hollywood billionaire

Chapter 210 The Menacing Han Music

"Ten million dollars?"

From the Alpine stereo of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB that hadn't been touched for a long time, Madison Bill's exclamation came out.

At this time, Han Yi was driving this retro sports car, which is considered a rare item even in Bel-Air, loaded Zhao Youzhen, and drove to the Xinghui Building office in Century City.

On July 2016, 7, an annoying Tuesday with no end to the weekend, Xu Yiru, who had a heavy academic schedule, had a full schedule of classes from morning to night, and Han Yi also happened to have a very important work schedule today. I also feel that if Yi Yi and Sister Yuzhen send her to USC together, the degree of embarrassment may explode.So, after two mouthfuls of breakfast, Han Yi invited Fei Yamu to deliver Xu Yiru, who insisted on taking an Uber by himself, to a Bentley Bentayga, and headed towards the city center.

Ten minutes ago, the two girls quietly reached an agreement through WeChat, and the money was withdrawn. Today they will finally stay at No. 864 Stella Della Road for one night, and they will go back to their respective homes tomorrow.After all, although Han Yi's house is really super comfortable, no normal person would not want to live in this $4000 million mansion for a long time, but girls have to be reserved...

The most important thing is that I didn't bring enough clothes for a change.

If they stay any longer, Xu Yiru and Zhao Youzhen may have to go out in Olivia von Haller's pajamas.

As for the fact that Han Yi drove Zhao Youzhen to work, Xu Yiru didn't have much worry.

Xiaoru understands that twitchy Korean girl is more passive than her previous self.Counting the traffic lights from Stella Della Road to Xinghui Avenue, the 15-minute drive, the probability of Zhao Youzhen launching an offensive is almost zero.

And... the interior space of that Ferrari is enough for her to do?

Youzhen, who was stunned, didn't know that her behavior pattern had been thoroughly figured out by Xiaoru. As soon as she got in the car, she enthusiastically shared the demo of Cardi B and Offset's new collaboration with Han Yi, and then gave Han Yi Madison called to tell her what she had just learned about Budweiser's sponsorship of the "Cold Water" music video.

"Why do you give so much? Where are you going to shoot, the moon?"

Performed in Boston on July 7th. On the 20st, I drove to New York to participate in the Seth Myers late-night show. After the recording was over, I rushed to JFK International Airport non-stop, took the last flight to Montreal on the day, and started a two-day high school. Intensive Eastern Canada Tour Itinerary.

The first day, July 7, opened at Montreal's Bell Centre, with 22 spectators.After stepping off the stage, taking advantage of the gap between Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas's performances, he hugged Billy and snuggled up on the sofa in the dressing room for a short nap before being woken up by tour manager Dylan Buckman , got into the business car in a daze, and headed for Toronto.

Five-and-a-half-hour drive, one-hour rehearsal, three 10-minute official performances, fun is fun, but tiring is also really tiring.Originally, he wanted to fly back to Los Angeles the next day to surprise Han Yi, but after stepping off the stage, McGrady didn't even have the energy to go back to the hotel.After sleeping for thirteen hours in the hotel, Madison Bill and Billie Eilish decided to choose the easiest way after communicating with Live Nation through Zhao Youzhen, which is to arrive at the next performance two days in advance The location of the United States, Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, let's take a rest first.

In less than a month, two girls who lacked touring experience played a total of thirteen shows.In the case of irregular sleep and diet, fluctuations in weight and pimples on the face are trivial matters. The most serious thing is that both of them have more or less voice overload.Bi Li's set didn't challenge the vocal range much, and it was better, but Madison had reached the point where drinking water would cause a little pain two days ago.

For the devil's itinerary of [-] concerts in the next month, Madison and Bi Li have been crazy about health care in the past two days.He didn't touch any irritating food, fell asleep when he got the chance, and even when he was awake, he would only speak in a breathless voice.

