America’s Road To Wealth

  Chapter 264 Music map and young female singers

   Strange ceiling.

  Familiar plot.

  Different people.

  Australian national treasure actor, winner of Australia's latest world medal.

  Ms. Cate Blanchett, she looked at the ceiling above her head, a little dazed.

  At this moment, Cate Blanchett is still in the villa at 10410 Bellagio Road.

   It's in the villa, the guest bedroom near the swimming pool that she likes very much, on the soft Simmons.

  Beside Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler is sound asleep.

  Not far from the two of them was the floor-to-ceiling windows filled with sunlight.

  The hazy state of waking up due to hypoglycemia has returned, and it is now time for Kate to wake up.

   Cate Blanchett felt a little regretful in her heart, regretting why she stayed behind in a daze last night.

   Regret last night, I was pulled into the battle without too much resistance.

   Regret that in the battle, he behaved too much like a married wife.

   Regret She has many thoughts of regret, but Kate was a little horrified to find that her regret was not very strong.

   "Are you awake?"

   An abrupt, slightly hazy voice.

  Beside Cate Blanchett, there was a sudden sound.

  Kate turned her head quickly, and she saw Liv Tyler had woken up at some point.

   "Of course it's me. Could it be him?"

   Liv Tyler rubbed her messy hair, looking hazy just after waking up.

   "It's not like you didn't experience his body last night. I've been with him for almost a year. I've never seen him stay in bed, and I've never gotten up with him. The same goes for you. You'll get used to it later."

  I won't get used to it.

   No later, only once.

   Here's the deal.

   This is sacrifice and giving.

   thought Cate Blanchett.

  The Australian actress spoke with a slightly hoarse voice.

   "You did it on purpose, right? Did you come here for this from the beginning?"

   Just now, Cate Blanchett had already figured out the cause and effect.

   She found herself a long time ago, at least a few months ago.

  I have already fallen into Liv Tyler's trap.

   Sinking step by step, until today, this kind of thing happened.

   "So what?" Liv Tyler said indifferently.

  I have succeeded, and I have completed the practice of pleasing Abel.

   She's not afraid of Cate Blanchett.

   "You didn't resist last night. Later, you were even the one who took the initiative."

  The actor who played Princess Alwen chuckled, "I didn't expect my Queen Galadriel to be so coquettish when she took the initiative."

   Liv's direct words made Cate Blanchett's face a little hot.

  Australian actress not to be outdone, "How better can you be?"

   "Haha~" Liv Tyler continued to laugh:

   "So everyone is the same. Don't put on that face, Kate. Trust me, what you gain will only be more than what you lose. And it will be many times more."

   Liv Tyler sits up from Simmons.

  The soft air conditioner fell on her body, revealing her straight and slim waist and upper body with bumps.

   "Huh~ I can eat it once for more than a month. It's refreshing to eat once~" Liv said with a smile.

   "That's pretty good. Am I right? Dear Kate, you enjoyed last night more than anyone else."

   Cate Blanchett said nothing, just looking at Liv with those beautiful eyes.

   "Okay." Liv Tyler patted Kate, who was much bigger than herself.

   "Clean up and wash up. I don't know if he will come back tonight."

"But I think, as a senior, as a senior employee. It is necessary for me to explain to you the treatment and rules of our "company" later. As for whether to join or sign an employee contract, it depends on your own judgment." gone."

   Cate Blanchett can't understand her words.

  Australian national treasure actress chose silence for the time being.

  It was almost noon at this time.

   When two Hollywood beauties just woke up.

   Their co-owner, Abel Smith, has left Beverly Hills.

  Abel came to MGM, the possible new headquarters in the future.

  MGM’s original headquarters was an old building with more than 30 floors built in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

  The location is great, in the middle of Hollywood.

  The main structure of the house, although relatively stable, looks like it can be used for another few decades.

  But the interior decoration and layout of the house are very old. It has been renovated several times, but it is still outdated.

  After all, the design of the building itself is there, no matter how much it is decorated, it will not be able to make a flower.

  In addition, the overall area of ​​the building is no longer enough for the growing MGM Entertainment Group.

   Today's MGM Entertainment Group is several times larger than before.

   Faced with this situation, MGM has two options.

  One is to renovate the old building and rent some offices at the same time, so that the staff who can't fit in the headquarters can be moved to another place to work.

  Another way is to buy or build a new building.

  Group company president Robert Iger prefers the former.

   At a time when MGM itself is not yet profitable, Robert is a little worried about building or buying new buildings, even if MGM doesn’t pay for it.

  It's a pity that he, the CEO of the media group and the president of MGM Entertainment Group, doesn't have much power in this matter.

   The one with real power is naturally his boss.

   ".Is this here?" Accompanied by Bertram Hall, General Manager of New Start Real Estate, and Robert Iger, President of MGM Group.

