hollywood billionaire

Chapter 55 Mad Decent
Han Yi raised his head, and standing in front of him was Peter Benedek, who had been in hiding today.

Beside Peter, Diplo with dark blonde hair was looking at Han Yi.The real person looks a little tired and a little old, but still can't hide Diplo's fatal attraction to women.

In terms of temperament and style, Diplo and G-Eazy have many similarities, both of which are "fuck boy" styles that have become extremely popular in European and American societies in recent years.He is casual and unrestrained, with a signal of "I can sleep, I'm not responsible" all over her body.

"Whoa, man, great set."

Faced with people of different personalities and identities, the way of greeting is naturally different.Han Yi put up his palm and put it together with Diplo's right hand.The two hooked each other's thumbs, pulled their bodies closer, and patted each other's backs.

"Oh, thank you, brother." Diplo pointed to Dr. Dre with both hands, "Thanks to this legend for the inspiration!"

"Nonsense, I don't do trap." Dr. Dre also greeted Diplo in the same way, "However, set is really exciting."

"Peter, I finally saw you today." Taking advantage of Diplo and Dr. Dre's greetings, Han Yi turned his attention to Peter Benedek.Han Yi still had a warm smile that no one else could tell the difference, but there was a hint of playfulness in the eyes that looked at Peter Benedek.

When talking with Jordan Bromley about plans related to Diplo at the Grove Shopping Center a few days ago, he asked the lawyer to help him "ask for a recommendation from UTA's familiar relationship with Diplo".

It's not that Han Yi couldn't find Diplo himself, he had to make a relationship through the United Artists Agency.He is also not unclear. From the perspective of musicians, Diplo's connection with UTA is not as strong as that of film and television actors. If you want to recommend it, any one of the Big Three can have the same effect.

The reason why he did this was mainly to see what position and role the newly hired legal adviser stood in UTA's internal power structure.

It has to be said that the result of the test was a bit unexpected for Han Yi. He originally thought that Jordan Bromley would be closer to Jeremy Zimmer or Jim Berkus. After all, these two talents are active in A powerful figure on the stage.But today it was Peter Benedek who took Diplo to say hello.

Jordan Bromley's intentions, and the deep meaning behind this line, are worth pondering.

Did Jordan choose to avoid Jeremy and Jim because he deliberately avoided suspicion, or did he, as the core consultant of the music section, already have an offensive and defensive alliance with Peter?
If it is the latter, then the upcoming drama of the United Artists Agency will be even more lively.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Yi, the old man has nothing to do." It was still the familiar Peter Benedek style, and there must be a swearing in the quip, "but the key point is that I can stay awake... the last time we met, I remember You said that you are very interested in music, especially the field of electronic music."

Having said that, Peter Benedek patted Diplo on the back, reminding the latter that the topic is about to begin.

"So, I brought him to you right after I left the stage. Yi, let me introduce you officially—Thomas Wesley Pentz, stage name Diplo, founder of Mad Decent."

"Of course, Mad Decent, Major Lazer, Jack, Peter, I have known Thomas for a long time."

Diplo, No. 2015 on DJ Mag's 20 Top [-] DJs list... Of course, this list is a complete mess, rancid shit wrapped in gold foil, and whoever buys the most advertising bags is ranked higher. That's the only reason the Belgian brothers are at the top of the list.

Therefore, although Diplo seems to have a good ranking, in fact, among the 19 people in front of him, there are at least 10 people whose achievements are far inferior to him, and the other 5 people are also comparable to him. Armin van Buuren and David Guetta, who have been famous in the industry for many years, are qualified to say that they can stabilize his status.

In 2016, Diplo was called the top five in the world of electronic music, which is not an exaggeration.

Thomas Wesley Pentz was born in 1978 in Tupelo, a small town of only 8000 people in Mississippi.Although his native place is on the banks of the Mississippi River in the Deep South, Thomas spent most of his youth in Miami.

At that time, Miami had the most prosperous electronic music scene in the United States. It was there that Thomas came into contact with Miami Bass, and was captured by this hot rhythm of 108 BPM.

Next, whether at the University of Central Florida in Orange County, Temple University in Philadelphia or during a study tour in Delhi, India, Thomas began to be active on the stage as Diplo.

Since 2003, he has held a series of extremely successful electronic music events in the Philadelphia area. The huge income has allowed him to obtain enough capital to establish his own multi-functional art space The Mausoleum. Christina Aguilera, Shakira, and MIA, who completely changed the trajectory of his life, have all recorded music here.

