Former Libertines Frontman Agrees Wide-Ranging Investment Deal for New Solo Album

London, July 14th 2010 - Power Amp Music, the music investment specialists, have signed an innovative and wide-ranging £500,000 deal with former Libertines frontman Carl Barat that will support the recording and release of his new solo album, which is scheduled for release later this year.
The multi-revenue stream deal, which will see Power Amp Music and Carl Barat sharing in a variety of income opportunities during the agreement from recording, publishing, touring, merchandise and sponsorship among others, will see all rights reverting to Barat at the end of the term.
Carl Barat is best known as one of the co-founders and frontmen of acclaimed UK band The Libertines, who have recently temporarily reformed to make a number of festival appearances throughout this summer including a headline slot at the UK’s Reading & Leeds Festival. Their two albums ‘Up the Bracket’ and ‘The Libertines’, which were released in 2002 and 2004 respectively, are widely thought of as classics and established The Libertines as one of the most important bands of their generation.
Following the demise of The Libertines in 2005 Carl Barat launched a new band Dirty Pretty Things and released the widely acclaimed, Top 3 album Waterloo to Anywhere in 2006.  Another album Tired of England followed in 2008 shortly before the bands demise later that year.
Carl Barat is currently writing and recording his new as-yet-untitled album which will be released this autumn on his own label imprint in the UK and licensed to P.I.A.S for the rest of the world ex: US. Discussions are currently in play with a number of US labels about a North American licensing deal for the forthcoming album.
Power Amp Music was launched in 2008 and specializes in delivering bespoke funding solutions to high profile, established artists. Power Amp takes a holistic approach to artist funding, tailoring equitable deals that participate in agreed areas of an artist’s career.
Carl Barat  is the company’s third major signing after the iconic British pop band, Madness, who released their gold selling album ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ via a deal with Power Amp to critical acclaim and commercial success in 2009 and Welsh singer-songwriter  Charlotte Church who is currently recording her new solo album for release later in the year.
Tom Bywater, the founder and CEO of Power Amp Music said, “I am delighted to have agreed this new deal with Carl Barat who is one of the leading talents of his generation. I have great faith in Carl and his excellent management team at Various Artists – strong artist management is critical to Power Amp’s ‘artist-centric’ model, where the managers effectively become CEO’s of their artists own company. Power Amp Music now has a well diversified portfolio of artists and has given each of them more creative freedom than they ever had under their previous deals. The music industry is evolving fast and the kind of funding deals available to artists need to evolve too. Our straightforward, transparent and equitable deals put the power back into the artist’s hands, which I truly believe is the way it should be.”
David Bianchi of Various Artists Management, who manage Carl Barat said, “Of all the new models that are emerging Power Amp Music just made sense to Carl & I. Getting the level of investment needed whilst still being incentivised by earning from all income streams from day 1 is a no brainer really. The model allows Carl to hold onto all his rights both in terms of copyright and publishing which was very important to him and means we can do short term licence and admin deals in both areas where we see fit.  Having Integral/PIAS on board as the marketing engine and worldwide licensees (outside America) makes for the perfect trio of funding, rights ownership and excellent marketing.”

Following the demise of The Libertines in 2005 Carl Barat launched a new band Dirty Pretty Things and released the widely acclaimed, Top 3 album Waterloo to Anywhere in 2006.  Another album Tired of England followed in 2008 shortly before the bands demise later that year.

Carl Barat is currently writing and recording his new as-yet-untitled album which will be released this autumn on his own label imprint in the UK.

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New Album ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ scheduled as part of Groundbreaking New Deal

Power Amp Music have signed an investment agreement with iconic British band Madness in a groundbreaking long-term deal, which will support the release of their ninth studio album ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’, which is scheduled for release in 2009 on the band’s own label Lucky 7 Records.

The profile of Madness is set to increase significantly throughout 2009 with the band celebrating its 30th anniversary next year. London based band Madness first sprang onto the music scene in 1978 with a brand of music dubbed the ‘Nutty sound’ and over the next decade became one of the best-loved British bands since The Beatles enjoying over 20 top 20 hits. Now the original magnificent 7 are back together writing, performing and enjoying a huge resurgence in interest after a number of ecstatically received live performances at key summer festivals including Glastonbury, Bestival (where they were the secret headliners) and Snowbombing. The band also previewed tracks from their new album to great acclaim at a special show they titled ‘A Cautionary Tale of Time and Space’ at the famous Hackney Empire in June, which was produced by Luke Cresswell (Creator of ‘Stomp’) and filmed by legendary director Julian Temple.

Power Amp Music was launched in early 2008 and is a company specializing in facilitating music industry funding for established artists through Enterprise Initiative Scheme (EIS) investments. Employing an ‘artist-centric’ model the company takes a holistic view of the growth of an artist’s overall career as a business and brand and participates in all revenue streams generated including record sales, music publishing, touring income, merchandising, branding, and sponsorship among others.

The company seeks to identify and engage with the world’s most talented established artists and their management teams .Working closely with experienced artist managers, who play a major role in the decision making process, Power Amp Music provides artists with access to a full range of services including: A&R, recording, promotion, marketing, distribution, touring, artwork/design, merchandising, sponsorship, and music publishing.

Madness is the first major signing by Power Amp Music’s Head of Music, Malcolm Dunbar, and the company’s Founder and Chief Executive, Tom Bywater. Tom Bywater said, “The music industry landscape has shifted dramatically in recent times and artists have been empowered by this shift. We recognise that established artists are now demanding more innovative and efficient financing solutions and we have built a robust, flexible and cost-effective platform to provide such solutions. When Power Amp Music invests in an artist, the artist retains control of their rights and enjoys total transparency on their finances. We offer a genuine win-win opportunity for our artists and our investors alike.”

