Arista Records president Clive Davis simply refused to believe Daenerys Entertainment would make such an irrational move, one that hurt the enemy but also wounded themselves. When Nancy Brill delivered the notice to his face, he argued with her in a mix of shock and fury, then remembered he needed to contact Simon Westeros. In his mind, Nancy Brill was acting on her own.
Simon's answer was exactly what you would expect.
Even so, Clive Davis still didn't believe Daenerys Entertainment would actually suspend sales of The Bodyguard soundtrack. The two sides stayed locked in a standoff for a full day, and the news inevitably leaked to the media.
As of Sunday, September 17, The Bodyguard had been in North American theaters for fifteen and a half weeks, with a cumulative box office of $116.35 million. Its weekly gross had already slipped into the $500,000 range and it was about to leave theaters. The moment word spread that Daenerys Entertainment and Arista Records were stopping sales of The Bodyguard soundtrack over a profit dispute, a film that was already winding down in North America suddenly drew intense public and media attention again.
No matter how Clive Davis reacted, the soundtrack's shipments really did stop. All related work in overseas markets, Europe and Asia included, was halted across the board.
Everyone knew how strict the America was about copyright protection.
This dispute between Daenerys Entertainment and Arista had originally been limited to unclear revenue sharing. But if Arista continued selling the soundtrack after Daenerys, as a co-owner of the copyright, formally raised an objection, that crossed into copyright infringement.
A revenue dispute was easy to resolve once both sides reached an agreement. Even if it went to court, Arista wouldn't lose too much. But once copyright was involved, suing for $100 over a $1 right was not considered excessive. Daenerys Entertainment had every ability to sue Arista into bankruptcy.
On September 20, seeing that Daenerys Entertainment wasn't posturing at all and had genuinely halted every business activity related to The Bodyguard soundtrack, Clive Davis finally snapped awake.
Daenerys Entertainment had plenty of other income streams. Losing the soundtrack's revenue would barely dent them. But for Arista, this album was the pillar holding up its earnings. By the original projections, this one record alone would contribute more than 70% of Arista's total profit for the year.
Which side needed the soundtrack more was painfully obvious.
Just after eight in the morning, Clive Davis, who'd been tortured by a sleepless night, arrived at Arista Records headquarters on Oliver Avenue in Burbank, only to find reporters had been squatting nearby even earlier than he had.
He parked in the public lot next to the building. The moment he got out, a crowd of reporters swarmed him, and questions exploded around his ears.
"Mr. Davis, will you reach a settlement with Daenerys Entertainment?"
"Is Arista planning to sue Daenerys Entertainment?"
"Will Arista's parent company, Bertelsmann Music Group, step in to mediate?"
"There are rumors Whitney is preparing her second film. Will this incident hurt her Hollywood career?"
"..."
"..."
"Clive, with the losses you've caused the company, are you going to be fired for this?" [TL/N: HAHAHA]
"..."
Clive Davis shoved his way toward the office building in stony silence, but that last question hit the one place he feared most. He couldn't stay calm anymore. He whipped his head around and snapped, "I haven't caused the company any losses. You should go ask Simon Westeros. That greedy little punk is the one behind all of this."
The reporter crowd instantly erupted.
A cross-air shouting match like this was exactly the kind of material the media loved.
"Clive, are you saying this is Simon Westeros's fault?"
"Isn't it?" Clive barked. "Over some minor dispute, he forcibly shut down an album that deserves a place in music history. It's a desecration of music. Of course, I'm sure that punk doesn't think it's desecration, because all he can see is money. Otherwise, why do you think he could become the richest man in the country?"
"But according to Daenerys Entertainment's statement, this started because Arista swallowed Daenerys Entertainment's rightful share."
"From their standpoint, of course they'd say that. If it weren't for Whitney's singing, that piece of garbage movie wouldn't even have made ten million at the box office. They've already earned more than enough, and they still aren't satisfied. They want to squeeze more out of Arista. In my opinion, that's nothing but pure greed."
"..."
"..."
After venting, Clive Davis finally made it into the building. But his comments about Simon Westeros being "greedy beyond measure," and his description of The Bodyguard as "garbage," spread at breakneck speed. A local Los Angeles station and the national CNN news channel quickly ran segments on it, igniting even wider discussion.