On February 2008, 2, the popular single "Paper Plane" jointly released by Diplo and MIA was officially released. It ranked No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 list and was nominated for the 4st Grammy Award for Best Single. This allowed Diplo, as a single producer, to truly enter the mainstream music scene in Europe and America, and also allowed him to embark on a fast track of rapid development.

He produced "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown, Lil Wayn and Busta Rhymes, "Too Close" by Alex Clare, and "Elastic Heart" by Sia and The Weeknd.

In addition, Diplo himself has released many well-known and phenomenal works in the past two years, such as "Dirty Vibe" with Quan Zhilong, CL and Skrillex, "Take There" with Kiesza as a member of Jack, and "Take There" by Justin Bieber's "Where Are Now" was a huge commercial success.

Of course, it was Mad Decent, an electronic music label he founded in 2006 that was completely independent of the three major music groups, that really pushed Diplo's career to the top, and in 2015, together with DJ Snake and female singer M, he launched the Major The song "Lean On" released on the same label as Lazer.

Even Diplo himself could not have imagined that this song Moombahton, full of Punjabi style, could achieve the best results that can be said to be unprecedented and unprecedented in the case of independent channels and independent distribution.

Including the Billboard Mainstream Top 40, "Lean On" topped 28 charts and reached the top ten on 52 charts.As of November 2015, 11, "Lean On" has become the most played single since Spotify's establishment, surpassing Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" with 12 million streaming media plays, ranking first.Not only did he make a lot of money, but he also brought electronic music and even music streaming to a new level.

It needs to be repeatedly emphasized that, unlike Dr. Dre's Death Row or Jimmy Iowin's Interscope, Diplo's Mad Decent is a real independent label that is completely outside the system of the three major music groups. It has nothing to do with Universal, Sony or Warner.

Under such circumstances, Mad Decent has been able to release hit singles and emerging musicians year after year, which has to be said to be a remarkable achievement.

"Harlem Shake", which became popular on YouTube in 2012, and many singles by Alison Wonderland, Boombox Cartel, Dillon Francis, Herobust, Jauz, Slander, Troyboi and Yellow Claw, are all mastered by Mad Decent.

And this is also the reason why Han Yi has a special liking for Diplo among the wide range of electronic music artists in the United Artists Agency.

The electronic music producer in front of him is not only a top [-] DJ with explosive live effects, but also a trendy entrepreneur who can sit down with him and discuss mergers and acquisitions.

M&A target?Of course it's Mad Decent.

"I heard that Mad Decent is still an independent label, which is really a great thing."

Han Yi's target this time is the record business sector where Mad Decent controls the mastering rights. He plans to buy about 40-50% of the shares, or more, so that Mad Decent will become a sub-label of the record company to be established.As for Diplo's distribution business that manages music copyrights, he doesn't plan to do it now.

In 2016, the music copyright trading market was still in a relatively chaotic initial stage. There was not much capital interested in buying music copyrights, and most artists who wanted to sell music copyrights were asking for sky-high prices.

Han Yi's plan is that in terms of music copyright, he must first start with a world-renowned legendary musician, and use this person's purchase price to anchor the market's benchmark price, so as to facilitate the next series of copyright purchases.

For example, if $5000 million is used to acquire Diplo's existing music copyright from the very beginning, wouldn't it be too much for Bob Dylan to ask for $3 million?

Therefore, the correct logic should be to settle the copyright acquisitions of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen or James Brown, and use their prices as the criterion, and then squeeze down other musicians room for bargaining.In this way, Han Yi can reach an agreement with the musicians at the most reasonable price.

"It's been really tough, and it's just barely getting by." Diplo may have drugs and alcohol in his blood, but that doesn't slow down his shrewd business mind.Peter Benedek's special introduction and Han Yi's casual inquiry have already formed a basic concept in his mind.

This capital tycoon wants to use cash to get a share of the booming Mad Decent.

Well, this is also my next plan.

Operating an independent label does not mean that Diplo rejects capital.On the contrary, it is precisely because he wants to embrace the capital wholeheartedly and win the favor of the capital circle as much as possible, that Diplo has always insisted on letting Mad Decent operate independently instead of signing contracts with the three major music groups.

Diplo knows very well that only by maintaining an independent status and a simple equity structure can he sit on the face-to-face negotiation table with capital management companies.Otherwise, the only ones that can realize cash from the capital market are the groups that have taken him into their pockets.

"Scraping to get by is not what we came into this business for."

Han Yi smiled and patted Diplo's arm, throwing out his point of view.

