A.S.A.P./DVD Series -Arista Signature Artist Program Presents Digital Value Discs -Launched With DVD Singles by Toni Braxton, Dido, Whitney Houston, OutKast, Pink, and Spiritualized;

DVD 'Singles' Contain Multiple Hit Videos Plus Extra Interactive Content; First Series In-Store November 21st, Followed by Usher in December, Joy Enriquez and Dream in January

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 -- Arista Records is set to launch the music industry's first full line of DVD singles, with next month's introduction of the A.S.A.P./DVD series -- Arista Signature Artist Program presents Digital Value Discs -- representing a broad spectrum of popular artists, beginning with seven releases by Toni Braxton (two separate DVDs), Dido, Whitney Houston, OutKast, Pink, and Spiritualized.

This multi-genre series will showcase familiar video performances of top hits by each artist, enhanced by extra interactive content comprising either interview footage, live performance, behind-the-scenes footage, electronic press kit material, or a combination of these elements, as well as an Internet link. The first set of releases announced above (with an attractive MSRP of $9.98 each) is set for November 21st in-store date -- two days before Thanksgiving and the start of the biggest retail shopping weekend of the year -- to be followed by further releases in December (Usher), January (Joy Enriquez, Dream) and so on.

The initial roll-out of artists and song/clip titles (plus details of extra content, which is still being finalized as of this writing) is as follows:

-- Toni Braxton - "Spanish Guitar" and "Just Be a Man About It" (plus behind-the-scenes footage from the making of her television spot, tba)
-- Toni Braxton - "He Wasn't Man Enough" and "Un-Break My Heart" (plus interview footage tba)
-- Dido - "Here With Me" and live version of "Thank You" (plus other live performance footage tba)
-- Whitney Houston - "Fine" and two additional clips tba (plus behind-the-scenes "making of the video" footage and interview footage tba)
-- OutKast - "B.O.B." and "Ms. Jackson" (plus live performance footage from SOB in New York, and interview footage tba)
-- Pink - "Most Girls" and "There You Go" (plus behind-the-scenes footage from the making of her television spot, tba)
-- Spiritualized - "Electricity" and "Come Together" (plus footage from their "electronic press kit" tba)

Initial details of the December and January releases (with only one song/clip title finalized as of this writing) are as follows:

-- Usher - "Pop Ya Collar" (plus live performance of "You Make Me Wanna," Q&A interview segment from his Enhanced CD, and footage from his "electronic press kit" tba)
-- Joy Enriquez - "Tell Me How You Feel" (plus additional live footage tba)
-- Dream - "He Loves U Not" (plus live performance footage of their recent mall tour, and new second single clip tba)

"Arista is already established as a clear market leader in full length music DVD with Platinum releases from Sarah McLachlan, Whitney Houston and Santana. This attractively priced, unprecedented DVD single series crosses all the most popular music genres and will certainly appeal to a broad demographic across all age groups," said Jordan Katz, Senior Vice President, Sales, Arista Records.

The introduction of the A.S.A.P./DVD series finds the growth of this highly accessible software expanding at an encouraging rate among the youth market. No longer confined to an adult demographic, DVD is today's most popular new digital configuration, owing to the marked increase of built-in DVD players in home pc's and laptops, as well as DVD's adaptability to Sony's newest PlayStation game system. Retail expectations for DVD sales this holiday season are extremely positive, and the A.S.A.P./DVD series will benefit from this wave of support.

In-depth background information on the first seven releases can be summarized as follows:

-- Toni Braxton - From her first new album in four years, the RIAA double-platinum The Heat, come two hot singles: "Just Be a Man About It" hit 6 R&B and 32 on the Hot 100 this summer, with a video that featured guest shots by Dr. Dre (reprising his role on the recording) and Q-Tip (formerly of A Tribe Called Quest) and was directed by Bille Woodruff (credits: Celine Dion/R Kelly's "I'm Your Angel," K-Ci & Jojo's "Life," Jessica Simpson's "I Wanna Love You Forever"). The video for "Spanish Guitar," the brand new third single from the album (going for adds this month), was also directed by Bille Woodruff.

-- Toni Braxton - Also from The Heat comes the album's first single release "He Wasn't Man Enough," which reached 1 R&B, 2 on the Hot 100, and top 20 on the Hot Dance/Club Chart last spring, and was the first of her videos with director Bille Woodruff. This DVD single's "flip side" reprises Woodruff's video of four years ago with "Un-Break My Heart," the RIAA platinum single that hit 1 Hot 100, 2 R&B, 1 Hot Dance/Club Play, 1 Hot Dance/Maxi Single, and 1 AC, from the 8-times platinum album of 1996, Secrets.

