hollywood billionaire

Chapter 74
"Please step aside...don't take pictures, thank you!"

At the end of the workshop today, everyone who was only two streets away from the main campus naturally did not need to drive to the Bovard Administration Building in the center of the school to meet with Principal Nikias.Andre Yang and Xu Yiru talked in a low voice, Jimmy Yuewen and Han Yi walked side by side, and there were four bodyguards to clear the way.

During class time, Han Yi would never bring Feamu Derwig or Kean Griffin with him.I memorized the class notes by myself, and there was a retired special soldier sitting next to me, not the Los Angeles city dragon king, so there was no need to make such an exaggeration.These four bodyguards are all security personnel that Andre and Jimmy have cooperated for a long time.

In most cases, celebrities do not encounter any extremely dangerous situations.After all, in Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, especially in USC, the core teaching and research base of the cultural industry, ordinary people have developed antibodies against Hollywood stars.You can meet an Oscar winner in line for coffee, and you might be a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when you grab a spot in the parking lot.

Han Yi still remembers that when Miley Cyrus fell in love with Patrick Schwarzenegger, she would appear on the campus of USC almost every day, and she was inseparable from her Trojan boyfriend, and every football game I can see the shadows of the two of them.

Will someone bother them?Of course, but rarely.Students from prestigious schools have a sense of arrogance and don't want to be seen as fanatical star fans, especially for the new generation of celebrities whose reputation fluctuates with TMZ's reports.After all, as the students themselves quipped, 50 percent of USC students are celebrities, present or future.

Taking out his phone, taking a snapchat secretly, and telling his circle of friends that he met Miley today is already the greatest respect for her acting career.

However, there are exceptions to the attitude of USC students towards celebrities.Those who have already achieved great success and are only short of a Lifetime Achievement Award, or the legendary superstars who have already won, are the memory of an era and the spiritual totem that all Americans are chasing after.When you meet them, no matter how excited you are, others will not treat you differently.

Because they really are worth it.

who?

Tom - Hanks, Jackie Chan, George - Lucas, and Dr.Dre.

Looking at the entire hip-hop music industry, who else dares to say that the status is above Dr. Dre? While NWA gave the LAPD the middle finger on stage, Jay-Z was driving around in Brooklyn selling bootleg CDs.

Therefore, Andre Yang was surrounded by the crowd almost as soon as he appeared on the streets of South Figueroa.If there were no bodyguards working hard to fight a bloody way through the crowd, it would be unclear whether they would be able to get out of the University Gateway this afternoon.When secretly taking pictures of celebrities, everyone still knows to put the mobile phone on the waist or chest, pretend to check the news, and press the shutter inadvertently.When Dr. Dre came here, no one cared about those etiquettes anymore. If the bodyguards hadn't stopped them in time, several mobile phones would have been stuffed into Andre's mouth.

However, Dr. Dre, who has debuted for 30 years, is used to such small scenes. Despite the constant screams, cheers and shooting buttons outside the protective circle, Andre Yang did not change his color at all, and still carried Smile, and chat with Xu Yiru about soul food in Los Angeles.

Don't underestimate Xu Yiru's affinity, no matter what celebrity you are, if you meet her powerful social skills that make you feel like a spring breeze, you will take off your expensive mask and become talkative.

"So, what exactly do you want Apple Music to do for you, Yi?"

Xiaoru is in charge of chatting with Dr. Dre to build a closer relationship, while Han Yi and Jimmy Yuewen are in charge of negotiating the business of the music group.Seeing the increasingly handsome Asian man beside him, Jimmy Yeowen asked.

"If it's going to be very grand... I hope that the music company under it can be deeply bound with Apple Music, both in the copyright distribution and the record section." Han Yi paused, sorted out the words in his mind, and then continued, "If possible, I'm also interested in doing some extension projects on streaming media platforms, such as live concerts or music festivals led by Apple Music... There are also some interesting online music programs, James Corden's Kind of like carpool karaoke.”

"How do you know?" Jimmy Yuewen raised his eyebrows and looked at Han Yi with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"what do you know?"