At this moment, Madison Bill was breathing heavily on Han Yi's speaker.Even with the volume turned up to the maximum, it was difficult to hear what she was saying through the noise of the airflow.But words don't affect emotions, even in this situation, Han Yi and Zhao Youzhen could tell the surprise in her tone.

$200 million MV budget.

What concept?
As mentioned before, the signing and cooperation between record companies and artists is based on the project.An album is a project.The record company pays the artist an advance to live on and to complete the entire production of the album.After the album is released, the artist needs to repay the advance payment provided by the record company through their own share in order to get their share of the royalties.

In other words, after receiving the advance payment, the one who chooses how to spend it, where to spend it, and how much to spend it is an artist who is carrying tens of millions of dollars in interest-free loans.

Although music videos, or MVs, did not become popular in the United States until MTV premiered in 1981, there were many artists making music videos in Europe in the 60s.At that time, the music video was purely as a promotion for the artist's new song, because it was still much cheaper to record a video than to do a European promotional tour.

Of course, in the United States, music videos did not exist before the 80s. From the late 50s to the early 60s, there used to be something called Scopitone in the United States, a jukebox that played 16mm film videos. Bobby -Darin, Nat King Cole and Bing Cosby, these older generation pop stars, have all shot quite vintage MVs for Scopitone.

In the 21st century, with the rise of YouTube and the gradual popularity of the advertising sharing model, artists and record companies can already make money through the playback of MVs.But generally speaking, the record company is not willing to spend more than the advance payment to shoot MVs for unknown newcomers.Therefore, unless the artist already has some popularity, the artist can only divide part of his own advance payment as the cost of the music video shooting.

As soon as these advance payments are received, half of the rent is used up, and the rest of the money is used to find producers, do mixing, and mastering artists. How much money will be left for the MV?Therefore, you don’t need to be an insider to guess the average production cost of an MV.The vast majority of music videos are produced on budgets between $25 and $40, and very few music videos can cost more than $[-].Even for superstars with deep pockets like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, usually the MV will only cost US$[-], and the most promising blockbuster singles will approach seven figures.

Like Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's "Scream" music video, which cost 1995 million U.S. dollars in 700, now worth 1350 million U.S. dollars, and Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me" with a total budget of 1000 and [-] million U.S. dollars. Do", is already a super-large production that can be recorded in the first or second place in the annals of history.

You know, Ariana Grande boasted in the single "2019 Rings" released in 7, "There is no upper limit to the budget on the shooting site", but the MV of the same name is mostly indoor scenes, and the outdoor scenes are borrowed from The total production cost of a small villa in Universal Studios did not exceed US$50.

It can be seen that Budweiser's $200 million check to Diplo, Justin Bieber and Madison Bill can indeed be regarded as the top level.

"The reason for giving so much is because Budweiser wants to make Bud Light's products appear in the MV at least...how many seconds?"

Han Yi turned his head and asked Zhao Youzhen.

"In the case of discontinuity, it should appear for no less than 30 seconds, and it should be in a prominent position. For example, on the artist's hand, or in front of him, and so on."

"Besides, they also want to edit some scenes in the MV, which will be launched globally as a commercial for the new season of Bud Light." Han Yi added.

"We are still negotiating with Budweiser on this point." Zhao Youzhen took over the conversation, "They want as many as three artists to appear in the commercial. You and Diplo must be fine, we need this kind of global talent right now. Publicity. But Justin is a bit troublesome. If he wants to appear in this way, Budweiser may have to add a little more budget."

It is unlikely that Budweiser will increase the budget. What is more likely to happen is that Han Music will cut the MV shooting budget, and then allocate a part of it to Justin as an appearance fee in exchange for his Bud Light global commercial. Maybe two or three seconds of sporadic appearances.

This kind of world-class superstar with extremely fierce traffic will strictly control any form of exposure.Because even a few tenths of a second of exposure, or even a word of mouth, can bring tens of millions of dollars in benefits to the brand, as well as the artist itself.

"That's huge."

