Estelle

By Walter Greene

In breaking music industry news, Warner Music Group and Tuff Gong
International Caribbean Distribution, which is an arm of the legendary
group of Marley companies, announced an exclusive licensing agreement.
The deal, under which Tuff Gong will distribute Warner Music world
class releases throughout the Caribbean islands was finalized with
Warner's top executives and the Marley Music family, led by Cedella
Marley who is the CEO of Tuff Gong, the label founded by her iconic
father, Bob Marley and record industry mogul Chris Blackwell back in
the day.

BIG DEAL
The Warner and Tuff Gong deal which went into operation immediately,
will cover both new and catalog releases, as well as local synch,
licensing live performance rights. Through this new licensing venture,
Tuff Gong will distribute the albums of some of today's top artists
including: Wiz Khalifa, Bruno Mars, Flo Rida, Cee Lo Green, Blake
Shelton and Estelle. Warner's extensive music catalog also feature
icons like; Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton and Ray Charles

CEDELLA LEADS THE WAY
Cedella Marley, who is also a known fashion designer, just completed a
major assignment offered by the sportswear giant PUMA to design and
create the uniforms and all gear to be worn by the Jamaican Olympic
team during the Olympic games in London. "We are thrilled to get the
opportunity to work with Warner's impressive global catalog and
artists, and we are looking forward to a partnership that will allow us
to bring a new dimension to the already vibrant Caribbean music
industry," said Cedella. The young music executive has appointed
Myshjua Archibald to oversee the Warner license as Label as Project
Manager in the region.

FIRST CLASS SERVICE
Stu Bergen, Executive Vice President, Warner Bros Records said;
"Cedella Marley and her team at Tuff Gong are proven experts in the
Caribbean music market. Thanks to their unparalleled local knowledge
and marketing expertise they will provide a first class service for the
distribution of Warner's diverse repertoire across the region. We see
this agreement as a great way of introducing our artists to new markets
and fans, as well as another step towards our goal of making our
extraordinary music available as widely as possible around the world.

THE REGION
Countries covered by the new Warner/Tuff Gong agreement include:
Jamaica, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Anguilla, Cayman Islands,
Trinidad & Tobago, Bermuda, Grenada, St Vincent & the Grenadines, St
Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, Turks & Caicos Islands and the US Virgin
Islands.