"We are negotiating with Corden to separate the carpool karaoke segment from the late-night talk show on CBS and make a separate online program on Apple Music." The agreement with James Corden has been negotiated, Just waiting for the official announcement, Jimmy Yuewen has nothing to hide in front of Han Yi.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I accidentally revealed commercial secrets." Han Yi shrugged and smiled apologetically, "But I really don't know that you are negotiating, I just think it is really suitable for your promotion Tonality."

"It seems that you have done a lot of research on us, Yi." Jimmy nodded in agreement.

"It's something anyone in the music industry would do. It's an indisputable fact that Apple Music is about to become a streaming platform that will surpass Spotify in terms of profitability."

How can you not be optimistic about Apple Music?Backed by Apple's entire ecological chain, from mobile phones, tablets, watches to notebooks and AppleTV, it will soon replace iTunes and Apple Music, which is embedded in every Apple product, although it has only been in operation for less than a year. But it has already revealed the power of the king.

The strength of Apple Music lies in the fact that its entire business segment is directly under Apple’s umbrella. It is not separated separately and does not need to be responsible for its own profits and losses. Therefore, even if there is a loss during the rapid expansion in the early stage, it will be absorbed by Apple’s other product lines. Huge profits smoothed out.

As for Spotify, this unicorn company from Sweden has only one product that it can sell. If it wants to expand, it must rely on secondary market financing and large-scale debt. Continued losses will also greatly discount the company's valuation.

You know, even in 2023 when Han Yi is reborn, Spotify is still in an embarrassing state of losing 4-5 million euros a year.

Second, the business model chosen by Apple Music is also more competitive than the path Spotify is exploring. Spotify users are divided into three groups in total, free, ad-supported and paid.Free users can listen to songs on Spotify, but there are relatively large restrictions, including listening to the sound quality, which will be worse than ad-supported users and paid users.It is easy to understand that advertising supports users, that is, watching advertisements in exchange for longer and higher-quality streaming services, while paying users pay monthly in the form of personal, family or student packages.

In contrast to Apple Music, the wise Apple cut off the entire free trial section from the very beginning.To use Apple Music, you must pay for a monthly subscription.Of course, in the early promotion, Apple Music will issue free trial listening rights ranging from 1 to 6 months to potential consumer groups to quickly expand users.This is the scary thing about Apple, the first trillion-dollar company in human history, can spend money on promotion in ways that ordinary people can't imagine, and subtly cultivate the music payment habit of Apple ecological chain users.

Emphasizing the paid business model makes Apple Music's ARPU many times higher than Spotify. In 2022, Spotify will have 2.05 million paying users worldwide, generating operating income of 102.5 billion euros for the company, accounting for 87.4% of total revenue.The 2.95 million free users only contributed 14.7 billion euros in advertising revenue, accounting for only 12.6% of the total revenue. The average revenue per user in 2022 is only 4.52 euros.

On the other hand, also in 2022, the total number of Apple Music users will be 8800 million, generating 83 billion US dollars, equivalent to 77 billion euros in revenue.In other words, the average revenue per user of Apple Music is a staggering 87.5 euros, which is 19.35 times that of Spotify.

The user scale of 8800 million means that compared with Spotify, Apple Music has at least twice the growth potential in the future.The extremely high paid conversion rate also allows Apple to allocate more funds to artists who enter the resource pool. Spotify’s royalties to artists are $0.004 per listen, while Apple’s is $0.0076.

Therefore, no matter in terms of enterprise scale, business model, future development or royalty rate, it is a better choice for Han Yi to choose in-depth cooperation with Apple Music, especially at this point in early 2016.The newly established Apple Music is in the stage of burning money, and urgently needs high-quality resources from all aspects and levels to enter.

What Han Yi possesses is not only forward vision.His bottomless treasury allows him to establish an equal and reciprocal partnership with Apple Music on many projects.

Collaboration is given priority at the music level, and a higher tax rate is paid.An exclusive strategic agreement was signed at the artist level, allowing the musicians of Han Music to receive strong promotion from Apple's ecological chain.At the performance level, it is the first to make arrangements, allowing Apple Music to have its own help in extending its offline business.

