hollywood billionaire

Chapter 196 Entering the Las Vegas First Shot

The restlessness in the conference room lasted for a full 5 minutes before subsiding.

Those who know the entire lineup, those who know some of the guests, have no idea which artists will participate in this performance... No matter what kind of information everyone has about Mad City before entering the conference room, when they see this direct and violent picture, When the main poster of the music festival hits the eye like a thunderbolt, it is unavoidable to start to be surprised, awed and looking forward to it.

Surprised, I can't believe that so many legendary characters can be called out during the golden time of Halloween.Awe is a sincere admiration for Han Yi's unfathomable wealth accumulation and network of contacts who is sitting in the main seat.Looking forward, of course, eagerly wanting to see this all-star lineup that even the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences would envy three points, blooming with peerless brilliance under the scorching sun at the end of October in Las Vegas.

How strong is the star flavor in the first Mad City?

Just look at the other big music festivals taking place this year.

Nicky Romero, David Guetta, Martin Garrix and NERVO are all guests on the main stage of Tomorrowland this year.

At the Coachella Music Festival, which came to a successful conclusion two and a half months ago, Horsh, Ellie Goulding, Diplo, and A$AP Rocky were all the top guests next to the grand finale.

Lana Del Rey, Elle Goulding, Major Lazer, G-Eazy, Horch and Martin Garrix will head to Chicago's Grant Park at the end of this month for 40 as headliners. Famous music fans presented a wonderful performance.

EDC, Ultra, Rolling Loud, Rock in Rio, Sziget...any music festival, any country, or even any continent, most of the 24 groups of music guests invited by Mad City can be obtained without any effort Finale seats.

More importantly, this time, Han also invited legendary stars who are totally unthinkable in ordinary music festivals.

The new generation of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, and Kendrick Lamar, who just received 58 nominations and won five awards at the 11th Grammy Awards ceremony, these are A popular first-line star who can sell tens of thousands of concert tickets single-handedly.

Snoop Dogg, Dr.Dre, 50 Cent and other veterans are basically only seen at the Grammy Awards Ceremony or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Not to mention Eminem and Kanye West, they are currently the two most expensive single-show performances in Hollywood.Whether they want to perform, when to perform, how long to perform, and what to perform are all parameters that they can adjust and change at will.

Three days, eight artists per day, 24 performance slots, and the combined number of social media fans of all artists is more than the total population of the United States.

Who has seen such a battle?
Even Coachella, a super live brand that has been held for more than 17 years and is sold out every year, will only select at most five to six artists of the same level every year.

Mad City invited a full 24 groups.

Even if Billy Eilish, Madison Bill, and Lil Yachty, who haven't made a big name for the time being, get rid of the relationship accounts who have squeezed in as contracted artists of Han Music, it can really promote the ticket sales of the music festival. , There are also 21 groups of artists.

Everyone is in charge of the box office, and everyone is the top guest.

Crazy City Music Festival, really crazy.

At first glance, such a lineup is extremely unusual and unreasonable, but as long as one has a little understanding of Han Music and its actual controller Han Yi, people can clearly see the business logic behind Mad City and the chain of interests.

The 24 groups of artists can be roughly divided into three sources according to the ownership of the management contract.

The first major source, of course, is the wealth accumulated by the Han Music Group in the past six months.The two female artists, Ellie Goulding and Lana Del Rey, who have declined on the list, but the appeal of the music festival and the popularity of the music are still high, have been included in the ecological chain of Han Music along with TaP.

Elle Goulding's recording contract is in Polydor Records, which is affiliated to Universal Music Group, the copyright distribution agreement is also in Universal Music Distribution Group, the music performing arts contract, the Americas belongs to WME, and Europe and the rest of the world belong to CODA.

For Lana Del Rey's side, in 2011, a joint venture company was established with Interscope and Polydor to handle record-related matters, and the copyright distribution agreement was signed to Sony Music Publishing Group.As for the performing arts agency contract, it has been with CAA since its debut.

In other words, what Han Yi currently holds through the acquisition of TaP is only the management contract of the two artists.From Elle and Lana's acting career income, Han Yi can only get 15%, not more.

