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Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group (ILG) Signs Minneapolis-Based Rhymesayers Entertainment
Multi-Faceted Agreement Will Provide Hip-Hop Label With Marketing, Distribution and Sales Services
| Source: Warner Music Group
NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 9, 2007 -- Warner Music Group Corp.'s (NYSE : WMG )
Independent Label Group (ILG) today announced an exclusive agreement with
Minneapolis-based Rhymesayers Entertainment. Pioneers in the Twin Cities
music scene, Rhymesayers was founded in 1995 by Sean Daley and Brent Sayers
and has grown to become one of the country's most successful independent
hip-hop labels. With an extensive roster of locally and nationally
recognized artists including rising stars Atmosphere, MF DOOM, P.O.S., Mac
Lethal and Brother Ali, whose second full-length album "The Undisputed
Truth," hits stores on April 10th. This partnership represents the latest
renowned independent label to join the ILG family, which already includes
Ferret Music, Rap-a-lot and Swisha House/Swisha Blast Records.
Effective immediately, Rhymesayers will have the ability to utilize various
aspects of ILG's extensive network of sales, promotion and marketing
resources to further promote its stable of cutting-edge artists. WMG's
Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) will primarily handle distribution
with select titles being distributed by WEA Corp. Launched as a testament
to WMG's commitment to supporting rising artists and entrepreneurs in the
independent music community, ILG is comprised of WMG's Asylum Records, East
West Records and Cordless Recordings.
In making the announcement, Todd Moscowitz, President of ILG and Asylum
Records, said, "Sean Daley and Brent Sayers have been visionaries in the
vibrant Twin Cities hip-hop music scene. We are excited to bring them and
Rhymesayers into the ILG family to help them further develop and support
their impressive roster of artists as well as collaborate on future
projects."
Brent Sayers, President & Co-Founder of Rhymesayers Entertainment, added,
"More than our desire to be independent, Rhymesayers first and foremost has
always wanted to be in a position to help our artists reach their
individual goals and aspirations. ILG understood that and has provided us
with an extremely unique opportunity to do this. Under this new deal, we
can remain as independent as we have ever been while utilizing individual
select services as needed. Additionally, if desired and warranted, we have
the potential to upstream artists to a WMG label while still playing an
integral role in the artists' career. Working with ILG and WMG will allow
us to grow like never before and all of us here at Rhymesayers are
extremely excited about this new partnership."
About ILG
Independent Label Group (ILG) is composed of Warner Music Group's Asylum
Records, Cordless Recordings and East West Records.
Asylum Records is designed to provide full promotion, marketing and sales
support to urban, independent music labels and artists. Asylum Records is
distributed by WEA Corp., Warner Music Group's U.S. sales and marketing
company.
Cordless Recordings is a different kind of record company designed to take
advantage of the latest online and mobile technologies. Cordless is not
bound by past practice and is free to continuously reinvent itself in
response to new opportunities. At Cordless an artist can develop in a
supportive, lower-risk environment.
East West Records provides full promotion, marketing and sales support to
rock artists. East West affiliated labels are distributed by the
Alternative Distribution Alliance, Warner Music Group's leading distributor
of independent record labels in the U.S.