NEWS
NEWS
(COMTEX) B: New Music Deals Keep Navarre Humming; Seven Labels Added to
B: New Music Deals Keep Navarre Humming; Seven Labels Added to Company's Roster
MINNEAPOLIS, Feb 20, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Navarre Corporation (Nasdaq:NAVR)
today announced that its Entertainment Media division will be the North American
distributor of seven new notable music labels, including Valley Entertainment,
The Sanctuary Group (for selected product), Riviera Entertainment, Snapper
Music, Ace Records, Evangeline Records and JSP Records. The music represented in
these agreements spans a wide spectrum of established artists, emerging talent
and broad catalogue from genres including new age, rock n' roll, heavy metal,
blues, and more.
Navarre Entertainment Media (NEM) Senior Vice President, Steve Pritchitt states,
"These new labels offer the Company a great roster of artists, valuable catalog
and new emerging formats - DTS 5.1 and DVD Audio. We are proud to welcome these
imprints to our family of labels and anticipate great success with both the
traditional and new formats they represent. Collectively, these new labels
generated over $10 million worth of billing last year representing sales in
excess of one million units. We look forward to working with these new labels to
further enhance their past successes."
The Sanctuary Group, a UK public company, became one of Britain's largest
independent record companies following its purchase of Castle Music in July,
2000. Operating out of New York, Sanctuary has split distribution with many of
its labels. The entire Noise and Rough Trade record lines will be distributed
through Navarre. Navarre's first release from Santuary's independent arm will be
a new recording from Phil Anselmo, lead vocalist for platinum-selling Pantera.
Titled Superjoint Ritual, the CD will be available in May. Anselmo's last side
project, Down, (Elektra) scanned in excess of 200,000 units.
Riviera Entertainment, based in southern California, continues its successful
history and strong commitment to urban music. March 19th marks Rivera's first
release through Navarre with a powerful new CD from multi-platinum artist Ol'
Dirty ####### entitled, The Trials and Tribulations of Russell Jones. ODB's last
studio album has scanned over 690,000 units to date. Artists slated for releases
include C-Murder, featuring Master P and Lil Romeo, Mack 10, Krayzie Bone, J.T
Money, Mc Eiht, Spice One, and Sunz of Man.
Industry pioneer, Barney Cohen, founded New York based Valley Entertainment,
offering new release and catalog titles representing the best in blues, Celtic,
new age, rock and DVD-music. Product will be distributed by NEM under the Valley
Entertainment logo and its sub-labels including DTS Entertainment, Hearts of
Space, AudioQuest, Honest Gold, NYNO and RGB labels. Recently, the National
Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) announced that David
Darling's "Cello Blue," on Hearts of Space/Valley Entertainment received a
prestigious Grammy Nomination for Best New Age Album.
London headquartered Snapper Music was founded in 1998 by three industry
veterans Jon Beecher, Dougie Dudgeon and Tony Harris. Snapper has built an
impressive catalog of reissues as well as signing and promoting a number of
formidable artists. Snapper revitalized the career of brilliant blues guitarist
and Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, with his Splinter Group albums; founded
and nurtured the popular Prog band, Porcupine Tree, and recorded The Pretty
Things first new album in 20 years.
Snapper's extensive mid-price "Original Masters" series includes releases by
Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, John Mellencamp, W.A.S.P., Asia,, Steve Hackett, 10 CC,
and many others. In 2001 they began promoting the Peaceville heavy metal label,
including releases from Darkthrone, Katatonia, Opeth, My Dying Bride, and more.
Ace Records was founded in 1975, and is one of the most respected CD reissue
companies in the industry. The Company's philosophy is rooted in rock n' roll
and its catalog exceed 1500 releases, 600 of which will be distributed by NEM.
The Company's imprints include Ace (blues, R&B, Cajun, gospel, oldies, and
more), BGP (acid jazz and soul), Big Beat (rock and psychedelia), boplicity
(jazz), Cascade (mid-priced compilations), Chiswick (rock and punk), Globestyle
(world music), Kent (60's & 70's soul), and Southbound (70's soul & funk). Some
of the best-selling CDs include The Very Best of Jackie Wilson, a rare album by
Freddie King, and reissues of classic rare albums by The Zombies, Millie Jackson
and Dion, among many others.
London based Evangeline Records was formed in 2000 by two longtime UK music
industry veterans, Pete Macklin and Andrew Lauder. The labels' best-selling CDs
include Carla Olsen and Mick Taylor, Luka Bloom, Mary Coughlan and Freddie
Scott, plus reissues by Big Brother & The Holding Co., T-Bone Burnett, Jorma
Kaukonen, Sons of Champlin, Hoodoo Gurus, and Sonny Landreth. 2002 releases from
Evangeline will include a new live album by Gov't. Mule titled, Live With a
Little Help from Our Friends, Vol. 2, and reissues from The Textones, Asleep at
the Wheel, and Percy Mayfield.
Rounding out the list of label additions for Navarre Entertainment Media is
London based JSP Records owned and operated by John Stedman. JSP offers both
retrospective box set reissues and new artist recordings. The crown jewel of its
reissue catalog is Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives & Sevens, a four CD set. It has
been critically acclaimed as the best sounding release of its kind and has been
widely reviewed as one of the most important reissues for this seminal artist.
Following close behind are Django Reinhardt's 5 CD set, Classic Early
Recordings, and his 4 CD set, Vol. 2 Paris and London.
Navarre Corporation's major business groups are: Navarre Distribution Services,
which distributes quality consumer software, video games, major label music and
DVD and VHS video to a broad base of retailers nationwide; Navarre Entertainment
Media, distributes proprietary, independent music and DVD in the United States
and Canada; the company operates a "business to business" Internet E-Commerce
web site www.navarre.com.
The statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are
"forward looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are
intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by these sections. The
forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and the actual
results that the Company achieves may differ materially from these
forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties, including
developments in the retail and consumer markets for prerecorded music products
and computer software products, retail consumer buying patterns including
slowdowns resulting from difficult economic times, new and different competition
in the Company's traditional and new markets, the Company's dependence upon
seasonality in its business, the Company's ability to attract and retain large
retail customers that account for a significant part of its business, the
Company's ability to successfully act as distributor to on-line retailers, the
Company's ability to manage its inventory, the Company's dependence upon
recording labels and artists, the Company's ability to react to changes in the
distribution of software and prerecorded music and the Company's ability to
successfully defend itself against litigation. A detailed statement of risks and
uncertainties is contained in the Company's reports to the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the Section entitled: Forward Looking Statements"
in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2001. The Company
undertakes no obligation to revise any forward-looking statements in order to
reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this press
release. The Company can offer no assurances that any projections, assumptions
or forecasts made or discussed in this press release will be met, and investors
and prospective investors should understand the risks of investing solely due to
such projections.
CONTACT: Navarre Corporation, Minneapolis
Joyce Fleck, 763/535-8333
jfleck@navarre.com
or
Jim Gilbertson, 763/535-8333
jgilbert@navarre.com
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KEYWORD: MINNESOTA CALIFORNIA NEW YORK UNITED KINGDOM
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS
ELECTRONIC
GAMES/MULTIMEDIA
ENTERTAINMENT
MUSIC
SOFTWARE
SOURCE:
Navarre
Corporation
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