Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 14:10:04 -0500 From: Jeff Keibel Subject: Universal Heartbeat Universal's purchase of the PolyGram empire has meant much sadness regarding dropped staff and bands at PolyGram. For the Canadian market, this has affected PolyGram in a very this-listy manner. 4AD has been distributed in Canada by PolyGram since the very beginning, barring a few releases. It was a mutually happy relationship but one that didn't seem to matter much at Universal, who when skimming the fat promptly cut 4AD off. The last 4AD/PolyGram release was "Out Of Tune" from Mojave 3. 4AD in Canada will begin a licensing arrangement via the Toronto offices of Beggars Banquet starting in 1999. The folks at Beggars Canada are fans of the music as were the PolyGram people so I know the committment to 4AD will continue. Beggars Canada is relatively new, having just emerged a couple years back when Beggars moved local distribution from PolyGram to its own branch offices. Already such acts as The Prodigy and labels such as Too Pure and Wiiija have enjoyed very good exposure and sales. For PolyGram, it has meant the loss of a label that meant a lot to them. It is sad such bands as gusGus and Kristin Hersh will not be marketed by PolyGram but I know Beggars Canada will be gung ho about making sure these releases are noticed in the stores and radio... Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 19:19:45 -0500 From: Jeff Keibel Subject: Selecting 4AD I dunno if anyone is interested in a detailed rundown on the newest chapter in 4AD's Canadian history, but there is a good press release located at the Beggars Banquet site... http://www.beggars.com/news/canadanews.html