Madison Bill lifted up the curtains of the hotel, overlooking the low-rise classical buildings in Washington, D.C., and the dazzling array of Chinese signs.Less than five or six blocks from the White House is the Verizon Center, the venue of Future Now: The Tour Washington Station, and the location of Chinatown in the US capital.

Between the White House and Capitol Hill, there are all Shaanxi Roujiamo, Guangdong rice rolls and pearl milk tea shops.

"Have you figured out where to take the scene?"

"Not yet." Zhao Youzhen replied, "After you finish the performance in these two days, we will hold a meeting with the three parties on the 28th. We must fully respect the artists' ideas."

"I think for this song, I have to go to a slightly colder place, such as Northern Europe or Iceland. Either I want to play... or I think those places are very suitable. Iceland sounds very cold."

"We are talking about 'respecting the ideas of artists', but not 'respecting the ideas of a certain artist'." Han Yi laughed dumbly, "Diplo and Justin's itinerary should also be taken into consideration, whichever is more convenient... I Probably Canada."

Currently, Justin is only renting a house in the northern foothills of Los Angeles and living there temporarily.When he is not working, he travels between California and Ontario. After the last stop of the Purpose world tour in North America on July 7th, Madison Square Garden in New York, Justin flew back to his hometown in Canada directly from there, and will leave for Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan on August 19th. Hall, start the Asia tour.

The MV of "Cold Water" must be filmed within this period of time. Therefore, if you want to find a cold environment that fits the artistic conception of the song, the most suitable filming locations may be a few places in Canada near the Arctic Circle.

"Hey, okay, it's okay, Canada is fine too." Madison Bill looked back at Billy, who was sleeping in a mess on his own bed, "I'll hang up first, so as not to wake up Billy, I also have to take a nap , recover your throat."

"Take a nap?" Han Yi glanced at the mobile phone hanging on the left side of the steering wheel, which was being used as a navigator, and silently calculated the time on the east coast, "Didn't you just wake up?"

"Yes, after waking up and taking a nap, the voice will recover quickly. Beyoncé uses this method."

"Okay, I'll talk about it later, bye! Love you, mwah... Yujin, my dear manager! Mwah!"

Madison Bill, who had just blown a kiss in the air, suddenly realized that Manager Zhao was beside Han Yi, made a sharp 180-degree turn, patted his chest, and hung up the phone quickly.

so close!

Good save!

"McGrady is a bit enthusiastic today." Zhao Youzhen frowned, looking at the suddenly darkened phone screen, somewhat puzzled in his heart.However, soon, her doubts were transferred to another matter.

"Why did we... go this way?"

"Which way?"

"... Wilshere Avenue." Zhao Youzhen, who rarely drives by himself and is not very familiar with street names, opened the map that came with his phone, glanced at the location of the two at the moment, "Isn't this a big circle? ?”

Although he didn't know the name of the street, it wasn't the first time that Zhao Youzhen set off from No. 864 Stella Della to Xinghui Building.According to the usual route, you only need to go down the mountain, go around the north side of the UCLA campus via Sunset Boulevard, turn right into Beverly Glen Boulevard, drive southward, and you can reach the office in a few minutes.The route Han Yi chose today was to take a long triangle around the intersection of Wilshere Avenue and Santa Monica Avenue.

"Are we going somewhere else?"

"Yes, and no." Han Yi slightly released the accelerator, pointed to the right side of Zhao Youzhen, and said with a smile, "We still go to Xinghui Building, but... I want you to see this."

Following the direction of Han Yi's finger, Zhao Youzhen cast his gaze out of the car window. The main construction of that building has been completed, but there are still some areas with scaffolding and a dark green fence around it. In this area, it can be regarded as a twelve-story new building of a skyscraper.

"here is?"

"Waldorf."

"Why did you bring me to see the hotel?" Zhao Youzhen had more question marks on his forehead, "The door hasn't opened yet."

"Turn around and you'll know."

Han Yi, who waited patiently for the red light, whetted Zhao Youzhen's appetite. Two minutes later, the Ferrari slowly turned right into Santa Monica Boulevard with the rush of traffic, and the answer to the mystery was finally revealed in front of Zhao Youzhen.

