Arista/Nashville is Consolidated With RCA Label Group-Nashville/RLG; 3-Label Restructuring Coincides With History-Making Sales Year For RLG.

Entertainment Editors

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--June 2, 2000

Arista/Nashville will become a unit of the RCA Label Group-Nashville/RLG effective July 1st RLG chairman Joe Galante announced today.

The reorganization gives RLG a combined market share of country radio airplay of 29 percent, with RCA Records, BNA Records and Arista/Nashville being three of the top five country labels through the first half of the Billboard Airplay Monitor calendar year. The reorganization also gives RLG's roster a total of 23 artists.

"Clive Davis (Arista's founder) had a vision for a country label that was flawlessly executed by Tim DuBois (former Arista/Nashville President)," remarks Galante. "Tim assembled a roster of artists and a team of executives who led the industry for years. Their legacy will be the foundation that we build upon."

The RLG chairman continues, "We are very excited about this new chapter in the label's history as they join the RCA Label Group."

As part of this move, more than 15 additional Arista/Nashville staff members will join the RLG group. The Arista/Nashville promotion department will mirror the existing RCA and BNA Records promotion staffs with nine staffers. A separate Arista/Nashville artist development department will be established to work with the Arista/Nashville roster. All other functions will be handled by the RLG sales, media, creative and other departments, which will add additional employees across the board. Senior vice president and general manager Butch Waugh will continue to oversee the following departments: Artist Development, Creative Services, Media Marketing, Promotion and Sales. Galante will continue to oversee Artists and Repertoire, Finance, and Business and Legal Affairs. Other staff announcements will be made in the next 30 days.

Waugh comments, "RCA Label Group has experienced two consecutive history-making years, and this year marks our biggest sales year in the 78 year history of the label." He also notes, "The timing is perfect for Arista/Nashville to join RLG. This tremendously talented group of artists and employees will become a vast part of our future; and everyone associated with the RCA Label Group is looking forward to continued success and growth as a 3-label team."

Artists from the Arista/Nashville roster joining RLG include multi-platinum superstar Alan Jackson, Country Music Award's (CMA) most award-winning Duo of the Year Brooks & Dunn, Academy of Country Music Awards' (ACM) Top New Male Vocalist Brad Paisley and newcomer vocalist and award-winning songwriter Phil Vassar. CMA's most award-winning Vocal Group of the Year of the past decade, Diamond Rio, will be the first Arista/Nashville project released by RLG on August 22nd. Upcoming projects by platinum-seller and CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Pam Tillis, and newcomers Shannon Brown and Carolyn Dawn Johnson will be represented by RLG. Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Tillis, Johnson and Brown are all currently in the studio working on new CDs.

RLG A&R senior director Sam Ramage will be handling A&R responsibilities for the majority of the Arista/Nashville roster in addition to his current duties with BNA's Lonestar and John Rich, and RCA's Andy Griggs. RLG A&R vice president Renee Bell will handle Arista's Alan Jackson and Brooks and Dunn and the remainder of the RCA and BNA roster, including Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Tracy Byrd, Sara Evans, The Warren Brothers, Jennifer Day and 3 of Hearts.

The current RCA Records roster (Nashville) includes ACM Artist of the Decade and superband Alabama, reigning CMA Female Vocalist Martina McBride, multi-award-winning songwriter/vocalist Clint Black, multi-platinum Texan Tracy Byrd, gold-selling and critically acclaimed artist Sara Evans, last year's Billboard and R&R Best New Male Artist Andy Griggs, soulful newcomer Coley McCabe and new teenage-girl group 3 of Hearts.

The current BNA Records roster is home to multi-platinum crowd-pleaser Kenny Chesney, multi-platinum chart-busters Lonestar, powerhouse newcomer Jennifer Day, newcomer John Rich (formerly of Lonestar), the high-energy duo The Warren Brothers, comedian Bill Engvall and CMA and Grammy award-winner K. T. Oslin.

RCA Label Group is a unit of BMG Entertainment (www.bmg.com), the $4.7 billion worldwide music and entertainment division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading media companies, with annual revenues of $16.4 billion. BMG owns more than 200 record labels in 54 countries, including Arista Records, the RCA Music Group, Ariola and Windham Hill. BMG has been a leader in using the Internet to bring fans closer to their favorite artists. In addition to establishing GetMusic, an online content and commerce joint venture, BMG's online presence includes more than 30 wholly owned music & lifestyle Web sites around the world, and strategic marketing agreements with and key investments in leading online companies ARTISTdirect, Riffage.com, Egreetings Network, Listen.com and Eritmo.com, among others. BMG also owns the world's largest music club, one of the world's largest music publishing companies, and one of the world's leading compact disc and cassette manufacturing companies. Bertelsmann's North America interests also include the Random House Inc. book publishing group; and the Gruner + Jahr magazine publishing group, which includes McCall's, Parents, Family Circle and YM magazines, among others.