hollywood billionaire

Chapter 96 True Intention
$15.

Ben Mawson literally rubbed his eyes the first time he saw the number in the email.

He felt that he should have been working for too long, which caused a double image in front of his eyes.

After all, how many people would spend $500 million on an artist management company?

The job responsibilities of an artist's personal manager are quite simple and straightforward. To sum it up in one sentence, they are to do their best to give full play to their career potential for the clients they represent.In other words, the artist manager acts as a bridge between the artist and various areas of the music industry.

Just like in the Metropolitan Museum, Han Yi mentioned Mozart and Baron Sweeden to Zhao Youzhen, Mozart was responsible for creating art with great concentration, and Baron Sweeden was responsible for turning art into gold bars one after another.

In more detail, the work of an artist manager is roughly composed of ten parts, career strategic planning, establishment and maintenance of interpersonal networks, negotiation and signing of external contracts, artist financial management, marketing and promotion, performances And event detail management, directional guidance in the creative field, crisis public relations, team coordination, and of course, meticulous emotional care and spiritual support for artists.

With the rise of the artist's popularity, commercial value and performance income, the manager can expand the management team and hand over some of the tasks to professionals, such as business managers, tour managers and public relations managers. But in the final analysis, artist managers are The ultimate responsible person who needs to take full responsibility.

What is the income for such a high-intensity work that needs to be exhausted day and night?
For the vast majority of independent managers without affiliates, first, the base salary is zero.Of course, this also means that all their social welfare quotas are zero.

As compensation, they can usually take 10%-20% of the gross income of the artist, and very few legendary managers like Scooter Braun and Guy O'Shealy can get 25% or even It is a 30% share, but it will never be higher than this number.

More importantly, artist management contracts are also limited by the seven-year rule. Therefore, the current industry status is that artist managers usually sign contracts with artists for about three years, and basically no more than five years.Although there is a sunset clause that can provide talent managers with continuous income, it still does not allow them to get equal returns for their efforts.

Because, the most deadly problem is that although the artist has participated in the entire process from song creation, album preparation to live performance, all the copyrights generated during this process have no real relationship with the manager.

The music copyright is with the copyright distribution company, and the master tape copyright is with the record company.As for performing arts agencies, at least they can use the influence of artists to expand their circles, contact performances, and sometimes manage performance projects and film and television projects by themselves.

And the manager has only this "empty shell" that is close to him now, but who does not know when he will terminate the contract and throw himself into the arms of others.

Even at Scooter Braun's level, getting along with entertainers is like walking on eggshells.Like Ariana Grande, who fired Scooter because of a small misunderstanding, and later renewed his contract, it is happening all the time in the European and American entertainment circles.

Therefore, smart managers have long begun to find ways to combine artist management services with other aspects of business. Live Nation Entertainment is the first live performance company to open 360 signing business. They signed a sky-high contract with Madonna, and they have already explored a complete ecological chain from management to performance to outsourcing record business. It was used in the operation of Roc Nation, which was founded in partnership with Jay-Z.

J. Cole, Rihanna, including Jay-Z himself, signed with Roc Nation in this way.Copyright distribution and record business are outsourced to cooperate with others to share copyright, while the performance and management sectors are firmly in their own hands to enhance the stickiness of artists.

This is an agreement that industry giants can use astronomical prepayments on the premise of sufficient cash flow.On the other hand, a self-made independent manager like Scooter Braun usually chooses to make full use of his influence to reach a cooperation with a capital management group that wants to enter the entertainment industry, and the managers will be responsible Threading the needle to acquire and manage valuable entertainment assets, Capital Institutions is responsible for financing mergers and acquisitions.In this way, let yourself not be limited to the business scope of artist management.

But Ben Mawson in 2016 doesn't fall into any of the above categories.

He doesn't have Rihanna and Jay-Z such super-a-line artists, and there are two most worthy names on the list: Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding.

Coincidentally, both headliners are at the same stage in their careers.Lana Del Rey has slipped from the heyday of 2012's "Paradise" to halfway down the mountain, and last year's new album "Honeymoon" won praise from music critics, and Rolling Stone magazine even listed it as one of the 2015 best pop albums of 11.6. second.But in terms of sales, it landed at No. 15 on the Billboard album chart with [-] equivalent album sales in the first week, and fell to No. [-] in the second week, and has never climbed up since then.

In this era, "Honeymoon", which is dominated by indoor pop and art pop, is like the closing literary film of the Venice Film Festival, which has enough artistic value and is also niche enough.Trying to break out of the Billboard charts full of pop electronic, pop rap and trap rap is simply impossible.

