Coach? I have posted it on and on before. I'll lay it out again just for you.
Violator Management is owned in majority by Chris Lighty who is in Forbes 40 Entrepreneurs Under 40. He works in cooperation with an unnamed entity for now that is responsible for marrying the likes of Madonna with Motorola, Jessica Simpson with Pepsi, and of course, his own artist under management 50 Cent with Glaceau Vitamin Waters for his Formula 50. That deal alone led to a $4.1 billion buyout of that company by Coca Cola. He also married 50 Cent with Reebok AND his new cologne line amongst another 6 branding opportunities.
In 2007, Chris Lighty formed a new venture with Warner Music in his new Brand Asset Management division that would further marry and match artists at Warner Music with brand endorsement deals. It is my 100% contention that this is what led to the immediate deal with Kid Rock WHILE negotiations were still ongoing with Violator. I mean think about it. We have a deal with Universal Interscope and their stable of artists. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere we get a deal with Kid Rock of Atlantic Records who is under Warner Music's umbrella where we have no deal of any kind with Warner Music. Kid Rock was shopping a beer introduction AND his own beer company with multiple beers to introduce and Lighty and our unnamed entity put Rock in Kenny's office. It's just that simple.
Going back to Violator, we will see as I've shown from the labeling on the Leyrat that is going out to distributors now that Violator is Violator Imports LLC. It will be a division spin off just as Violator Entertainment and Brand Asset Management was. 50 Cent and Lighty formed their own movie company last year as partners. Violator the parent is jointly owned by Chris Lighty and Mona Scott with a 25% interest held by none other than 50 Cent. James Cruz also has a small portion as the man that gets the deals done all the way around.
When you sign Violator, or should I say, when they sign us, we get the whole team. Now it is obvious to this point that the Leyrat initial cognac phase is going out with its standard label to get the foothold of the product and brand acceptance into the marketplace surrounding these artists albums. However, we have not seen the complete lay out on "Glory" as to what and who will be the icon associated with that product. We also haven't seen anything on the total of a dozen other planned beverages under the Violator umbrella.
The final point is OUR cognac will be a Dre and Violator and 50 Cent and perhaps an Eminem promoted cognac as "the preferred cognac of the rap community." What better way to promote it than by ALL the artists rather than just a Dre. Get ready for the whole advertising smear called "Guily Pleasures" with the hot ladies, the sex, and all that stuff that makes you warm and fuzzy.
When it comes down to buyout, the mass appeal and ultimately the price tag is accentuated by not whose face is on the label but rather whose fan base will buy the product and continue to do so for many years to come. And at this point, I'd rather have 5 artists all in love with one product instead of just one that will sell and move on to his next deal.