Bryan Turner, prexy-CEO of rap powerhouse Priority Records, and metal mavens Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne have joined forces.
Under the terms of the exclusive distribution agreement, Priority and Divine Recordings (the new label founded by the veteran vocalist and his manager-wife) will share marketing and promotion efforts within each of their areas of expertise.
For example, Osbourne's touring talents -- the wildly successful annual multi-artist summer music package OZZfest is her brainchild -- will be supported by Priority's street marketing skills. OZZfest 2000, the fourth in the series, is set to kick off July 2.
"We had meetings with every major label and very few of them wanted to take talent from the street and build it," Sharon Osbourne told Daily Variety.
"But Bryan and Priority totally get the world of working from the street," she said. "Neither one of us has had artists who went straight on MTV or were initially embraced by radio. We break records the same way -- through the streets," she added.
"At this point in my career, I've earned the luxury of choosing who I do business with," Turner told Daily Variety. "And two of the things that attracted me to Sharon were her intelligence and her wit. We both think very independently. I'm an entrepreneurial person who started from scratch back in '85, and she appreciates that thought process.
"We're going to do things that might not seem prudent to a big company, but we're going to try them. Our approach and thought and culture is that of an independent. It's going to be fun."
Rap stars
Los Angeles-based Priority has long been notable for its host of multiplatinum rappers (Ice Cube, Eazy E, Snoop Dogg, N.W.A.) -- and for inking distribution deals with such mega-moneymaking labels as Master P's No Limit, Rawkus, Ruthless, Rap-a-Lot and Death Row.
Among the first releases under the Divine/Priority pact will be "Nativity in Black 2," a Black Sabbath tribute record (Osbourne began his career as the pioneering metal band's frontman). Set to hit the streets in May, disc will feature Pantera, Megadeth, System of a Down, Static X and a version of "N.I.B." by Ozzy Osbourne with Primus.
Other albums in the pipeline include the soundtrack for the OZZfest documentary, which will be directed by Penelope Spheeris (the "Decline of Western Civilization" docus, "Wayne's World"), and the debut solo disc from Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi.
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