Mumbai: To mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the lease by Arthur Guinness on the famous St James’s Gate Brewery, EMI Music has teamed up with Guinness owner Diageo Ireland to release Guinness 250 – Music from the TV ads, a special commemorative album featuring 17 of the most memorable tracks used to advertise Guinness.

This release will mark the start of a new partnership between EMI Music and Diageo Global Licensing through which the two parties will develop new music-based projects across Diageo’s brands in Europe and North America. This is the first time Diageo’s licensing group has struck such a partnership with a music company.

Music has been at the heart of the many ground-breaking Guinness advertising campaigns in recent years and the track-listing to Guinness 250 – Music from the TV ads reflects the quality and eclecticism that has been behind the music selection for the advertisements. Artists featured on the album range from Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick and Al Jolson to the Jesus and Mary Chain, Leftfield and Future Sound of London.

EMI UK senior director new channel development Graeme Rogan said, "We’re very excited about this partnership with Diageo and Guinness which is an example of how EMI plans to open up new channels and routes to market for our artists and music. Our aim is to proactively enter into strategic partnerships with global brands, such as Guinness and develop additional revenue streams for the benefit of all parties."

Diageo licensing director David Berry commented, "With music consumption over-indexing with the Guinness consumer, I am confident that the EMI collaboration will play its part in driving further consideration for the Guinness brand whilst extending the brand’s global reach as we enter the 250th Anniversary year of the St James’s Gate lease in 2009."

Guinness 250 – Music from the TV ads will be released through EMI Music’s catalogue division on 9 February 2009 in the UK, US and a number of countries in Europe still to be confirmed.