In March of this year we announced that Hoopla Media Group had joined forces with WIDEawake Entertainment Group for the global circulation of their vastly growing music catalog. Today we are back as WIDEawake Entertainment Group, who purchased Death Row Records and its famed historical catalog for $18 Million, now owns the exclusive rights for distribution of Hoopla Worldwide and its future releases.
John Payne, President of WIDEawake Entertainment released a statement today to state “Hoopla Worldwide is now a sister company to Death Row Records within our family.”
This deal between WIDEawake EntertainmentGroup and Hoopla Worldwide will see its projects being released globally through eOne Music (formally Koch). Hoopla Worldwide will not only release digital formats of music, but will also focus on the traditional streams of distribution with cd and vinyl pressings for every project put through the label.
Jonathan Hay of Hoopla went on to state “Anybody at anytime can release music online and sell itthrough digital retail outlets, but physical is what separates artists and labels from the pack. With physical products clearly still selling more than digital, you canﾒt neglect that high-dollar money stream. With physical products being sold through major chains such as Best Buy, FYE, Target, Wal-Mart etc, an artist with physical retail is going to be looked at more seriously, giving more credibility towards their brand – especially on the international retail level where itﾒs even more lopsided and in favor of actual CD sales verses digital.”
I really hate to see veteran and established artists release their new music through digital-only streams because that goes on their sales history. In sports, an athlete is judged by their last season; the same is true of artists. If you only sell a few hundred, itﾒs going to blemish your brand and hurt you a lot more than it helps you. You canﾒt go from selling hundreds of thousands of records down to mere hundreds or even lowthousands of digital downloads, as it only devalues your worth and everything about your brand. Itﾒs like a player averaging over 30 points a game for a season, then next season [he only averages] 10 points a game. Of course, your overall value is going to depreciate. Now donﾒt get us wrong, we are still going to focus on the digital music side with all the digital music streams available; however we arenﾒt going to neglect the physical business in anyway,” he concluded.
Started in Louisville, Kentucky, Hoopla Worldwide was founded by Chad Kiser and Jonathan Hay. Hoopla first began working with WIDEawake Entertainment on publicity and marketing; working with the classic catalog releases, re-issues and the new unreleased music of Death Row Records.
Impressed with the work output of the company, WIDEawake offered Hoopla Worldwide a full-blowndistribution deal and extra manpower, marketing and advertising.
Long term Dubcnn contributor and Hoopla founder Chad Kiser told us; “Working with the Death Row Records catalog through WIDEawake has been a dream come true, especially for the fan in me who grew up on all these legendary artists and releases. To be working under the same umbrella with Death Row Records with best-selling titles by Dr.Dre, 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound and others is an accomplishment that Iﾒm very much honored to have. Jonathan Hay and I have worked releases by Danny Boy, Crooked I, Sam Sneed [feat. Dr. Dre], LBC Crew [feat.Snoop Dogg & Nate Dogg], OFTB, Jewell…and of course we are looking forward to the upcoming releases from one of most important catalogs in music history. For our ownupcoming Hoopla Worldwide releases, we will be putting out some major established artists of our own, and also some new and exciting artists who will really break outand penetrate throughout the music industry. We are putting out a multitude of albums in 2012; not only hip-hop, but other genres as well as we have the staff in place to make that happen.”
