Fontana Thrives With Pulse
PR Newswire (press release) - New York,NY,USA
Most recently, Pulse has enjoyed tremendous success with management client Elliot Yamin from 2006's 'American Idol'. His debut album, executive produced by ...

http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20...22042008-1.html

Fontana Thrives With Pulse
Label to Launch New Filter Album, 'Anthems for the Damned,' on May 13

LOS ANGELES, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Fontana, the independent distribution arm of Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company, has signed an exclusive distribution deal with Pulse Recordings, the innovative one-stop new-model music company. The agreement was announced today by Ron Spaulding, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Fontana, and Pulse co-founders Josh Abraham and Jason Bernard, and partner Marc Pollack.

Under the new agreement, Fontana will work closely with Pulse on expanding the label's reach in the marketplace, building and extending its brand and helping Pulse to capitalize on the many new and emerging opportunities across all retail and new media platforms.

"I am excited to work with Pulse recordings," stated Mr. Spaulding. "In addition to Josh's work as one of the industry's most gifted record producers, he and Jason have assembled a talented team of executives at Pulse. They are true entrepreneurs in every sense of the word, and with Marc onboard, they are exactly the kind of music people we want to work with here at Fontana."

"After meeting with Ron and Jim Urie (President & CEO, Universal Music Group Distribution), it's clear that Fontana is the perfect home for Pulse," said Mr. Abraham and Mr. Pollack. "Their dedication to excellence and love of music and the business is inspiring. We look forward to many prosperous years together."

Upcoming releases include the highly-anticipated new album from multi-platinum selling rockers Filter. Entitled 'Anthems for the Damned' (produced by Abraham), the album is the band's first studio release in nearly five years and is due to hit shelves on May 13th. The first single, "Soldiers of Misfortune," is currently moving up the Modern & Active Rock radio and will be available digitally on April 29th. This will be followed by releases from The Outline, Ima Robot and Lukas Haas, among others.

Pulse was founded by Josh Abraham, Jason Bernard and CFO Scott Adair as a multifaceted entertainment company, complete with a management unit, a record label and a recording studio. Recently, Pulse expanded its management operation with the addition of noted music industry veteran Marc Pollack and longtime manager David Surnow.

Most recently, Pulse has enjoyed tremendous success with management client Elliot Yamin from 2006's 'American Idol'. His debut album, executive produced by Abraham and co-manager Jeff Rabhan on Hickory Records, is fast-approaching the platinum mark in sales. Pulse Recordings also houses an impressive recording studio run by producer Abraham, who has had platinum success for over a decade. Abraham began developing artists and producing records over 10 years ago. As a producer, he is responsible for selling more than 50 million records worldwide, with a discography that includes the Grammy Award-winning album Contraband by Velvet Revolver (over 2 million sold), Staind's Break The Cycle (8 times Platinum) and 14 Shades of Grey (2 times Platinum), Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (7 times Platinum) and 30 Seconds To Mars' A Beautiful Lie (platinum), among others. Pulse Management guides the careers of such artists as Under the Influence of Giants, Lukas Haas, DJ Lethal, Ryan Williams, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, among others.

About Fontana

Fontana Distribution, the independent arm of UMGD, provides unparalleled sales and marketing support, as well as back office services, for a diverse roster of labels and their artists. Fontana distributes more than 100 labels including Vagrant Records, Telarc, Eagle Rock, VP Records, American Gramaphone, Six Degrees, Nitro, SMC, Trustkill, Delicious Vinyl, ESL, Modular, Ministry of Sound, Ipecac, Strange Music, Music World, VH1 Classic Records, MySpace Records and many others. In addition, Fontana distributes select projects from UMG labels worldwide.

For More Information Please Contact:

Peter LoFrumento
Universal Music Group
212-331-2585

Maria Ho-Burge
Universal Music Group
212-331-2569

Good - I'm glad you gave this its own thread, Nancy. It's too exciting to get lost in the shuffle.

WOW! :rocker:

I totally agree. This is BIG!!

lotsa good stuff there :rocker: Things are only going to get better...

Great article, and what a great mention of Elliott and his awesome success with Pulse. It is amazing to me still, how everything fell into place for Elliott, Music management and producers, songwriters who believed in him (along with the E train of course), and how could they not, his awesome voice, his personality, how did anyone not believe?
Fontana and their collaboration with Pulse will only help Elliott keep reaching for those stars!

I'll bet this is killing the major labels. They need to get with the program, and put some of the power back in the hands of the artists so we can get some great music again. Pretty soon, no one is going to need a major label, unless they can change with the times.

A few of the movers and shakers in the industry? Exciting news.

Very intersting read Nancy. Elliott is most definitely in good hands.

Great read. Thanks for posting this Nancy.

Fast approaching platinum????? woo hoo................love this article!

Thanks for posting!

Isn't Ace's album being distributed by Fontana? I seem to remember him mentioning the name in an interview.

Fast approaching platinum? That's awesome!

So I guess this means his second album will be getting better distribution?

I guess I'm the dummy here. Why is this good? Why is this company going to have better distribution than Red? I thought Red was the biggest and most successful distributer of independent cd's. Somebody needs to explain it all to me.

