Six Degrees Records--whose brand is known for electronic and other urban global music forms--has launched Emerging Artists, a digital-only EP release series, possibly making the label one of the first in the "world music" category to try out the digital-only model in a substantial way beyond promotion. The series kicks off with a five song EP, each track representing an artist who will have their own digital-only EP released under the series in coming weeks: Rara Avis, DO (featuring Omar Sosa & Greg Landau), ZAMAN 8 and Hafez Modir, MNO, and Jef Stott. In related news, Six Degrees also just signed an exclusive distribution deal with Fontana, the independent distribution arm of Universal Music Group. This is in the wake of major retailer Tower Records and Bayside Entertainment Distribution (Six Degrees' prior distributor) both going out of business this October. Tower's closing has had a significant impact on record labels as a whole, and a heavy impact on the "world music" scene since Tower made up a significant percentage of CD sales (some say as much as a third), acting as a sort of wake-up call for many labels and distributors and marking a turning point in the shift to digital distribution.
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