MUMBAI: BMG Japan and Hostess Entertainment have reached an agreement for BMG Japan to exclusively distribute the Hostess catalogue and new releases.
This strategic indie-major partnership will begin 1 March and will see all Hostess repertoire from exclusive partners Domino Recording Co, The PIAS Group (PIAS Recordings, Wall of Sound, Different, PIAS UK/Integral), recent high-profile signing V2/Cooperative Music (V2, Wichita, Bella Union, City Slang) and other select artist management and label partners distributed through BMG Japan.
BMG Japan will provide back-end distribution management as well as offer nationwide support for sales and broadcast media promotion. Hostess will continue to manage all aspects of its business and release schedule with its in-house marketing, digital, promotion and sales departments.
The new partnership follows successful working relationships between the two parties on both Label Mobile (Hostess & BMG Japan launched a unique co-marketing partnership for Hostess repertoire through the Label Mobile system in 2007), and the recent Gold-selling Radiohead album In Rainbows released by _Xurbia_Xendless/Hostess which was distributed by BMG Japan.
Upcoming releases through this new partnership will include The Kills, Los Campesinos, Blood Red Shoes, Vitalic, Mogwai, Yo Majesty, Bloc Party and the hotly anticipated album from Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (Rascals/Little Flames).
"Andrew has built a reputation as a dynamic and proactive partner for international artists seeking release in Japan, and Hostess continues to grow with impressive speed. BMG Japan is unique among the major record companies in Japan in the very independent and collaborative relationships we have built with both international and domestic artist management, and the match with Andrew’s vision has been clear from the start. I am delighted to see our relationship evolve into this strategic partnership, and believe our relative strengths will join to propel Hostess toward significant further growth." said BMG Japan president Daniel DiCicco.
"With Hostess continuing to evolve and grow at such a rapid rate it’s been clear we needed to align ourselves with a distribution partner who could both help us maximize the potential of our exciting repertoire and also show a level of flexibility and a dynamic that’s generally all too rare within the Japanese industry,” says Hostess Entertainment founder and president Andrew Lazonby.
“BMG Japan have proved to us through our previous projects together that they not only have those qualities in abundance but they’re also highly motivated and committed to helping Hostess grow in the way Hostess itself wants to grow. Despite interesting alternatives elsewhere, Daniel (DiCicco) made this an easy choice for me to make,” he added.
