Steven Lerner Exits Wind-up Entertainment

NEW YORK, March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Subsequent to an agreement between company Chairman Alan Meltzer and Steven Lerner, wherein Mr. Lerner's day to day Wind-up activities ceased in October, 2006, Mr. Lerner submitted a formal resignation on March 9, 2007. On March 13, he announced his resignation from Wind-up via an e-mail sent to friends and industry colleagues, and on March 19 Lerner concluded with a farewell e-mail to the Wind-up staff. Company Chairman Alan Meltzer was in Las Vegas and could not be reached for comment.

Ed Vetri assumed the presidency of Wind-up in November, 2005, leading the company to one of its best years since it was founded. He oversaw the launch of Evanescence's global smash The Open Door, which has sold millions of copies worldwide, and has been instrumental in attracting new cutting edge artists to the label. Prior to this promotion, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Wind-up and has been with the company for seven years.

ABOUT WIND-UP RECORDS

Wind-up Records, a division of Wind-up Entertainment, is a privately owned company that was founded in March 1997. The label is currently the largest independently owned and operated label in the United States and is distributed by Sony / BMG Entertainment worldwide, excluding Canada where the company operates Wind-up Canada. The roster features Evanescence, whose worldwide sales have surpassed 20 million copies; Seether, who have released three consecutive gold-certified studio albums; Finger Eleven, Scott Stapp and the entire Creed repertoire and approximately a dozen developing artists as well as numerous hit soundtracks to feature films including Walk The Line, Fantastic 4, and Daredevil. Wind-up Entertainment also houses the publishing concerns Dwight Frye Music, Renfield Music Publishing, Wallachi Music Publishing, Jessop Music Publishing and Viovodes Music Publishing, in addition to Pronto, a full-scale retail, online and touring merchandising company. Recently, Wind-up Artist Development Corp. was launched with many of the developing artists signing on with four-tiered partnerships encompassing recording, publishing, merchandising and touring.