Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

"Hey, Link, can you win?"

Dino called from New York. Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire

Standing in an aisle of the Los Angeles Public Library, Link walked and talked on the phone, "This is about selling albums, not a boxing match. How many albums can be sold in the first week? I can't be sure until the results are out. Are you placing a bet?"

"Yes, I'm ready to wager some pocket money."

"Alright, how's Mario's match going?"

"Of course he won. I specially arranged the first opponent to be a stepping stone for him, and Mario knocked him out in three rounds."

Dino said.

Link thought of Micky Ward from "Fighter," who was also initially a stepping-stone boxer.

"Mario has an attitude problem; he tends to get cocky after winning. If you want to condition him, find him some tough opponents to beat him down a bit. Maybe he'll get even better."

"It seems that way, alright. I'll get him a tough opponent for the next match."

Dino laughed.

Link smiled lightly and handed the phone to Anna, then walked out to the plaza in front of the library.

"Link!!"

Seeing him appear, thousands of fans on the plaza started shouting loudly.

Today was the first day of release for his second album. The California regional album distributor hosted an album release event here to extend the promotion.

At the release event, Link performed "Keep On Movin'" and "Rainbow" from the second album on stage and invited Joaquin Phoenix to join him, collaborating on the hit song "Believer."

Joaquin Phoenix had expressed that he really, really liked this song, especially the line 'Pain! You made me a, you made me a believer, believer'. Hence, Link specially invited him to perform at the release event.

While performing, Joaquin Phoenix clenched the microphone in both hands, his face contorted with fierce emotion, incredibly engaged, nearly outdoing the original singer himself.

The reaction from the fans below was extremely enthusiastic, with thunderous applause.

After the concert ended, pursuant to the distributor's arrangement, Link proceeded to the second-floor hall of the library to sign autographs for the fans.

On the first day at the public library, he signed 8,600 albums, not breaking the previous record, mainly because the concert delayed him for two hours, and the distributor's staff had to finish their shifts on time.

On its first day, the second album "Keep On Movin'" sold 54,000 copies in record stores across the states and 88,000 digital album sales online, totaling 142,000 copies.

That was only 84,000 fewer than last week's Billboard album sales chart topper, "BLACK summers' night", a very good start, with a solid chance to snatch the weekly album chart championship.

However, considering Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" was also about to be released, he and his team couldn't slack off just yet.

The next day, he participated in two signing events at the Central Metro Station and City Music Hall in Los Angeles, delivering 13,500 signed albums in total, undeniably making the news again as the quick-shooter Link returned to the scene.

In the following days, he held more than ten album signing events in major U.S. cities including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Charleston. He also invited singers like Taylor, Lana, Wiz, Mars, Lil Bobby, Selena, and Snoopy Dogg to support the events.

When returning to New York for the signing event, Eminem even called him, wanting to join his signing session.

After meeting, Em explained the issue with "Forever" to him, revealing he was cloistered in the music studio at the time, and only learned about Lil Wayne's early single release after coming out. He himself wasn't interested in competing for the charts.

Link had heard some rumors, learning that Eminem and Lil Wayne had a spat once, and it took Jay-Z's intervention to prevent a fight between them.

Link wouldn't hold a grudge against Eminem over this matter, because even if he lost in the chart competition, there was no downside for him.

In New York, at the autograph session, Link and Eminem performed "Lighters" together, and the response was very good.

The first week's album sales and chart performance were also released.

"How much?"

In the Las Vegas hotel, Link and members of the promotional team looked at Mandy as she walked in slowly with the documents in hand.

Mrs. Mandy's face was taut, making it difficult to tell if she was genuinely displeased or just pretending to be to tease everyone.

Mrs. Mandy opened the folder, glanced at everyone, and said, "'Keep On Movin'' sold 427,000 copies across the United States in its first week."

"Yeah!!"

"That's fantastic!!"

The staff on site jumped up excitedly, the sound of champagne bottles popping resounded, and the liquid sprayed everywhere.

Link also smiled slightly. Although this result was a bit lower than Taylor's second album in its first week, it was much, much higher than the 97,000 copies of his own first album and more than 200,000 copies above last week's Billboard 200 album chart winner, so the first-week top spot seemed secured.

But Mrs. Mandy was still keeping a straight face without saying anything, which gave him a bad feeling. He took two glasses of champagne and handed them to Mrs. Mandy.

"We didn't get the top spot?"

"That's right, the top spot goes to 'The Blueprint 3,' with sales of 458,000 copies this week."

"3.1 thousand more than us? That's the mark of a seasoned artist."

Link remarked.

In fact, he had a feeling—Jay-Z was a top figure in the music industry, one of the richest in the scene, with profound connections. After the release of "The Blueprint 3," many superstars, film emperors and empresses, and famous hosts helped promote it directly or indirectly.

Besides, "The Blueprint 3" is the third installment of "The Blueprint" series, which had accumulated a large fanbase. Jay-Z's record company claimed this was the final installment during the promotion, and naturally, fans of the series wouldn't miss it.

His second album "Keep On Movin'" selling over four hundred thousand copies against such a strong competitor, far exceeding the predicted 300,000 copies, also proved that the promotional strategy of competing with Jay-Z was effective.

"Mandy, how's the single chart performance?"

Link asked, sipping his champagne.

"Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling' is still number one on the single chart, Jay-Z's 'Empire State of Mind' is in second place, Maxwell's 'Pretty Wings' is third, and our 'Believer' is currently in fourth,"

Ms. Mandy reported.

"Black Eyed Peas is really impressive."

Black Eyed Peas released their latest album "The E.N.D." at the end of May. Their first official single "Boom Boom Pow" got ten weeks as number one on the single chart, later dethroned by Jay-Z's "D.O.A." and Link's "Give me reason."

The second single "I Gotta Feeling" was released afterwards, holding the top spot on the single chart for seven consecutive weeks, and also powerfully held off "Empire State of Mind" and "Believer" this week. Indeed, they were very formidable.

"But there is some good news as well."

Ms. Mandy said with a dimpled smile similar to Selena's, "Although 'Believer' didn't become the number one single in its first week, eight songs entered the Hot 100 singles chart, with 'This Is Me,' 'Trouble I'm In,' and 'Keep On Movin',' making it into the top twenty. We have two more songs on the chart than 'The Blueprint 3,' which shows our album is of very high quality."

"That's indeed good news, cheers!"

Link clinked his champagne glass with Ms. Mandy's.