This is Han Yi's cooperation plan with Apple Music.

In contrast, the $1000 million academy donation is indeed only a stepping stone.

"Not everyone thinks like you... A lot of industry commentators say free-to-play and ad revenue is the big thing going forward."

"Then these critics may soon lose their jobs." Han Yi exaggeratedly sighed, "Just like movies, no matter what medium, music must be paid to reflect its value."

"You already sound like a record company owner, Yi." Jimmy Iowen's eyes creased a few times.

"That's exactly what I'm working hard for." Han Yi bowed and smiled.

"So, for music copyright, what resources do you currently have?" Seeing the green light on the sidewalk on West Jefferson Avenue, Jimmy Jowen waved his hand to signal Han Yi to follow. After the two crossed the busy expressway, he Then continue to complete the entire sentence, "Apple Music welcomes any content supplier, and Andre and I will also ensure the promotion effect on your side. However, what kind of copyright agreement and royalty rate we can get you in the end, in fact It still depends on the copyright library on your side."

"I just talked about Mad Decent, and I will acquire 55% of its shares."

"Mad Decent?" Jimmy Yuewen frowned slightly. He felt that the name was familiar, but he couldn't remember the specific information for a while.

"Diplo's label." Seeing Jimmy's still blank eyes, Han Yi added, "It's the label that released the song "Lean On"... DJ Snake has worked with them."

"Oh, it's them."

Of course he is familiar with the signed artists under his banner, and "Lean On" was originally a streaming phenomenon single that was hotly discussed in the music industry in the past six months. Jimmy Yeowen finally connected the fragmentary memories in his mind into a thread.

"You bought Thomas' label? When did that happen?"

Jimmy Yuewen suddenly found that when talking to Han Yi, he was always in a state of surprise.And this is not an experience that can be easily found for him who is over [-] years old.

It was as novel as meeting Andre for the first time in 1988.

"Two weeks ago, to be precise, the acquisition agreement was reached." Han Yi glanced at the time on the phone's standby screen, "There are about two days left for the agreement to be drafted, and the entire transaction process is estimated to be completed in mid-to-late May At that time, we can talk about the whole label entering Apple Music."

"We welcome this premium label, including the rest of your label."

Jimmy Jowen patted Han Yi on the back. He originally thought that this young man was just a whim, wanting to praise one or two of his friends, and use UTA's influence to fish in the murky waters of the music industry.What Andre and himself need to do is to give him a little bit of traffic, so that he can have some face in front of his little girlfriends.

Unexpectedly, this young Huaguo rich man came prepared.

The addition of Jimmy Iowen's green eyes was actually one of the key factors for Han Yi to mention Mad Decent to Jordan Bromley when they met for the first time, and to spare no effort to promote the acquisition plan in the following month.There are stepping stones in any industry, and a lever to leverage resources is needed.Just like the Medelman family who donated to the University of Southern California, if you don’t have a foothold in an industry, no matter how much money you spend in it, insiders will treat you like a layman.

Diplo's Mad Decent is just a small lever.It wasn't so big that Han Yi couldn't eat with his existing financial resources, nor was it so small that he didn't have any influence in the industry.Putting this high-quality electronic music label under the banner of Han Music is Han Yi's call to attack the music industry, and it is also a declaration of the strength of Jimmy and Andre.

It's definitely not as big as the two of you, but it's definitely not a rookie who can be dismissed at will.

"When you come back from New York, I will arrange for my people to meet with your people and sign a strategic cooperation agreement for the label. The external tax rate, our internal cooperation label can now get three times the settlement discount."

Even leaving aside the 1000 million donation, Jimmy is interested in wooing Han Yi and the Mad Decent that will be his soon.In terms of pop music, Apple Music is promoting Taylor Swift, not only exclusively releasing her concert movie "The 1989 World Tour LIVE" on the entire network, but also winning exclusive streaming channels for Taylor's next albums.In fact, "1989", which is only available on Apple Music, is the reason why many people choose this streaming platform.

