hollywood billionaire

Chapter 129 Day Celebration

"Madam Ling, it's my honor to finally meet you in America..."

In the Mercedes-Benz Metris business car, Diplo in the passenger seat turned around and smiled warmly at Ling Lan.

After breakfast, Han Yi took his mother and grandmother to the shopping corridors of Bellagio and Alia, and bought a few small items they liked.Afterwards, lunch was settled at Din Tai Fung in Aria Hotel.

Buffet is indeed a must-try feature of every Las Vegas hotel, but the experience at The Bacchanal is so full that not only Xu Yiru, but also Ling Lan and Tian Zongyun are in a hurry when it comes to Buffet Shake your head.The light and delicious Din Tai Fung can not only help everyone to relax their stomachs, but also slightly relieve mom and grandma's growing thirst for authentic Chinese food.

After lunch, a group of people slowly set off from the intersection of Harmon Avenue, visited Caesars Palace, Parisian, Flamenco and Venetian one by one along Las Vegas Boulevard, and visited the special attractions of each hotel , then arrived at the northernmost point, the Wynn Hotel opposite the Fashion Show Shopping Center.

This is indeed a landmark building in the casino known for its landscaping. Entering from the side entrance of the shopping corridor, there are rockery waterfalls, landscape fountains and towering green plants everywhere, giving people the feeling more like the entrance of a natural park.

Walking into the room, the impression of the integration of the botanical garden and the circus is more obvious.Exuberant exotic plants, seasonal flowers that change regularly, a carousel made entirely of flowers, and Jeff Koons' famous sculpture "Tulip" made of mirror-polished stainless steel in multiple colors make this area A lush oasis becomes a haven of tranquility from the hustle and bustle of the casino.

After taking photos in Wynn's garden for a while, Diplo arrived in the lobby at four o'clock.Of course, it wasn't that Thomas was late on purpose, because they had made an appointment to meet before [-]:[-].

For the profession of DJ, on the days when there is no need to catch a plane to tour around the world, three o'clock in the afternoon is considered an early wake up.Although there was no show yesterday, Diplo undoubtedly spent the whole dopamine-filled night at XS nightclub.

Las Vegas has always been the temple of electronic music.And getting a big contract to live in a Las Vegas nightclub is also an important career goal for all DJs to strive for.

why?
All ideal jobs in this world have three conditions.

More money, less work, close to home.

The residency agreement in Las Vegas perfectly fits these three elements.

First off, Las Vegas has some of the most profitable nightclubs on the planet, if not one.Nightclubs in other cities in North America, such as Academy in Los Angeles, basically operate with a large dance floor and small booths.

When there is no guest DJ, the ticket is 20 US dollars, and you can order your own wine after entering.If an artist is invited to perform, the ticket may double to 50-100 US dollars.In this kind of real dance club, the tables of the bottle service are few and small, and the consumption requirements are also very low. $3000 is enough for 15 people to enter the nightclub and dance in front of the booth all night.

Las Vegas is different. Whether it is the XS under the Wynn Group, the Omnia at the Caesars Palace Hotel, or the Hakkasan at the MGM Hotel, although the dance floor is not small, the main profit point is not tickets, but booth consumption.Take the XS nightclub as an example. If you want to sit indoors, you have to pay a minimum of 3000 US dollars even in normal times. If you want to be close to the stage, you have to spend at least five figures.

On top of that, no one can afford to spend the cheapest in Las Vegas nightclubs — $575 a bottle of Absolut, $6600 a bottle of Gold Leaf Moët & Chandon, even the cheapest on the menu 6 bottles of Red Bull, also $65.As long as you are not careful, you can easily throw in $10 overnight.

Of course, in the casino hall with such sufficient oxygen, those high rollers who have just won huge sums of money will never begrudge this little money.This also makes the nightclubs in Las Vegas the most profitable late-night venues in the entire Federation and even the world.

Among the top ten nightclubs in the United States, Las Vegas accounts for six of them. Among them, the XS nightclub that signed a resident agreement with Diplo ranks first, with an annual profit of nearly [-] million U.S. dollars—all of which are highly mobile. of cash.

Under such circumstances, Las Vegas nightclubs are naturally quite generous in booking artists.In other places, the reservation of DJ or Rapper is calculated for a single game. Only the nightclub group in Las Vegas directly throws out dozens of packed venue agreements throughout the year.

