hollywood billionaire

Chapter 58 Music Business Group

This visit to Xinghui Building is not just a simple visit, Zhao Youzhen communicated the signing intention two days in advance.Therefore, not only the real estate agent Hunter Barnett was present, but also the owner and manager of Xinghui Building, Jody Tarantino, the Southern California regional manager of JMB Real Estate Group in charge of leasing commercial buildings, also brought a full set of documents, This sunny Saturday morning arrived at 10250 Xinghui Avenue, ready to welcome the occupancy of another heavy tenant.

The building itself was started by JMB Real Estate, a real estate investment group from Chicago, in 2001. However, only one year later, JMB Real Estate, which was in deep financial crisis, filed for bankruptcy protection.In the process of asset reorganization, most of the assets of JMB Real Estate were purchased by billionaire Philip Anschutz and brought under the wings of Anschutz Group.

The rich man who graduated from the University of Kansas is worth 101 billion US dollars and is the co-founder of Major League Soccer. The Los Angeles Galaxy, Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes, and New York Red Bulls are all his teams. It is said that one person can control the championship of the entire league.

Deeply cultivating the West Coast, he also bought a majority stake in the NHL Los Angeles Kings, and even bought some shares from the Bass family, becoming one of the shareholders of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Of course, sports are only part of his tens of billions of kingdoms.Anschutz Group also owns AEG Live, the world's second largest live performance company, and indirectly holds the Coachella Music Festival, known as the world's number one music festival, through this company.Regal Entertainment Group, the world's second largest theater chain, is also in its pocket, with a total of 7000 actively used screens.

Not only that, Forest Petroleum, the largest energy group in Colorado, Pacific Energy Group, one of the largest energy suppliers on the West Coast, and world-class venues all over the world, such as the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the O2 Stadium in London, all belong to Philip - All Anschutz.

Fortune magazine compared the 21st-century federal tycoon to his [-]th-century tycoon predecessor, JP Morgan, saying that they both got rich "in a very unique way: by operating in a range of industries that ordinary people can't even imagine, with equal control." shape the economic landscape of the entire country.”

Even if Han Yi's current wealth is added up, it is just a drop in the bucket compared to the Anschutz Group.His most valuable asset, the United Artists Agency, has a total market value of less than a third of that of the Los Angeles Kings.

Even if you continue to invest at the current rate, get rewards, and want to surpass the size of the Anschutz Group, it is still a fairly long-term goal.

In this level of capital game, Han Yi is not even a flyweight player at present, he can only be said to be an ordinary spectator who just got a ticket to the Boxing Championship.

However, Han Yi did not feel discouraged because of this. After all, he is only 22 years old this year, and God still has a lot of time left for him.The Xinghui Building was chosen as the first location of the company this time. In addition to the excellent quality of the office itself, the future business partnership with Philip Anschutz is also in his consideration.

If through this lease, he can step into the world of Philip Anschutz step by step and have business contacts with him, no matter how expensive the rent is, Han Yi will be happy.

You know, Philip Anschutz had the idea of ​​selling AEG Live as a whole in 2012, but no buyer's bid reached his psychological price, so he took the performance giant off the shelves at the end of 2013.

If it is me, with a few more years of hard work, can I get AEG Live back into the market and change my surname?

While thinking about it, Han Yi signed his name on the commercial lease document.Xinghui Building has extremely high requirements for tenants. The minimum signing period is five years, and the maximum is ten years. The rent is US$6.5 per square foot per month. Then the average annual price per square foot can be reduced to $72.In other words, if Han Yi wants to get the key to the office of Room 1000, Han Yi needs to pay at least a one-time payment of 828360 US dollars.

If you don’t know the smack of this price, here is a sharp comparison: In 2016, there were only 100 companies in the United States with an annual revenue of US$249 million to US$36161 million.

Guess how many of these 36161 companies can make a profit of $82.8?
However, at this price, for Han Yi, who is used to seven-figure spending, it is difficult to stir up even a little turmoil in his heart.In the end, he chose to sign a five-year lease and pay all the first year's rent in one lump sum, plus a three-month deposit, and a brokerage fee equivalent to one month's rent, for a total of $135.94.