As the other party involved, or rather, the person the media and certain people insisted on treating as the other party, Simon met Janet at Los Angeles International Airport at one in the afternoon. Then he boarded the rented Boeing 767 with his entourage and flew straight to Milan, Italy.
In truth, Simon had only made the decision. He had no intention of involving himself in the follow-up at all.
Once Clive Davis's remarks spread, Daenerys Entertainment fired back immediately, accusing Arista of being the truly greedy one. Arista had swallowed a full quarter of Daenerys Entertainment's rightful share of the soundtrack profits. That wasn't even greed anymore, it was outright theft.
People in the industry could actually understand why Daenerys Entertainment's reaction was so fierce. It was obviously a warning shot, killing a chicken to scare the monkeys. And so, although on the surface everyone was still cooperating with Daenerys Entertainment happily enough, behind the scenes there were inevitably some who stirred the waters, ensuring Daenerys Entertainment couldn't fully control the narrative.
Whitney Houston's fans jumped in too, gathering outside Daenerys Entertainment's offices in Santa Monica and Burbank, demanding that Daenerys Entertainment stop "targeting" their idol.
Clive Davis regretted his outburst the moment the words left his mouth. But since there was no reversing it now, he could only grit his teeth and hold the line, hoping Daenerys Entertainment would cave under public pressure and fan backlash.
Daenerys Entertainment had no intention of giving ground.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Nancy Brill took a hard stance. Unless Arista accepted Daenerys Entertainment's financial audit, paid every dollar Daenerys Entertainment was owed, and compensated them as well, then The Bodyguard soundtrack would never appear on shelves again.
After Nancy's statement, the small number of copies still circulating on the market immediately jumped in price.
Bertelsmann Music Group, Arista's parent company, had been congratulating itself not long ago because the soundtrack's sudden explosion proved it had been right to take over the near-bankrupt label from RCA two years earlier. Now, seeing that after the incident Clive Davis not only failed to calm things down but was clearly dragging the situation toward something even more uncontrollable, Bertelsmann quickly decided to step in.
On the second day after Simon flew to Italy, a Bertelsmann executive also flew in from Germany to Los Angeles. The first thing he did after landing was announce that Clive Davis would be taking an indefinite leave of absence, while the executive himself would take over Arista's operations and begin negotiations with Daenerys Entertainment.
Italy.
Simon's place in Milan was located by the famous Lake Como in the north, a mansion of roughly two acres built on a hillside overlooking the lake. Dense woods surrounded it, and from the lakeside road you had to drive up more than a kilometer through forest to reach the property. It was extremely private.
Today was September 22.
Gucci's Spring and Summer 1990 show was scheduled for the morning of the 23rd. Simon and Janet arrived on the afternoon of the 21st local time. They went into the city only to watch the final rehearsal for the show, skipped the opening events of fashion week entirely, then returned to the beautiful mountain villa to rest.
It had been more than a month since they'd last seen each other. Compared to socializing with strangers, they preferred staying together, speaking in low voices meant only for each other.
Still, the villa wasn't just Simon and Janet. Leaving the bodyguards aside, Jennifer was here, and Natasha Kinski had also come to Milan specifically to support the Gucci show, so she was staying as well. Sofia Fache, busy preparing for the show, wasn't staying here this time.
Milan was still within the Mediterranean climate zone, but because it was farther inland, the weather had already turned pleasantly cool after the start of autumn. The warm afternoon sun was perfect for lounging.
Janet lay on a chaise by the pool in the courtyard, bundled up tight as she soaked up the light, casually flipping through updates coming in from Los Angeles.
A moment later, she angled her gaze toward Simon. "They're saying you're a greedy bastard?"
Simon was reading a local Milan newspaper. Without missing a beat, he recited that famous line from Wall Street. "Greed is good, greed is right, greed works!"
"Hmph." Janet didn't like his smugness. Her socked foot stretched over and scratched at him.
She was the kind of woman who worried about even her feet getting tan.
Simon lifted his leg and easily pinned her small foot in place. "Want to go into the city tonight?"
Janet's interest lit up instantly. "Just the two of us?"