The One: Strained Ties (The One Series-Book7) (ORIGINAL DRAFT)

Chapter4: Third Label Is The Charm

Chapter4-Third Label Is The Charm

April 5, 2010

 It's now April. 7th Anthem are busy promoting their new single, Take Me In. At the same time, they're filming their TV series, and they're still rehearsing for their up-coming tour.

 They've also begun releasing their music in Asia, Australia, and Latin America. Their debut single was different from the European release. Instead of Over You, they released I Wanna Know You. So far, they're gaining fans, especially since they also aired The Delinquents in those parts of the world.

 7A are now in New York City. They were there to sign onto a record label owned by Sony Music, Colombia Records. They waited to return to the US for a few years, and now the moment has finally come.

 As 7A waited in the boardroom with their manager Paul, one of executives entered the room. He said, "I'm going to make this quick: We decided not to sign you. Thank you for coming."

 With that, the 7A members and Paul were stunned by this last minute decision. Andrew spoke up, "How can that be? You all decided to sign us, and now you turn your backs on us? What happened?"

 The executive replied coldly, "You know what happened...UTurn."

 Then he left. Paul asked Andrew, "What do you know?"

 Andrew replied, "That's just it, I don't know."

 "Then why did he call the band by its' old name?"

 Alyson chimed in, "Maybe our past is following us again."

 Justin said, "How can it? We hadn't been in America for a few years."

 Amanda said sourly, "Ever heard of YouTube? That's how it keeps following us."

 Andrew then asked Paul, "Paul, are there any record labels who'll sign us?"

 He replied as he got on his phone, "I'm working on it now."

 It's a few hours later. 7A are now at another major, Sony-owned record label. It was Epic Records. It was a last minute squeeze-in, but Epic was willing to sign them.

 As 7A and Paul were in the office of LA Reid, he came in, and sat at his desk. He told them, "Okay, I'm glad to sign you. If I remember correctly, you sent me a demo CD sometime after you changed your name from 'UTurn' to '7th Anthem.' Now, me and people turned you down because we wanted something different from you. If you were going to market yourself as a 'new pop group,' you'd have to change everything about yourself. But after hearing your new music and watching a clip of your TV show, me and my people agree that you have made the change that was needed. We're proud of you, and you should be proud of your success."

 Just as LA was about to take out the contract, he received an email. He read it, and after a few minutes, he faced the band. He said to them, "On second thought, you will not be signed."

 With that, the members murmured. Andrew asked, "Okay, you said that you were proud of our change, and now you're not? Why did you change your mind?"

 LA turned his monitor to Andrew. He, and the others, read the email. It said that in 2007, UTurn demanded that they have a hyper-sexualized image. But their manager was against it, but he eventually compromised with them.

 This angered the 7A members. Andrew said, "What Maurice is saying is not true!"

 LA asked, "Maurice?"

 "He was our manager during the UTurn years. Anyway, we did not demand to have that image. It was Maurice. He forced us to have two images. We wanted to be like what we are now. We even issued a court-ordered mandate to tone down the sexuality, but he and his people violated it."

 LA thought for a moment, and then he said, "I'm sorry, but I can't sign you."

 With that, 7A and Paul left the office. Paul made a quick phone call, and soon he hung up. Before they knew it, they were in the office of one of the executives at RCA Records.

 The executive said to them, "This is a bold choice for you to make. We can only hope you'll sell well here in America, and in Canada."

 As he was getting out the contract, there was a fax going through. Alyson exchanged looks with Andrew. He got up and grabbed the paper. He stuffed the paper in Alyson's purse.

 When the executive turned to the band, he asked, "Is everything okay? My fax machine just went off."

 Alyson said calmly, "Yes. The fax machine must've been testing itself."

 The executive gave a puzzled look, but then sat down. He handed the contract to 7A and Paul. They signed it, and it was official. 7A was going to make their American comeback.

 Soon after the signing, 7A were in their hotel suite. They read fax. It was from Maurice. It was the same as the email, but there was more. It accused UTurn of constantly breaking their contract, from filing numerous lawsuits to getting signed as 7th Anthem.

 Libby asked, "None of this is true, is it?"

 Andrew replied, "When we go back to London, I have to study our old contract. I know the only time we violated our contract was when we were recording our songs and going on that nightclub tour."

 Justin commented, "It looks to me like Maurice is trying to keep us out of America."

 Andrew said, "By how? Not getting signed onto an American label? He's not gonna keep us out. We'll make our comeback. But we need to find out what was on our previous contract."

 As soon as they returned to London, they did just that. They studied the their old contract. They saw that they only thing they violated was recording songs and doing promotions without the consent of Maurice.

 But then they noticed something, a clause. It said that UTurn, if dropped, was not allowed to sign onto another label until January of 2010.

 When they noticed this, Trevor asked, "Didn't we sign onto another just last year?"

 Andrew replied, "We did, but we didn't sign with an American label."

 Then Andrew looked more into the contract, and saw more. Not only they couldn't sign onto another label, they couldn't sign with an American label. He said, "I think we're okay because we didn't sign with an American label last year. But we shouldn't have been under contract after we were dropped. Besides, we changed our name to 7th Anthem."

 Amanda asked, "So, are we going to challenge Maurice?"

 Andrew thought for a moment, and then he said, "No, we'll leave it alone for now. But we will have to deal with him eventually."

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7TH ANTHEM'S INTERNATIONAL SINGLE, "I WANNA KNOW YOU," IS IN THE VIDEO>>>