Downtown's AVL Digital Group Acquires FUGA

NEW YORK and AMSTERDAM, Jan. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Global music company Downtown Music Holdings (Downtown), announced today that its subsidiary, AVL Digital Group (AVL), has acquired FUGA®, the Netherlands-based B2B music technology and services company. FUGA will continue to function as a standalone business within Downtown's suite of distribution and monetization capabilities operated across AVL. As part of a broader enterprise, FUGA, its clients and partners will benefit from expanded resources, infrastructure and global scale to more quickly bring to market added services and unparalleled innovation for music industry rights holders. 

"We could not be more enthusiastic about becoming part of the Downtown portfolio. This acquisition will give FUGA the backing to achieve our global ambitions in this space so we can continue serving the independent music community, developing our service offering and improving our technology. We share a common business approach and philosophy with Downtown, one rooted in providing control and flexibility for creators and rights holders — it is a perfect fit," said FUGA CEO Pieter van Rijn.

With a flexible technology platform that provides content management, workflow and distribution services, delivering to more than 260 different digital service providers globally, FUGA enables distributors, record labels, artist services companies and other rights holders to directly reach the world's music streaming market. In addition, FUGA provides full service marketing, promotion, monetization and label services to the rapidly growing independent music sector. At present, more than 500 different businesses, such as labels, artist platforms, distributors and other rights holders around the world rely on FUGA's technology and services to support their operations.

"Pieter and the team at FUGA have built an impressive business that offers clients an impeccably high level of service. Their robust technology, well-earned reputation for innovation on behalf of the clients they serve, and global perspective of the digital music industry are welcome additions to our existing set of capabilities and services," said AVL CEO Tracy Maddux.

"The exceptional team at FUGA and their unique focus on providing best-in-class capabilities has put the company at the forefront of empowering the fastest growing sector of the music industry. Following our acquisition of AVL, integrating FUGA is a natural next step for Downtown in developing businesses that support a more equitable and innovative music ecosystem," said Downtown Music Holdings CEO Justin Kalifowitz.

In recent years, advances in music creation and distribution, as well as broader shifts in how music is discovered and consumed, have proven to be a boon for the industry, particularly independents. According to recent reporting from Billboard, approximately 35 percent of the global recorded music industry is now controlled by independents. In fact, independent artists are a significant growth driver within the recorded music sector, bringing in $1.6B in 2018, an increase of 34 percent compared to just nine percent growth for the rest of the market, according to MIDiA Research. Capitalizing on these trends, Downtown has been methodically building out a "full-stack" global music company, most recently with last year's acquisition of AVL, which includes the CD Baby®, Soundrop®, DashGo℠ and AdRev® businesses.

About Downtown
Downtown Music Holdings is a global company that owns, manages, and develops businesses with a vision for a more equitable and innovative music ecosystem. With operations across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America, we are the world's leading provider of end-to-end services to artists, songwriters, labels, music publishers, and other rights holders. Through our portfolio of companies — Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust®,  AVL Digital Group, and Downtown Music Studios — we manage millions of music copyrights, with a catalog that spans nearly 100 years of popular music, including music for film and television, and the single largest independent sound recording catalog in the industry. Our integrated platforms help democratize global music rights management and simplify the distribution, monetization, and promotion of creative works.

About AVL Digital
AVL Digital Group is a global network of music distribution and monetization brands, including CD Baby®, AdRev®, DashGo^SM and Soundrop®. With a diverse client base of more than 900,000 artists, labels and other rights holders, AVL distributes and monetizes more than 10 million tracks across popular streaming services, including Amazon Music^SM, Apple Music™, Spotify™ and YouTube™.

About FUGA®
FUGA are the industry-leading technology and services company for international rightsholders, offering best-of-breed digital supply chain integration alongside dynamic promotion and marketing. At the company's core is the FUGA platform, launched in 2008 in conjunction with leading music partners. Connected to over 260 digital service providers worldwide, FUGA's platform manages 5.5 million tracks, with over 5 million deliveries every month.

FUGA are listed on the highest tier for both Spotify™ and Apple™'s preferred distributors: a Preferred Plus distributor and encoding house for Apple and preferred label distributor and recommended delivery platform for Spotify. FUGA are also an active contributor and member of the DDEX consortium for digital supply chain standards. FUGA are also partnered with Verifi Media as part of a coalition to spearhead development of a global blockchain ecosystem. In July 2019, FUGA acquired publishing and workflow platform Songspace. The standalone platform centralises essential publishing assets such as metadata, audio files, agreements and writer contacts and also identifies gaps in data such as accreditation and lyrics. The acquisition works towards FUGA's goal of enabling clients to manage all rights data under one roof.

FUGA's flexible platform enables their 500+ clients to vary services across different DSPs so that they can develop catalogue management, distribution, marketing, licensing and royalty accounting activity as their needs evolve. The first in the marketplace to also offer flexibility for deal arrangements — whether direct, aggregated or a combination — FUGA are the number one choice for some of the world's top labels, management companies and distributors, including Epitaph Records, Ultra, Tommy Boy Entertainment, Curb, Mom + Pop, mtheory and Domino.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, FUGA also operates out of New York, London, Milan and Seoul.

Press Contacts:

For Downtown/AVL - Anne-Taylor "AT" Adams, [email protected]
For FUGA - Jasper Watkins, [email protected]

SOURCE Downtown Music Holdings