From the perspective of contract relationship, Ellie Goulding and Lana Del Rey should be regarded as the two musicians with the weakest bond and the least close relationship with Han Yi's music business group, but this is not the case. On behalf of Han Yi, they will not be included in the consideration of large-scale music festival planning.After all, although the amount of share is not much, the artist management company is the organization that really communicates with the artist and directly speaks for the artist.Whether it is a record agreement or a copyright distribution agreement, whether Elle Goulding refuses the endorsement invitation of Coca-Cola, or whether Lana Del Rey will accept this year's Vieilles Charrues held in Lai Plouguere, Brittany For music festivals, performing arts agencies only have the right to recommend and urge, and the final decision must be made by Ben Mosen and Han Yi standing behind him.

In other words, the ownership of the various contracts of the two artists now does not necessarily represent the direction of their future contracts.

Even if the music business declines, even if record sales fall to the top, Elle Goulding and Lana Del Rey, for the current Han Music, Han Distribution and UTA, will undoubtedly be able to help everyone in a short period of time. This sector is a strong support to boost the volume and status.

And the best way to attract musicians, or entertainers, or any human beings with normal intelligence, to move closer to their own camp is to provide them with enough benefits, and let them see the stability and long-term nature of this benefit chain .

The performance seat of Mad City is a link in the chain.

The coffee positions of the two are not overwhelming, but they are very suitable for the time of sunset and dusk, no matter in terms of popularity, box office appeal or music style.Ellie Goulding's music belongs to the softer and fresher pop electronic and synthesizer electronic, "Lights", "I Need Your Love" and "Love Me Like You Do" which exploded last year with Fifty Shades of Ashes , are good songs suitable for listening quietly in the sunset.

Not to mention Lana Del Rey, from "Born to Die" to "Ultraviolence" to "Honeymoon", just by looking at the album posters, you can tell that her Baroque style is popular, she has to wear a retro dress and lay a picnic cloth on the lawn, Or sit or lie down and close your eyes to enjoy it, which is enough taste.

Except for these two singers who are on the fringes of the group structure, other cooperating artists of Han Music Group are also throughout.Madison Beal, Lil Yachty and Billie Eilish will open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.Among the remaining 21 groups of guests, none of them wanted to perform at the worst time, so this task naturally fell on the three newcomers who had made some breakthroughs recently but hadn't accumulated enough voice.

The second performance column every day is also performed by DJs signed by Han Music Group.To be precise, it is the agency clients of Mad Ones Management, the newly established artist management company Mad Decent acquired by Han Music - Dillon Francis, Nicky Romero and the girl group NERVO.

They are well-known in the electronic music circle, and they belong to the first echelon of artists to be invited by major electronic music festivals. However, in terms of the wider mainstream music field, their volume is not very large. In recent years, they have been able to enter the world-class list There are not many hot songs, which are just right for the hour when Mad City transitions from afternoon to evening.

Next, in the third and fourth performance time slots before the night completely fell, Han's live team also showed their own artists.The first day was the hip-hop trio Migos, followed by Marshmello, who was still in contract negotiations.Ellie Goulding took the lead the next day, and then Diplo brought his Major Lazer on stage.On the third day, Dillon Francis will be replaced by G-Eazy, who is collaborating with him on a new single, and then Lana Del Rey will sing the Mad City stage before the last rays of sunshine disappear on October 10.

In the artist matrix of the entire music business group, there are only three artists who can appear after nightfall, Diplo, Horch, and Snoop Dogg.

Diplo himself will perform as the finale guest on the first day.The reason why he won the finale position is not only because of his detached position in the electronic music circle, but also because at least in name, Mad City is a super-large music festival held by the Mad Decent label. And he himself is the founder of Mad Decent.

The organizer of the music festival made his final appearance, even a popular rapper like Kendrick Lamar would have no objection.Moreover, the penultimate hip-hop singer appeared on the stage, and the electronic music DJ closed the set with an one-hour set, which is a routine operation of many music festivals.Who is the top guest of the day, the one who appeared last, or the one who was helped to close the show? The story can be told separately, and the story can also be told in two parts.

Horch also understands very well. As of July 2016, this girl from New Jersey is the most famous pop singer under the Han Music Group, and she has obvious advantages compared to No.7 behind her.Coachella took the stage as a headliner, Anna Wintour specially invited to participate in the Met Gala, cooperated with MAC on a joint makeup line, and even though it didn't rank in the top 2 box office this year, it was also a tour that was not far behind.