In 2016, XS nightclub signed 23 electronic music superstars including Alesso, Avicii, David Guetta, Dillon Francis, Diplo, DJ Snake, Major Lazer, Marshmello, Skrillex, Yellow Claw and Zedd.Even Off-White CEO Virgil Abloh has a contract of [-] performances here.

Since 2012, Diplo has been a long-term cooperative artist of Wynn Nightclub Group. The residency agreement is signed every two years, and at least 25-30 performances are guaranteed every year. , rising to the current jaw-dropping $2012/hour in 2016.In other words, Diplo, who has 17 shows at the Wynn this year, can earn $27 million without stepping out of the hotel lobby.

length of work? 27 hours!

At other times, Wynn will also provide him with a special artist suite, dining and shopping cash coupons, and a commercial vehicle for his travel in Las Vegas.

This is the car they are riding to see the music festival venue.

"Mom, our entertainer said, it's nice to meet you in America."

Han Yi straightforwardly translated to Ling Lan in Mandarin.When we met just now, Han Yi directly introduced to Ling Lan in front of Xu Yiru and Zhao Youzhen that this is an artist of their company, and the company will soon spend 3600 million US dollars to acquire his music label.

Of course, Mother Han didn't have any special reaction. After all, her son is just a laborer. Let alone 3600 million US dollars, even 3.6 million US dollars, to Ling Lan, it is someone else's story, just listen to it.

And Ling Lan's calm performance not only allowed Xu Yiru and Zhao Youzhen to deepen their subjective understanding of the bottomless financial resources of the "Han family", but also learned what Han Yi said to his mother through Xu Yiru's translation. Diplo couldn't help being a little more surprised.

After all, what Diplo saw from his perspective was that $3600 million, which was enough for him to work in Las Vegas for another ten years after deducting personal income tax, was not enough for the lady to respond with an expression.

"She said, it's nice to see you too, but it's a pity that I didn't see your performance in Las Vegas a few days ago."

After helping his mother translate this polite response, Han Yi noticed the slight change in Diplo's expression, and the corner of Han Yi's mouth couldn't help evoking a tricky smile.

It was originally in his plan to introduce his family members to his partner generously.

Making his "full-time job" more convincing by letting Mom and Grandma see the specifics of what he's getting done.Let the artist see the family behind the boss who provides financial support, so that they have more room for imagination.At the same time, Xu Yiru and Zhao Youzhen, who were observing from the sidelines, became more certain about the background story he told.

Kill three birds with one stone, as long as you are not afraid of overturning, you will always be able to go wild on the mountain road.

"There are still nine days until the next show in Las Vegas, why don't you go back to Los Angeles?"

Han Yi looked at the Stratosphere Tower getting closer and closer outside the window, and chatted with Diplo.

"Why are you going back?"

Diplo spread his hands and smiled.

"Free food, free lodging, free drinks, and free... oh, that can't be said."

"However, Las Vegas and the Wynn are like a second home to me, and I try to stay here as long as I can between shows. And the new home has just moved over, and the team still has a lot of stuff. It’s inconvenient to live in.”

"I'll be back at the end of the month, right? I've seen the venue here, signed the lease contract, and will have a meeting later to determine the lineup of artists."

"No. 31, my side is No. 30 with Sonny...Skrillex, there is a show at XS, I'll be back when I'm done."

"And then in Europe in early June, right?"

"Yes, on the 4th to 5th... Hey, you should come. Madrid, Utopia. And on the 11th at Parklife in Manchester. There are many interesting electronic musicians we can meet and maybe find opportunities for cooperation. "

"pretty good idea."

Han Yi thought for a while and replied.

"Let me see the arrangement at that time. If I want to go, I will communicate with you in advance on the 31st."

"Ok boss...and we are here."

The Las Vegas festival venue is not far from the Wynn Hotel, and driving north along the Las Vegas Strip for six blocks is the future location of the Mad City Music Festival.The Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle turned into the South Bridge Road in front of the Western Sahara Avenue and drove forward smoothly.

"This entire vacant lot belongs to the Las Vegas festival venue."

Diplo pressed the car window and pointed to the wall stretching outside the window, the white fence gate, and the red "Gate 3" logo pasted on both sides of the gate.

"Gate No. 500 here, as well as Gate No. 5000 in front, and several entrances at the other end, can be opened or closed according to the number of ticket buyers and the actual number of people at the scene when the music festival is held. The main moving line, It is still Gate [-] next to the Hilton Hotel. At that time, all taxis, Ubers, and buses will be guided there by LVPD. If the entire Gate [-] is opened, [-] people can be screened at the same time. Even [-] people together It only takes half an hour to get in all of them.”

