Fontana Partners with Downtown Music Services for Sync Licensing Agreement

Fontana Partners with Downtown Music Services for Sync Licensing Agreement

Fontana Expands to Offer Music Clearance Services To All Partner Labels

NEW YORK, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Fontana, the independent distribution arm of Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company, has signed an agreement with Downtown Music Services (DMS), the sync licensing and branding agency of Downtown Music, LLC, to help facilitate the company's licensing initiatives on behalf of their roster of labels. The agreement builds upon an already existing successful relationship between Fontana and Downtown. The announcement was made today by Ron Spaulding, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Fontana, Josh Deutsch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Downtown Music and Justin Kalifowitz, President of Downtown Music Publishing and Co-Founder of DMS.

Under this agreement, Fontana will expand its services further to handle music clearance and sync licensing for all of the company's partner labels in order to maximize all revenue paths for their artists.

"We're thrilled to be able to provide yet another service for our partner labels," stated Mr. Spaulding. "And certainly, to be deepening our relationship with Josh and his team. Downtown Music is a star in the independent music arena and through this agreement, we are armed and ready to help our labels make an even larger impact on the film and television worlds."

DMS connects premium independent music with film and television, commercial advertising, video game and online communities. DMS' catalog now includes over 40,000 master recordings by artists such as Charlie Parker, Motley Crue, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Mos Def. Independent labels represented by DMS include Cooking Vinyl, Dim Mak, Downtown Records, Eleven Seven, Fool's Gold, Mad Decent, Mercer Street, and ZTT among others. DMS also serves as the exclusive licensing agent for Downtown Music Publishing.

"Downtown is very excited to partner with Fontana to offer an unprecedented licensing platform and service to its excellent roster of independent labels and artists," commented Mr. Deutsch. "We are delighted to extend our relationship with Ron Spaulding and Jim Urie and the entire Fontana and UMD team to capture significant licensing revenue for partner labels across the film, television, agency and brand communities."

With offices in New York and Los Angeles, the DMS staff boasts a robust team of dedicated creative and licensing executives from across the music, film, television and advertising industries.

"With such a rich and varied roster, we are very excited about working with Ron Spaulding, Bryan Mead and their labels to offer sync licensing and administration services," added Mr. Kalifowitz. "The DMS staff is looking forward to offering music supervisors, brands and agencies unique opportunities to engage with Fontana's labels."

About Fontana

Fontana Distribution, the independent arm of Universal Music Group Distribution (UMGD), provides unparalleled sales and marketing support, as well as back office and label services, for a diverse roster of labels and their artists. Fontana distributes more than 100 labels including Downtown Music, Savoy, Vagrant Records, Eagle Rock, VP Records, American Gramaphone, Six Degrees, Last Gang Records, SMC, Delicious Vinyl, ESL, Kedar Entertainment, Ministry of Sound, Ipecac, Strange Music, Music World, VH1 Classic Records, MySpace Records and many others. In addition, Fontana distributes select projects from Universal Music Group labels worldwide.

About Downtown Music

Downtown Music, LLC is an independently owned music company that operates Downtown Records, Downtown Music Publishing, Downtown Music Services RCRDLBL.com and Downtown Recording Studios with offices in New York and Los Angeles.

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Source: Universal Music Group

CONTACT: Maria Ho-Burge of Universal Music Group, +1-212-331-2569,
maria.ho-burge@umusic.com

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Profile: International Entertainment