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"Jay-Z has confirmed the destinations of his Blueprint 3 and Roc Nation label, telling Billboard that his new album will be released on Atlantic Records while the label he formed after signing a 360 deal with Live Nation is bound to Sony Music. Prior to the official announcement, it seemed like there was a bidding war between Warner Music (which houses Atlantic Records) and Sony Music to be Jigga&amp;apos;s distributor, but the ever-entrepreneurial rapper ended up striking deals with both sides.\r\n&amp;quot;Roc Nation &amp;#x2014; we&amp;apos;re experts in marketing and making records. But we do distribution deals,&amp;quot; Jay-Z told Billboard. &amp;quot;On this one [Blueprint 3], we&amp;apos;re working directly with the Atlantic staff... For the rest of the Roc Nation artists, we did a distribution deal with Sony.&amp;quot; Jay-Z has ties with both labels: Atlantic Records is under the jurisdiction of Warner Music CEO Lyon Cohen, who worked with Jay at Def Jam and also appears in the rapper&amp;apos;s new &amp;quot;D.O.A.&amp;quot; video. Over at Sony Music, subsidiary Epic Records is run by Amanda Ghost, who is also managed by Roc Nation. Plus, Jay&amp;apos;s wife Beyonc&amp;#xE9; is signed to Sony Music&amp;apos;s Columbia Records.\r\nAs Rock Daily previously reported, Jay-Z bought out his Def Jam contract for $5 million, giving him freedom to take Blueprint 3 elsewhere. As Jay-Z tells Billboard, he became increasingly frustrated by Def Jam&amp;apos;s stodgy approach to distribution deals. &amp;quot;You have to figure, this is like four years ago, and to them it was just like, &amp;apos;Are you crazy? No! Make a song!&amp;apos; &amp;quot; Jay said. &amp;quot;To me it was like, I&amp;apos;ve sold companies for huge amounts of money. I&amp;apos;m an entrepreneur &amp;#x2014; that&amp;apos;s what I&amp;apos;ve been all my life. I can&amp;apos;t just sit here and make records and not do anything else. Why wouldn&amp;apos;t you want to do this with me? I felt under-utilized.&amp;quot; The Blueprint 3 is out September 11th, exactly eight years to the day the rapper&amp;apos;s original Blueprint was released.\r\nRelated Stories:&amp;#x2022; Jay-Z Recruits Harvey Keitel, LeBron James For &amp;quot;D.O.A.&amp;quot; Video &amp;#x2022; Conflicting Reports Claim Jay-Z Close to New Record Deal &amp;#x2022; Jay-Z Buys Out Def Jam Contract, &amp;quot;Blueprint 3&amp;quot; Heads to Roc Nation"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jay-z-talks-ditching-def-jam-new-deals-im-an-entrepreneur-20090701>