From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 362: Is This Your Prince (10)?

Copyright Strike?

"How can something be copyrighted when we’re the source and own the original copy of everything?" PD Emily muttered.

When making a music show, preemptively addressing copyright issues was one of the main things that ate up a lot of the budget, since licensing music for commercial use was a bit expensive.

It was why the production team pushed for several self-produced songs.

It wasn’t because they wanted to highlight the contestants’ producing skill (although that was a major bonus, especially since it let the label that would sign them know the full extent of their skill so that they could be properly exploited in the future)

It was to cut down the costs as much as possible!

And to help with that, the production team had utilized their contracts with the judges extensively.

Jelissa and Larry Jackson had worked on alternate sound bits, melodies, and different packages that the producing contestants could use for free. After all, they were both pretty good producers in the music industry so they could catch any pitfalls and steer the contestants in the right direction.

And with those same judges working directly with them and reviewing everything, a copyright strike was essentially impossible.

So why was she seeing this message?

PD Emily was completely confused as she attempted to click another video of Williams’ performance.

[Video Unavailable.]

"What the heck is going on? Are people rage reporting William’s videos or what?"

It was something that occasionally happened on some social media sites.

Fans who were feeling angry about one thing or another would band together to get certain accounts or videos locked or taken down.

Given how angry Ari’s fans were, it was possible they were just lashing out and doing the only thing they could.

Take down William’s performance video.

They were organized enough to do it, so she wouldn’t be surprised if it was them.

The few comments that she was seeing already had William’s fans accusing other fandoms of taking his video down out of jealousy.

Although it was a bit funny, it would be good to check just in case.

After all, each minute the videos were down was money lost.

Taking another swig of coffee, PD Emily immediately began checking the official accounts on all platforms to see if it was actually something serious.

And to her surprise, it was.

Every platform on which they had posted William’s performance video had received a copyright strike, and the video had been taken down.

From Twitter to IG, they all had a copyright strike.

Sensing the severity of the situation, PD Emily quickly moved to WeTube, which had a much stricter policy for taking videos down.

If the video was down there, then there was really something going on.

Consumed by a bad feeling, PD Emily’s heart began pounding, and her palms grew sweaty as she gripped the mouse and clicked on the correct video on the show’s WeTube homepage.

As the video loaded up, all she saw was a grey background with words that made her stomach twist and turn.

["Idol Performance Video." This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Pacific Records.]

It was an official copyright strike by a record label, meaning that they had evidence that something in the video was used without permission.

Since the visuals were personally taken and edited by her production crew, the problem was naturally the song.

What the heck had William done with his song?!

Had he used a sample illegally? Had he plagiarized? What?!

And why hadn’t Larry Jackson caught it?

Feeling a headache coming on, PD Emily checked her email and found a formal complaint from the Pacific Records Legal department.

Scanning through the legalese-filled email that had made her previously tired eyes perk up, PD Emily felt her heart begin to race at the sight of the listed consequences.

Channel shutdown, court orders, extensive fees starting at 8 zeros?

At this point, even if she sold her organs, she wouldn’t be able to afford to pay this or justify it to the executives.

Seriously, whose song did William use illegally?

Also, Pacific Records?

Hadn’t Martin, the CEO of Pacific Records, come to visit Ari?

Was this somehow connected to that green-eyed gremlin who felt bitter about how she had edited him, so he used his connections to ruin her day?

But this was an official message from a record label’s legal department? Did they really have time to waste on such nonsense?

As PD Emily was running through a variety of situations in her head while trying to figure out how to proceed, her cellphone began ringing and vibrating aggressively.

Knowing that this couldn’t be good, PD Emily chugged her remaining coffee before picking it up

Caller ID: Bing Yongsun.

Executive creator and performance director of Soundwave Music.

The person whose ’line’ she had decided to join to withstand the constant pressure from Wilford Forbes.

F*ck!

Feeling that her neck was now on the chopping block, PD Emily answered the phone and did the only thing she could.

"I didn’t know anything about it. I might go overboard on editing now and then, but I would never intentionally include something that would bring the show down like this. You have to believe me." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Deny!

Deny!

Deny!

That night, there was an executive meeting, and the results...

Well.

