MONTREAL, Aug. 10, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Grand Entertainment & Music Inc. (Pink Sheets:GENM) announced today that the company's music division has entered into a joint venture with Plein Sud Inc. and Universal Music France.
Grand Entertainment & Music (GEM) Inc. and Plein Sud have jointly signed the Single "MARIA" from artist QBANITO to Universal Music France. Universal Music France is a division of Universal Music Group (UMG), which is an industry leader with operations in 77 countries and an estimated market share of 24.7% worldwide. Universal's corporate website maybe accessed at http://universalmusic.com/flash.asp. Fred Berlin, Gem's President and CEO, stated "This is a huge development for our Company and the Artist. We fully expect this single to be a top seller. Furthermore, we are very excited to be doing business with such a well-respected company as Universal Music France, and I am highly confident that they will take advantage of their option to pick up the entire QBANITO Album in addition to this first single." Berlin went on to say, "The Spanish version of this album will be ready around the same time as the Spanish/French version and we intend to distribute it through our vast network of affiliates across North America."
This unique song version was targeted particularly for the French market, and was produced by Vincent Egret of DUBMATIQUE, RAINMEM, CHAPIN AND MELLOWMAN fame. CHAPIN also makes a featured appearance on this single by rapping with QBANITO. Egret commented, "The single 'MARIA' is this years 'TUBE'. We have an artist here with serious talent and a hit album that will produce several chart-topping singles."
The company also announced the following developments in conjunction with its investor awareness program:
Website: The long awaited GEM Music website will officially launch this afternoon. While the company will be making daily changes and upgrades over the next few weeks, today's site will serve as a preliminary design for the overall concept. The website will eventually provide the company with over six different revenue streams and include custom developed CDs, downloaded content, merchandise, and live streaming video and music. Peter Stocola, VP and head of Production, stated, "Even though the current site does not presently contain all the remarkable bells and whistles that will be added in the next few weeks, we are very excited about today's launch and believe this will begin bringing both a unique and vast audience to the company." Stocola further stated, "We are convinced that by having the site up and running this afternoon, we will be able to finish negotiating our web master agreements with such companies as Microsoft, Napster, and iTunes." The website will be accessible at the following temporary address: gem.overdrive.ca.
Gem-Latina: The company has been busy working on various projects associated with the Gem-Latina division. As stated in past press releases, Fred Berlin has been traveling internationally in pursuit of beneficial partnerships and agreements. Berlin gave the following summary, "It has been a very busy summer for Gem-Latina, and we have several major projects that we are currently involved with. The signing of QBANITO has given us recognition and exposure and opened up a huge potential in the Latin music community for our company." Berlin went on to say, "I have been meeting with some of the best and most talented Latin entertainers in the business, and I believe that these prospects will fit in very well with our newly formed relationship with Universal Music France. We are certain that there will be many exciting developments in the weeks to come, and we look forward to sharing them with our investors."
Financials: Grand Entertainment & Music, in its effort to become a very transparent publicly traded company, has announced that they plan to post un-audited financials on their website by mid-September this year. Berlin emphasized that, "By allowing our shareholders and the rest of the investing public to view our financials via our website, we will not only build the public communication base we wish to create, but we will separate GENM from the rest of the microcap stocks in respect to information available."
Weekly Newsletter: The company also announced today that they will begin releasing a weekly shareholder newsletter starting Monday, August 15th. This newsletter will highlight daily developments of the company's operations and from time-to-time feature interviews and industry updates. The newsletter will be sent out via e-mail to the company's database. If you would like to join other subscribers in receiving these newsletters and other special alerts, please contact our investor relations department at IR@Genm-info.com.
About Grand Entertainment & Music, Inc.
Based in Montreal, PQ, and incorporated in November 1998, the Company is an independent music producer that produces, promotes, markets and controls the copyrights on music recordings in multiple formats. Additionally, the Company's multi-million dollar studios produce voice-overs and sound tracks for commercials and film, which are used on the radio, television and in theatres. Cherry Studios has produced thousands of records in its studios and has to its credit a total of 23 Gold and Platinum records. GEM, a pioneer in the Internet distribution and digital download field, currently owns and controls all its content and distribution rights. Having both content and distribution rights enables The Company's mission is to become a leading consolidator of quality music catalogues as well as a premier production, recording, publishing and Internet Distribution Company in the music industry.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements with respect to the results of operations and business of Grand Entertainment & Music (GEM) Inc., which involves risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual future results could materially differ from those discussed. The company intends that such statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other forward-looking statements be subject to the "Safe Harbors" provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.