"Is this a dedicated parking building?"

The commercial vehicle entered the venue through the open door No. [-]. Han Yi pointed to the two vertical garages in the south and southwest directions and asked.

"The one on the right is...technically, it belongs to the Circus Circus Hotel next door, but the hotel itself is also an MGM property. So when the festival starts, the parking lot can be completely closed off except for hotel guests, For festival use only."

"In addition, this taller parking building has 13 floors. It is an annex building of the Hilton Hotel. If necessary, we can negotiate the overall lease with the hotel...but generally speaking, it should not be used. You know, come and pull The vast majority of Las Vegas music festival attendees are foreign tourists, and the venue itself is not far from the core area. Generally speaking, everyone will choose to come here on foot, and take a taxi at most. If a few people need to park, let them Just park at the hotel rate alone."

Sitting in the back row of the business car was Kevin Kusatsu, the manager of Diplo who hadn't seen him for a long time, and now the senior partner of Renyu's management.As Diplo's most trusted personal manager, Kevin will follow wherever Thomas is.

For this venue, Kevin Kusatsu came here a few days ago and stepped on it once, and he knew all the technical parameters and basic conditions by heart.

"Circus Circus, affiliated with MGM..."

Following Diplo out of the business car, Han Yi squinted his eyes and glanced at the Circus Circus Hotel on the south side under the strong sunlight.

Even in such perfect weather, under such a pleasant blue sky, it is difficult to feel good about the Circus Circus Hotel's dull white exterior walls and neon signs that feel faded and rusty. Not to mention actually living in it.

Compared with the spectacular Conrad Hotel and Wynn Encore Hotel behind it, Circus Circus can only be called an old antique that was forgotten in the last century.

Pity the lot.

Han Yi's thinking about Circus Circus stopped here at this time, because four or five business people in suits were rushing up in front of them.

"Hi Kevin, see you again."

With his back head fully supported by hairspray, the middle-aged man with obvious Italian features shook hands with Kevin Kusatsu.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Sanella."

The burly Kevin Kusatsu turned sideways with some difficulty, raised his right arm, and pointed to the two faces standing side by side behind him.

"Let me introduce you to today's VIP—my client Thomas, also known as Diplo. There is also Yi Han, a shareholder of United Artists Management Company and Mad Decent."

"Thomas, I can see your face on the Las Vegas Strip every day, and I can always hear your name on the board of the stadium committee." Mr. Sanella smiled heartily and patted Diplo's Shoulder, "The directors said that when the stadium is built, the first music festival will have your name on it."

"I can't wait to go there and watch the first Las Vegas Raiders game."

Las Vegas Raiders?
It should still be called the Oakland Raiders now.

Is this unattractive Italian man in front of him the director of the Raiders Las Vegas new venue committee?

interesting.

"Also, Mr. Han... I have known you for a long time, Kevin told me a lot about your deeds last time."

The most important thing is left for last, and Mr. Sanella knows this truth very well.When greeting Diplo, he paid great attention to maintaining that enthusiastic but still somewhat reserved smile.When looking at Han Yi, although he still paid attention to his figure, he was obviously more sincere in facing important customers.

"Stephen J. Zanella, Chief Commercial Officer, MGM Hotels International."

Just from Sanela's title, we can see where his expression and posture come from.As Chief Commercial Officer, Sanella is responsible for public relations, marketing, group sales, customer loyalty programs and commercial strategy for the entire group.It stands to reason that in his role, he does not need to personally handle the lease of a music festival venue in Las Vegas.

His appearance shows that the situation at the festival venue in Las Vegas has become severe to a certain extent.It was so bad that the senior vice president in charge of this sector had to end it by himself, and strive for a long-term and stable event partner for the venue.

If I remember correctly, two years later, MGM International Hotel Group, which could no longer bear huge losses and whose parent company was also in deficit for years, sold this open-air venue, together with the Circus Circus Hotel next door, to Treasure Island The hotel's owner, the famous West Coast industrialist and casino tycoon Phil Ruffin.

How should we turn this advanced information into a business strategy that is beneficial to us?

"Hello, Mr. Sanella."

While thinking about it, Han Yi stretched his hand to Stephen Sanela.

"Nice to meet you."

"Hopefully in the not too distant future, I can call you the venue of the most famous music festival in the world, and this Las Vegas festival venue we're stepping on."

(End of this chapter)