hollywood billionaire

Chapter 60 Asian Power
"Paramore?"

"Paramore is your favorite band?" The seat roller slid back a few inches, Zhao Youzhen frowned with a smile, and looked at the other party in surprise, "You actually like pop punk...I didn't see it at all. "

"I have liked it since junior high school. The first genuine album I bought was theirs." Han Yi spread his hands and smiled, "At that time, every night when I took a shower, I would hold the shower head and imagine that I was the sea. Lee-Williams...haven't you been?"

"I haven't."

Zhao Youzhen raised his face and shook his head.

"To be honest, reward three Din Tai Fung meals."

"Had."

Zhao Youzhen immediately changed the answer without blushing.

"Who are you imagining?"

"Ah, I'm a little embarrassed..." Thinking of the embarrassing things that were full of childishness when he was a child, Zhao Youzhen subconsciously touched his slightly hot face.

"Two more Tsujitas."

"Mike learns rock and roll." Zhao Youzhen lowered his head and spoke in a low voice.

"Hahahaha-"

"I didn't even laugh at you!" Now Zhao Youzhen became ashamed as a Louisiana crayfish, his scalp was smoking.She patted the table and glared fiercely at Han Yi, "Hey, it's almost there, you bastard."

"I told you that I can't understand Korean." Han Yi patted his belly, took a breath, and then said slowly, "Sorry, I didn't mean it. But, you have a huge contrast, right? Mike learns rock and roll?"

"They are the most popular European and American singers in Korea in the 90s, bar none." Zhao Youzhen smiled innocently filled with memories, "take me to your heart, take me to your soul..."

"You know this song belongs to Jacky Cheung, right?"

"I know, Jacky Cheung, Jackie Chan, Joey Wang...Speaking of which, Hong Kong movies are also the motivation for me to learn Chinese." For some reason, Yuzhen, who has always kept her secrets strictly, can't control her mouth in front of Han Yi.This made her feel a little nervous for no reason, and quickly brought the topic back on track.

"Seriously, why Paramore? Is it just because I like it?"

"Of course not." Han Yi put away his smile and explained seriously, "First of all, they were brought into UTA's management following the acquisition of TAG last year, which is more convenient for us to contact."

"Secondly, after the creative master Josh Farrow left the band, Paramore's style has changed dramatically in the past two years, from pop punk to pop dance music, "Still Into You" and "Ain't It Fun" are all in this way , and the results are better than before, the current Paramore, going forward according to the current plan, matching good production resources and publicity resources, can achieve further success."

"In addition, Hayley herself is also very keen on the future trend of music. "Airplanes" with BOB and "Stay The Night" with Zedd paved the way for her to sing solo. If she can sign Paramore's management For the contract, I feel that the two lines of the individual and the band can be carried out together."

"And, if I remember correctly, two months ago, ex-member Jeremy Davis took the band straight to court. Suing Paramore for not giving him a cut of streaming, touring and merch, of course, Hailey’s statement here is that Jeremy is just an accompanist hired by the band, which is equivalent to an employee rather than a shareholder of this brand... Anyway, the farce of Paramore’s separation and reunion has been going on for six years. Their managers have absolutely no way to resolve the conflicts among members. It can even be said that the managers are the root of Paramore’s conflicts.”

"Really?" Zhao Youzhen was a little curious, "I don't know much about their behind-the-scenes stories."

"Everyone thought that the entire band from Paramore was signed to Atlantic Records. As a result, after Josh Farrow publicly announced his withdrawal from the team in 2010, everyone knew that only Hayley Williams was signed to Atlantic Records. That's all. The other members can only be regarded as Haili's followers at best."

"You said, with such a structure within the band, how can there be no conflicts? No matter how good the relationship is, it will fall apart in the face of interests."

"So, you want to convince the band, and Hai Li, to replace their manager." Zhao Youzhen asked, "What are you going to do? It sounds like a very difficult situation."

