Both domestically and globally, the entertainment industry presents a distinct pyramid structure. The high-profile artists on the spire account for the vast majority of income, and the law of two eights is vividly reflected here.
An artist from lack of popularity to thousands of attention, favored by all parties, in addition to its own audience and outstanding performance strength, but also directly related to the role of artist management in it.
In the career development path of artists, artist managers often play the role of public relations, headhunters and even lawyers, and need to assist artists in communicating and publicizing externally, finding job opportunities and cooperation projects, and fighting for artists' rights and interests in contract negotiations. Not only that, but artist managers sometimes play an important role in Bó Lè and industry mentors, tapping and cultivating potential artists to help them debut and be familiar to the public.
Combining multi-faceted roles, artist management has been given a pivotal position in the industry. Some people also use the relationship between artists and artist managers as an analogy of "fish and water", if the two sides get along well and cooperate tacitly, they will achieve a win-win situation.
In the mainland, although the artist management industry started late, it has developed rapidly. By the end of 2021, the number of market participants has reached 1200, forming a pattern of fierce market competition and highly dispersed, and also differentiating into a variety of artist management and development models.
Among them, Lehua Entertainment stands out among many participants with its unique development model, becoming one of the first choices for young people who want to engage in performing arts in China, and is currently the first company in the domestic artist management income.
According to the prospectus released on August 7, CITIC Construction Investment International and China Merchants Securities International are its joint sponsors, and Lehua Entertainment has officially entered the capital market as the "first share of artist management". From a start-up in 2009 to an industry number one today, what made Leroy?
What is the "Lehua Model"?
If you use a key word to summarize the uniqueness of Lehua's development model, it must be "the cultivation and management system of artists from a blank piece of paper to a dazzling star". Today, this mature artist management model is also known as the "Lehua model" in the industry.
For this model, Du Hua, founder of Lehua Entertainment, mentioned in an interview in 2020: "The company has been developing for ten years, and I can calmly tell you that my experience can be copied." If the timeline is pushed forward three years, Du Hua's answer is not so affirmative.
Zhitong Finance APP learned that before this, Lehua Entertainment was also almost "stillborn". After burning up the 2 million raised by the angel wheel, Du Hua also mortgaged the property and borrowed 3 million yuan from investors to maintain the company's operation.
Today, Lehua's list of investors includes institutional investors such as ByteDance's Quantum Leap, Chinese Culture, and Alibaba Pictures.
In the process of turning from the "Backwater War" to the current fame, Du Hua personally went to Japan and South Korea to investigate the mature management model overseas, and finally launched the "Lehua Model" with Chinese characteristics.
Specifically, the "Lehua model" known to the industry actually refers to a systematic model covering the whole life cycle of artist management, including trainee selection, artist training, artist operation and artist promotion, which mainly has the following characteristics: long-term, strict assessment and evaluation system, and systematic and comprehensive management ecology.
Among them, the long cycle of the model is reflected in: trainees often need to go through at least 2-4 years of professional training before becoming signed artists, and from debut to public recognition, it often takes another 2-3 years.
In terms of assessment and evaluation, according to the data disclosed by Lehua in the prospectus, it has received more than 65,000 applications for the trainee program from home and abroad in the past performance period. In the process of receiving professional training, trainees need to go through weekly examinations, monthly examinations, quarterly examinations, annual examinations, and semi-annual examinations. In the 2019-2021 period and the four months ended April 30, 2022, only 19, 28, 50 and 7 trainees were candidates and signed contracts, respectively, and the overall acceptance rate was less than 0.3% per year.
In the construction of the artist management ecology, Lehua provides professional courses and training for trainees at different stages of training, including vocal music, dance, performance, musical instruments, music creation, physical form, foreign language, public communication, artist code of conduct, etc. After signing a contract with an artist, Leroy will match different business projects for the artist through its artist operation and promotion team.
The "Lehua model" created around these three characteristics points to several results:
First of all, the long-term training model gives both trainees and artist management companies a two-way selection process. Du Hua once said in an interview: "This is a long process, for children, without the dedication and love of this cause, it is impossible to persevere."
