WOW WORSHIP ALBUM TAKES ONLY SIX WEEKS TO ACHIEVE GOLD STATUS, A FIRST FOR A PRAISE AND WORSHIP MUSIC TITLE A VARIETY OF PROMOTIONS, INCLUDING A DIRECT RESPONSE TELEVISION CAMPAIGN, SCHEDULED TO START THIS MONTH
MOBILE, Ala., Nov 2, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Integrity Incorporated (Nasdaq: ITGR) said the WoW Worship album introduced to the market in early summer achieved gold status in units sold within six weeks of its June 15 release, the fastest sales pace ever for a praise and worship album.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) confers gold status on albums that sell more than 250,000 units in a multi-disk set.
The album is well on its way to the platinum sales level, indicating more than 500,000 units sold. Through late October, more than 350,000 albums had been shipped to general-market and Christian retail stores.
"From the moment this album was introduced, it has achieved one milestone after another in sales and audience acceptance," noted P. Michael Coleman, Integrity's chairman, president and chief executive officer.
"It quickly earned a spot on 'The Billboard 200' list that includes all music genres, which represented a breakthrough for Christian music. In the first week of August it ranked 70th on that closely watched national list. The album has ranked Number 1 on the SoundScan Praise and Worship Chart for over 19 weeks. WoW Worship is an outstanding collection of praise and worship music, and the record-setting sales volume indicates the songs are reaching beyond the traditional Christian music audience," Coleman noted.
"Christian music is an expanding genre in the U.S. recording industry, an industry that otherwise is growing slowly at best, and we are part of the fastest-selling product within the fastest-growing segment of our industry," he pointed out.
WoW Worship was featured during the Lighthouse evangelism rally at Madison Square Garden October 16, which was broadcast live by PaxNet and satellite to more than 70 million homes. Coleman said multiple promotions are scheduled to begin November 8, including a direct response television campaign on major commercial and cable networks such as A&E, Foxnet, The History Channel, TV Guide Channel and other national cable and broadcast outlets. In addition, Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, is featuring WoW Worship in its "Christian Picks" section in November and December.
The two-disk, 30-song album is a joint product of Integrity Music, Maranatha! Music, and Vineyard Music, which together account for slightly more than half of the CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing Inc.) market. WoW Worship was created under special licensing arrangement via the WoW Partnership (EMI Christian Music Group, Provident Music Distribution and Word Entertainment). Integrity holds the number one position in CCLI's market share rankings, with 29 percent of the Top 500 song list at year-end 1998.
The WoW Worship album was a significant contributor to Integrity's 13 percent increase in sales for the third quarter ended September 30, 1999, and is expected to generate total sales of more than $2.5 million for Integrity. The three partners will split the album's net profits equally. In addition, each of the partners will receive the copyright revenues related to its songs on the album. For Integrity, which owns 12 of WoW Worship's 30 songs, copyright revenues are expected to exceed $350,000 during the album's first year in the market.
Integrity Incorporated is a leading producer and publisher of Christian music, including praise and worship, children's and gospel. Its audio and video products are sold throughout the United States and in more than 140 other countries worldwide.
Some of the statements contained in this press release, particularly those anticipating the future performance of the WoW Worship album, are forward- looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For those statements, Integrity claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition to the factors discussed above, among the other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are: a reduction in demand for and resulting sales of the Company's WoW Worship product; an increase in marketing and fulfillment expenses associated with new products such as the WoW Worship album, which may not yield sales sufficient to recover development costs; the ability of the Company to complete planned promotions for the album, including purchasing adequate television and cable air time at reasonable costs; and the risks identified from time to time in Integrity's SEC reports, including, but not limited to, the report on Form 10- K for the year ended December 31, 1998.
SOURCE Integrity Incorporated
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CONTACT: Alison S. Richardson of Integrity Incorporated, 334-633-9000 |