"Since Atlantic Records signed Hailey personally, the band can still sign to other places. For example...Han Music. Take a step back, even if Atlantic Records insists that they signed with 'personal band Paramore', we Would it be logical to sign 'solo singer Hayley Williams'?" Han Yi pointed to his temple and smiled.

"The contract signed by their management team has many loopholes. I believe Jordan can find a suitable way to deal with this matter... as long as the band itself is willing."

"Of course, even if we finally find out that the contract with Atlantic Records is tight, that doesn't matter. We will play the role of managers and continue to cooperate with Atlantic Records."

"Understood." Zhao Youzhen put the Macbook on his lap, followed Han Yi's narration, and kept typing on the keyboard to record, "I'll contact them in the next few days... Are there any other candidates?"

"A lot, I'll say it slowly, you memorize it slowly... Wait, I'll take a look."

Han Yi stood up and walked towards his office.

"First! BABYMETAL!"

Picking up the iPad on the fixed stand, turning on the screen, and opening the document, Han Yi yelled loudly as he turned back the same way.

"BABYMETAL?" Zhao Youzhen also raised his voice, "That Japanese girl metal band?"

"Yes, they are also clients of UTA. For them, we may not need to sign a management contract... It would be good to help them organize a world tour and expand the Asian market." The distance between the two offices is not far, and Han Yi quickly He sat back in his seat.

"Okay, you can try it." Zhao Youzhen thought for a while, and added, "Maybe we can use this as an opportunity to do some activities in North America featuring Asian musicians."

"That's exactly what I mean." Han Yi smiled and nodded, "About the plan you mentioned, I actually want to invite some Korean groups to join."

"Yes, which ones?"

"I have two choices in my mind, the first one is BTS."

"Ah, BTS is really good. I didn't expect you to know K-Pop quite well." Zhao Youzhen's eyes brightened a few times, "Their latest album was even on the Billboard album chart, and they are quite popular in the United States. .”

Is this called being popular?
That's where you haven't seen their popularity in 2023.

Han Yi added silently in his heart.

In 2016, BTS' highest ranking on the Billboard 200 album chart was 161.Only four years later, they became the only foreign band after the Beatles to have all four albums topping the Billboard album chart within two years.

From 2020 to 2021, BTS has won the honor of the world's best-selling artist from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for two consecutive years, and will become the highest-selling artist team in Korean history with more than 2022 million album sales in 3000.

If the Beatles were the iconic figure of the British Invasion, then BTS is the milestone of K-Pop's global capture.The achievements of this South Korean boy group are so dazzling that the brokerage company behind them, Big Hit, has changed from a down-and-out small company that could not make it to the forefront in South Korea, to a multinational entertainment giant HYBE that acquired Ithaca Holdings for US$10 billion.

What is Ithaca Holdings? The investment holding company of Scooter Braun, the world's number one music manager in the 21st century, SB Projects, an artist management company owned by Braun, and Big Machine Records, which was jointly acquired by the Carlyle Group, are all placed in Ithaca Holdings Assets under this big umbrella.

That is to say, relying on BTS, HYBE's corner overtaking in the previous life brought Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, J Balvin and others into the bag, directly becoming another extremely powerful force in the American entertainment industry.

Han Yi has no feelings for K-Pop, nor is he keen on the music performance form of idol groups, but South Korea’s highly industrialized music assembly line is indeed worth learning, and this represents the miracle of the rise of Asian power. Han Yi, who is also of Asian descent, naturally There is no reason to miss out.

"If possible, Yujin, I would like to ask you to contact BTS. The first thing is to win the agency rights of this group's performances in Europe and America, in the name of UTA. If you can negotiate, I will talk to Jeremy- Zimmer said, let you directly serve as their acting agent."

"Okay." Zhao Youzhen grinned happily, "I'm very interested in this...not for Jungkook and Jimin, but for becoming an entertainment agent."

"I didn't ask you either... No, you are too specific."