The demise of another pillar of TaP, the British supernova Ellie Goulding, is even more embarrassing.I believe that no fan who pays attention to the British music scene will forget the "Lights" that turned out in 2010, and the "Halcyon" that was better than blue two years later.Ellie organically combines synth pop, electronic pop and indie pop to form a unique and strong personal style.

The first album debuted at the top of the British album chart in the first week, and the sales volume of 85 copies was jaw-dropping. The second album also reached the top ten on the US Billboard album chart. "I Need Your Love" and "Fall into the Sky" with Zedd are still classic representatives of Electro House.

During those three years, with the strong rise of electronic music, especially electronic pop, Elle Goulding became a figure that could almost define an era.

But in the end, almost two words became a footnote that she couldn't get rid of no matter what.

There are two kinds of people in the music circle who live the most nourishing life. The first one is One-Hit Wonders. There are only one or two hit singles. Start retirement living.The second type is a real superstar, no matter what single is released, as long as his/her name is written, it can occupy a place in the top ten of the list.

The most painful ones are the musicians who are still struggling.If you are not careful, you will fall to the bottom of the cave, but there is no light on the way up.Elle Goulding is one such person, and what makes her feel even more tortured is that she slipped here from the hole she was about to escape from.

In 2010, it was amazing, but by 2015, the music concept was outdated, and the disastrous promotion strategy of the declining Polydor record made the third album "Delirium" encounter commercial Waterloo.The only song "Love Me Like You Do" that is remembered was actually made famous by "Fifty Shades of Grey", which was not in the record company's promotional plan at all in the beginning.

Although there are still some sunsets, these two "past tenses" are by no means enough to support the valuation of TaP Management Company at US$1500 million.

What does a $1500 million valuation mean?
It means that Han Yi is confident that the artists under TaP will be able to generate at least US$[-] million in revenue in the future!
Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding, counting from 2016, based on the longest management contract period, can they generate 2021 million US dollars in acting income by [-]?
Even as their manager, Ben Mawson was deeply skeptical.

Han Yi... What the hell is he looking at?

Ben Mawson doesn't think that this rich man of Chinese descent who can spend 1.9 million US dollars to buy UTA, who just revealed to himself during the meeting that he wants to acquire 55% of Mad Decent's shares, is a Muggle who is short-sighted and can't see the situation clearly.

Taking a step back, even if he really has a soft spot for Lana Del Rey or Ellie Goulding, he must win them... Then why not just give 500 million as the signing bonus? To their bank accounts?

Such a large amount of cash was enough for the two of them to find ways to fall out with themselves and terminate the contract.

Was he really for Dua Lipa?

Ben Mosen didn't even know if he could help Dua connect with Warner. How could Han Yi have such strong confidence?
Too many abnormal signs were rampaging in Ben Mawson's mind, making his temple throbbing achingly.After all kinds of thinking and unable to grasp the clue, Ben shook his head, simply cleared the messy thoughts, and devoted himself to the current conversation.

"...I can tell you that the move from West Hampstead to Pristina was not easy at all. It was, I should say, the most painful thing that has ever happened to me."

Ben Mosen, who came back to his senses, found that Han Yi and Zhao You were really interested in listening to Dua Lipa tell his origin story before becoming a musician.

"How about Pristina?" Han Yi raised his hands and said, "Forgive my ignorance, but it is indeed an area I have never set foot in...I mean the whole Balkans."

"I can only describe it in one way--deeply boring." Dua Lipa shrugged, seemingly not having the slightest nostalgia for the homeland that never gave birth to her, "No Tesco, Sainsbury's, let alone Gymkhana. When I was there, they were just independent and didn’t even have a decent mall. The whole city was dead after [-]pm.”

"It sounds like a very torturous time." Zhao Youzhen said softly.

"Not really... Well, it wasn't a huge culture shock for me to come back to Kosovo. I speak Albanian and I learned a lot more there. From a learning point of view, Pristina is actually It's good. And it's much safer than London, so I can do a lot of things, like hang out in the city center with my friends... It's a freedom that I didn't get when I was 11 years old in the UK."

"But you're still back." Han Yi added some salt to the bland seafood and clam soup, and continued while stirring.

"Yes, because I had to do GCSEs and A-Levels... Anyway, my parents thought the education system in the UK was better. And I was 15 years old at the time, when I was desperate for freedom."

"It's still hard for me to believe that they let you go back to London alone." Han Yi shook his head, "It's unbelievable...I mean, if you were in Asia, this kind of thing would never happen. Many of us, When I was about to graduate from university, I still had to worry about my parents arranging a marriage.”

Speaking of this, Han Yi glanced at Zhao Youzhen, who turned back with sharp eyes that gritted his teeth.

"At the time I had a friend in London who was much older and was in graduate school, so my parents would feel safe... the lobster roll was really good!"

