Hakkasan Group To Announce Mega Deal With Calvin Harris

Trending News: Calvin Harris Is About To Start Making A Reported $400K Per Show

Why Is This Important?

Vegas clubs are willing to spend anything to get your attention.

Long Story Short

Vegas clubs are locking up lots of talent right now and Hakkasan Group is leading the way by inking Calvin Harris, who will reportedly earn $400,000 per performance (second only to Avicii ).

Long Story

Could EDM save the world? Obviously not, but in today’s volatile economic climate it is certainly big business. In Vegas, nightlife revenues accounts for twenty percent or more of many resorts bottom line and are major draws to strip resorts.

Over the past decade the nocturnal landscape has grown from two to three players to over a dozen mega day and nightclubs. But, can Vegas sustain this onslaught of growth where the cost of admittance can run anywhere from $20-150 depending on the weekend (and that doesn’t include drinks) to well over a grand for a place to sit down (table service)?

In short, the answer it is yes — as long as they can create a draw. And for the most part that means booking big name electronic acts.

Think of it as an arms race where different factions compete for DJs in their race for dominance to fill their multimillion dollar venues. For the moment it seems that Wynn Resorts (XS, Tryst, Surrender and Encore Beach Club) and Hakkasan Group (funded by Abu Dhabi’s wealthy investment authority Tasameem, who has ambitions of opening an ultra-high end chain of Hakkasan branded hotels, the first of which is set to open on Dubai’s Palm Island in 2017) are really the biggest players.

Hakkasan Group made headlines when it recently announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the competing Light Group and will open a new mega club called Omnia inside Caesar’s Palace this March.

All this comes at a time when Caesar’s Palace has just declared bankruptcy with reports of owing celebrity chef creditors like Gordon Ramsey and Nobu Matsuhisa anywhere from $300k to $400k.

But given the success of Hakkasan’s flagship, they hardly seem concerned and have in fact inked a three year deal with their top DJ Calvin Harris to become the group’s global brand ambassador whom they will reportedly pay a fee of $400k PER show — a fee that is only second to XS and Encore Beach Club’s Avicii.

While Hakkasan Group has gone with a more opera-esque inspired aesthetic, Wynn has kept things fresh by reinvesting approximately $10 million into XS by upgrading their overall tech, lighting, pyro and production as well as reinvisioning their idea of “Stage Life” — think VIP tables on the stage that allow guests to actually “be” the party.

As for the most notable DJs in each group’s respective portfolios, Hakkasan and Omnia have: Afrojack, Calvin Harris, Hardwell, Krewlla and Martin Garrix. The Wynn family has: Avicii, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Diplo, Kaskade, Skrillex and Zedd.

As this story continues to unfold, we expect further acquisitions to be made and partnerships to forge. For example, could Tao Group be tapped to run the nightlife component of the forthcoming $4 billion Resorts World being built across the street from Wynn in 2017?

Or similarly, could Live Nation which recently bought EDM festival giant Insomniac announce the acquisition of “it” electronic blog DancingAstronaut.com in the coming weeks?

Survey says yes.

Own The Conversation

: How long can clubs sustain this type of spending?: If this system crashes, it might spell the end of Las Vegas as we know it.: Millennials are betting less. Revenue from gambling has fallen from 58% in the ’90s to under 37% last year.