This kind of development momentum is more than enough to rank ahead of A$AP Rocky and behind Martin Garrix.

As one of the oldest OGs in the West Coast hip-hop circle, Snoop Dogg made his debut on Sunday before the finale guest Kanye West, making it easy to be the second finale.The most important thing is that this time on stage, Snoop Dogg is not just representing himself and singing his classic works.The so-called "Snoop Dogg Presents: Shrine Records" means that he will bring all the members of the Shrine label responsible for the hip-hop sector under Han Music to the stage.

Including Cardi B, Post Malone, Migos, Lil Yachty, 21 Savage, and even Metro Boomin, who is about to release a collaboration album with 21 Savage, will also be on stage as a DJ.

Lord Dog, who accepted Han Yi's offer of an annual salary of 300 million, is quite responsible in the matter of bringing the old to the new.Not only does he try his best to support the signed rappers, but he also actively throws out olive branches to other hip-hop singers he thinks are good.

For example, A$AP Rocky, the reason Han Han will reserve a spot for him is precisely because Snoop Dogg has interest in business cooperation with him and his A$AP Mob.

It doesn't have to be a record deal, any meaningful and profitable field can cooperate.

Of course, Han Yi, who drinks water and thinks about the source, has not forgotten the relationship between Snoop Dogg, the speaker of the hip-hop label, through whom he gained resources.

Dr. Dre.

Han Yi hand-picked the candidate for the future CEO of Han Music Group.

Because of this, Andre Yang's Aftermath Entertainment will become one of the three sources of artists for Mad City this time.

Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, 50 Cent, and Dr. Dre himself are all Aftermath's current subordinates or past veterans.

肯德里克-拉马尔以22万美元单场的价格跟瀚现场签了2016年10月的Mad City和2017年3月的神殿音乐节两场演出。50 Cent通过APA以12万美元的价格签了三场，至于阿姆，他的演艺经纪卡拉-刘易斯给神殿音乐节45分钟set的报价是290万美元，而在Mad City这边，却减少了整整50万，240万美元成交。

why?
Because Celine Joshua, who is stuck with the budget, played a little trick here.She didn't choose to win Eminem's single performance directly, but first talked about the Aftermath All-Star 75-minute set through Han Yi's relationship, and then booked Eminem through Aftermath.

Eminem still has to give Dr. Dre face.

After all, the old man only got $60 himself.

In this way, for Eminem who appeared as a special guest instead of the main guest, the performance price will naturally drop a little bit lower than the normal level.

This can be regarded as Celine Joshua's small victory from the big devil Carla Lewis.

Whether Cara-Lewis will view the show deal as a failure, though, is up for debate.Because, apart from the personal relationship between Dr. Dre and Eminem, there was another reason why she accepted this quotation that was far below the normal level on behalf of CLG's most commercially valuable and historical client.

Through UTA, Han Yi made her an offer that was too generous to refuse.

Aftermath four-member group, Han spent a total of 334 million US dollars to win on the spot. Judging from the popularity of these four artists, it can be said to be a very competitive transaction price. In addition, it needs to be paid to Han Music Group’s own artists. , and A$AP Rocky's 156.15 million, 80% of the artists in the music festival together, only spent less than 500 million US dollars.

So, where is the bulk of the artist's cost spent?
Scooter Braun, of course.

Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and David Guetta, Scooter Braun manages three of the four headlining groups after sunset on Day [-] The company's contracted customers.

David Coulthard was the cheapest of them all, at $35.Ariana Grande just completed a round of world tour consisting of 87 concerts last year, with tens of thousands of people, and the venues were sold out. She was in the limelight and accounted for 125 million US dollars of Han's live budget.Justin Bieber is more, "Purpose" has exploded streaming media results, champion singles one after another, and the world tour concert of the same name even ranked third in Pollstar's 2016 real-time box office list.For the performances he organized alone, he can get 100 million US dollars per show, and finally asked for a tax-free price of 190 million US dollars at Han's site before nodding and agreeing to go on stage.

The combined total of these three people is already 350 million US dollars, surpassing the entire staff of Aftermath led by Dr. Dre.

But even such sky-high prices, added together, are not as high as the asking price of Kanye West alone.

Kanye alone, 45 minutes, $400 million.