"A dollar today is always worth more than a dollar tomorrow. While you are young, you should live as chic as possible."

"I couldn't agree more with that, brother."

Hearing Han Yi's words, Diplo leaned back and laughed loudly.

In the last life, after Diplo sold his music copyrights for US$2022 million in a package in 1.1, he revealed to the media the reason why he chose to cash out as soon as possible.All the singles including "Lean On" are indeed played amazingly, but in any case, the realization of royalties is also a long process.

One month, one quarter, one fiscal year, no matter how loose the settlement terms are, musicians always have to wait for a long time to see the funds come in, and they come in batches.

For celebrities who spend money like water, batch transfer and one-time withdrawal are completely different concepts.A monthly income of 20 U.S. dollars may be spent before the middle of the month. Even if the money can be kept for 30 or 40 years, it will be stretched every day.

But if they can get 6000 million, 7000 million, or even hundreds of millions of dollars at one time, even if they will never see the revenue share again in this lifetime, it will be extremely beneficial to them.

Because in this case, the stars have ample funds in their hands that will not be exhausted for a while, which can help them become a small capital force that can actually produce cash at a real price.

They can use the money to buy assets or make other business investments. If they invest properly, they may be able to be like George Clooney, a tequila brand that sells for billions, completely crossing the class and becoming an official member of the upper class. member.

Taking a step back, even if they put money in an investment fund account of a certain capital management company and do nothing, the wealth they generate each year is enough for them to spend their lives happily.

This is the underlying logic of copyright transactions between capital and musicians.

Becoming a star only means that you have taken the first step in your career.

Grassroots-celebrity-superstar-capital.

Once this path is opened, if you can't pass the last hurdle, you may fall back to the old path at any time.

So for musicians, what is the fastest way to raise funds and become a member of the capital circle?

six words.

Song for you, money for me.

After the "Lean On" hit, some capital institutions have already started preliminary contact with Mad Decent's management team, and the timing of Han Yi's appearance is neither too early nor too late.

Let's see what price he can offer.

"Jordan is your legal advisor, isn't he?"

Han Yi asked knowingly.

"Yeah...it's yours too?"

Even with all the garlic, Diplo didn't lose the slightest bit.

"That's right, what a coincidence. It doesn't take so many rounds to draft documents with the same lawyer."

"Completely correct."

Diplo pretended to think for a moment, then asked.

"By the way, do you have any plans for this time next week?"

"Not yet." Han Yi shook his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Jordan and I just made an appointment to review the contract documents for the Block Party touring artist lineup." Diplo pointed to Century City hanging outside the infinity pool, "It's in their office, if we have time, we can Talk about it there. You know, it’s easier to do everything in a lawyer’s office because they have fax machines.”

"Yes, they do have a fax machine." Catching the key information in Diplo's words, Han Yi's eyes suddenly brightened a little, and he still missed this key link after all the calculations.

Isn't live performance the biggest charm of electronic music, and the most important place to attract money?

The Block Party touring music festival held by Mad Decent every year is the most eye-catching live performance brand in the Diplo brand matrix. It has been held for eight consecutive years since 2008. There are a large number of raver all over the world following this A series of performances.

As the name suggests, what Mad Decent wants to present to electronic music lovers is a small and casual carnival like a neighborhood spontaneously held block party.Therefore, the venues chosen by the Block Party tour music festival in each city are not too big, the small ones can accommodate 1000-2000 people, and the largest ones are no more than ten thousand people.

In Han Yi's view, ten or so block parties every year are certainly interesting, but if a unified theme and publicity effect can be formed, an ultimate electronic music festival with a scale of 5 people will be held in the big ticket warehouse after the national tour. It can be regarded as really making the best use of the brand value of Mad Decent and Block Party.

Originally, I was going to open a live performance company. Instead of starting from scratch with my own new IP, why not participate in the operation of a mature music festival?

The same logic may also be extended to many music festivals.

Such as Excision's...

"What month will the Block Party start this year?"

While his thoughts were running fast, Han Yi asked.

"The first game is July NO.30, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The second game is scheduled for August [-]th and [-]th, and the venue is MCU Park in Coney Island, New York. The following cities and venues are still being finalized. Confirming."

"Have you found a financing institution?"

"No, Block Party has always been funded by us... Are you interested?" Diplo took a breath, and his eyes that seemed to be forever tired became energetic.

"My principle - if you want to cooperate, then cooperate to the end."

Han Yi blinked and laughed softly.

"Block Party, then it should become a block event where residents of the whole city participate."

(End of this chapter)