  Abel is in the heart of Hollywood, at the intersection of Highland Street and Sunset Boulevard.

  This is also the intersection with the most traffic in the Los Angeles area, and even in the United States.

   It is said that at least 128,000 cars pass by in 24 hours, and the peak period of the tourist season is even more exaggerated.

   But this has nothing to do with Abel. He came here today to see a new 53-story high-end office building next to the intersection.

   Seeing the boss' gaze, Bertram Hall said:

   "Here it is. BOSS, this is the newly developed office building of Taubman Real Estate Group. It was just completed the year before last, and the interior decoration was completed last year. At the beginning of this year, it began to recruit tenants. The current occupancy rate is about one-third."

  Taubman Real Estate Group was established in 1950. In the United States, it mainly develops suburban commercial real estate projects and office building projects.

  In the later development process, the scope of the enterprise project has become more and more extensive, and the branch offices are located in many cities in the United States.

  In the real estate industry in the United States, this company can now be ranked in the top ten.

   Looking at the tall and spacious building in front of me, the shape design is not fancy, but it looks very big, square and tall.

  Abel nodded and asked, "What is the price? Can Taubman Company be sold as a whole?"

   "Yes." Bertram Hall replied:

   "Taubman Real Estate Group's offer is $455 million. But I think it can be talked about below $400 million."

  Hearing the price, Abel actually felt a bit cheap.

   This is mainly compared with the Woolworth Building he acquired.

  Woolworth Building is an old building with a history of nearly a hundred years.

  It is not as tall as this building, not as beautiful as this building, and not as spacious as this building.

   But for the price of one Woolworth Building, you can buy four of them.

  Manhattan buildings are so unattainable in the United States.

  Abel turned his head and looked at Robert next to him, "What do you think? In the future, this will be the headquarters of MGM Entertainment on the west coast?"

  Robert certainly felt good.

   This is the junction of Highland Street and Sunset Boulevard.

   Except for a little traffic jam.

   It can be said that this is the core of the Hollywood area.

   It will be very close to any place in Hollywood from here.

  He has his own headquarters building here, which is also a symbol of strength in Hollywood.

  Few of the Hollywood giants can afford the $400 million headquarters building.

   It means that MGM has been spending money until now, but has not made much money.

  This made the responsible Robert feel more and more stressed.

  Robert said euphemistically: "Actually, MGM can still squeeze."

   "That's it." Abel skipped Robert directly, and said to Bertram Hall, the general manager of New Start Real Estate:

   "Go and bargain with Taubman Estates."

   "Understood." Bertram Hall replied immediately.

Abel patted Robert on the shoulder, "I know that MGM has only more than 500 million US dollars left in its account. There are still so many filming tasks. So this headquarters building, I will use the name of New Start Real Estate Buy it."

   "After buying it, it will be leased to MGM, and the rent will be based on the annual land tax."

  For Abel, buying this building is also investing in the hot real estate industry in the United States.

   Bought it and put it here for a few years, before the US real estate bubble burst.

  It can appreciate at least one or two times, even if it is not sold, it will only become more and more valuable if you keep it in your hands.

  So no matter how you look at it, it’s not a loss.

  Letting MGM use it as the headquarters is just a matter of convenience.

  But in Robert's view, this is the boss's wealth and wealth, and he trusts himself and MGM.

  Robert was a little apprehensive, worried that he and MGM would disappoint Abel's increasingly exaggerated investment.

   After determining the tone.

  Bertram Hall was busy contacting Taubman Real Estate Group.

  Abel and Robert Iger returned to the original MGM headquarters.

  In the chairman's office on the top floor, Abel called David Geffen, one of the original DreamWorks giants, and Robert, the president of the entertainment company.

  David Geffen, the richest **** guy, is now the head of MGM's DreamWorks Music.

  Since Abel bought DreamWorks, DreamWorks Music has been funded by Abel and managed by David Geffen.

  In a few months, it has successively annexed many American music companies and music labels.

  Among them are small companies such as New York Arista Records and Los Angeles Potter Tower Records.

   There are also Chandos Records, Round Mountain Music, Concord Music Publishing, and Hipgnosis, which are influential medium-sized record companies in the industry.

  In two or three months, David Geffen spent more than 200 million U.S. dollars of Abel's funds.

  In a short period of time, DreamWorks Music, which was originally unknown, became one of the small giants in the American record industry.

  Before Dreamworks Music came into being, there was a saying in the American recording industry that there were three major music companies and one small one.

  The so-called three majors and one small, the three refer to the three major music giants of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

  The three big brothers have been leading the way for many years, with countless large-scale records under their banners, and music publishing is also doing very well. Among the three, Universal has the largest market share and is a well-deserved big brother.

  Small refers to BMG, a small giant in the industry. BMG belongs to the old-fashioned records. It was brilliant in the last century. It was merged and split with Sony Music and then re-focused on publishing.