Garry Blackburn of Anglo Management, who co-manages Madness with Hugh Gadsdon said, “Power Amp Music offers a band like Madness a new platform from which to operate in the contemporary music industry. Their flexible and visionary business model has enabled Lucky 7 Records to build a bespoke team around the band and has helped us retain a clear overview of all marketing and promotional activity. Through this agreement the band feel they have much more control over their commercial activities than they have ever had before and stand to receive a much fairer share of the revenue they generate. Madness has signed this deal because Power Amp has consistently sought an alignment of interests between the band and the company. Tom Bywater has created an amazing opportunity to build a new music company around the bands interests, and the timing couldn’t be better.’

The Liberty of Norton Folgate

Madness released their new album on May 18^th. After it’s first week of release, The Liberty of Norton Folgate went to No. 5 in the official UK album charts and has receiving critical acclaim across the board.

LONDON LITE *****

A masterpiece

MOJO ****

Madness have made the album of their career

SUNDAY TIMES ****

Madness may have made their best album yet

THE WORD ****

It is Madness’ masterpiece

THE INDEPENDENT ****

Musically, it may be the band’s most successful work

THE TELEGRAPH ****

Better than their albums were in their ‘80s heyday

Madness new album The Liberty Of Nortan Follgate released on the bands own label and funded by Power Amp Music has been certified Gold by the BPI, with over 100,000 units shipped.

Watch the band be presented with their Gold Disks by Catherine Tate here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Lu6QtaP-8

Charlotte spent last year writing new material with a number of co-writers in Nashville and Wales and is now recording an album with recent Grammy Award winning producer Martin Terefe – whose previous credits include Jason Mraz, James Morrison, Jamie Cullum and KT Tunstall. The deal leaves all marketing and distribution options for the album release open to discussion. As the recording process unfolds her manager, Mark Melton, is free to explore all options currently available, from traditional record label licences on a territory by territory basis through to more recent and innovative routes to market such as direct to retailers.

Charlotte originally rose to fame aged 12 as a classical crossover singer. Her debut album ‘Voice of an Angel’ was a global smash and was followed by 3 further, hugely successful classical albums. In 2005 Charlotte released her first pop album, the platinum selling ‘Tissues and Issues’ and to date she has sold in excess of 10.5 million albums.

In 2006 Charlotte launched her TV career with the awarding winning Charlotte Church Show on Channel 4, which has now run for 3 successful series. On the 15^th February this year it was announced that she had agreed to become a panelist on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new talent search TV show, “Over The Rainbow”, the first in a number of TV projects Charlotte has agreed to make with BBC1 over the next few years.
 

Power Amp Music was launched in 2008 and specializes in delivering bespoke funding solutions to high profile, established artists. Power Amp takes a holistic approach to artist funding, tailoring equitable deals that participate in agreed areas of an artist’s career (including strong and stable revenue sources, such as live and publishing).
 

Charlotte Church is the company’s second major signing after the iconic British pop band, Madness, who released their gold selling album ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ to critical acclaim and commercial success in 2009 following their deal with Power Amp Music. Tom Bywater, the founder and CEO of Power Amp Music said, “This is a very exciting deal with a very simple structure. Charlotte had a clear vision of what she wanted to do and we have provided the funding for her to achieve those ambitions while allowing her to retain full creative control and copyright ownership.” Charlotte Church said “This is a wonderful time to be a recording artist. I am delighted to have signed a groundbreaking deal with Power Amp. It provides me with a financial commitment equivalent to that of a major record company, but with a much greater degree of control and ownership over my career”.

“This is a wonderful time to be a recording artist. I am delighted to have signed a groundbreaking deal with Power Amp. It provides me with a financial commitment equivalent to that of a major record company, but with a much greater degree of control and ownership over my career” - Charlotte Church

Charlotte rose to fame aged 12 as a classical crossover singer. Her debut album ‘Voice of an Angel’ was a global smash and was followed by 3 further, hugely successful classical albums. In 2005 Charlotte released her first pop album, the platinum selling ‘Tissues and Issues’ and to date she has sold in excess of 10.5 million albums. Power Amp have signed a £2 million deal with Charlotte Church that supports the recording of the Welsh singer/songwriter’s new album. Charlotte has recorded an album with recent Grammy Award winning producer Martin Terefe – whose previous credits include Jason Mraz, James Morrison, Jamie Cullum and KT Tunstall. The deal leaves all marketing and distribution options for the album release open to discussion. 

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London based band Madness first sprang onto the music scene in 1978 with a brand of music dubbed the ‘Nutty sound’ and over the next decade became one of the best-loved British bands since The Beatles. They enjoyed 21 top 20 hits, spending a record 241 weeks in the charts during the 1980’s. Power Amp Music signed an investment agreement with the band in January 2009, their 30th anniversary year. The deal allows Power Amp to participate in all of the band’s live activity, merchandising, music publishing, branding and advertising opportunities throughout the term of the agreement. The partnership with Power Amp meant the band could set up and release their ninth studio album ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ on their own record label Lucky 7 Records. The new album was released in May 2009 and reached Number 5 in the UK chart and has now been certified Gold by the BPI with over 100,000 units shipped. In 2009 the band performed at their own festival, Madstock, at Victoria park on the 17^th July and also had a BBC televised slot on the main stage at Glastonbury on Sunday 28^th June 2009.

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