After going through the process of purchasing a luxury house worth US$3950 million, the office lease at the level of one million US dollars can be said to be handled quite quickly in Han Yi's view.The transfer authorized to Fernando Gonzalez was approved by Chase Bank in less than an hour.It wasn't even lunchtime when I got my office ID card from respectful regional manager Jody Tarantino.

"Chase Account: A JMB Realty Los Angeles purchase of $1359360.00 was completed on 04/09/2016 11:17:25 PST, which exceeded the limit of $1000 in your warning settings."

“大通账户：S42H19 LLC.于04/09/2016 11:17:26 PST向账户(6102)存入$1359360.00，该笔存款超过你警告设置中$2500的限额。”

"Chase free risk control information: Is the $1359360.00 deposited just now your transaction? Confirm reply 1, call Chase service hotline and reply 2. Reply STOP to stop subscription."

Han Yi secretly glanced at the three text message prompts that popped up on the phone screen at the same time.

Well, I have been busy for a long time, but I didn't spend a penny.

If Xu Yiru, Zhao Youzhen, and Madison, who were sitting next to Han Yi and marveling at the sky-high rent, could hear his inner Versailles monologue, I don’t know how the three girls would feel.

Is this something normal humans can say?

Nationwide, the insurance company at 864 Stella Della Road, is responsible for the multiple insurances of the office and internal property. General liability insurance, commercial property insurance and cyber liability insurance are added together. Han Yide is the 1000 room and the office here Several companies pay $3400.75 per month.

That fee alone would be enough for an average company to rent a modern office of around 1000 square feet anywhere in Los Angeles.

To secure the office space, most of the preparatory work that Han Yi needs to do has already been completed.The next thing to do is to wait for the company to pass the review of the Beverly Hills city government.

Fortunately, barrister Jordan Bromley did not live up to Han Yi's expectations. The former has extremely deep and extensive network resources in Beverly Hills. He does not need to do such a trivial matter as registering a company. Let Manate Entertainment's assistant lawyer A trip to the treasury office with a handwritten note shortened the company registration process from 30 working days to a week.

The three companies that Han Yi wants to register are not within the scope of the special supervision of Beverly Hills, and there is no need to apply for a separate business license.After getting the business tax card, spending $153 to obtain an employer ID card, and then paying $96 to the California Department of Justice as a state-level business registration processing fee, the three music companies are officially established.

Han Publishing, Han Music, and The Gifted Ones Management represent the copyright distribution company Han Publishing, the record company Han Music, and the artist management company Renyu respectively. Han Limited, a family business previously established by Han Yi, is currently Han Capital in Los Angeles Officially registered name of the county, wholly owned.

The structure of an artist management company is very simple. Always remember that for an efficient artist team, there are only three roles that are most important: artist manager, legal counsel and business manager.

Managers are responsible for planning and guiding the careers of signed artists, providing creative and resource support for their success.

Legal advisors are responsible for compliance review and business negotiations, trying to grab as many benefits as possible for artists without touching the bottom line of the law.

The scope of the business manager's authority is to manage the financial status of the artist management company and ensure that the artist and the company can carry out sustainable income distribution and financial investment without violating tax regulations.

The first manager of Renyu Management has been confirmed to be Zhao Youzhen. She will do her best to sign Billie Eilish, FINNEAS and Madison Bill who happened to meet at the welcome party, so that the artist management company has assets that can be operated and realized.Whether new managers will be ushered in in the follow-up human management, and whether these managers need to report to Zhao Youzhen depends on Xiao Zhao's own ability.

Those who can do more work, those who are able can get more, and the position is high enough only if the wrist is strong enough. Han Yi will not let Zhao Youzhen have any privileges just because of her beauty.

The more delicate and beautiful the flower, the sharper the barbs are needed to survive in the cruel and ever-changing business world.

Otherwise, it would be easier to go back to Seoul and be the daughter of the chief prosecutor.

Even so, on the legal counsel side, Han Yi still found Jordan Bromley, a music law expert, to escort the Korean girl in advance, ensuring that the latter would not cause any irreparable major damage due to lack of experience. mistake.

As for the business manager of the artist management company, Han Yi sent several contact information to Zhao Youzhen, and the latter came to meet with these candidates, and finally made a choice after negotiating with Han Yi.

