𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄

"So this is the band that's been buzzing all over the industry," she greets, tone cool and inviting all at once.

"It's a pleasure, Ms. Huang," Monica replies, "The girls and I are so honored you took the time to meet with us."

"Please, call me Evelyn. I'm not nearly old enough to be Ms. Huang," she laughs, "Though, my wife seems to treat me like I'm a grandmother these days."

The girls laugh, though they're clearly still on edge. What's worse is that Evelyn seems extremely perceptive to all their energies with the way she's eyeing them.

"You," she points to Billie, "You're the lead singer."

"Yes," Billie replies with a nod, hands folded in her lap, "I am."

"I take it you're the ringleader then," Evelyn adds with a raise of her brow.

Billie shakes her head, "No, actually. We all have equal say in what happens with the band. If anything, Sloane has the most veto power. She produces a lot of our music."

"Interesting," Evelyn hums while thinking for a moment, "Monica already sent over all the details for what you plan to do with my money. It's actually quite a generous contribution, if I decide to invest in— what do you call it — The Collective?"

"Yes," Sloane interjects, "It's going to be called The Collective. We want independent artists to have a place to record and sell music without having to sign with restrictive labels. All of our contracts will be flexible and are more of a studio rental agreement than anything else."

"And you think that'll make you money?" Evelyn questions with a matter of fact tone.

"We want to be successful," Billie explains, "But we're not in it for the money. Truthfully, we can't imagine signing to a label that has so much control over us, and we think it's time to change the way the industry operates."

"Hm," Evelyn hums, "Well, I have to say this is something I have yet to see. I've worked with a lot of talent, and none have considered going independent. Artists want to sign with big labels. Why would they pick The Collective over that?"

"Artists think they want that," Daria explains, "but we've seen personally how restrictive it can be. If there's no other option, of course artists are going to sign with big labels."

"Well, I'm very interested to say the least," Evelyn admits, "I like the idea, and it reminds me of when I started out. No one had heard of a female owned talent agency, and now look where I am. It takes some strong women to step outside of the box. But tell me, where do you see girlcrush headed in the next five years?"

"I think I speak for us all when I say that we want girlcrush to be the hottest band in synthpop and alternative music," Billie beams, "We have the talent and the drive. Our numbers are growing by the week with the tour we're on, and it seems like we have a chance to really take off from here."

"I've read your stats and projections," Evelyn laughs, "I'm not worried about your success as a band. I want to know where you see yourselves in the industry."

"We want to be the people that change the game," Daria explains, "We want to be bigger than Mad Sounds."

Monica nearly cringes at her comment, but Evelyn's smile only widens. "You must know I'm a major stakeholder in Mad Sounds," she clarifies, "I am on their board, after all."

Billie nearly winces, but Daria seems to know the game that Evelyn is playing. "Then you know how successful they must be at making the rules," she replies, "but you wouldn't be talking to us if you didn't want to change them"