EDEL DISCOVERS AMERICA

edel Entertainment has officially launched in the U.S., with veteran industry exec Ron Urban as its President/CEO.

The company marks a new North American presence for the Hamburg, Germany-based European indie, edel Music AG, which acquired an 80% stake in RED Distribution from Sony last year. RED will distribute edel Entertainment projects.

Using RED's support services and marketing resources (RED Ink), its urban arm (RUMM) and the newly formed RED Dance, edel Entertainment will add a core marketing and promotion group, headed by former Island Def Jam Exec. VP and 24-year industry exec David Leach.

Urban, who most recently served as Sr. VP at Sony Music, said: "Looking at RED as a base, I saw the potential to form a company that could cater to every level of project development, while maintaining the independent spirit. It's not necessarily a new concept, but certainly unique in the way we're doing it. And we plan to have fun while we're at it. We will continue to look for ways to reinforce and advance the company to achieve its goals. Which is why we've decided to block hitsdailydouble.com from every computer in the office and cancel all in-house subscriptions to the magazine."