The structure of a copyright distribution company is more complicated. The first thing Han Yi needs to look for is the person in charge of the A&R department.

The A&R department of a copyright distribution company has three important job responsibilities: discovering music, managing music and promoting music.

In the process of discovering music, A&R managers need to find potential music creators and sign music distribution contracts with them.

The management of the music section requires the staff of the A&R department to continuously give guidance and advice to the musicians in the creative process - which music is more popular in the market, which styles are the next popular trends, and which singers are these music A&R always know more about these commercial problems than musicians.

Of course, in order for creators to write better music, sometimes A&R may need to make various attempts, such as bringing together its musicians and finding a picturesque town for creative camps , or pair two composers with similar styles who can produce a chemical reaction to collide with brighter sparks. You can also contact singers who are interested in collaborating and directly tailor them for them.

Therefore, although the specific process of composition, lyrics and arrangement is completed by the signed musicians, the A&R department needs to consume no less energy and wisdom than them.The presentation of an excellent work is not only the names on the production list, but also the A&R staff who are several times behind the scenes.

The last duty of A&R is to market the music that is created.The written score will not be recorded into a master tape by itself. The A&R managers of the copyright distribution company need to record the music as a demo, and then send it to different record companies, film and television companies, advertising companies or other companies that need original music. Ask for music to be available.

In recent years, more and more singer-songwriters have emerged in the industry. For this type of creators, the sales object of the copyright distribution company A&R has changed from music to people.They will take their creators to visit various labels, and do their best to help them get a record contract, so that the music copyright in the hands of the copyright distribution company can be regarded as a channel for realization.

It can be seen from the job description alone that A&R plays a pillar role in a music copyright distribution company.People skills, product merchandising skills, and a solid understanding of the music creation and recording process all come together.Han Yi must find an outstanding all-round music elite, so that the core work of Han Distribution can be carried out effectively.

In Han Yi's plan, there should be 3-4 vacancies in the A&R department issued by Han this year, 1 A&R department director, and 2-3 A&R managers.The director is responsible for the control and reporting of the entire work process, and the other A&R managers are each responsible for several, and if all goes well, they are responsible for dozens of music creators, continuously producing original music copyrights.

In addition to the A&R department, Hanfa also needs staff responsible for copyright management and royalty management. Their main responsibilities are to register music copyrights created by musicians and collect different types of fees from music users: mechanical royalties , performance royalties and synchronization royalties are the three most important sources of income for music copyright distribution companies.

For Sony/ATV, a giant in the music distribution industry, copyright management and royalty management are divided into two distinct departments.The former is only responsible for managing the registration and continuation of copyright, while the latter is only responsible for collecting fees from various partners and royalty organizations.

These giants do this because they manage tens of millions of songs at every turn. With such a huge copyright library, the business must be split up, so that no mistakes can be made by dedicated personnel.

However, after all, Han Chuan is a new shell that has just been established, and so far there is no signed musician.You really don't need to be overstaffed until you sign a new talent or acquire a library of music rights.Therefore, Han Yi decided to recruit a copyright manager in the early stage to be responsible for all work processes.After the subsequent copyright library is gradually filled, we will plan to expand the capacity.

In addition, there is another very important component in the music copyright distribution company, which is the Sync department that is responsible for synchronization authorization.

Synchronization authorization, synchronization license, usually referred to as sync in the industry, is a license granted by the copyright holder of a specific work, allowing the licensee to synchronize music with a certain visual media.Translating it in words that people can understand, it means that the music matched with each frame of the picture needs to be authorized by the copyright owner before it can be used, and this authorization is called synchronous authorization.

Television, movies, commercials, games, and various online new media all fall into the scope of simultaneous licensing, which is why music copyright distribution companies usually set up a separate sync department to be responsible for this type of music licensing.The synchronization authorization department needs to establish stable cooperation channels with various media companies and their staff responsible for music purchases, so as to open another door of wealth for the company's copyright library.

For small distribution companies, A&R managers are often responsible for the synchronous licensing department. After all, A&R itself has sales responsibilities.However, what Han Yi wants to create is an industry flagship that can shake the status of Sony/ATV, Universal Music Distribution and Warner Chappell, the three world-class music distribution groups, and even replace them.

