Sorry to repost this but it is good introductory information re: SOWK.
James
SoundWorks International, Inc., closed out the end of 1998 by moving into a new 4,000 square foot facility for its new corporate headquarters near Seattle, Washington. This will enable the Company to manage future growth with the ability to increase its in-house floor inventory of finished products. This will also accelerate the digitization of its vast and mostly unreleased archived music master tape library with a new state-of-the-art recording facility. A new video-editing center also is part of this recording studio, which gives the Company the vehicle to ramp up its production of videos.
Sales were up in 1998 due partially to the new accounts added to SoundWorks repertoire late in the year, including Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. The sales volume is still not what it will be in the future in terms of dollars, but significantly the amount of sales increases as each month goes by. The Company also will market its products directly over the Internet through its website: www.soundworks.net.
Other retail accounts that represented substantive increases in activity in 1998 were the high-end Los Angeles based educational chain store group, Store of Knowledge; The Smithsonian Museum Shops in Washington, DC, Sixth Floor Bookstore, Dallas, Texas, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library.
New products scheduled for release in the first quarter of 1999 include what management expects to become a heritage video, "The Greatest Speeches of All-Time", featuring video highlights of major speeches given by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, General Douglas MacArthur, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Richard M. Nixon, Robert F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.
Initial marketing for "The Greatest Speeches" Video will be done via a short-form 60-second direct response television commercial. Testing of this commercial commences in February in the western Washington state market on TCI Cable. If the test proves successful, the TV campaign will be rolled out nationally.
"The Internet and Direct Response TV are the major focus for us", President Jerry Dennon states. "This is the home run ball that will propel the Company into a new stratum".
On the audio side a new John F. Kennedy CD, "The JFK Wit" is also debuting along with Ronald Reagan, "The Great Speeches, Vol. II".
On the music side, "The History of Northwest Rock, Vol. II" continues the Company's tapping into its vast and mostly unreleased music master tape archives, which include over 500 master tapes. Other music artists scheduled for release in the months ahead include Pete Fountain, Wes Montgomery, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Scott Cossu, Thelonious Monk, "Country Classics", Duke Ellington, Diane Schuur, Danny O'Keefe, Dave Lewis, and Ray Anthony.
In pre-production for release in second quarter are three "exciting and dynamic" new releases, according to Company President Dennon. Not yet announced to the general public, this includes a new "audio tribute to basketball immortal, Michael Jordan" in CD format. Heard on this exclusive new product are Michael, Shaqueil O'Neill, Mrs. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, President Clinton, David Stern and other celebrities toasting the basketball great.
President Clinton gets two treatments by the Company as well. "President William Clinton, Highlights of His Major Speeches" debuts as both a Video and a CD product. "With President Clinton's approval rating in the 70% bracket, we feel we have a built-in market for this release", Dennon states.
"Both the Clinton and Jordan products" are on "rush" status with us, Dennon concludes.
Other new releases in pre-production for marketing later in the year include music and/or audio products featuring "40 Big Band Hits", Jimi Hendrix, General Douglas MacArthur and Frank Sinatra.
Finally, on the capital market side of the Company and because of the lack of sufficient shares to generate volume in the Company's trading market for its shares, the Board of Directors has authorized a dividend of four shares for each share currently held, effective as of the close of business on Thursday, February 11, 1999.
Contact: Jerry Cornwell
Bristol Media, Ltd.
Toll free: 1-888-259-8333
E-Mail: tcktsllc@gte.net
Website: www.soundworks.net
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