EA, Nettwerk Form Artwerk 'Full Service' Music Company

Major developer and publisher Electronic Arts has partnered with record label Nettwerk One Music to create a new “full service” music company called Artwerk. According to a statement announcing the partnership, the Los Angeles-based Artwerk label will actively look to sign and develop both new and established artists for publishing, master recording and sync deals, as well as digital and physical distribution. As its first confirmed client, the label has signed producer artist Junkie XL, who recently contributed tracks to EA's Madden NFL 07 and Need for Speed Carbon. In addition, Artwerk is also currently in negotiations with other unspecified artists that if signed will have their works featured in both future EA titles as well as through other film and television distribution channels. This news marks the latest in EA's long-standing interest in music promotion. The formation of Artwerk follows a previous partnership between EA and Nettwerk Music Group for the EA Recordings digital music distribution label, first announced in 2005 as a means to offer music clips from the publisher's various games as ringtones, mastertones or .MP3 format downloads. In addition, EA also formed a joint venture with Cherry Lane Music Publishing in 2004 as a means to sign musical artists and license EA music to TV, movies and commercials. “For the past five years, EA has been instrumental in breaking new artists, but we have been limited in our ability to grow them. With Artwerk, we can now directly sign, develop and launch artists for publishing, master recordings, sync deals and beyond,” commented Steve Schnur, worldwide executive of music and marketing at EA. “With Nettwerk, we are once again partnered with the most visionary team in the industry. And with Junkie XL as our premier signing, we are enormously excited about the future.”