Tony wroteNo tourin big block letters and underlined it twice.
“No.”Carlene didn’t fill the silence.“We won’t advertise a plan that doesn’t exist.”
Counsel tried another angle.“Then a window:The band anticipates live appearances in the coming year.”
“Too vague for you, too dangerous for us,” Carlene said.“You want a window, make it platform-agnostic.The band will announce show dates on their own channels.”
Tony kept his eyes on the notes, but she saw the corner of his mouth lift.
“Let’s discuss the album,” counsel said.“We intend to proceed.We’re willing to offer a points adjustment on domestic streaming to reflect your reduced touring support.”
Carlene didn’t let the word willing flatter her.“Domestic and international.And we need approval over the bio copy that appears on storefronts.”
“That’s marketing’s domain.”
“Then pull them in.We won’t accept copy that undermines our position or paints us as uncooperative.”
Another pause.“We could agree to share copy for review with a two-hour turnaround.No veto, but we’ll make reasonable edits.”
“Change review to approval, and you have a deal on that piece.”She glanced at Tony.He held up two fingers.“And add a commitment to remove yesterday’s headlines from your owned pages by the end of the day.”
Counsel sighed.“We’ll need internal sign off.”
“You asked for de-escalation,” Carlene said.“These are the things that de-escalate.”
The line went quiet long enough for her to hear a keyboard in another room and someone whispering off mic.When the lawyer came back, her tone had shifted an inch.“We can offer the following to memorialize a temporary standstill while we negotiate: one, a mutual pause on public comment; two, a neutral update across channels; three, a copy review process for storefront bios,” she stressed the word, “and four, removal of yesterday’s language from our site by close of business.”
“Adjust three to approval,” Carlene said.“And add five, your team stops using any stills from our livestream without written consent.”She let the request sit.“We own it.Don’t ride it.”
“Approval is a sticking point,” counsel said.“We can’t give unilateral control to talent.”
“Then ask Vivian if she prefers a judge making the call later,” Tony said, mild as a Sunday.“We have time.”
A beat.“I’ll take this back to my client,” counsel said.“Can we tentatively schedule mediation for early next week?”
Carlene watched the studio door.Music pressed faintly against the hinges.“We can calendar a hold.No admission of breach, no concession on touring.”
“Understood.”
“Send your draft,” Carlene said.“We’ll mark it up and get it to you within the hour.”
They disconnected.Tony pulled off his earbuds and blew out a breath.“You’re mean in exactly the right places.”
“I’m precise.”She typed a quick note to Grant, attached bullet points, and hit send.Then she drew a line down the center of Tony’s page and labeled the columnsGiveandHold.
“Give?”Tony asked.
“Neutral update.Temporary pause.Mediation hold.”She wrote them down.“Hold?”
“Tour,” he said.“Release date.Cover art.Approval on bios.”
“And use of our footage.”She added it, then wrote pointsadj.domestic + internationalunder a separate heading.
Jami’s text popped up on her screen.
How’s the quiet plan doing?
She typed,
