Verizon Teams With Regional Mexican Musical Legends Los Tigres Del Norte

BASKING RIDGE, NJ, and MIAMI — Reaching out to the broad fan base for Latin music, Verizon today announced an expansive relationship with Fonovisa/UMLE recording artists, Los Tigres del Norte, the multiple GRAMMY® and Latin GRAMMY®-award winning group known to fans around the globe as one of the world's most popular regional Mexican bands. The announcement was made at the Billboard Latin Music Conference being held in Miami this week.

Beginning this summer, select music from Los Tigres del Norte's forthcoming album will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless V CAST Music customers in the form of a four-song Mobile EP. Verizon will also be a sponsor of the band's tour dates in the United States, and the band will make select in-store appearances at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the country.

Fans can also look forward to the opportunity to enter a contest to win a private Los Tigres del Norte performance as well as more promotions during the year that will allow them to interact with the band and its music through their Verizon mobile phones.

"Latin and Hispanic music is an important genre for Verizon, and we are excited to work with and feature the legendary Los Tigres del Norte and bring more of their music to our customers," said Ed Ruth, director of digital music at Verizon. "As the band moves into the next phase of an astounding career, Verizon will be there to help them communicate with their fans using the latest in mobile technology."

"Communication is what our songs have always been about," says Los Tigres del Norte front man Jorge Hernandez. "We've always sought to sing songs that tell the stories of our fans. It's important for us to keep in close contact with them and thanks to Verizon we will be able to do that in new and innovative ways."

"Universal Music Group, which distributes Los Tigres del Norte's music, is committed to offering consumers the ability to enjoy music in many forms across a variety of different platforms," stated Amanda Marks, executive vice president and general manager of Universal Music Distribution. "And our partnership with Verizon exemplifies just one of the many new and exciting business models we are utilizing to fulfill this demand, while at the same time, expanding the digital playing field further for our artists and creating new revenue streams. We're delighted to be working with Verizon, which has been and remains an excellent partner, and with Los Tigres del Norte to help grow the mobile music business, particularly in the Latin market where mobile plays such an important role."

"At Fonovisa we are thrilled to have Los Tigres del Norte to join with Verizon to build an unprecedented mobile-driven campaign in support of their new album and tour. Regional Mexican continues to be the leading genre within Latin music in the U.S. and this campaign is a major step in consolidating the genre's positioning in the digital music world," said Gustavo Lopez, president of Fonovisa & Disa.

Hailed by The New York Times as "[Regional Mexican] music's greatest statesmen," Los Tigres del Norte has recorded more than 500 songs over the course of nearly 60 albums and sold more than 35 million albums worldwide. The group has also received multiple GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY awards, and were awarded the Latin Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Hailing from Rosa Morda, Sinaloa, Mexico, the band, comprised of brothers Jorge, Hernán, Edurado, and Luis Hernandez, plus cousin Oscar Lara, came to the United States in the late 1960s. The look of determination on their faces caused a border guard to dub them Los Tigres del Norte, or "The Tigers of the North." From their very beginning, the band has chronicled real-life stories of love and hardship, many of them passed on by their fans, others researched like a newspaper story. Their gritty realism and plain-spokenness led Billboard magazine to say, "Los Tigres del Norte are not just another popular musical act… Instead they're widely viewed as the voice of the people."

For more information on mobile music from Verizon Wireless, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or visit www.verizonwireless.com/music. For more information on Los Tigres del Norte, visit www.lostigresdelnorte.com.  

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable and largest wireless voice and data network, serving more than 80 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with more than 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia. 

About Universal Music Latin Entertainment
Universal Music Latin Entertainment (UMLE) is comprised of Universal Music Latino, Machete, Fonovisa, Disa, Universal Music Mexico & Central America, the Edimonsa, Disa, Fonovisa and Universal Latin publishing catalogs, and GTS Global Talent Services, a management service division. UMLE is a division of Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry's leading global music publishing operation.

Universal Music Group's record labels include Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino, Universal Records South, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company; Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter Skelter, its live music agency.

Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.

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