EP Entertainment is an American record label founded by Robert "Robeo" Eleazer and Tony "The Negotiator" Perez. EP Entertainment operates in partnerships with Capitol Music Group / Universal Music Group. EP is a full-service entertainment company. It self-operates within divisions in music publishing, touring and merchandising; film & television; new business ventures; as well as a music label. EP Entertainment is home to a diverse roster of recording artists, writers, and producers Including Alessia Cara, Sebastian Kole, Dylan Hyde, Ljay Currie, Sylah, Jared Evan, Riquel V, producers Click N Press, Fredro, & Big Tank.
2011–2012: The beginning
EP Entertainment was founded in 2011 in Manhattan, Tony Perez and Robert Eleazer had both worked in the music industry for years, and had success in production, through managing writers and producers, as well as securing publishing deals. Some people they have worked with prior to forming EP Entertainment were Stat Quo, Scram Jones, Sean Garrett and Claude Kelly. In late 2011, Perez and Eleazer began to expand their company by actively looking for artists to sign. In late 2011, Tony Perez received a phone call from his daughter Korinne Perez about artist B Smyth, who signed to EP Entertainment shortly thereafter, and then went on to sign a joint venture with Motown Records. Motown Records and EP Entertainment released his debut single, "Leggo" featuring 2 Chainz, on December 11, 2012. The song peaked at #41 on the U.S. R&B Songs List, and #20 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles list. In 2012, Eleazer was introduced to Sebastian Kole as a writer through a mutual friend and associate Tish Hyman, Robert soon learned of Sebastian's other talents as an artist and producer. Tony and Robert signed Sebastian to EP Entertainment who then was signed through a joint venture with Motown Records and Universal Music Publishing Group. As they became better known and B Smyth gained momentum, Eleazer and Perez continued to search for new acts.
2014–2015
In fall of 2014, EP Entertainment A&R Korinne Perez discovered another artist; Alessia Cara through her YouTube channel. Following a brief discussion with Alessia and her family, she was brought to New York City to meet with EP. On that same trip, Alessia was invited to a performance where she would meet Sebastian Kole and discuss music. After their initial introduction, EP Entertainment arranged for Sebastian to travel to Toronto to work with Alessia on her album with Kuya Productions, the two worked as co-writers along with Kuya Productions on what would become her first single "Here", released in April 2015; which was the debut single from her first album, Know-It-All, released November 13, 2015. EP Entertainment introduced Alessia to Tab Nkhereanye of Def Jam in July 2014 in Los Angeles, California, Tab brought her to NO I.D. and Steve Bartels, who then signed Alessia to Def Jam. A sleeper hit, "Here" reached the top 5 in the United States and the top 20 in Canada.
2016–present
In 2016, Sebastian Kole and EP Entertainment delivered his entire album to Motown Records. Shortly thereafter, Kole's music was shared with the music supervisor for Grey's Anatomy and at their request, four of his songs were selected to be played on the show. EP Entertainment and Motown made the decision to release his self-titled debut EP following the success with Grey's Anatomy. His debut album Soup was released on October 7, 2016. In 2016, EP Entertainment signed a joint-venture label deal with Capitol Music Group, in conjunction with artists Dylan Hyde, Ljay Currie and Sylah. EP Entertainment is currently working on the production of their newest artists to be released this year. In 2018 EP Entertainment celebrated the 60th Grammy Awards where their artist Alessia Cara took home the award for Best New Artist.
