Sammy Hagar's Tequila Supergroup

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If you're not being played on the radio, you're not going to get into the stores. If you don't get into the stores, you're not going to sell any records. Trying your product is like hearing your song on the radio. If you're not in the bars, they're not going to try you're product. If they're not trying your product, they're not buying it in stores.

And the whole thing is not going to happen. So I think my U.S. distributors Young's Market and Infinium and my president, Steve Kauffman, did a great job of getting that done for me to this point. But I realized that I was being a small independent label that had a hit record and now I needed a big label.

Not About the Money

It's like, would I want to make a brand new CD and have them tell me, "It's going to be great but we're just going to put it out for some of your friends?" No. This is a great CD, this is my music. I want the whole world to hear this music. It's the same thing. I look at Campari like Warner Brothers (WMG) or MCA or Universal. I needed one of the big record companies to get my record out to the whole world. I signed deals with those people. And that's what I'm doing right now.

I have turned down many big groups of investors that have offered me a lot of money. So if you say, well it's about the money, bull crap. The money part of it is just a fringe benefit—it was about finding the right partner and that's what I'm excited about.

Campari has distribution on six continents. To imagine people calling for Cabo Waboritas in Asia, Australia, and South America—that's what I'm talking about right there. That's exactly what this deal is all about. It's about people just saying, "Hey man, I want to try Cabo Wabo. I heard so much about it." And now they get the chance to do it. It's awesome. It's a dream come true. I don't think there's a bar in the world that doesn't have Campari on the back bar. And hopefully there's going to be a bottle of Cabo Wabo sitting next to it.

I do just want to say that I did not sell my company. I'm still totally involved. I've been a small independent label all this time and I took on a big label that can help me go global. Nothing really changes for me. It's just on a larger scale. I'll still promote the tequila and be as actively involved in the company as before. I'm still basically a musician with a lifestyle that is part of everything that I do.

I get goose bumps on my arm when I think about what this deal is going to do for Cabo Wabo. It's going to be available around the world. And over the next few years, it's going to be a legitimate company. My great-grandkids are going to say, "My great-grandfather started this brand." That's so exciting to me.

See BusinessWeek's slide show on the making of Cabo Wabo tequila.

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As told to Stacy Perman