America: My Time

Chapter 498 Music Festival

Chapter 498 Music Festival
Starting with iron ore, then uranium ore, and then copper ore, Quantum Mining has acquired vast mineral resources as it continues to develop. However, all of this takes time. Although Quantum Mining is now one of the mining giants, it still has significant shortcomings in its foundation, which need to be gradually improved over time.

Although Japan is the world's second-largest steel producer, its demand for iron ore is staggering. While it continues to acquire iron ore resources and stakes in upstream mining companies in South America and Australia, it lacks the resources to support Quantum Mining. Quantum Mining has no plans to go public or seek financing.

As Australian shipping continued its trade with Russia, large quantities of steel flowed into South Korea and China. If it weren't for the distance and higher costs to Taiwan, it would likely have been sold there as well. Australian shipping began to reduce its trade with Japan. South Korea is now accelerating its development, and with its current capabilities, it can accept large quantities of goods from Australian shipping at very low prices. Why would South Korea refuse such a good deal?

Japan is a country with scarce resources, and many raw materials need to be imported. Russia, on the other hand, has abundant resources. When Australian shipping took action, the Japanese couldn't sit still, because their reserves would soon be depleted. After all, Japan is now the world's second-largest economy, and their demand for resources is enormous. Therefore, this time, the Japanese are also intentionally increasing their trade with Australian shipping, as it is very beneficial to them.

During the conversation, John agreed to share some of the supplies, since the yen was still appreciating and trading with Japan would be more profitable, so he could only ask the Koreans to reduce their supplies.

As for semiconductor cooperation, these Japanese guys brought it up again, but unfortunately John still didn't agree. The time for the Toshiba incident to break out was not far off, and he didn't want to cooperate with these guys at this time and get caught up in the crisis for nothing. John's refusal also puzzled these Japanese people. They didn't understand why John still had so many concerns. The turmoil in the United States had clearly stopped, and Nvidia was no longer in any danger. The breakup of Intel meant that Nvidia no longer had to worry about the crisis of monopoly.

This time, it seemed that these guys from Japan wanted to have a comprehensive exchange and cooperation with John. Perhaps they felt that this method was the most suitable. They even had a brief exchange with John on the issue of Japanese publicity, which could deepen the cooperation between the two parties and allow Japan to get more publicity. Through the publicity of Phoenix Group and Legendary Entertainment, Japan could gain more recognition. This was something John had not expected.

Although there had been previous collaborations with Japan, these were mainly focused on the development of the Mandarin Oriental Group and the promotion of its hotels. However, the Japanese had come up with a brilliant idea: to use the power of Phoenix Jiao Lei and Legend Entertainment to amplify the promotion of Japan.

When such a proposal came up, John's heart skipped a beat. He had originally been thinking of other ways to attract the attention of those old guys and Wall Street, but now these guys in Japan had given him a good opportunity. These guys in Japan were very wealthy now, and naturally they were eager to gain more recognition for Japan.

After thinking for a moment, John nodded and said, "Sure, no problem. But I think we can expand our cooperation. Universal Music originally intended to hold a music festival in California, but due to time constraints and various previous issues, it couldn't be held and has been postponed to next year. How about we collaborate and have TV Tokyo host a music festival to promote Japan?"

Money, music festivals can make money, and if they're well-organized, they can be quite profitable. Most importantly, such music festivals will inevitably receive strong support from the Japanese government. John's initial idea was to snatch the Coachella Music Festival, but due to time constraints, he had to postpone it. However, when these guys from Japan brought up the collaboration this time, John thought of Japan's two famous music festivals, which he could totally snatch. Moreover, now that Japan has the official backing and even strong support, he couldn't miss such a good opportunity.

"A music festival? We already have the Tokyo Music Festival, so it seems unnecessary to hold a new one?" When they heard John's words, the Japanese guys seemed a little hesitant. After all, the Tokyo Music Festival was quite successful, and cooperating with John again seemed like a waste of resources and time.