It often takes 5-7 years for an artist to go from trainee to debut and then to be known to the public. In the process, the company will have sufficient time to observe the words and deeds, professionalism, plasticity and cultivatability of the trainees, and at the same time, it is also the process of the trainees to choose and think about the company and their own career direction.
In addition to two-way screening, long-term training is also to give artists and companies enough time to run in and cultivate the process of tacit understanding, the trainee program helps to cultivate the sense of belonging of trainees and signed artists, but also allows the company to have a full understanding of the artist's personal style and strengths, the cultivation of this tacit understanding is unique between the company and its artists, forming a unique "Lehua culture".
A series of rigorous professional assessments and evaluations have targeted the ultimate goal of the artist's professionalism and professionalism. In Du Hua's words, there is no shortage of overnight popularity in the industry, but in order to be able to develop in the industry for a long time, a high level of professionalism is very important. The high standard of professional ability has formed the reason why Lehua trainees have a good reputation in the industry.
Under this model, Lehua was able to cultivate a new talent into an artist, enhance the artist's popularity through team and channel resources, and also enhance the company's brand influence. The improvement of brand influence will help the company to further expand customer and industry resources and attract more talents, forming a positive cycle.
In other words, the "Lehua model" has labeled Lehua as a "Bole", making it a beacon in the entertainment industry and an ideal entrance for young people to realize their acting dreams. At the same time, it has also brought inexhaustible impetus to Lehua's talent selection, enabling the company to better discover "Maxima".
Because of this, when asked by reporters whether artists may leave the company after becoming popular, Du Hua said that the first five years of the company's establishment may be very anxious, but now it will be more calm and calm, and today's Lehua will not change the entire structure because of the departure of any artist.
The step-by-step establishment of Duhua's confidence in the company's development stems from the construction of this "Lehua model" system behind it, which has been running through Lehua's practice for many years. The formation of this model requires years of hard work and a deep understanding of the Chinese artist management market, which is difficult to be copied, which to a certain extent constitutes the moat of Lehua and becomes the reason why it stands out among many artist management companies.
The key to artist management lies in handling the relationship between "water and fish"
Today, after years of selection and training of trainees, the company has now established a large-scale, famous and popular artist matrix.
Taking Wang Yibo as an example, he successfully won 41 endorsement brands in 2021, with an average of 3.4 new endorsements per month, involving FMCG, clothing decorations, electronic products, life entertainment, beauty and skin care and other fields, endorsement brands such as KFC, Chanel, RedMi, Hungry Mo, Baijieling and so on.
According to incomplete statistics, Wang Yibo has now participated in 17 film and television works such as "The Wind Rises in Luoyang", "Nameless", "Warm", "King of the Long Sky", "Peacekeeping Riot Squad", etc., and has been in many seasons of "This! He is the star captain in the "Street Dance" program, and is one of the top artists in the industry.
At present, the artist matrix under Lehua Entertainment includes Wang Yibo, Li Wenhan, Cheng Xiao, Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi, Zhu Zhengting, Fan Chengcheng, Huang Minghao, etc. In addition, Lehua Entertainment has also launched UNIQ, NEXT, NAME, EVERGLOW, TEMPESTA-SOUL, EOE and other artist groups. Up to now, there are 66 signed artists and a talent reserve including 71 trainees.
For the 2019-2021 and four months ended 30 April 2022, Artists under Lehua Entertainment achieved artist management revenue of RMB530 million, RMB810 million, RMB1.17 billion and RMB320 million respectively. Among them, during the above period, the total income of the top ten artists accounted for 74.8%, 83.0%, 85.6% and 84.5% of the total revenue respectively, except for Han Geng and Tang Jiuzhou, the top ten artists were all Lehua training graduates.
Behind this, the relationship between the growth of the artist's personal popularity and economic strength and the growth of the company's income is a mirror, reflecting the deeply bound relationship between the artist and the artist manager in the industry, which is as deeply bound as "fish and water".