-- Dido - "Here With Me" is the flagship track from her current debut album, No Angel (20 weeks on the Billboard 200 Album chart, certified RIAA gold in August) and the provocative theme song of the WB's popular sci-fi series, Roswell. The video was directed by Liz Friedlander, whose "Buzzworthy" track record includes Alanis Morissette's "You Learn," Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta," and REM's "The Great Beyond." The DVD's second track will be Dido's live performance of "Thank You," her track that was sampled by Eminem on his controversial "Stan" from The Marshall Mathers EP.

-- Whitney Houston - One of three tracks on this DVD, "Fine," written and produced by Raphael Saadiq and Q-Tip, is the latest single - and the last of the previously unissued tracks - from Whitney - The Greatest Hits, near triple-platinum in the U.S., with worldwide sales over 5 million units. The video (included on the platinum-selling The Greatest Hits DVD collection) was directed by Kevin Bray, whose credits include five videos with Whitney ("My Love Is Your Love" and "I Learned From The Best," among them), as well as clips with Vanessa Williams ("Save The Best For Last"), Celine Dion ("Because You Love Me"), Jessica Simpson, and Nick Lachey.

-- OutKast - Two tracks, two revolutionary new video clips herald the fourth album by OutKast on LaFace Records, Stankonia, in-store Halloween day! "B.O.B." ("Bombs Of Baghdad") was directed by Dave Meyers (credits: Britney Spears' "Lucky," Hanson's "This Time Around," Kid Rock's "American BadAss," DMX's "Party Up"). "Ms. Jackson" was directed by F. Gary Gray, whose feature film directing credits include Friday, Set It Off and The Negotiator, and award-winning music videos like TLC's "Waterfalls," R. Kelly's "If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time," Dr Dre & Ice Cube's "Natural Born Killers" and OutKast's own "Southerplayalisticallacmuzak."

-- Pink - Two top ten Hot 100 single titles comprise this DVD, both from Pink's debut album on LaFace Records, Can't Take Me Home. The first single "There You Go," was directed by Dave Meyers, his credits include many MTV "TRL" favorites like Britney Spears' "Lucky," Hanson's "This Time Around," Kid Rock's "American BadAss," DMX's "Party Up." Her debut single reached 7 in the spring and was certified RIAA gold. The next single hit the streets in August, the current hit "Most Girls," with a video also directed by Dave Meyers. The album passed the platinum mark last month, and "Most Girls" is currently top 10 on the Hot 100, and Top 5 on both the Top Extended Singles & the Hot Dance/Club Play Chart.

-- Spiritualized - The blissed-out sounds of the U.K. trio consisting of singer/guitarist Jason Pierce, keyboardist/guitarist Kate Radley and bassist Sean Cook have found a loyal following on both sides of the Atlantic. Their first Arista album of 1997, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, contained two singles accompanied by fascinating videos, "Electricity" (directed by Tobias Zaldwa) and "Come Together" (directed by Baillie Walsh). Certified gold in England, it was voted the 1 album of the year in New Musical Express, and was one of the top five albums of the year in such respected publications as Melody Maker, Select, Vox, Sky, Mojo, and the Boston Globe.

BMG Entertainment is the $4.7 billion worldwide music and entertainment division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world's leading media companies, with annual revenues of $17.6 billion. BMG owns more than 200 record labels in 54 countries, including Arista Records, RCA Music Group and Ariola. BMG has been a leader in using the Internet to bring fans closer to their favorite artists. In addition to establishing GetMusic, an online content and commerce joint venture, BMG's online presence includes more than 30 wholly owned music & lifestyle Web sites around the world, and strategic marketing agreements with and key investments in leading online companies ARTISTdirect, Riffage.com, Egreetings Network, FanGlobe, Listen.com and Eritmo.com, among others. BMG also owns one of the world's largest music publishing companies, one of the world's leading compact disc and cassette manufacturing companies, and the world's largest music membership service, BMG Music Service, whose BMGMusicService.com consistently ranks within the Top 10 e-commerce sites. Bertelsmann's North America interests also include the Random House Inc. book publishing group; and the Gruner + Jahr magazine publishing group, which includes McCall's, Parents, Family Circle and YM magazines, among others.

For more info and links please visit Arista's website at http://www.arista.com.

SOURCE Arista Records

CONTACT: Laura Swanson of Arista Records, 212-830-2317, or Laura.Swanson@bmge.com