparazzi to catch anything. 

Scott pondered quietly, "Tell the paparazzi they don't need to dig too deep—just get more photos of Link with women. The more, the better. I have big plans for them." 

"Got it!" 

Alex nodded, grabbed his folder, and left. 

Scott continued to stare at the numbers on the screen with a dark expression. Two-day total: 620,000 copies. What would the first-week sales be? Would they break records set by *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Eminem, and others? 

If Link broke those records, his influence in the music industry would rise to a whole new level. He would dominate the pop music scene, leaving others trailing behind, only getting the scraps. 

This was the last thing Scott wanted to see. He seriously considered contacting more industry peers to coordinate a joint attack on Link if necessary. 

Ding ding! 

The phone on the desk rang twice. Seeing it was a call from Little Kunas, Scott straightened up and answered. 

Little Kunas asked when the video would be released. 

Scott told him it wasn't the right time yet. It would be better to first elevate Link's image, making everyone think of him as a perfect gentleman. Then, once the video was released, the contrast would be more shocking. 

Such a stark contrast would lead to disappointment, which would then turn into anger and abuse. 

This approach would maximize the video's impact and inflict the most damage on Link. 

Little Kunas agreed with the proposal and also mentioned that due to Link and Link Music's success, Atlantic Records was considering strengthening their collaboration with Link Music, possibly even co-promoting releases from Link's other artists. 

If Atlantic Records and Link Music fully collaborated, it would be harder to acquire Link Music later. 

Scott understood and would accelerate arrangements. 

After hanging up, he called the marketing department, instructing them to quickly establish Link's "Best Boyfriend" persona. The higher they could elevate him, the harder he would fall later. 

——

"Mr. Singer, where is Link's new album? I can't find it." 

At the record store on Broadway's 47th Street in New York, a girl with a long ponytail looked around the hot-selling album section but couldn't find Link's new album. She approached the counter and asked the store owner. 

"Aly, you're too late. Link's album sold out." 

Mr. Singer, the store owner, adjusted his glasses and looked at her. 

"Sold out? It's only the second day of release. How can it be sold out already?" 

The girl pouted. 

"I got 300 copies from the distributor on Friday, thinking it would last a week. But Link's album is so popular that we sold 215 copies yesterday, and the rest were gone by this morning. The next batch won't arrive until tomorrow afternoon." 

Mr. Singer said with a smile. 

"Okay, I'll come back tomorrow. Mr. Singer, remember to save one for me." 

The girl, Aly, said sweetly. 

"Sure. If you'd like, you can listen to this one in the meantime. The songs on Link's new album are really great." 

Mr. Singer took a laser disc out of the player, put it in a cover, and handed it to Aly. 

"Mr. Singer, I'll definitely return this tomorrow." 

Aly took the disc and happily hugged it. 

On the third day of the release of *The Woman I Love*, the online and offline sales totaled 275,000 copies, bringing the cumulative sales to 904,000 copies. 

When Link Music released the data, they not only thanked the fans for their support but also apologized. 

The reason was that the album's popularity exceeded the expectations of the record company, leading to shortages. Many places sold out in less than three days, preventing many fans from buying Link's new album in time. Link Music expressed their deep apologies. 

The company is actively working on dispatching the second batch of albums, and by tomorrow, record stores nationwide will be restocked. Fans were asked to continue supporting Link. 

After the tweet was posted, some people praised Link for his amazing achievement—selling over 900,000 copies in three days, making him a true king of the pop music world. 

Others in the record industry felt that Link Music was showing off. 

While other companies worried about not selling enough records, Link Music had to apologize for selling out. 

It was incredibly enviable. 

On the fourth day of the release of *The Woman I Love*, total sales in the U.S. were 247,000 copies, bringing the cumulative total to 1.15 million copies. 

Link's album also became one of the fastest to surpass 1 million copies on the U.S. album charts. 

The top spot was held by *NSYNC's third album *No Strings Attached*, which surpassed 1 million copies in two days. 

The second spot was another *NSYNC album, *Celebrity*, which reached 1 million copies in three days. 

The third was Eminem's third album *The Marshall Mathers LP*, which took four days. 

Link's album, with four days of sales reaching 1.15 million copies, stunned mainstream media. They had originally predicted that the album's total U.S. sales would be around 1 million copies, but Link exceeded that target in less than four days. 

Mainstream media, now embarrassed by their previous predictions, turned to praise the artistic quality of the album, calling it "the highest-quality love album of the past decade" and "one of the ten must-listen albums of 2010." 

Numerous media outlets also began praising Link, describing him as a perfect gentleman—drug-free, non-alcoholic, and

 free of bad habits, a talented singer, boxer, and ideal date and marriage prospect. 

They also highlighted Link's stable relationship with Taylor, claiming the couple had been dating for over a year with no conflicts, portraying them as the pop industry's "golden couple," setting a good example for fans and restoring faith in love, etc. 

Link found these articles exaggerated and felt he wasn't as perfect as they described. 

But considering it might be part of the marketing department's strategy, he chose not to interfere. 

(End of Chapter)