hollywood billionaire

Chapter 494 Asset Operation
"main course?"

"of course not!"

Hearing this, Lana Del Rey subconsciously glanced at Han Yi across the long table, then curled up a faint smile and placed her palm on Stevie Nicks' arm.

"As you all know, I don't like to show up in public outside of work hours, and I don't like those star-studded industry gatherings... But I like Yi, I like this partner who appears in a new stage of my career. He is very supportive and concerned about my upcoming album and the tour for it. Therefore, I want to hold this luncheon to express my gratitude and make up for my apology for not being able to attend his birthday party."

"Then, I realized that the three of us had never gathered informally like this." Lana swung her fingers back and forth between Stevie and Madison. "You, Madison and me. We recorded an amazing single, sang together, laughed together, and established a deep emotional connection together... but those were all work-related after all. You two have such lovely souls, and I really want to get to know you more deeply on a personal level and become a part of your private lives. So, I also extended an invitation to you and Maddie, because I think this kind of relaxed and comfortable family gathering is the best way to start a true friendship."

"And Lionel is the companion I invited." Han Yi raised his arm, pointed at Lionel Richie, and smiled, "In the two weeks after the Mad City Music Festival, we became very close friends and decided to work together to promote a great project that is about to be launched. I mean, we are basically twins now, and we will never be separated no matter where we go."

"So, after receiving the invitation, I thought it would be a great idea to bring Mr. Richie along to this luncheon. Not only will he be able to meet Lana, the epitome of Han Music Group and this era, but he will also be able to meet you, the legend that Lionel and I have always admired... Speaking of which, Ms. Nix, I heard from Leo that you have never spoken to each other, not even once?"

"We didn't?" Stevie Nicks frowned in confusion and looked at Lionel Richie. "I remember when I first got into this industry, you were already very popular. The Commodores, right?"

"Yes, The Commodores." Lionel nodded slightly, smiling amiably, "But we weren't that popular, far from it. At best we were the opening act for the Jackson 5, which was nothing compared to what Fleetwood Mac had accomplished."

"I hope that will be the case one day." Before Stevie could answer, Madison, who had been listening attentively, interrupted and said so.

"How is it?" Han Yi vaguely understood Madison's intention and asked very cooperatively.

"To be this historic, super successful musician and then have lunch with another musician and pretend we're not the greatest artist of all time."

As soon as these words were spoken, laughter instantly echoed in the quiet porch.

"This child..."

Lionel Richie let out a sigh of relief, shook his head, and let the steaming black coffee flow down his throat from between his wide-open lips.

"I can't say if you can surpass Ms. Nicks, but you can definitely achieve more than mine... When I was seventeen, I didn't have a Billboard No. 1 single."

"I haven't won one either." Stevie put her index finger across her lips and thought for a moment, "The first time I won a Billboard No. 29 was... when I was 1977, in ."

"Dreams?" Han Yi asked.

"Dreams." Stevie raised her index finger, her eyes slightly curved, and nodded in response, "And we only stayed in that position for a week... So, yeah, I guess we were just born a little early."

"And it hasn't grown back yet." Lionel agreed humorously.

"Haha, yes, I didn't grow up well." Stevie laughed twice, "When I was Madison's age, most of my thoughts were on boys every day, and a very small part of my thoughts were on preparing for the college entrance examination. I never thought that I would become a professional musician because I never thought I had the ability to do so."

"I'm almost the same, the only difference is that my heart is on girls." At this point, Leonard paused and raised his voice, "Oh, yes, there is another difference - the university I attended is not only in Alabama, but also in Tuskegee. During my four years in college, I didn't even have to live in a dormitory. I just got up at home and went to school every day... What a loser."

"I didn't move too far. I moved from Southern California to Northern California, that's all." Stevie pouted, "I majored in language communication and rhetoric, and my plan was to return to Los Angeles after graduation to find a good school district and be an English teacher for the rest of my life... I didn't even know I could make a living through music. No one encouraged me to do so, and no one told me that this was my destiny."

"This... may be the main reason why we didn't get the first place on Billboard when we were seventeen." Lionel stroked the beard on the top of his lips and smiled, "Unlike Madison, we don't have Yi by our side."

"I didn't play any role." Han Yi waved his hand modestly. "I was just the person who cheered for Maddie from behind when she was sprinting forward with her talent and hard work."

"Sometimes, that's all we need." Lionel pointed at Han Yi and smiled even brighter. "You don't know how important and lucky it is for artists to have someone who can always be by their side and say 'yes you can' to them."

"Hmm."

Perhaps the intention that Lionel was trying to mix into his words was too obvious, Stevie responded softly, nodded without comment, and her eyes moved back and forth between him and Han Yi.

After a few breaths, she smiled back at Lionel and asked:

"So, tell me, Leo…can I call you Leo?"

"of course."

"What is the project you and Yi are working on?" Stevie stared at Lionel intently. "What is it that he said to you 'yes you can', or 'yes we can'?"

“A music copyright fund.”

"Music copyright fund?" Stevie raised her eyebrows. "What specific businesses does it do?"

"Well, to put it simply, what we are doing is acquiring high-value music libraries - we are acquiring their lyrics and music copyrights, not recording copyrights - and integrating them together for capital operations. In this way, we want to increase the income level of musicians and our bargaining power in front of large music groups." "High-value music libraries." Stevie lowered her eyes and looked like she was thinking seriously, "Can you please explain in detail?"

