I was just alerted to a new web site for The Bridge Entertainment Group at tbentgroup.com.The Bridge is "an artist development company that works with musicians, labels and new artist managers to successfully deal with anything from releasing an album and creating a marketing campaign to putting together a tour." The News section of that site has a press release with the title, "Tori Amos Announces New Business Venture", which includes several interesting quotes from Tori. As stated in the press release, "The Bridge's first client will be Ms. Amos and they will be overseeing the upcoming launch of Tales of a Librarian on Atlantic Records on November 18 followed shortly thereafter by the release of the film Mona Lisa Smile for which Amos contributed to the soundtrack as well as making a cameo appearance in the movie."

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Press Release

Tori Amos Announces New Business Venture

Thu, Oct 9, 2003 - Tori Amos has announced a new business venture. The move aims to assist the creative development of an artist as record labels spend more and more time dealing with how to approach the changing environment of the music industry. Her solution: The Bridge Entertainment Group, a project development company that can help musicians deal with anything from creating an album marketing campaign to putting together a tour. Whether an artist might find themselves between management, not ready to commit to a long term management agreement, or dealing with the revolving door of a record label where the creative core could change at any time, The Bridge can be there to make sure details are taken care of during an interim period, whether hired by the artist themselves or as a place for management companies and record labels to outsource projects. "When the dust settles new paradigms that support artists must be created. What we've lost is artist development, tour development, image development and how to be a bridge in a music industry that is attempting to redefine itself but hasn't quite achieved that yet," says Amos.

After the shocking exit of Epic Records President Polly Anthony, Amos stated "Polly was one of the main reasons why I signed with the label, and after she left it became clear I had to pull together my own creative team that wouldn't miss a beat in the development of my various projects. The record companies seem to be cutting back the ideas people and those who know how to implement. The music business is changing and we need to change with it," claims Amos.

The Bridge brings together the talents of John Witherspoon and Chelsea Laird. Witherspoon has been involved in Amos' career since 1992. Up until 1999 he was on the road coordinating the touring and marketing efforts of Amos who was recently named one of the top live acts of all time. In 1999 he settled in Los Angeles and continued as part of Amos' management team. Laird was part of the think tank for the multimedia dimensions of the 2002 release of Scarlet's Walk as well as the Promotions Coordinator for the 14 month long tour that followed, and, along with Amos, has also been at the core of the concept and development of the upcoming release of Tales of a Librarian.

The Bridge's first client will be Ms. Amos and they will be overseeing the upcoming launch of Tales of a Librarian on Atlantic Records on November 18 followed shortly thereafter by the release of the film Mona Lisa Smile for which Amos contributed to the soundtrack as well as making a cameo appearance in the movie.

The Bridge will be establishing itself on land in Los Angeles, CA and in cyberspace at www.tbentgroup.com For more information please visit the website or contact via email at info@tbentgroup.com