   After rapidly annexing many medium-sized records and more than a dozen small record companies.

  The current scale of DreamWorks Music is a little stronger than BMG.

   It is in terms of the strength of the label, the accumulation of fame, and the accumulation of singers, it is still not as good as BMG, and of course it is not as good as the three giants.

  Based on Abel’s daily practice, he wanted to directly acquire one of the three major companies.

   But looking at the names of the Big Three, you know that this is difficult to do.

  He just settled for the next best thing and asked David Geffen, a super music businessman, to help him get a DreamWorks music.

  “.From my personal point of view.”

  In the sofa rest area in the office, David Geffen said to Abel and Robert:

   "DreamWorks Music's acquisition of small and medium-sized record companies has little meaning. Unless we can annex BMG, other small and medium-sized labels will have little help to DreamWorks Music."

  Robert agrees with David Geffen.

   "I think so too. Boss, in the field of music, what we need now is a pillar-type big-name singer." Robert said.

"Our biggest singer at the moment is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll. She was bought by the way when we acquired Yuanshan Music. But there is unfortunate news that her contract is only Half a year left," David Geffen also said.

"Wait a moment."

  Abel raised his hand suddenly, and he said, "David, what is the name of the singer with the long name you just mentioned?"

   "Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll." David Geffen says:

  “The name is really long. Fans usually call her Shakira. She is a Latino singer. The sales of her records in the United States are average, but in the Spanish-speaking regions, her sales are better than that of Britney Spears in the United States.”

  At the same time, David Geffen also explained by the way, the signing status of the current head singer of DreamWorks Music.

  Shakira debuted very early. She is 23 years old and released her first album when she was thirteen years old.

  In 1998, she terminated her contract with Sony Music and became a signed artist of Yuanshan Music.

  The contract is for three years and will expire at the end of this year.

  David Geffen believes that it is necessary to increase the remuneration and keep the singer in DreamWorks Music.

   Her sales in Latin America, especially in Spanish-speaking regions, are really good.

   In Latin America, the young Shakira has shown her super queen temperament.

  Latin American fans love this Latino singer crazily.

   Hear these words from David Geffen.

  Abel confirmed that this Shakira was the Shakira in his impression.

   "Then why is there any hesitation? We are such a leading singer, why don't we leave her waiting for her to go to the arms of the enemy?"

  Abel said directly: "How to do it, David, you can figure it out yourself."

  David Geffen nodded.

  Robert agrees.

   After thinking about it, Abel asked a singer he cared about.

   "By the way, David." Abel asked David Geffen, "The young singer named Avril I asked you to find last time, what is her potential and quality?"

   Speaking of which, David Geffen thought he could flatter his boss a little bit.

   "Avril Lavigne." David Geffen said:

   "A young man with a petite body but strong explosive power. He also has unparalleled talent in music creation. I have to say, Abel, you have discovered a future superstar for DreamWorks Music."

  Abel thought to himself, that's Avril Lavigne.

  One of the dream singers of young people in China in the 80s and 90s.

  Even in the US, she was a regular at the Grammys and top-selling charts during the years when her creative talent was at its most active.

  Before Taylor Swift appeared, as a European and American female singer, her influence was unique in Asia.

   "That's good." Abel smiled and said:

   "Nurture her well. I hope that one day she can make a lot of money for DreamWorks Music."

  The three of them discussed Dreamworks Music again.

  Finally, to sum up, DreamWorks Music wants to break through the monopoly situation of three major companies and one small one, so far, there is no shortage of labels.

  What is missing is a new record that is more popular and influential. It is mainly a leading singer who can hold a large-scale concert, preferably a super king.

  Shakira can be the superstar in Latin America and Spain.

   But in North America and other European regions except Spain, Shakira's strength is not good.

   In America, DreamWorks Music needed a backbone.

   "How about Michael Jackson?" Abel's idea was to let Ted Lerner find a way to fool MJ ​​over.

   "It's hard." David Geffen said: "Michael is still in a lawsuit with Sony. And his mental state is also a problem."

  Super pop king, the most glorious time was the nineties.

   At that time, Michael Jackson was the emperor of American pop music, the sun.

   Now it is the 21st century. The influence of the emperor of pop music is still there, but it has lost its original glory.

   The price to pay to get Michael Jackson to DreamWorks Music was too high.

  David Geffen and Robert, neither felt it was necessary.

  Abel just mentioned it in passing, because the person he is most familiar with and most impressed with European and American pop music is MJ.

   "Britney Spears is pretty good." Robert said suddenly:

   "But obviously, Sony will not let people go. Britney is on the rise, and it is estimated that we will not consider DreamWorks Music."

  Britney Spears is currently signed to Jive Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group.

   "Britney Spears, Britney Spears?"

  Abel couldn't help but smile when he heard the name.

   "Maybe I have a way to get her to DreamWorks Music."

  Abel said with a smile.

  (end of this chapter)