Han Yi couldn't help but look at Zhao Youzhen more. It has to be said that BTS is indeed a very dangerous role for most men.

"In addition, you can talk to Big Hit about the overseas agency distribution plan of BTS records. We don't have to get involved in Asia, and they will certainly not hand over the channel distribution rights to us. But in Europe and the United States, we can find a way to find out... Anything they want, advance payment, promotional resources, can all be promised.”

"it is good."

After recording all of Han Yi's entrustments in the document, Zhao Youzhen nodded and looked up at him.

"What about the other combination?"

"Another one? Not yet... If I remember correctly, it seems that he hasn't officially debuted yet and is still in the official announcement stage."

Han Yi thought carefully for a while before speaking slowly.

"You can search online, there should have been some news out."

"They are a new group under YG Entertainment, called..."

"BLACKPINK."

"BLACK... PINK, I found it." Zhao Youzhen scanned the search records on Naver, and within two pages, he frowned slightly.

"The information of a full member hasn't been released...Yi, why do you think they have potential?"

"what……"

The traveler's empiricism made a mistake again, but fortunately, Han Yi found the reason after only being dazed for a moment.

"It is said that Teddy is their main producer. I admire his works very much. They will definitely be very popular in the United States... You can contact YG in advance to get the agency rights for performances outside of Asia, or use a joint The artist agency acts as a shell."

After saying this, Han Yi changed the subject calmly.No matter how much he explains to Youzhen now, it will not be effective. She will naturally understand when she slowly sees the demeanor of the world's number one girl group in the future.

No matter in terms of streaming media broadcasting, tour box office revenue or social media fans, BLACKPINK is the same as BTS. It is on the same level as the top stars in the European and American music circles, and even better in terms of fan stickiness.

Ever since Zhao Youzhen brought Bili and Phineas to No. 864 Stella Della Road, Han Yi had actually been thinking about these two things in his heart.If it weren't for this Korean girl, Han Yi would definitely not be interested in sharing K-Pop cakes. After all, he only has the most superficial understanding of this aspect.

But now, with Yujin as the medium, it would be unreasonable not to set up Asian entertainment, especially Korean pop music in advance.

From this point of view, maybe Zhao Youzhen is the future superstar they mentioned?It's just that this superstar is not in front of the stage, but behind the scenes.

A superstar manager, if she is a Scooter Braun, or even better, isn't she a superstar herself?
"There are also a few very distinctive female singers, I think we can also cooperate."

The thoughts in his mind were wild, but the words that came out of his mouth did not hesitate at all. Han Yi continued to describe to Zhao Youzhen his future blueprint for the artist management sector.

"Bebe Rexha, Halsey, Zara Larsson, Anne-Marie, and Dua Lipa, these five girls are the ones I want you to focus on. The first two are UTA's music customers, so it shouldn't be troublesome to contact them. The last three Take some thought. Especially the last one, I really, really like her."

Han Yi said with joy, but Zhao Youzhen was very confused.She called up the basic information of five singers on Google. Bebe Rexha is the most familiar, after all, she just listened to her "Me, Myself & I" at the welcome party, and "Hey Mama" with David Guetta, Afrojack and Nicki Minaj in 2014 is also a hit that dominates the dance floor.

Halsey can also be regarded as a rising star. Although the song that really helped her career take off has not yet appeared on the market, "Badlands" released by Astralwerks in 2015 performed quite well. The singles "Colors" and "Gasoline" also received double platinum certification in the United States.

Starting with Zara Larsson, things got a little out of character.The first album "2014" released by this Swedish girl in 1 can be described as a disastrous failure. It won the championship in Sweden, but only ranked 28th in Norway, and Denmark did not even enter the top 30.

The poor sales performance caused Universal to terminate the contract directly, not even giving her the chance to release a second album. Zara Larsson also fell into a year-long silence, until Epic Records gave her a chance to start again.

