Razor & Tie Announces Exclusive Catalog Partnership For North America With ZTT Records And Stiff Records

New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Razor & Tie Media) Razor & Tie has signed an exclusive new multi-year, multi-rights licensing deal for North America with both ZTT Records and Stiff Records. As of March 1st 2013 Razor & Tie will assume all catalog distribution in the United States and Canada.

ZTT Records began life as the definitive label of post-modernist 80's cool, discovering - and taking to worldwide success - the likes of Art of Noise, Propaganda, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Shane MacGowan and the Popes, The Frames, and 808 State. Stiff Records started off as the ultimate 70's DIY indie label, with a back catalogue including Kirsty MacColl, Wreckless Eric, Dr. Feelgood, The Plasmatics, Rachel Sweet, Any Trouble, and Tracey Ullman.

Razor & Tie will re-issue ZTT Records and Stiff Records prestigious back catalogue in newly expanded editions this year and will also actively seek licensing opportunities for the catalog. Razor & Tie is also launching new, direct to consumer ZTT Records and Stiff Records online merch stores which will feature an array of newly created, limited-edition items including classic logo shirts and much more to be announced soon. Visit zttrecords.merchnow.com and stiffrecords.merchnow.com.

Razor & Tie has recently succeeded in reinvigorating the catalogs of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and BRAD through extensive reissue and merch campaigns. The announcement was made by Razor & Tie Co-Owners Cliff Chenfeld and Craig Balsam. "We are excited to work with ZTT and their excellent team in reintroducing these two preeminent catalogs to the North American market. We hope to reawaken an interest in the music of ZTT and Stiff artists in their existing fan base and allow their music to energize a generation of new fans."

Ally Horn, Managing Director, SPZ Group comments, "ZTT arrived in the USA with a bang, with Frankie Goes To Hollywood broadcasting their début single, Relax, from a Sherman tank driving down Sunset Strip. At the same time, Art of Noise hit No. 1 on the Billboard dance chart with Beat Box which, along with its follow-up Moments In Love, would become cornerstones of hip hop and rap. While quintessentially English, Stiff Records' previous American excursions include game-changing releases by Devo, The Plasmatics and the infamous Akron Compilation featuring The Waitresses. All of which means that - for both labels - a return to American shores is long, long overdue. But if you're going to do something, you have to do it right. Which is why we're thrilled to partner with Razor & Tie: a label that embodies the independence of Stiff, the futurism of ZTT and the spirit of adventure of both."

ZTT Records
Currently celebrating their 30th anniversary year, ZTT Records - Zang Tuum Tumb - began life in 1983 as the brainchild of record producer Trevor Horn. The home of futurist pop - A&R'd in its early days by NME writer Paul Morley - the label is home to a game-changing catalogue of electronic pop comprising 50 albums and a further 100 singles including Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Relax - #10 USA Billboard Hot 100, Two Tribes, Welcome To The Pleasuredome), Art of Noise (Moments in Love, Beat Box - #1 US Dance Chart, Close To The Edit - #4 US Dance Chart), Propaganda (a catalogue that dates back to Dr Mabuse - the opening theme of John Hughes' Some Kind of Wonderful) and 808 State (Pacific - #3 Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, Bombadin - #3 Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, Cubik - #8 Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs).

Stiff Records
Founded in 1976, Stiff Records was at the heart of the new wave, bringing the world artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, Kirsty MacColl and Ian Dury and what is generally regarded as the first ever punk rock single, New Rose by The Damned. The label set the yardstick for music business marketing, with artwork by Barney Bubbles and an array of memorable slogans, not least "It It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth A F***". Stiff continues to this day, with the 2012 UK #1 single Bom Bom by Sam And The Womp and a back catalogue comprising 150 singles and more than 50 albums of revered 70s and 80s pop, punk and rock. Highlights include Tenpole Tudor's Swords of a Thousand Men (as synched in 2012 to Aardman Animations' Pirates! and in 2011 to US TV ads for EA Games' FIFA 11), Tracey Ullman's They Don't Know (a #8 US hit in 1983 on the Billboard Hot 100), Wreckless Eric's Whole Wide World (recently synched to 2012 MacDonalds Canada TV ads) and Desmond Dekker's Israelites (as featured in Drugstore Cowboy).

Razor & Tie
With over 40 million units sold, 21 plus years in business and multiple Grammy Awards, Razor & Tie is the largest privately owned independent music label in North America. The full service label (which was founded in 1990 and has been co-owned since its inception by entrepreneurs Cliff Chenfeld and Craig Balsam) employs an expert staff that provides strategic marketing, publicity, new media/online marketing, tour marketing, radio and video promotion, as well as in-house creative team and video production services. The rapidly expanding roster includes a variety of both established and developing artists such as All That Remains, Attila, Brad, Chelsea Grin, Dar Williams, Dave Barnes, Foreigner, For Today, Hatebreed, Joe Jackson, Jon McLaughlin, Nonpoint, Norma Jean, P.O.D., Saves The Day, Shadows Fall, The Sword, HIM, Such Gold, and many more. The label also boasts successful kids music artists such as award-winning Laurie Berkner, Imagination Movers, Super Why! and The Wiggles.

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