John gently shook his head and said, "No, the music festival we're going to hold is different from the Tokyo Music Festival, and we have a better plan. As long as you agree and provide your support, Legendary Entertainment's MTV will do a special feature to promote it, and other TV stations will also provide some support. As long as you invest in the initial stages, it's bound to have a good impact!" Now is the heyday of Japan's bubble economy; with their bulging wallets, they naturally have strong spending power. So, as long as the promotion is done well, and famous bands and musicians appear, it's bound to be a hit and generate huge profits. It can be said that now is the best time to promote a music festival in Japan. The Japanese are very wealthy now and willing to spend money, so as long as they successfully obtain the hosting rights, they don't need to worry about profits. This can be considered a win-win situation: the Japanese government gets the publicity they want, and Tokyo TV gets the profits it desires.

The more John thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. And if he was going to do it, he wanted to do it big, taking over both of Japan's two major music festivals and turning it into TV Tokyo's most profitable project. With this idea in mind, a faint smile appeared in John's eyes as he looked at the Japanese guys, waiting for their response.

Seeing that these guys hadn't answered for a long time, John couldn't help but sigh inwardly. These guys really weren't capable enough, at least not in terms of publicity. So he said, "You can think about the influence of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. As long as you can give enough support, I believe it will be a great publicity opportunity. We just need to sign an agreement!"

Seeing John's confident expression, the group finally nodded in agreement. Although they still had some concerns, John's expression left them with no choice but to agree. After all, Japan wasn't short of money; what it lacked was recognition. If they could promote Japan for a small amount of money, that would be ideal.

Yes, in their eyes, organizing a music festival is a small amount of money; as long as it benefits Japan, the expense is worthwhile. John, however, sees it differently. He's in it for the money, and if the Japanese government is willing to support it and they can secure enough sponsorships, there's no reason why such a music festival shouldn't be profitable.

Even if it can't be broadcast live, it can still be used to advertise the music festival, and it will also have a significant positive impact on MTV. It's a profitable opportunity, so we should act quickly and not let those guys in Japan realize what's happening and make all the money. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; once it's missed, it will be hard to get it again.

These guys in Japan don't care about the rights to host the music festivals, nor do they care about the small investment. All they care about is publicity. So this is the best opportunity, a chance that won't come again. John would be heartbroken if he missed it. As long as TV Tokyo controls the rights to host these two major Japanese music festivals, it means they have long-term profits.

After their conversation with John, the Japanese team quickly returned to report everything. John's proposal to hold a music festival caught the attention of some, who greatly admired his abilities, especially the immense influence of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. They felt that if the music festival could rival the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, it would be a huge boon for them. Therefore, they decided to give Tokyo TV their full support, hoping that next year's music festival would be a resounding success and allow Japan to achieve greater publicity.

"Are you surprised and think my idea is a bit crazy? If you think that, you're very wrong. The influence of music isn't what you think. The Tokyo Music Festival is alright, but it's nothing special. It's completely different from the music festival that TV Tokyo is going to hold. How are the bands doing now? So much time has passed, they can't be completely unprepared, right? If they have good skills, maybe we can use the power of the music festival to make them an overnight sensation and directly make them a top band in Japan?"

At this moment, John couldn't help but think about what Elite Agency was going to do. The band was the focus of Elite Agency going forward. Several months had passed, surely they hadn't made any preparations at all?
There wasn't originally a rush, but with the music festival, it became a crucial issue. It would be a huge disservice to their artists to let this opportunity slip by. The inaugural music festival always attracts more attention, so John felt Elite Agency needed to act quickly, at least until next year, to establish a band with sufficient talent! Without enough talent, even handing them the opportunity wouldn't be effective; it would take time to hone their skills. That's why John was so anxious and consulted Naoko and Hitomi Kuroki, who knew Elite Agency better.

(End of this chapter)