This is still the gap period when Kanye West fired Kara Lewis in March last year, joined UTA, and announced his return to his old club under the fierce offensive of CAA on May 3 this year. Hurry up. completed agreement.

In other words, it is still UTA who signed this agreement on behalf of Kanye.

If CAA took over and negotiated, I am afraid that the price would not be so "appropriate".

In this horizontal comparison, the only pop rock band Blink-182 that has nothing to do with the three camps, the asking price of 85 US dollars is simply not worth mentioning.

"...In the end, the direct procurement cost of the Mad City 2016 lineup was $1325.15, with an average of $51.67 per group of artists. Except for Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Eminem and Migos, all other artists Landing price means that we only need to pay for the artist’s meals, transportation and other costs in the local area. Roughly estimated, the final artist’s total expenditure will be in the range of 1450 million to 1500 million US dollars. This figure is not only in our It’s below the bottom line of our budget range, and it’s important to note that when we drafted the first budget, we expected a two-day show, and now it’s three days.”

"That is to say, with the total cost unchanged, we have effectively increased the salable quota of approximately 72000 tickets, and an additional potential income of US$1857.6 million."

"Thank you very much, Ms. Joshua. I salute you and all members of the department for your hard work."

Jackie Berto stood up, hugged Celine Joshua, who was passing by her at the end of the artist project presentation, and thanked her loudly.

"Next, please welcome the senior vice president of the music festival department, Ori Bristan, to share with us the finalized stage plan of this music festival after repeated scrutiny and careful polishing."

"Dear team members, as the head of Han Live Music Festival, I am very happy to provide a presentation of the stage plan for our upcoming grand event - Mad City Music Festival."

Wearing a pair of thin gold-rimmed glasses, the gentle Ori Bristan has a resonant and powerful voice.

“As everyone has pointed out, our lineup of performers includes three musical genres: hip-hop, pop and electronic music. Under this premise, our stage should not only match the performers, but also provide a unique atmosphere to satisfy diverse audiences. Audience needs.

In the eyes of the planning team and the design team, the overall layout of the music festival venue should promote continuity and a sense of unity among the various musical genres.Although the themes vary from stage to stage, we should also make full use of the available space in Las Vegas festival venues to ensure a smooth flow of people and provide enough space for participants to rest, eat, and participate in other activities.In addition, we should also try our best to ensure that the audience has a clear line of sight to the stage, and properly arrange the sound equipment to minimize the interference between the stages. "

"Guided by this series of goals, and combined with the creative inspiration provided by our boss, Mr. Han Yi, each of our stages will reflect a unique era and atmosphere:
Hip-Hop Stage - Inspired by the grungy textures of NYC's Harlan neighborhood in the 90s.

Pop Stage - Reflecting the glamor and glamour of Broadway in the 00s.

Electronic Music Stage - Embodying the pulsing energy of 2010s Las Vegas nightclubs. "

"The three stages are connected to each other, living together and prospering together, and together they build a complete immersive paradise full of the sense of evolution of the times. Of course, I know that it is difficult to truly reflect the outstanding designers of our Han site with such a dry narrative. The art skills of the team... so now allow me to present to you—for the first time in the world—the stage renderings of Mad City."

Following Ori Bristan's narration, the three-in-one stage vision drafted, drawn, modified, and finally rendered by Han's on-site visual art design department appeared on the LCD screen behind him.

I didn’t feel the sigh when I saw the artist lineup. Although Mad City’s stage design this time is excellent, it’s not like Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Eminem and Dog Lord. Like a group of performers who can brighten people's eyes when put together, they have reached a greatness beyond the times.

But this is not the effect that the Mad City stage wants to pursue.The lineup of artists is already sky-high. In terms of stage design, what the planning team of Han Onsite needs to do is to ensure that the stage is above the average level of large-scale music festivals, but not too complicated and flashy, so as not to overrun the budget.

“First we see the Hip-Hop Stage, which will capture the spirit of New York in the 90s, creating a street environment reminiscent of the origin stories of many hip-hop legends. The set will include backdrops depicting the New York City skyline, as well as vintage Cars, graffiti art, and a few street-style touches like faded streetlights and steps from New York’s signature brownstones.

