VP RECORDS AND ARVATO MOBILE MAKE EUROPEAN MOBILES RING REGGAE

New York – September 19, 2006.

VP Records, the world’s largest Reggae label, continues its expansion into digital music through a pan-European mobile distribution agreement with arvato mobile. VP Records’ artist Tanya Stephens is the first artist to be launched as part of the new service offering rocking cell phones with her single “These Streets” already number 1 on many reggae charts across Europe.

Randy Chin, President of VP Records, said: “European fans can now use their mobile phones to obtain classic tracks from reggae and dancehall legends like Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Beenie Man and Shabba Ranks. Some of the ringtones available include certified classics like Tenor Saw’s “Ring The Alarm” and Dennis Brown’s “Revolution” as well as the latest hits from TOK, Wayne Wonder, Sizzla, Capleton, Buju Banton, Luciano, Morgan Heritage and Beres Hammond. Soca fans are not forgotten and can pick their favorite tracks from stars like Bunji Garlin and Edwin Yearwood. If you’re a reggae, dancehall or soca fan, it does not get better than that!” Dr. Christoph Hartlieb, Managing Director of arvato mobile, added: “The agreement will allow reggae fans to get the best reggae ringtones, full tracks downloads and videos from VP’s extensive catalog and finally bring a great reggae selection to the mobile market.”

The deal will cover all of Europe including the United Kingdom, France and Germany as well as Scandinavia, Eastern Europe (from Czech Republic to Poland) and Southern Europe from Spain to Greece. Joy Ellington, head of VP Europe, further added: “VP Records has been distributing the best reggae in Europe for the past 30 years. This takes our presence in the region to another level.” While covering all major carriers and services in Europe from Norway to Greece, the agreement will also add VP Records’ content to gnab, arvato mobile´s new white-label digital download platform.

Olivier Chastan, Head of Marketing for VP Records, added: “VP has the largest reggae, dancehall and soca catalog in the world. We are aggressively expanding our presence online and on mobile phones. With the popularity of VP recording artists like Sean Paul and Elephant Man, the demand for reggae music is growing worldwide and mobile technology allows us to reach consumers in countries and regions where reggae music could not reach before.”

VP Records contact:

Max Claeys
Telephone: +44 (0) 208.962.2760
E-Mail: maxc@vprecords.com

arvato mobile contact:

Corelations
Anja Schlumberger, Telephone: +49-40-6461-5291
Cornelia Busse, Telephone: +49-40-6461-5305
Wandsbeker Strasse 3-7
22172 Hamburg
Fax: +49-40-6461-5492
Mail: anja.schlumberger@corelations.de
Mail: cornelia.busse@corelations.de

About VP Records:

VP Records is the world’s largest reggae, dancehall and soca label and distributor in the world. Its roster of artists include music superstards like Sean Paul, Elephant Man, Beenie Man, T.O.K., Tanya Stephens and Wayne Wonder among others.

About arvato mobile:

arvato mobile offers its customers worldwide digital entertainment contents as well as innovative concepts and interactive solutions. The company considers itself to be a 360° manager along the whole value chain. The subsidiary of the international media and communication services provider arvato, a corporate division of Bertelsmann, works very closely with network operators, internet service providers, media companies and brands in more than 75 countries. arvato mobile is partner to all big music labels and owner of rights in the film, TV and games industries. arvato mobile assures for its customers the complete content, category and royalty management. With gnab and the Entertainment Platform 2 (EP2) arvato mobile possesses two state-of-the-art platforms for processing and distribution of digital contents. The consumer brands handy.de and tj.net are two successful mobile entertainment portals run by arvato mobile.

arvato mobile – the future of entertainment. www.arvato-mobile.com

This release was published on openPR.