When the Japanese mayonnaise, shrimp meat and the buttered bread baked until the shell turned dark brown gave a sweet taste in his mouth, Dua Lipa breathed a sigh of satisfaction and continued.

"But then I found out that friends really can only be friends. She was so busy getting her graduate degree that she didn't have time for me, and most of the time I had to take care of my own life. So... you can probably guess, It is impossible to get high marks in the four A-Level subjects of politics, psychology, English and media studies by relying on self-consciousness alone."

"When I was in Huaguo, I actually studied A-Level." Just hearing this term, Han Yi felt very cordial.

"Oh, really?" Dua asked with some surprise, "I thought it was a course only available in England."

"That's true, but in my high school, there is an international project called Cambridge Class. There is cooperation with the UK, IGCSE, A-Level, and A2."

"Cambridge class, it sounds amazing."

"Yes... But, no one in this class got into Cambridge." Han Yi shook his head amusedly, "I'm already the one with the best grades. If I remember correctly, I should have got six As at that time, But we don’t have interesting courses like politics, psychology, and media, just physics, economics, and business.”

"Six Aces? God, I can only think about it in my dreams." Dua pouted, "Then why didn't you go to England in the end?"

"Weather." Han Yi pointed to the magnificent coastline outside the window, "London can't see this kind of weather, so I didn't go to LSE when I recorded it."

"That's true." Just as Han Yi couldn't refute the traffic in Los Angeles, Dua Lipa couldn't find any excuses for London's climate, "Even if I live there all the time, I can't like that kind of weather. "

"But that's where you met Ben after all." Zhao Youzhen brought the topic back on track calmly, "Tell us, a manager of his level is not something you can meet in any street. "

"Actually through her lawyer." Ben Mosen cut in at the right time, glanced at Dua Lipa with a smile, and said.

"lawyer?"

“Yeah, I was posting cover videos on SoundCloud and YouTube, and slowly building up a following, they encouraged me to think about becoming a professional singer. How did I know how hard it was going to be? I just thought, wow , singer, sounds like a very shining career."

Dua-Lipa couldn't help covering his mouth when he thought of his reckless and restless self, and even his laughter could hear the characteristics of a mellow alto soprano.

"At that time, I signed a contract with a modeling agency and made some money by shooting advertisements, Topshop, "The X Factor" promotional videos... the first thing after I got the money was to hire a lawyer for myself. , seeking advice on career planning.”

"And the first suggestion she gave me was, don't sign the distribution agreement that a small distribution company handed to me at that time. Because she herself is the attorney representing many singers and composers, and she often plays the role of manager. role, so she knew exactly how unfair that contract I got was."

"and after?"

"Later she recommended me to Ben." Dua pointed to the manager sitting opposite, "Christine didn't charge me an agency fee, and they both paid me my salary on time every month at that time, just to Allowing me to live on enough to record music full-time."

"Who is your lawyer?"

"Christine Lepera, in my opinion, is the best music lawyer in London."

"Then it looks like we have to meet her." Han Yi nodded thoughtfully, "When we go to London."

It is not difficult to hear from Dua's statement that this Christine Lepera is the real Bole of her career.It was Le Pera who first discovered Dua Lipa and recognized her talent before recommending Ben Mosen to her as a manager.

Most of the time, the manager is the founding member of the artist team.But there are exceptions to everything. Some artists first sign a contract with an acting agent, and then find a personal manager.There are also situations like Dua Lipa who first find a lawyer and then plan their career based on professional legal advice.

"It sounds like she's an indispensable player on the team."

According to Dua Lipa, Christine Lepera is obviously an expert in British law with professional knowledge, vision and connections, and there are many high-quality singer-songwriter resources under her. If you can get acquainted with her The cooperation will be of great benefit to HMG's future business development in the UK.

More importantly, Han Yi always felt that he had heard this name somewhere.Although the memory is a little fuzzy, he is sure that this lawyer at least played an inestimable role in boosting Dua Lipa's future career development.

"Christine is indeed." Ben Mosen nodded affirmatively. "Without her, I don't know who would own Dua's music copyright."

"Yes."

Han Yi took a sip of water and tried his best to sound calm.

"So, who is the copyright of her music signed to?"

"TaP."

Maybe Han Yi's disguise was good enough, maybe Ben Mosen didn't expect that the other party would make a test in this kind of place, and the latter replied almost immediately without thinking.

"What we signed with Dua is not only the artist management contract, but also the copyright distribution business."

Bingo.

That's why I'm buying your company for $500 million, Mr. Mawson.

Han Yi listened to Ben Mosen's words seriously, and buried the smile that almost overflowed into his stomach along with the clam chowder.

(End of this chapter)