Clear Channel Media and Entertainment and leading Classical Music label Naxos announce they have entered into a revenue-sharing agreement, similar to CCM+E's recent deals with Big Machine and Glassnote. Clear Channel says the agreement "aligns their business interests, focusing on accelerating the growth of digital radio and benefiting classical music fans across America."

As part of the new agreement, Naxos will bring their genre expertise to programming "Classica," the digital classical station on iHeartRadio.

Naxos of America is the largest digital distributor of independent Classical music. It supplies a catalog of over 30,000 albums from hundreds of classical labels, including 6,500 titles on its own labels, to digital download stores and mobile outlets worldwide.

"As Naxos celebrates its 25th anniversary, I can think of no better way to inaugurate the next 25 years than a partnership with Clear Channel that helps align the business interests of artists, labels, and broadcasters, while benefiting music fans across America," said Jim Selby, CEO of Naxos of America. "Naxos has long been a leader in the digital music space and we have found a perfect partner in Clear Channel that will help to grow digital radio as well as enable artists to reach a new generation of classical music lovers."

"We are enormously impressed with Naxos’s digital distribution, which makes them an ideal partner for Clear Channel as we continue to change the industry in bold and innovative ways," said Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman. "Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Haydn—these composers wrote the original power chords, and their work is as vital today as when it was first written. Our agreement with Naxos further demonstrates that the market-based business model we unveiled this past summer makes sense for labels, artists, broadcasters, and fans."