Therefore, the copyright management personnel who are deeply cultivated inward can be saved, but the synchronous authorization department that develops outward must not be streamlined.Han Distribution must actively contact potential customers from the first day, in order to cooperate with Han Yi's grand plan in this short period of seven years, and stand on the cusp of the times.

Three synchronous authorization managers, one in charge of the film and television sector, one in charge of the advertising sector, and the other in charge of the booming game and new media sector in recent years, are the basic structure outlined by Han Yi for the synchronous licensing department.

The same concept has also been vividly reflected in the planning of the international copyright department.Small and medium-sized distribution companies do not need international copyright departments at all. Generally speaking, they will hand over the music copyrights under their management to companies that are capable of copyright distribution in overseas regions for management.

As for companies capable of global copyright distribution, except for Kobalt, which can barely handle it, there are only three distribution groups under Universal, Sony, and Warner.Therefore, in the industry, these small and medium-sized distribution companies that have signed overseas agency distribution agreements with the three major companies are collectively referred to as affiliates, that is, subsidiary companies.

Although they are independently operated and independently audited in the United States, if the income of overseas regions must rely on the nose of the three major companies, then in this globalized flat world, the status of these small companies is not much better than that of vassals.

Han Yi didn't want Han Chuan to become a vassal, and the balance in his bank account gave him the confidence not to do so.Therefore, although the investment in overseas regions at the beginning was destined to make ends meet, Han Yi still reserved three positions for international distribution managers in the international distribution sector.One for Central and South America, one for continental Europe and Great Britain, and one for Asia.

The all-round and independent arrogant posture can convey the ambition of Hanfa to everyone in the company, whether it is a staff member or an artist.At the same time, this strategy of not outsourcing any core business can also provide reassurance for those copyright owners that Han Yi wants to attract.

After formulating a recruitment plan for the copyright distribution company, the structure of the record company will become much clearer.Han Distribution needs to provide A&R services to the contracted creators, and Han Music has to give the same support to the signed singers.Record companies naturally also have an A&R department, but A&R in the record sector is more concerned with singles, albums and other derivative products.

What songs should the singer collect and sing, what kind of songs should be released as singles, and what kind of songs should be included in the album.Which producer to use for the album, which engineer to hire for post-production, and which video production team is in charge of shooting the MV, all these details need to be repeatedly deliberated and decided by A&R.

Therefore, like the distribution company, Han Music will also recruit 1 A&R director and 2-3 A&R managers to ensure that the signed singers can receive meticulous and professional guidance and support.In addition, the number of recruits in the international department and the simultaneous authorization department, as well as the business scope of each person will be consistent with the copyright distribution section, except that one is responsible for music copyright and the other is responsible for mastering copyright.

Of course, although most of the departments have the same structure, the record company still has its own business sector, and the marketing and promotion department is one of them.Large record companies usually separate the marketing department from the promotion department. Marketing is responsible for public relations, album cover design, promotional videos, advertisements, interviews and a series of other digital marketing work, while the promotion department has only one task, to play well with the radio station. relationship, let the station play as many singles as possible from the company.

But in Han Yi's view, the further integration of marketing and promotion departments in the music industry is a major trend that will definitely happen in the future.Regardless of the country or region in the world, the role of streaming media and online exposure is getting stronger and stronger, and it occupies more and more weight in the calculation formula of the list. With the decline of radio stations, the promotion method must also be innovated.

Traditional record industry giants, such as Jimmy Iowin's Interscope, will set up a separate product management department. This department is responsible for the sales of physical products such as CDs and cassettes in the pre-Internet era, but these two objects have become more ancient than vampires. In the early 2010s, their responsibilities also changed.The main job of the sales staff in the product management department is to establish a good relationship with various streaming media platforms in order to obtain more traffic tilt and more favorable settlement conditions.

It is obviously a matter of the same business segment, but it has to be assigned to three departments. This is because the large record companies active in the industry have basically been in continuous operation for 30 to [-] years, or even longer.The company's internal structure is bloated and redundant, and many business lines can be described as too big to lose.Naturally, the newly born Han Music will not inherit this problem. Marketing, radio promotion and streaming media product management will all be integrated into a brand new marketing and promotion department, with three 'marketing specialists' working together.