********

"Good morning! Did you miss me?" Despite wanting to fight her about the way she edited him, Ari cheerfully greeted the PD, who looked like she had lost a fight with a bear.

"Not even a little bit, you green-eyed demon." PD Emily immediately cursed as she saw the handsome, bright, cheery, well-rested face beaming beautifully at her.

As if he didn’t have a single worry in the world.

Curse your youth!

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Wow. So we’re starting the day off with negative energy?

"Calling me a demon first thing in the morning is kind of crazy, no? I haven’t even done anything to get you back for the way you portrayed me in the episode."

"If this is you not getting me back, I’d hate to see when you actually put in effort, you little gremlin." PD Emily responded honestly before rubbing her eyes tiredly as she realized that the person she was talking to was, in fact, Ari and not some hallucination.

What was he doing here? Hadn’t he confidently said that he wasn’t participating in the surprise showcase?

"What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here."

"I’m here to participate in the surprise showcase. Obviously."

"Why?"

For a moment, PD Emily felt betrayed and wanted to tear up.

They were supposed to protest together to prove a point to that stupid Forbes family and have a fun time at the graduation.

"Why wouldn’t I participate? It’s a fantastic opportunity to increase my votes, satisfy my fans, and show viewers that I’m serious about debuting while performing an amazing song with my friends and teammates."

"I would believe you more if you didn’t sound like you were reading from a script while somebody held a gun to your head. Who’s blackmailing you into performing?" PD Emily commented, noting the unwilling expression Ari usually wore when he had to do something he didn’t agree with.

"A mysterious alien voice that I hear in my head. It constantly blackmails me into doing things that I don’t want to do, and I have no choice but to listen."

[I’m not an alien!]

[And I wouldn’t say blackmail.]

[I prefer the term forceful coercion to get you to do what I want.]

That’s just a fancier way of saying BLACKMAIL!

Swiping NOVA’s blue transparent window away, Ari saw the PD looking at him as if he needed to be committed to a mental institution, and couldn’t help but laugh.

It was a bit sad, really. He was telling the truth, yet nobody believed him.

Yet his laughter seemed to trigger PD Emily, who suddenly rushed over and began shaking his shoulders aggressively.

"Ariel, seriously. Answer me seriously, did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"The copyright strikes? Did you do it?!"

"What copyright strike?" Ari asked in confusion.

To be honest, he had ended up staying late over at Levi’s house with the rest of the team as they ironed out their entire concept and who was going to do what.

Since Ari was going to be extremely busy this week, prepping for graduation, he needed to make the most of his time and honestly hadn’t had time to check online as much as he wanted to.

Did he miss something yesterday during the episode?

Had the evil production team finally gotten caught messing with somebody they shouldn’t have?

What had happened?

PD Emily looked at him like she couldn’t believe what he was saying.

"You’re telling me you don’t know or didn’t plan it? He’s basically your nemesis."

"My nemesis?"

There was only one person who fit that description.

William.

Quickly reading PD Emily’s face and recalling her previous words, Ari shot out a random guess.

"Oh? Did William get caught for stealing somebody’s song?"

That was the only thing that made sense because, ever since William announced he’d made his song in a day, Ari had been suspicious.

It wasn’t that he thought it was impossible to make a song in a day; it was that he had seen William’s work ethic and knew that it was impossible for HIM.

He basically assumed that William had been provided one by the production team, but based on PD Emily’s reaction, that wasn’t the case.

He had stolen one?

Seeing PD Emily laugh, Ari burst out laughing.

"Seriously? He stole a song?"

"Yes."

Looking at the somber PD, Ari couldn’t help but laugh again.

Wow! Life was so beautiful right now!

He could do a cartwheel down the hall and even go work out with Benjamin and Jamie.

That’s how happy he was.

And the only thing that would make him happier was-

"So? He stole a song and presented it as his own on global television. Is William going to get eliminated?" Ari asked excitedly.

He hoped with all of his heart that he would never have to see that smug, blonde face again.

"It’s highly possible. That’s what all the executives are discussing right now. But his immediate punishment is that he’s banned from performing at the surprise showcase." PD Emily explained, examining Ari’s expression to see whether he was pretending or really didn’t know what was happening.

At her words, Ari let out the most beautiful smile PD Emily had ever seen.

"Good."