This time, Epic's A&R chose the pop electronics route for her.To be on the safe side, the label first released two singles "Lush Life" and "Never Forget You" in cooperation with MNEK in the Nordic region.The Swedish production team’s rich experience in popular electronic production has made Zara Larsson’s transformation a success. The two singles have won six consecutive championships in Sweden, and their popularity in Denmark, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and other European countries has continued to rise. It also entered the UK Singles Chart for the first time.

However, in the United States, the core market of the world's music industry, Zara Larsson has not been able to take it. Both singles are still outside the Billboard Top 100 singles chart. Where does Han Yi's confidence in Zara Larsson come from? You really don't understand.

Anne-Marie is even more exaggerated. This English girl from Essex has released an EP and a single since her debut, and they are all on unknown independent labels. The only one The single "Do It Right" peaked at number 90 on the domestic singles chart.

As for Dua Lipa, also from the UK, the first single "New Love" released independently in the name of Dua Lipa Limited in August last year was not popular, but the second single "Be the One" reached the top in Belgium, charts in Poland and Slovakia, but was knocked back in February with their third single, "Last Dance."

A little girl who hasn't even signed a record contract, what can Han Yi "really, really like"?

He was muttering in his heart, but in action, Zhao Youzhen expressed full trust in Han Yi, without rebuttal or objection, only kept recording.

From the first meeting to leave a good impression on Yuzhen, to the trip to New York, to the acquisition of UTA, meeting Billi, and discussing the promotion plan, what Han Yi showed was the girl's admiration of EQ, vision, conversation, resources and expertise.There are not many people who can really admire Zhao You, and Han Yi is obviously the most impressive one among them.Even if there is not enough convincing evidence, Yoo Jin is still willing to believe wholeheartedly that Han Yi will definitely make the right decision this time.

In fact, in real business, there are not so many [-]% certainty, every action is an adventure.If you win, the incense will last, but if you lose, you will be in the abyss.Between partners, sometimes what is needed is trust and support for each other. You can maintain doubts and heated debates on weekdays, but at the critical moment when you want to move forward, everyone must maintain one mind.

From this point of view, perhaps Zhao Youzhen and Han Yi should be a pair of partners by nature.Han Yi has a strong and self-cognition and judgment on things, and so does Zhao Youzhen.However, the latter's strength and ego are all reflected in his unreserved trust in Han Yi.

"Any other options?"

After recording, this was the only question Yoo Jin asked.

If there is anything else I need to do, just mention it.

"I haven't thought of more yet, but there must be some... I'll come back in the next two days... think about it, and then send you a complete list of candidates." Having said that, Han Yi knocked on the table, suddenly Remember an important thing.

"Most of the five people I mentioned just now have managers. If you can get in touch with the person, you can consider convincing them to fire those managers and sign with us directly. If you can only get in touch with the management team, there is no need question……"

Having said that, Han Yi slowed down his speech.

"You need help, Yujin. So, you can directly bid the managers and let them come to manage the work, so that you can bring the clients over as a matter of course."

"What these managers lack most is a stable and continuous income. It is too unreliable for many people to entrust their entire lives in the illusion of creating superstars. If we can give a good salary, I believe they will not mind the matter of turning the share into a commission."

"What's our budget?"

"It's good not to exceed the market average price too much. You are the head of the management company, Yujin, and I will give you full authority and the right to speak."

"Hmm...full authority."

Hearing this sentence, Zhao Youzhen tapped the touchpad with his fingernails, and winked narrowly at Han Yi.

"Then can I pay myself whatever salary I want?"

"I forgot about this." Han Yi patted his forehead and said in Chinese, "I'm sorry, Yuzhen, there have been too many things recently, so I didn't forget them on purpose...We haven't talked about your treatment and share yet."

"Now let's talk, how much do you want?"

"me……"

Zhao Youzhen showed an extremely rare, quirky and playful smile, rolled his eyeballs, and said softly.

"I'll just have a supper."

(End of this chapter)