Barry Manilow, STILETTO New Media and Rhino Entertainment Garner Special Award at Music DVD Awards

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 9 -- At the 3rd Annual Music DVD Awards, presented this Tuesday at the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel, Barry Manilow and Rhino Entertainment received a special award for their series of concert video DVDs. From STILETTO New Media and Rhino Entertainment, MANILOW: MUSIC AND PASSION and FIRST & FAREWELL were recognized for their tremendous sales and groundbreaking success.

The special distinction award applauded Barry Manilow for his long standing contributions to the music video and DVD industry as well as his continuous support of great products. In 2006, MUSIC AND PASSION and FIRST & FAREWELL have both gone multi-platinum and Manilow was recognized with an Emmy Award for his MUSIC AND PASSION concert special on which the DVD was based. Throughout his long career, Barry Manilow has had multiple highly successful VHS and DVD releases, and the special award recognized him for those achievements.

Mark C. Grove of STILETTO New Media commented, "It's a great honor to be recognized by our peers. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Barry on both of these projects. We feel that he is the consummate professional. This award celebrates Barry Manilow's career as a musician, songwriter, producer and performer. It was an honor to work with such a talented and terrific individual."

The third annual Music DVD Awards were part of the third annual Music DVD Conference, produced by Home Media Magazine in partnership with The Hollywood Reporter, DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and the Entertainment Merchants Assn. A panel of entertainment journalists judged the awards, in which music DVDs released in 2006 competed in eight categories. Image Entertainment's "Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" won top honors as well as best vintage concert and best special features/bonus materials. Other winners included: Compilation: "Kiss Volume 1," VH1 Classic Records; Music Documentary: "New York Doll," Vivendi Visual Entertainment/Palm Pictures; New Concert: "Neil Young: Heart of Gold," Paramount Home Entertainment; TV Concert: "The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder," Shout! Factory.

Barry Manilow's unparalleled career encompasses virtually every arena of music, including performing, composing, arranging, and producing and has triumphed in every medium of entertainment. Industry charts have ranked him the undisputed number one adult contemporary artist of all time with record sales exceeding 75 million worldwide. This musical icon has written hundreds of songs and performed around the globe thrilling millions of fans, winning a Grammy, two Emmys, several Tony Awards, and an Oscar nomination along the way. In 2006 Manilow celebrated one of the most successful years of his career with his The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties becoming not only his first number one debut, but his first number one album since 1977; the PBS-aired Manilow: Music and Passion, in celebration of his 100th performance at the Las Vegas Hilton, garnering Manilow his second Emmy; and his The Greatest Songs Of The Sixties hit the charts at Number Two, allowing Manilow to experience something no other performer ever had -- two albums in the same calendar year hitting the number one and number two spots respectively!

STILETTO New Media was created to maximize the return on investment of the content it produces through distribution over the growing delivery systems including DVD, Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Internet and Mobile. The company's goal is to create a diverse array of programming to take advantage of the digital revolution that is transforming the media world.

Source: STILETTO