Warner Music Group to Acquire Word Entertainment1

Posted on November 30, 2001

Warner Music Group (WMG) and Gaylord Entertainment announced that WMG has agreed to acquire Gaylord Entertainment's Word Entertainment division. Word Entertainment is home to some of Christian music's top performers and songwriters, including platinum-selling and award-winning artists Amy Grant, Rachael Lampa, Nicole C. Mullen, Sandi Patty, Point Of Grace, Marc Schultz, Sixpence None The Richer and Jaci Velasquez. The company is also the exclusive distributor of Christian labels Integrity Music and Big Idea among others.

In making the announcement, Roger Ames, Chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group said, ``We're delighted to welcome Word Entertainment to Warner Music Group at a time when Christian music is enjoying explosive growth. Over the past five years, the Christian/Gospel genre has grown more than 12 percent a year while the overall music industry has grown at 3 percent a year. Word is one of the most prominent players in this arena, and we look forward to working with the company's top notch artists and labels and to offering them the resources and expertise of Warner Music Group.''

The Word Entertainment transaction is expected to close in January 2002. Malcolm Mimms will remain on as president and chief operating officer and Word will continue to be based in Nashville, Tenn. Word Entertainment is home to more than 30 active artists on several record labels and has a catalog containing more the 75,000 masters. The company's publishing arm has approximately 45 songwriters under contract and administers the rights to more than 40,000 songs.



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