In order to satisfy this one-of-a-kind superstar in the music industry, Apple Music even urgently revised its royalty settlement policy before it went online, and included all users who listened to songs through the free trial plan into the settlement category of paying users.

In one sentence, Apple paid hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties to musicians out of its own pocket, which not only reflects Taylor Swift's extraordinary influence, but also further proves Apple's thirst for high-quality original content.

In addition to Taylor, Apple Music has a more in-depth layout in the urban and hip-hop fields. Drake, Frank Ocean, and Chance the Rapper, who signed an acting contract with UTA and performed at 864 Stella Della Road, all cooperated with Apple Music Has an exclusive streaming deal for one or more albums.

Now, what Apple Music lacks is precisely the electronic music content that attracts global ravers.

The timely appearance of Han Yi with Mad Decent will definitely attract the attention of Jimmy Iowen and the entire Apple Music department.

This is the importance of timing. In another year or two, even Spinnin' Records will not get the triple settlement policy that Apple gave to record companies when it was first established.

In terms of the development plan of the music industry, Han Yi is so simple and direct.Relying on my deep understanding of this circle and the huge information base of seven years, I will follow the most correct way and use the most positive strategy to grasp the pain points and development of every top player in the music industry without any means or scheming. Context, just cut in in time.

At least so far, his strategy hasn't hit a snag.

As for what will happen in the future?That was the war that would happen after he could really enter the field of vision of the three major music groups.

"Okay, Jimmy, we'd love to sign such an agreement."

"I'm not going to tell you to take everything down from other platforms, we've done it before and we've had enough trouble... Both the Justice Department and the Trade Commission are now looking into our 'alleged cartel' charges." Jimmy With a purse, the index and middle fingers of both hands draw double quotation marks in the air, "However, if the content provider voluntarily provides exclusive content, it does not violate federal law."

"I understand your idea."

Han Yi nodded slightly and smiled, saying that he had received Jimmy Yuewen's message. What Apple Music wants is valuable exclusive content, not just any new debut album.After the acquisition of Mad Decent, he can take out a few albums or singles of well-known electronic music artists as a nomination certificate, and then let Bi Li and other newcomers of Han Music release their music on the whole network simultaneously.

Want an exclusive from these guys?Let's talk about it after Billie Eilish grows into Billie Eilish.

Speaking of Billi... Apple invested in Platoon, and now she still holds her A&R agreement.

We have to take advantage of the opportunity of full cooperation with Apple Music to stuff the clause of abolishing the Platoon agreement into the contract.

Han Yi silently added something to the to-do list in his heart.

"Not just music, as I mentioned just now, we also hope to do some interesting things with Apple Music in the field of live performances. In fact, I have a project and I want to talk to you about it."

Han Yi has long practiced the ability to double-task or even multi-task, and his abacus is fast, which has not affected him to continue to talk about further cooperation with Jimmy Yuewen.

"What project? A concert?"

"music Festival."

Han Yi leaned into Jimmy's ear and whispered two or three whispers.

"Are you sure?" Hearing Han Yi's plan, Jimmy was so surprised that he couldn't help but widen his eyes.He moved his head back half a minute, looked at Han Yi, and raised his voice a little.

"determine."

"We...Apple Music doesn't have so much money for offline activities for the time being, and our funds are all on digital promotion projects." I don't know if Han Yi's creativity is too bold, and Jimmy Yuewen even feels that the surrounding The light in the room was much brighter, which gave him a bit of a headache.Jimmy took out his sunglasses from the back pocket of his jeans and put them on, shaking his head in disbelief, "Even if there is, I'm not sure it can be done as you said."

"I definitely can't do it myself, but with you, Andre, and the support of the entire Apple Music..."

While speaking, a group of people had already arrived at the downstairs of the Bovard Administration Building. Looking up at the national flags fluttering in the mouth-shaped corridor, Han Yi seemed to see that the performance site was crowded with people, and every fan was waving their national flags. Spectacular.

"We may be able to leave a good story about Live Aid to the world in 2016."

(End of this chapter)