House of Blues Entertainment, Inc. has announced the purchase of Universal Concerts, a promotion and production company that operates twenty top venues in the U.S. and Canada, from the Seagram Company, Ltd. for more than $190 million.

"This changes the game for us in a big way," said House of Blues Media Properties President Lou Mann. "We're becoming a marketing entity to the labels and to the artists. Not only do we have the concert halls and the clubs and now the amphitheaters, we also have a television show, a network of over two hundred radio stations, and we have our own little record label."

Mann sees the House of Blues Internet site (www.hob.com) as the driving force behind this new multimedia empire. Last week, the site hosted a live pay-per-view Ziggy Marley concert and plans to do several more in the upcoming months. "We're creating a revenue stream for the artists and the labels that doesn't exist," he said. "No one is doing this."

According to Mann, there will be no management or operational changes at Universal Concerts.

BILL CRANDALL
(JULY 29, 1999)