July 14, 2009 (New York, NY)Central South Distribution, Inc., which has been the number one independent faith based record distributor in the world for the past decade, has formed a partnership with Lataillade Entertainment, headed by independent contemporary gospel label/publishing/marketing guru Vicki Mack-Lataillade, and her husband, Claude Lataillade, and Ruff Town Entertainment Group, an entity founded by Grammy nominated and noted songwriter/producer/recording artist Rene Moore. The multi-million dollar stock purchase marks the first time in history that three African Americans’ will have a principal stake and partnership in a major contemporary music distribution company. Randy Davidson, founder and CEO of Central South, Inc., made the unprecedented and milestone announcement today, which is effective immediately.
Vicki Mack-Lataillade, Claude Lataillade, and Rene Moore, will serve on Central South’s Board of Directors along with Davidson, Chuck Adams, co-founder and President of Central South, and Greg Davidson, the company’s Vice-President of Finance. Central South is a privately held and family owned business that has been based in Nashville, Tennessee, since its’ inception in 1970. On top of being the #1 independent faith based distributor, they rank #2 behind Sony/BMG/Provident/Integrity as the leading distributor of faith based music in the US. Over the past decade Central South built a chain of 90 retail stores that grossed $100 million in volume, and has successfully crossed over its’ nearly 80% urban contemporary gospel and faith based music into major retail chains like Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy. The Lataillade’s are credited with birthing the most successful independent gospel label ever, Gospo Centric Records, which along with several other companies has generated over $100 million dollars. Vijay Chandran, President of the Cauvery Group, Inc., arranged the financing for the acquisition.
The groundbreaking alliance is not only a first in breaking racial barriers, but it also marks the first time an African American woman, Mack-Lataillade, and a recording artist, Moore, two of the industry’s leading artist development and content providers, will have a primary role with a leading distributor. The synergy of the principals is designed to convert Central South into a vertically integrated entity that can immediately monetize every aspect of consumer consumption for both secular and non-secular music.
“The paradigm for the way contemporary music is sold on the retail level is in a constant state of flux and is extremely challenging at the moment,” noted Davidson. “The merger with Lataillade Entertainment and Ruff Town Entertainment Group is a natural progression for Central South, and we’re confident that the vast experience and expertise of our unparalleled management team will help us to further secure and expand our dominant market share.”
“This is really a dream come true opportunity,” remarked Vicki Mack-Lataillade. “We weren’t able to truly control or influence our distribution model with our previous record labels. Our relationship with Central South gives us a chance to be more than just aggregators of content. We’ll be able to fully exploit and utilize our creativity and marketing savvy, and offer artists a full range of services, from coaching and helping them realize and fulfill their musical vision, to formulating effective business/marketing strategies for their product. Artists will have the opportunity to make not only music products available, but music related products as well.”
“We share a common vision with Central South of maintaining our independent spirit, staying streamlined, and seeking viable partnerships with other companies that will help us grow a multi-media distribution platform for a wide range of faith based and secular products including, CD’s, DVD’s, to potentially developing/distributing original television and film programs, infused Claude Lataillade. “We also intend to take an aggressive posture in expanding and developing our digital strategy, and our roles as creators/providers and distributors of digital content.”
For more information on Central South Distribution, please visit their official website:
http://www.centralsouthdistribution.com“Our vision for Central South is to appeal and attract songwriters/producers, artists, labels, that will appreciate collaborating with a seasoned team of veterans that integrate keen artistic sensibility with proven business acumen,” stated Rene Moore. “We’re in the very unique position of creating a label/distribution template that’s a first on every level, and I’m excited and thrilled to be part of a partnership and company that ultimately can become a haven and nurturing place for talented artists from all music genres.”
Vicki Mack Lataillade has arguably been one of the most influential and seminal figures in contemporary gospel music for the past 30 years. Along with her husband Claude, they built the most successful independent gospel label in history with Gospo Centric Records, the imprint they formed in 1993, and B-Rite Music, which was form in 1994. In a 13-year span Gospo Centric broke every imaginable gospel music sales record, amassing over 100 million in record sales, grossing $56 million, and in a three year stretch, 1998 – 2000, the label owned 30% of the market share of all gospel sales and was either the #1 or #2 gospel label in the industry. They built a diverse and commercially viable artist roster taking a chance with gospel/hip hop/rapper Kirk Franklin, Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers, Tramaine Hawkins, Byron Cage, David Hollister, Kelly Price, Reggae legend Papa San, and Trin-I-tee 5:7, to name just a few. Franklin alone sold over 10 million records, a half dozen releases which were double-platinum, and Trin-I-tee 5:7 was the first all female gospel group to sell over 500,000. In 2004, they sold the label to Zomba/BMG.
Over the past several years, Vicki, CEO, and Claude, CFO, refocused their energies to build and manage a wide spectrum of entertainment properties under the banner of Lataillade Entertainment, which include Mack Entertainment, a record label, Lilly Mack Publishing, (gospel music’s #1 music publishing company) a couple of the television series/properties, “The Lilly Mack Sing-A-Long,” and “ Soulaughable,” a comedy/variety show on The Word Network, and Muscapes, an entity that serves as a digital arm for all its’ products.
Rene Moore has enjoyed a distinguished career as a prolific songwriter/producer/artist, and business entrepreneur. In his early years he played and performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Zubin Mehta, but is most noted for his starring role in Rene & Angela, considered one of the most influential duets in the history of R&B and hip hop music. In the late eighties, the duo scored a series of classic hits, including, “You Don’t Have To Cry,” “Your Smile,” “Save Your Love,” which was a #1 hit, and featured a guest rapper throughout the record, which marked the first time the technique was employed on a major release, and has since, become a staple and vital part of many of contemporary pop music’s biggest hits. Moore also enjoyed a decade of writing and producing with the late Michael Jackson, and received a Grammy nomination for “Song Of The Year,” for “Jam” which he penned for the King of Pop. His thriving career as songwriter/producer also includes penning songs for Janet Jackson, Jay Z, Notorious B.I.G., The Isley Brothers, Foxy Brown, David Hasselhoff, the Pointer Sisters, and many more. Moore launched the Ruff Town Entertainment Group in 1997 with radio mogul Kevin Wagner and rapper JT Money. The company includes a burgeoning record label and a fertile and highly successful publishing company.
Central South’s primary offices will remain in Nashville, and President Chuck Adams is extremely optimistic about the company’s future, “We’ve always tried to manage our business with insight, and foresight. Combining our track record with the incredible creative and marketing genius of Vicki, Claude, and Rene gives us chance to rewrite yet another chapter in our company’s success story, and unequivocally, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
The music business loves to categorize. Roy Rogers plays slide guitar and worked for a number of years with John Lee Hooker. So his recordings are generally filed in the blues section. But while blues grooves help provide a strong rhythmic core for the project, there’s much more here than formulaic twelve-bar workouts.
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