Distributed Weight: An update with Jbara news

DISTRIBUTED WEIGHT (UPDATE): The five-label consortium of Beggars Group, Merge, Secretly Canadian, Saddle Creek and Domino has been openly shopping for a new home. But ADA, their current distributor, is not going down without a fight. Former President/CEO of WEA distribution Mike Jbara has just been installed as President worldwide of ADA, and it would be an unfortunate start to his tenure to lose these five prized labels, which some observers value in the neighborhood of $20m in billing. It's become clear that the group is only looking for a basic pick, pack and ship deal, with little to no interest in the rest of the label services offered by the “major” independent distributors; they want to slash their distribution rates to a bare minimum, hold on to their digital rights and sell directly to the accounts. Word is they're really looking to cut out the middleman when it comes to warehousing and shipping. This certainly opens the door for a straight-ahead wholesaler to get into the game. Will ADA be able to sweeten the deal enough to keep them? Stay tuned. (6/18p)