"The specific standards and formulas for determining whether a song's music copyright has a high value are very complicated..." At this point, Lionel exchanged glances with Han Yi before continuing to explain, "However, most of our current energy is focused on copyrights in vertical niches and classic songs that have been verified by the market for many years."

"Like... Red Hot Chili Peppers, right?"

“Red Hot Chili Peppers, yes.”

"Neil Young?"

"Of course he is one."

"What about me?" Stevie suddenly asked the third question, pointing at herself and smiling leisurely, "Me and Fleetwood Mac, do they count?"

"Without a doubt..." Lionel glanced at Han Yi again, "You may be the best example of the so-called 'classic music library'."

"It's not the best example." Stevie curled her lips and shook her head to reject the title. "But... please help me understand your business more deeply. What you are doing is purchasing music copyrights from artists?"

"Yes."

"But don't most of these artists have lifetime contracts with Universal, Sony or Warner?" Stevie paused. "Lifetime contracts may not be accurate, but you know what I mean... These contracts are difficult to terminate. Doing so will cost you a lot, and not just financially."

"Our goal is not to get artists to terminate their current contracts, but to help them break free from these constraints and break free from the imprisonment." Seeing that Stevie's problem was moving step by step in the direction he expected, Lionel's tone became more excited. "What we want to acquire is the 50% equity that belongs to the artist. By purchasing copyrights at a high price, our music copyright fund can provide musicians with a one-time large income, solving the problem of long royalty settlement cycles and small income each time under the traditional model."

"Oh, I see." Stevie tilted her neck slightly, "What you want to do is to pay the musicians the expected future royalties in one lump sum in exchange for the right to collect these royalties in the future."

"exactly."

"By doing this, you will acquire a lot of intellectual property rights that can generate continuous income." Stevie pondered, "Package these property rights into a company, and this company can become a high-quality asset with stable profits every year and almost no operating costs. And this kind of high-quality asset with no risk will undoubtedly be very popular on Wall Street."

"Operational costs still exist," Lionel added hastily. "Not only are there valuation and due diligence fees and direct purchase costs, but also copyright registration, renewal, infringement litigation, royalty tracking, royalty distribution, third-party data monitoring services, cross-border copyright coordination, and even the cost of asset securitization of packaging copyright income into financial products in the future. These are not small amounts."

"In short, our service content, or business objectives, are fundamentally different from those of traditional music industry giants such as Universal, Sony and Warner." Han Yi concluded, "What we care about is not 'content control', but 'asset operation'."

"Very interesting." Stevie frowned slightly, looking very interested. "So what can artists get from these 'asset operations'?"

"The simplest and most brutal way is what Leo just mentioned, one-time cash conversion." Han Yi spread his hands and answered, "If we regard artists as startups, then we will find the most fatal problem - artists do not have mature exit mechanisms and channels like other entrepreneurs. App developers can exit with money, and chain restaurant operators can exit with money. Education, fashion, health, travel, technology, real estate, home improvement... any industry can exit at a certain moment with the cash provided by capital, complete a truly successful startup, and achieve financial freedom."

"But musicians can't do that. The copyrights they worked so hard to create can only be monetized in small amounts and multiple times through a few specific channels, but cannot instantly bring them sufficient cash flow when they need it most. Look, how many financial institutions around the world are willing to use music copyrights as collateral to provide loans? Even if they are willing, can their valuations truly reflect the value of these copyrights?"

"The valuation of music copyrights has not been able to increase, not because they are not valuable. On the contrary, in the era of streaming media, in this era where everyone can listen to music for free and can generate royalties just by clicking on Spotify, the value of music copyrights should rise. The reason why the value of music copyrights has not been valued by the capital market is that there are too few buyers now - the few copyright acquisitions of a certain scale all occur between copyright distribution companies and their contracted artists. Such cases of one partner buying out another partner cannot fundamentally boost market confidence."

“Only when people discover that players other than Universal, Sony and Warner can also participate in the copyright trading game, and that capital outside the music industry ecosystem can also invest in music works, can the value of music copyrights grow to the high level they should be in a normal market with free competition.”

"I agree with you." Stevie Nicks is not a business person, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have a smart mind. "The more buyers there are, the higher the value. Just like buying and selling a house, the more people bid, the greater the possibility of a high price."

"Yes."

"But..." Stevie took a sip of whiskey and changed the subject. "This acquisition method can certainly increase the income of musicians in a short period of time, but a one-time buyout will also cause the musicians to lose future value-added income, right? From another perspective, niche and less popular creators will also not benefit due to lack of market verification and difficulty in obtaining financing, which will exacerbate the polarization of the industry."

"Any innovative business model has its pros and cons." Han Yi responded very frankly, "We provide an exit mechanism, not a universal solution to all the difficulties of musicians... In fact, Leo and I, as well as many knowledgeable people, have jointly promoted the establishment of this music copyright management fund, which has another model - that is, long-term copyright cooperation with musicians. Artists can sell part of the copyright income to us and keep part of the copyright income. In this way, we can not only obtain a large amount of cash in the short term, but also enjoy the increasingly high valuation increase after capitalization operation."

"You have thought very carefully."

"Different artists have different needs." Han Yi nodded with a smile, "Just like every song has unique characteristics, the cooperation model we provide for each music copyright will also be unique."

"So what do you think...if it were me, what kind of cooperation model would you provide?"

Stevie put the glass back on the long table, causing a distant, dull sound in the corridor.

"One-time buyout or long-term cooperation?"

(End of this chapter)