For an artist management company, its main responsibilities include both internal operations and external integration. Internal operations include the discovery, signing, training of artists, as well as legal affairs, finance and other systems to support the normal operation of the company; External integration includes the promotion of artists in multiple channels and the docking of various commercial activities and entertainment content service resources.
Scarce artist resources constitute a strong attraction to consumers, artist management companies provide resource supply for artists, artists in the management company's gathering to enhance the company's brand awareness, but also for the company to enhance the weight of bargaining with customers, which will also promote the further increase of artists' income, forming a positive cycle.
In this process, an important part of promoting the continuous operation of this cycle is the external integration ability of the artist management company, which is also one of the important reasons why the artist continues to choose long-term cooperation with the company.
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, in terms of artist promotion, as of April 30, 2022, Lehua's artist promotion team has a total of 28 members, with an average of six years of work experience in the media field, reviewing and publishing promotional materials through various marketing channels, assisting signed artists to increase public exposure.
Among them, the company's publicity channels include TV stations and Internet video platforms, short video platforms, social media platforms and high-fashion brand events to attend timewear magazine cover shoots. In addition, Lehua Entertainment also held a series of public activities such as the Lehua Family Concert to showcase the Lehua brand to the public, which also formed the unique characteristics of the Lehua Family Meal.
In terms of industry resource docking, as of April 30, 2022, Lehua has built an artist operation team with a total of 55 members, with an average of about nine years of industry experience. Among them, there are 23 business brokers, responsible for sales, marketing and business negotiations; There are 17 executive agents, assisting commercial agents and contracted artists in handling various tasks, such as itinerary coordination and general project assistance.
In terms of business activities, the number of revenue-generating business activities of Lehua Entertainment in the 2019-2021 period and the four months ended 30 April 2022 amounted to approximately 380, 500, 640 and 235 respectively. During the business record period, a total of 383 endorsements were entered, of which 12 customers were international brands of the 2020 Forbes Global Brand Value List, and 8 customers were selected by the China Brand Value Institute as the 2020 China Top 100 Most Valuable Brands.
In addition, it also includes various social media promotions, live e-commerce and offline business promotion activities, such as "Tmall Double 11 Carnival Night", concerts, festivals and ceremonies such as tour performances.
In terms of entertainment content services, as of now, the company has established cooperative relations with the top five TV stations and the top three Internet platforms with average annual ratings in China, with an average cooperation period of 7 years. During the business record period, Lehua Entertainment entered into a total of 443 entertainment content service contracts for contracted artists in variety shows, movies and drama performances.
At the same time, Lehua Entertainment has also established long-term cooperation with leading music service providers in China, producing 34, 22, 29 and 14 digital singles and albums by signed artists in the four months ended April 30, 2021, respectively, of which 12 digital singles and albums were sold in China as of April 30, 2022.
Based on the systematic professional training system and strong external integration ability, Lehua has now become one of the first choices for young people who want to engage in acting in China, and has also contributed to the long-term and stable cooperative relationship between the company and the signed artists.
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, 55 of the 66 artists signed by Lehua are graduates of the Lehua Trainee Program. Among them, the exclusive artist management contracts signed by the company with artists range from 5 years to 15 years, while the contracts signed with artists who graduated from the Lehua Trainee Program are usually longer, ranging from 8 years to 15 years.
It is worth mentioning that most of the company's well-known artists have a management contract period that basically expires in 2026-2028, and most of them have an automatic renewal mechanism.
Among them, Wang Yibo has been renewed from 2022 for four years to October 2026; Meng Meiqi and Wu Xuanyi's contract term is until 2026 and is automatically renewed for one year; Huang Minghao, Zhu Zhengting, Bi Wenjun, Ding Zeren, Huang Xinchun, Hu Chunyang, Tang Jiuzhou, Jin Zihan and other contract terms are in 2028 and beyond. During the past business record period, there have been no contract disputes between the company and the signed artists.
From this point of view, with its strong internal operation and external integration, Lehua Entertainment has formed a good "fish and water" relationship with artists. Among them, its unique "Lehua model" plays a crucial role. In the process, being able to balance the interests of all parties and form an ecology of positive circular growth can be regarded as the real strength of Lehua Entertainment as an industry leader.