Finally, and most importantly, Han Yi also plans to establish a dedicated channel distribution department for Han Music.Channel distribution is the last and most cumbersome step in the music production chain.There are a total of 193 countries and regions in the world, and there are not many websites and apps that provide music streaming and digital download services.What channel distributors need to do is to ensure that the company's music is available in a unified format in every region, every city, and every platform in the world.

It sounds like a very simple job, but it is very complicated and boring in practice. Most record companies are not capable of channel distribution by themselves, because the employee salary and social welfare costs alone can eat up a lot of profit margins.

If it is a sub-label of the three major music groups, the template process is that the label delivers the music to the channel distribution company specially established by the group, and then the channel distribution company puts it on the pages of each terminal retailer.The revenue generated will generally be distributed by 15% on the channel distribution side.

The actual operation in reality is still taking Jimmy Iowen as an example. He founded Insterscope Records, 50% of which is held by himself, and 50% of the shares were acquired by Universal Music Group in 1996.If an Interscope artist wants to release an album in North America, the channel distribution will be done by Interscope Geffen A&M.You can tell from the name that it was formed from the merger of Interscope, Geffen, and A&M. It is one of the four sub-groups of Universal Music Group and has independent and mature channel distribution capabilities.

In the UK, Interscope's music will be distributed by Polydor Records, which is also a German record company acquired by Universal Music, and has always had a very close relationship with Interscope Geffen A&M.The former's albums in the United States are distributed by the latter, while the latter's albums in the UK are also uniformly handed over to the former as a channel.Outside of these two major music consumer markets, channel distribution in other countries and regions is done by the parent group, Universal Music.

And if an independent record company outside the ecosystem wants to let the Big Three act as an agent for channel distribution, they must first sign a channel distribution agreement with the large record companies under the group, and then these internal record companies will deliver the products to the channel Distribution company, the whole process becomes: independent record company - large record company affiliated to the group - channel distribution company affiliated to the group - retailer.

Are you dizzy?

It’s right to get dizzy. What the three major music groups want is to make the channel distribution process as complicated as possible, so that they can eat 15% of the channel share, and then gradually erode the independence of the so-called independent labels. They become yet another eternally turning cog in the Syndicate's Armada.

Therefore, just like affiliates in the copyright distribution sector, there is also a word in the record field to describe record companies attached to large music groups for channel distribution, major-distributed independents, MDI.

Although there have been many independent distribution platforms that are not affiliated with the three major music groups in recent years, such as Belive Music in France and CD Baby in the United States, the share of these distribution platforms is higher, basically around 30%, exaggerated Some can even reach 50%.

Han Yi didn't intend to let outsiders earn this money. The channel distribution itself was piled up by labor costs, and the most important thing he lacked was funds to pay for labor costs.

More importantly, this is the key to whether his music business group can truly become the fourth force. If the last gate to the market is guarded by others, it will never be able to compete with Universal, Sony and Warner. Troubled times hero.

When the last word was typed into Han Music's recruitment plan document, Han Yi had already been in Room 1000 for nearly eight hours.As soon as get out of class was over on Monday, he drove back to Xinghui Building.At this time, the hour hand had just passed the dividing line between April 4th and 11th, and the office seemed unusually empty and silent. Except for Han Yi's own typing on the keyboard, there was almost no other sound.

Fortunately, almost.

Because, in the office next to the president's office, the warm yellow light shines through the glass curtain wall and hits the wall of the corridor, reflecting a charming figure.

Zhao You, who came from UCLA, really sat there, earnestly revising the promotion plan of "Ocean Eyes".

This was the first task Han Yi gave her, and also her first test as a manager.

If he succeeds, he will be able to sign the first artist in his career and officially enter the music circle that he is fascinated by.

If it fails...

No, there is no such option.

Yuzhen, who has long been familiar with Han Yi, has no chance of letting this opportunity slip away for no reason.

List the formula, compare the playback volume of the song list in the two weeks before and after, record the data, complete the annotation, and repeat this hundreds of times.

Youzhen didn't stop until the numbers and words in front of her eyes were blurred into color blocks, and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

The next second, what appeared in front of her was no longer the black keyboard of the Macbook, but a cup of fragrant iced coffee.

(End of this chapter)