Universal Music Enterprises (UME), Universal Music Group’s catalog division, is starting an Internet-only, limited-edition imprint, Hip-O Select.
Similar in inspiration and intent to Warner’s Rhino Handmade custom label, Hip-O Select will offer titles in editions of fewer than 10,000 copies. The label will focus on artists and titles that might not win wide acceptance at conventional music retail stores. Titles, which will range from single discs to boxed sets, will be priced at about $20 per disc.
The label’s Web site, hip-oselect.com, launches April 1. The first set available for sale will be “Tear It Up,” a single-disc collection of the complete Coral Records releases of ’50s rockabilly group Johnny Burnette & the Rock’n’Roll Trio. Other spring releases will include “Get It While You Can: The Legendary Sessions,” an expanded version of the out-of-print 1993 compilation of ’60s sides by soul singer Howard Tate, and “96 Degrees in the Shade,” a 1977 release by reggae band Third World.
Hip-O Select plans to issue 75-100 titles per year.
Former Rhino Records staffer Thane Tierney has joined UME as director of Hip-O Select.