"Wow, this...can't be."

Zhao Youzhen raised his head and couldn't help sighing.

Although the hotel will not officially open until this time next year, the signboard of "Waldorf Astoria" has already been hung on the marble wall, announcing to passing vehicles that West Hollywood is about to usher in another top luxury hotel brand.

But today, the Waldorf Astoria's gold-lettered sign is not the most eye-catching thing on the building.

Because, on the left side of the signboard, the stone hangs dry to the top, and there is a huge 118-foot wall with a poster that can almost cover the entire stone wall.

On the poster, Justin Bieber is in the center, the Major Lazer trio is on the right, and Madison Bill is on the left. Hanging above their heads is the logo of Han Music, and down a row, there are four lines of large characters.

"Cold Water".

Major Lazer feat. Justin Bieber & Madison Beer.

2016.07.22.

Stream Now.

The larger the poster, the simpler the color scheme and design, so that the text and image information that can be recognized at a glance will appear more shocking.

"Here...can you still advertise?"

"It wasn't supposed to work, but Todd was doing financial preparations for the Beverly branch of the Waldorf Astoria before opening. He made a few calls for me and it was done."

"How much does this cost?"

"72 hours, 11.2 US dollars, including tax." Han Yi smiled and glanced at Zhao Youzhen, who rolled down the car window to take pictures, and explained, "I know it's expensive, but as long as I can help "Cold Water" build momentum, I will be the Billboard champion. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend, HMG urgently needs a representative song to make a name and improve our voice in the streaming media market and copyright trading market.”

"Also, there is another very interesting point. I only discovered it when I was looking at the map last night. Do you know what it is?"

"what?"

"Across the street from the Waldorf Astoria... happens to be Sony Music's west coast headquarters."

Having said that, Han Yi turned his head and looked at the huge poster that was getting farther and farther away from them.

"Tell me, how would the Sony people feel when they walked out of the office and saw our poster?"

"Hey, Miguel."

Pushing open the door of Starbucks with his shoulder, holding two paper trays in both hands, the curly-haired white boy with eight cups of coffee looked up at the huge promotional poster that suddenly appeared in front of him, muttering to himself.

"what is that?"

"what is what?"

Miguel, who was also struggling behind him, glanced across the street and pouted helplessly.

"That's the thing I've been telling you about...why don't you ever listen to me, Percy?"

"Sorry, I was... trying to remember each of their coffee requests."

"Why don't you use your phone to write it down?"

"Because they talk too fast!"

"You're talking too fast, so why..." Miguel became angry for a while, "Forget it, let's go back."

Miguel and Posey, fall 2016 interns at Sony Music A&R.

This is the official title.

Unofficial nickname - the guy who serves regular staff coffee every day.

Between the West Coast headquarters of Sony Music and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, there is a Starbucks.

"Which company is that?"

Percy followed Miguel step by step and asked curiously.

"Han...Music."

"Haven't you heard of it?"

"Have you heard anything?"

"With your sharpness, how are you going to survive here? The office has been discussing this company for the past few days."

"A new record label?"

"Record companies, copyright distribution companies, performance companies, it seems that they do everything...Mad City, Las Vegas, any impression?"

"Oh!" Percy wanted to slap his head, but his hands were full of coffee that was about to shake out of the cup. "That music festival we wanted to go to but didn't have the money to go."

"You don't need to speak so loudly." Miguel looked left and right at the tourists who were waiting for the red light with them, approached Percy, and said in a low voice, "Yes, that music festival was organized by Han Music."

"They're aggressive." Percy nodded. "What do those people in the office think?"

"Most are joking about them, saying they're a Big [-] retirement home, that the head of their A&R department broke an intern's arm at Def Jam before they went to this company to take refuge. Oh , yes, and a couple of jokes, 'We've been in this business so long we remember when records were still... records. How about Han Music? They probably don't even know what an iPod is', 'Maybe they'll be our opening act when Han Music gets as many platinum records as we do'."

