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.’

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