Chapter 50: The Sonic Explosion
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
The explosion of 'Drugs You Should Try It' wasn't a trickle. It was a detonation.
Michael woke up Wednesday morning, a day after the release, and his phone was barely working. It was so overloaded with notifications that the touchscreen barely responded.
The clip of Hex's live reaction ("I'm shaking") had gone viral on its own. It was the ultimate seal of approval. Every music blog, from the hipsters at Pitchfork to the production nerds at r/trapproduction, was talking about it.
The article from "Aesthetic Collective" had a new headline: "WE TOLD YOU SO: Michael Demiurge is a genius, and this is his proof."
Michael had a huge boost in followers. His Instagram, which had jumped to 15k after the Halloween party, was now heading towards 50k. His Twitter was a chaos of retweets.
He had become, literally overnight, the coolest person on the internet.
His song went viral during that week. But not like 'White Iverson', which was catchy. This was different. It was a cultural event. People shared it not just because it was good, but as a statement that they "understood" the art.
As the week went on, the phenomenon filtered into the real world.
Thursday night, Leo sent Michael a video via Snapchat. He was in a lounge bar in downtown L.A., one of those expensive places Michael could never get into. The video was dark, but the audio was unmistakable.
It was 'Drugs You Should Try It'. The psychedelic beat floating over a sea of well-dressed people drinking cocktails.
On Friday, Sam sent another one. This time, from a nightclub. The DJ was transitioning, and used the reverse reverb whoosh to make the crowd explode.
There were even clips of people at house parties, mimicking Michael's live stream, turning off the lights and telling everyone to shut up to "really listen to it."
The song had transcended. It was no longer just a SoundCloud track. It was the soundtrack.
Michael was the topic of conversation in the emerging music industry. And as he watched all this from his rented room, he could only smile, knowing that his "SoundCloud Era" had just ended with a nuclear explosion.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Michael was in his studio. Exactly one week had passed since the release of 'Drugs You Should Try It'.
After the chaotic viral week, the tide of notifications had calmed a bit. It was time to take stock. To see the real damage.
He opened his YouTube dashboard. He wasn't prepared for what he saw.
The song hadn't just been a critical success. It had been a commercial monster, at least by his standards.
The visualizer video for 'Drugs You Should Try It' had achieved 10 million views in just one week. It was, by far, his most listened-to song.
He stared at the number, 10,145,239. It was an astronomical figure for an independent artist with no label, no marketing, just a tweet and a reaction video.
But the real success, as always, was the ripple effect. The rising tide had lifted all his boats.
He checked the stats of his other songs.
'White Iverson', which had been his main hit, had exploded again. The people who came for "Drugs" stayed for "Iverson". It now had over 5 million plays.
'Sodium', thanks to its viral video, had also grown, reaching 4 million.
And 'crybaby', his cult anthem, had received the most new "believers", surpassing 2 million.
His first songs, 'Ghost Boy' and 'Star Shopping', now had hundreds of thousands of views each.
His social media followers had doubled again. His Instagram was about to cross the 100,000 follower mark. His Twitter exceeded 50,000.
He was no longer an underground secret. He was a phenomenon.
Michael leaned back in his chair, letting the weight of that realization hit him. In the ten months since he woke up in this universe, he had gone from being a ghost in the school hallways to being one of the most talked-about emerging artists on the planet.
He felt good. He felt... ready.
The work of the "SoundCloud Era" was done.
It was time to collect his true reward.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 (Night)
The chaos had calmed, but the song kept accumulating hundreds of thousands of plays every day. It had become a stable phenomenon.
Just as he had planned, he had waited a week. He had let the song reach its viral peak. He had let the hype wave settle.
It was time.
He leaned back in his Herman Miller chair. He closed his eyes. The silence of his rented house was total.
He summoned the System interface.
Cyan light filled his vision. He looked at the top right corner. His Impact Points balance was astronomical.
The producer hype. The critic reactions. The millions of views from the mainstream audience. The deep connections of his core fans. Everything had added up.
TOTAL BALANCE: 236,645 IP
Michael smiled. It was a fortune. He had gone from 136,000 to over 230,000 in a single week.
He navigated to the store. He went to the "Milestones" tab. The golden button shone, tempting.
[MILESTONE ROULETTE (10 SONGS) UNLOCKED]
You have completed your first catalog. You have demonstrated your commitment to creation.
This unique offer allows you to launch 10 new songs in exchange for all your current Impact Points.
[COST: ALL YOUR CURRENT IP BALANCE (236,645 IP)]
There was no doubt. There was no hesitation. This was the plan.
With a clear and decided thought, he pressed the "Buy" button.
The interface flickered. His Impact Points balance, the fruit of ten months of work, pain, and strategy, plummeted.
TOTAL BALANCE: 0 IP
He felt strangely liberated. He was at zero again.
It was a new beginning.
The store screen faded. The screen went black.
And then, a new ring of cyan light appeared in front of him.
It wasn't the simple ring of his first spin. This one was more complex. It shone with a more potent energy, with small arcs of static electricity crackling around it.
It was ready to spin.
Michael leaned forward. The game had just started again.
"Okay," he whispered in the empty room. "Era 1 completed. Let's go for Era 2."