Chapter 61: Blacklisted By The Industry

Going completely indie was an option, but why burn my own liquid cash if we could make someone else fund the empire on our terms?

"Indie is always an option," I said, looking over at Ruby as the city lights blurred past the tinted windows. "With forty million cash right now, we can self-fund your debut, drop it independently, and own every single cent. But before we drop our own capital, we shop the floor. Quin was greedy, but they aren’t the only giant in town."

Ruby leaned in, her eyes sharp. "What’s the play?"

"We play them against each other," I replied smoothly. "Quin tried to flex their power because they thought we were desperate after the AMG collapse. Now word is going to leak that we walked out on a thirty-million-dollar Quin contract. Every major label in Los Angeles, London, and Tokyo is going to realize two things: you’re completely free, and you can’t be bought with cheap money."

I pulled out my phone, opening my encrypted contact list.

"We check every single offer on the table," I said. "We look for a true distribution-only deal or a joint venture where a major handles the heavy lifting, but you keep one hundred percent of your masters and ultimate creative authority. And if nobody steps up with a clean contract?"

I looked at her with a slow, ruthless smirk.

"Then we drop twenty million of my own cash, launch our own label, and burn their entire industry down ourselves."

The game had changed overnight, and not in the direction I anticipated.

Instead of a frantic bidding war, every major line I dialed went straight to voicemail.

By Tuesday afternoon, my legal team confirmed the reality: Quin hadn’t just taken the rejection personally; they had mobilized their entire network to crush us before we could even pitch a second offer.

Quin’s executive board had put out an industry-wide blackout.

They made quiet, heavy-handed calls to every major distributor, radio conglomerate, and subsidiary label in the country. The message was simple and brutal: work with Ruby or Ethan, and lose your access to Quin’s entire multi-platinum roster.

In a corporate ecosystem driven by fear and legacy favors, nobody was willing to risk their bottom line for an unsigned artist, no matter how talented she was. We were completely blacklisted.

I stood in the glass office of the estate, staring out at the courtyard as my primary broker delivered the final report over the phone.

"Every single door is shut, Ethan," he said quietly. "Nobody’s touching the project. Quin locked down the physical distribution channels, the playlist curations, even the high-tier press outlets. They’re trying to freeze you out until your capital runs dry or Ruby comes crawling back to sign their original slave contract."

I hung up without a word.

Behind me, the studio door opened softly. Ruby walked in carrying two cups of espresso.

She didn’t look defeated; her face was set in a quiet, dangerous resolve.

She had already seen the news feeds and the sudden radio silence from the reps who had been chasing us just forty-eight hours ago.

"So," she said, placing a cup on the desk beside me. "Quin closed the front door."

"They closed every door, window, and air vent in the mainstream industry," I corrected, a cold, low laugh escaping my chest as I picked up the espresso. "They think they can starve us out. They think an artist can’t survive without their permission."

Ruby pulled a fresh USB drive from her pocket—loaded with demos of her first six tracks—and set it on the mahogany desk between us.

"Then let them keep their industry," Ruby said, looking me straight in the eye with absolute, unwavering trust.

"We have forty million dollars in liquid cash, the best unreleased music in the world, and zero executives telling us what to do. Let’s build our own door."

[Social Media Manager Retainer: -$10,000]

[Joe Jay: -$50,000]

[AMG Debt Buyout & Advance Acquisition: -$2,500,000]

[Live TV Interview Host Bribe: -$100,000]

[Stage Audio Engineer & Mic Sabotage Bribe: -$20,000]

[Updated Expenditure & Cashback Ledger]

[Previous Tracked Expenditure: $150,000]

[New Additions: $2,680,000]

[Total Cumulative Expenditure: $2,830,000]

[Locked 40x Cashback Multiplier Pool: $113,200,000 ($2,830,000x 40) — PENDING EXPIRATION LOCK]

Our first move against Quin’s blackout was digital guerrilla warfare. I retained a ruthless, top-tier social media growth manager for ten grand a month—someone who specialized in breaking algorithmic suppression and turning organic virality into a tidal wave.

We weren’t going to rely on radio stations or editorial playlists that Quin could easily block.

We were going straight to the people.

The strategy was simple: weaponize the mystery.

We dropped a silent, thirty-second teaser clip on TikTok and Instagram.

No corporate logo—just Ruby sitting in the estate studio under a single overhead light, strumming those haunting acoustic chords from her viral live performance, backed by a clean, cinematic graphic that simply read: The Voice They Tried to Silence. Coming Soon.

Within four hours, the algorithm caught fire. Fans who had watched the live television ambush flooded the comments, sharing clips, stitching the video, and demanding the full song.

Quin’s media blackout was cracking under the sheer weight of raw public demand.

I locked my phone screen, turned away from the glass window, and looked over at Ruby, who was watching our view counter tick up by the tens of thousands every minute.

The front gates swung open just past ten the following morning, and a sleek, matte-black Mercedes SUV rolled up the winding drive, parking right outside the glass doors of the estate studio.

Joe Jay stepped out, adjusting his signature tinted shades and unbuttoning his tailored linen jacket. He wasn’t just any producer; he was the sonic architect behind half the Billboard charts, a man who charged six figures a track and usually wouldn’t answer a phone call from an unsigned artist unless they came with a major label backing them.

But money—and a personal call from my network—talked louder than Quin’s corporate blacklists.

I met him at the double doors as he walked in carrying a battered leather equipment case loaded with custom pre-amps and analog routing gear.

"Ethan. Man, what a wild week," Joe said, shaking my hand with a sharp, knowing grin. "I saw that live broadcast stunt. Absolutely ruthless. You really blew up the whole board over at AMG."

"We’re just getting started," I replied, leading him down the corridor toward the main tracking room. "The master files are loaded. Ruby’s been waiting for you."

When we pushed open the studio doors, Ruby looked up from the mixing console, her face lighting up with an electric, undeniable excitement.

She had her acoustic guitar resting against the chair, but the coffee table was already littered with freshly printed lyric sheets and arrangement notes.

"Joe Jay?" Ruby gasped, stepping forward as she recognized him from his industry credits. "Are you... you’re actually here?"

"Only for the best," Joe laughed, setting his case down on the mahogany table with a heavy thud.

He walked over to the mixing board, running his fingers across the faders before turning his full attention to her.

"I heard that acoustic raw feed from the television ambush, Ruby. That vocal control is terrifyingly good. If we capture that magic on the studio track, we’re not just dropping a single—we’re rewriting what modern pop sounds like."

Ruby’s smile widened, her eyes shining with pure creative adrenaline. "I have the rough scratch tracks and the vocal harmonies mapped out, but I want the bassline to hit heavier on the second verse. Something that feels driving, like an heartbeat under the acoustic."

"Say less," Joe said, already sitting down in the producer’s chair and powering up the digital audio workstation. "Let’s pull up the session stem and test the room mics. Get in the booth, let’s see what you’ve got."

Without a second wasted, Ruby slipped into the vocal booth, strapping her headphones on and adjusting the studio-grade condenser mic to her height.

Through the glass, she gave us a sharp thumbs-up, her posture shifting from nervous excitement into absolute, focused professionalism.

Joe tapped his board, sending a crisp click-track through her monitors. "Whenever you’re ready, star. Give me a dry take of the intro verse, no compression."

I leaned back against the leather couch in the control room, watching through the acoustic glass as Ruby closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let the first chord ring out.