"Very mean." Percy offered his opinion honestly.

"Don't say that after you go back." Miguel reminded, and sighed softly, "I also think... They should be a little jealous, or even afraid? I don't know. But in the music industry, there has been no such experience for a long time. There are a lot of new companies."

"is it?"

"Look at that poster, Madison Beal—their guy, Diplo—was their guy."

"Diplo is signed by them?"

"They bought the entire Mad Decent label." The closer to the gate of Sony Music's west coast headquarters, Miguel's voice lowered, but his tone became more and more exaggerated.People are like this. They always like to use myths to exaggerate things they don’t understand. “Do you remember the weekly meeting we held yesterday? Columbia’s new single that will be promoted this year, "Closer", co-singer Horch , also signed a contract with Han Music. To be precise, they set up a company with them, and it is said that Han Music has invested more than 2000 million."

"So rich? Just over 2000 million for an artist?"

"More than that! Even Snoop Dogg is working with them on a hip-hop label. Jennifer asked her friends in the industry to inquire about the management companies of Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding, Han Music directly bought out For several artists we are talking about, their advance payment has been doubled or even several times, and they have smashed people over."

"Really, have we come into contact with it?"

"Marshmello." Realizing that he couldn't move his hands, Miguel paused for a moment before making a gesture of wearing a hat, "That white hood."

"I like him very much... Hello, hello, please, can you brush it for me... Okay."

Looking at the "regular employee" who glanced at him and quickly left with his mobile phone in his hands, Posey showed a wry smile that he was used to, squatted down, and pushed the two paper trays from the ground to the entrance gate. He stood up and brushed himself in.

"Moreover, I heard that their treatment is very good. The basic salary of employees... is 20.00% higher than...." Miguel stepped on the floor with his foot, but did not say the name of the employer.

"Also, 401K 100% match."

"It makes me want to go directly."

"I'll help you submit your resignation letter to Jennifer today, so don't go." Miguel joked.Stepping into the elevator with only the two of them, Miguel stood in the corner of the elevator after the car door was completely closed and no third person could hear their conversation. The mouth seems to be moving.

"Anyway, I already sent my resume there. Sony won't give me... No, even if I become a regular, as long as the other side wants me, I will go there."

"Everywhere is making money, so I must go to a place with a lot of money."

"Aren't you worried that they will go bankrupt?" Posey stood in another corner, imitating the example, "This kind of new company is not very stable."

"This time I have a hunch that they should have big capital behind them. The kind on Wall Street, otherwise they wouldn't spend such money. The Mad City cost 4000 to [-] million to make, not everyone can bear it." Miguel stared at the ceiling. A surveillance camera with a flashing red light, "The kind of poster you saw just now cannot be paid for by money alone."

"Justin Bieber, this kind of cooperation guest, how can you just ask for it?"

"The song just came out last week, and it reached the top of the Spotify Global 50. There is no problem with the route they chose. As long as they continue to develop like this, in the future... not to mention replacing here, Warner will always be able to compete."

"Isn't the list released today, the new week's Billboard." Posey asked, "Which place do you think they can reach?"

"I haven't studied the specific data, so I don't know. But I feel... I can airborne to the top ten."

Miguel smacked his lips and shook his head.

"If they can win the championship, then Han Music will be the most successful after Macklemore and The Lumineers... Wait, Macklemore and The Lumineers are also the three major distribution channels. In other words, if "Cold Water" is released Well, that's... the first ever Billboard No. [-] single from outside the Big Three, right? Is it the first ever, Posey?"

"How do I know." Posey shrugged, "Sometimes I feel that I shouldn't be here at all...I didn't study this major at all."

"I know, the coffee delivery service you learned at Pepperdine."

Miguel kicked Percy's ass mischievously.

"Okay, it doesn't matter whether we win the championship or not, we interns, first get the coffee..."

"Fuck it, spilled a glass!"

(End of this chapter)