The second one, the pop music stage, our design is mainly to reflect the glitz of Broadway in the 00s, and this stage will exude a unique mainstream charm.The backdrop will incorporate and replicate the look of a series of classic Broadway theaters, complete with neon lights, signs, arched frames in the foreground, red velvet drapes and gold trim.And when the guests perform, spotlights and various musical theater-style stage effects will be used intensively to further enhance the Broadway feel.Of course, how to present the choreography of each set has to be adjusted according to the artist's list of technical requirements and the ideas of the implementation team.

The last one, the electronic music stage.The stage will fully showcase the electrified energy of 2010s Las Vegas nightclubs.Key elements include LED screens of exaggerated scale, lasers, pyrotechnics, mirror balls... There will undoubtedly be a backdrop showing the iconic Vegas skyline, standing in the center of the stage as the main visual of the three-in-one stage.The stage itself will be futuristic-led, incorporating an industrial-style steel aesthetic, complete with an elevated DJ booth that can be raised and lowered. "

"It looks good."

Han Yi nodded in satisfaction.

"How long is the expected construction period? In addition, what is the overall construction cost of the three stages?"

"It is expected to enter the venue 14 days in advance for construction, and it will take 5 days to dismantle the venue. Adding the formal performance in the middle, it will be 22 days." Ori Bristan's fingertips slid on the iPad in his arms a few times , Called up the data that had been prepared long ago, and responded to the boss's inquiry, "If you directly find an outsourced stage company to build, they have stable workers, it will actually be cheaper, and the budget can be stuck at 150 million US dollars. Plus The rental fee for various stage equipment is US$420 million, and the total cost of the three stages is about US$570 million, with an average of US$190 million per stage.”

"Although we are a three-in-one stage, many steel frame structures can be shared, but this is still much better than the total cost of a stage in Tomorrowland, which is 250 million U.S. dollars."

"But their stage is much bigger."

"They are also much less difficult to build." Ori Bristan said bluntly, "Tomorrowland's basic stage structure is permanent, and a lot of equipment is also bought and placed in the warehouse. Unless there is damage and needs to be repaired or replaced, otherwise There are only storage costs. It’s enough to change the art plan every year and set it up.”

"If the music festival is successful this time, you can consider buying some equipment and storing it in Nevada. Anyway, the place there is large and the storage cost is low. When the time comes, an equipment company will be opened in the name of Han Live, and it can also be provided to the West Coast. The performers provide rental services, which is a small but amazing source of revenue.”

"If we can achieve this in the future, of course it would be great." Ori Bristan folded his hands in front of him, nodded slightly, agreeing with Han Yi's opinion.

"Those are all things for later. If you calculate the stage cost like this, plus insurance, medical treatment, security and... the venue cost. Um, the venue cost, the 350 million US dollars quoted by MGM?"

"Yeah, the lowest price we could get. They're a little harder to deal with than the one in Miami, they only give us half the time to set up and tear down, and we have to pay them 50% of the rental fee for the day of the show. .”

"Then the total cost is about $2800 million to $2900 million?"

"According to your and Jackie's request, we have set aside a 12% contingency special fund, so the current estimated total cost is 3136 million US dollars." Ori Bristan's answer is quite honest, "According to our current GA The price of pre-sale tickets is roughly estimated. In order to make money back on the books, we need to sell a total of 121550 tickets in three days, an average of 40500 tickets per day. For a music festival held for the first time, the box office pressure... ...still not small."

"That's why we need Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Eminem, Kanye West and other million dollar babies at the same time, no?"

Scanning the slightly silent conference room, Han Yi, the actual investor, was the most relaxed one among them.He is very confident in the artist matrix he has carefully selected, and even if Mad City loses money this time, it will not hurt his tendons or move his bones.

As long as the cashback mechanism is still in place, his assets will only continue to increase.

More importantly, the significance of Mad City, an annual event that attracts 3000 people in a single day and a total of more than [-] people to visit the casino in three days, tourism consumption, and extravagance, has far exceeded The festival itself.

It was Han Yi's first shot when he marched into Las Vegas, and it was also his charge to take over the land from MGM.

"Now that we're talking about selling tickets, let's skip some of the tedious stuff and just talk about money."

"I hope that the five ticketing channels we have selected are ready for server expansion."

"Eventbrite, Ticketmaster, Stubhub, Seatgeek and... Viagogo, right?"

(End of this chapter)