Bacardi, Groove Armada Sign 360-Degree Deal
Bacardi and Groove Armada have signed a one-year partnership that covers recordings, touring, and audiovisual content. As the liquor company’s global experiential manager, Sarah Tinsley, explained it to Billboard.com, “Essentially we are taking over the role of a record label—producing the music, promoting new music, and the artist is playing at our events.”
One specific portion of the deal is a Groove Armada EP Bacardi plans on underwriting and releasing in physical and digital formats sometime in the third quarter of 2008. They will then have the option of licensing any tracks for global ad campaigns.
“We see this deal as giving us an increased opportunity to take our recorded and live music to new parts of the globe and to new potential markets,” Groove Armada manager Dan O’Neil said to Billboard. “Frankly, we haven’t found that [to be] easy with a major label.”
Groove Armada left their five-year deal with Jive Records at the tail end of 2007. Now that they’ve linked up with Bacardi, the duo will perform at 25 “B-Live” events beginning April 19 at Miami’s Bayfront Park Amphitheater. One key detail in the deal: Groove Armada retains the masters and the copyrights of any music created through the Bacardi partnership.
“Bacardi doesn’t see this as something that they want to earn money from, which is, quite rightly, something a label has to do,” O’Neil explained. “They are looking at it from a point of view of association, and they’re getting access to a license to use the music to implement their strategy worldwide.”
