GRAMMY(R) Winner Jason Olaine and Music Industry Expert Jay Sweet Join Festival Network

GRAMMY(R) Winner Jason Olaine and Music Industry Expert Jay Sweet Join Festival Network

NEW YORK, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The Festival Network LLC (FN), a leader in developing and producing festivals in distinctive locations around the world for discerning partners, artists and audiences, announced today that Jason Olaine has joined the team as vice president of programming and Jay Sweet has been named associate producer for the Newport Folk Festival, Whistler Music Festival and a soon to be announced festival for 2008.

"Jason Olaine and Jay Sweet bring with them a depth of knowledge and expertise in the entertainment industry that will greatly benefit The Festival Network as the company continues to grow its roster of new festivals and reinvigorate the festival business model for a new generation," said Landon Mertz, chief operating officer of The Festival Network.

Olaine knows the music business from many angles: He launched Monterey Jazz Festival Records as a joint venture label with Concord Music Group in 2006. As general manager, he oversaw the digitization and packaging of 50 years of performances from the storied festival's archives, bringing historic performances by such artists as Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie to a global market. He revived Yoshi's in San Francisco as its artistic director, has worked as a musician and artist manager, and, while director of A&R at Verve Records, won a GRAMMY(R) Award as a hands-on record producer for Directions in Music by Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker and Roy Hargove.

Sweet, in his role as associate producer, will bring special insight to The Festival Network, where his creative capabilities will also be utilized on other corporate initiatives. In his career, he has focused on the inner workings of the entertainment industry, particularly in the areas of marketing, branding, licensing and content acquisition. A major focus has been development of creative alliances linking corporate America with appropriate music initiatives. He is a principal and co-founder of Sweet & Doggett Consulting, one of the East Coast's premier music consulting firms, where his clients have included communications agencies such as Arnold Worldwide, Hill Holiday and MMB. Sweet is also editor-at-large and director of business development for the acclaimed national music and film magazine Paste.

Marrying legendary impresario George Wein's legacy of branded music festivals with new corporate and marketing leadership, The Festival Network, LLC (FN) develops, acquires and produces music festivals and live entertainment properties in unique destinations around the globe -- offering a matchless portfolio of marketing and economic development platforms to a wide range of business partners. FN's roster of festivals, coupled with its historic media archives dating back over a half century, also serves to generate content tailor-made for premium broadcast distribution, after-market media and a variety of business partnerships. FN's 2008 schedule includes eight JVC Jazz Festivals in the United States and abroad, plus major festivals in such locales as Martha's Vineyard, Newport, Bermuda and Whistler.

Source: The Festival Network LLC

CONTACT: Karen Horton, T: +1-973-378-8327, C: +1-201-306-4946,
khorton@festivalnetwork.com, or Andrea Axelrod, T: +1-212-865-3492,
C: +1-917-554-7800, aaxelrod@festivalnetwork.com, both of The Festival Network
LLC

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