This should reach out and get Elliott distributed to more outlets. Most outlets have dried up for Elliott, Target most of the time has Elliott's Cd . Distribution plays a big part in sales so it should get more sales in the future.

:wow: Thanks for posting!

Well, I must have read the article differently. I read about a collaboration of Fontana distrihution with Pulse, whose latest claim to fame is Elliott Yamin's successful CD. I didn't read necessarily that Elliott would be using Fontana rather than Red. Elliott is managed by Three Ring Projects and I think the people he works with might be kind of fluid - so he will probably make the best distribution decision for him when the time comes.

As for the "quickly going platinum" comment - the numbers don't really tell that story. It's "rounding up" at its best - a PR comment. (While I would sure love to see platinum. From their mouths to God's ears as the saying goes)

Fontana signed an exclusive deal with Pulse, so they will be distributing the Pulse label records. Elliott's label is Hickory, although he is managed by Pulse and has done recording at the Pulse studio. I don't see that Elliott necessarily fits into this exclusive deal. And if Fontana is going to be doing the distribution for the next album, I don't see any information in that article that leads me to believe it will be better distribution than what he's getting from Red.

The article is just using Elliott as an example of Pulse's success (and a mighty fine example he is). I don't think it's telling us anything definite about what's happening with Elliott's next record.

I guess I see this as good news in that it is yet another indication that there is another way of doing business in the music industry. No maybe Elliott isn't directly affected by this but it is good, I think, for artists who go indie, more options.

if Elliott's management has forged a deal with Fontana, wouldn't they be the logical vehicle for distribution?

Whatever happens I hope someone starts getting him some tv time - Leno, Letterman, Oprah...

Lu, ..Hopefully from your lips to THEIR ears!!

Elliott is "too good" to keep being shunned.

Amen to that!! : :grouphug:

Pulse syncs up with Fontana
Variety - Los Angeles,CA,USA
Known for its work on the debut album of "American Idol" alum Elliot Yamin, Pulse next will release Filter's "Anthems for the Damned" on May 13. ...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111798444...egoryId=16&cs=1

Pulse syncs up with Fontana
Music unit pacts with Universal's indie arm
By PHIL GALLO

Pulse Recordings, a music company that boasts a management unit, record label and recording studio, has inked exclusive distribution deal with Universal Music Group indie distribution arm Fontana.

Known for its work on the debut album of "American Idol" alum Elliot Yamin, Pulse next will release Filter's "Anthems for the Damned" on May 13. First single, "Soldiers of Misfortune," is moving up the Modern & Active Rock radio and will be available digitally April 29.

Releases from the Outline, Ima Robot and Lukas Haas will follow.

Under the agreement, Fontana will work with Pulse to expand the label's reach in the marketplace, build and extend its brand and position Pulse across all retail and new media platforms.

Pulse was founded by Josh Abraham, Jason Bernard and chief financial officer Scott Adair as a multifaceted entertainment company. Company recently expanded its management operation with the addition of former journo and publicist Marc Pollack and manager David Surnow.

Elliott's management is Three Ring Projects, not Pulse - so I'm guessing he has options.

If Jeff Rabhan co produced his CD - he was working with Pulse, but I don't think Pulse and Three Ring are one and the same.

It's my understanding that Elliott is co-managed by Pulse (Josh Abraham) and Three Rings (Jeff Rabhan). As far as production, I believe that Josh was the EP on his debut CD, and he used Pulse as his primary recording location. Most of his bandmates, writers, and other producers had connections to Josh.

ETA I've never read this anywhere but it seems to me that Josh manages Elliott on the creative side (pulling togther resources such as the above mentioned talent for Elliott to make his CD) and Jeff manages the business side (booking performance gigs and promotional appearances).

I think you're right Cathy. It does get confusing tho when you have a lot of people in the mix instead of a straight "label" setup. Whatever happens, I'm sure Elliott will decide the best route to take. If distribution and production are together that's one less entity to keep track of...lol. And where does Rocket Science fit in there...they were the contact people related to stocking. Goodness, too much to keep track of.

The innovative business model advances. Very very cool!

In the long run, I think this is so great for Elliott. In the short run, I think we'd better all be prepared for his being considered an ever more insidious and dangerous threat to the big labels. As they see their long-held dominance ebbing, there's no way they won't be gunning for those who are leading the charge into a new world, and the gunning is likely to include denying him music awards and trying to smash his radio play.

In the long run, looks like Elliott and Josh and the other "innovative" small-shop folks will be the winners, though. And go down in music history, besides.

I like this: EY's album -- "fast-approaching the platinum mark in sales"

Weird, I read this press release as being all about Pulse becoming an exclusive to Universal.

As in, Univerasal has laid off tons of folks, and is now outsourcing a portion of what it used to do internally. They cut a deal with Pulse, and theoretically, if it goes well for Pulse, they can up the anty at the end of the contract, and if they fall short of expectations, then Universal can shop for someone else.

Seems pretty clear that the deal is with Josh and his group. Elliott's success just dressed up Pulse's resume.

If anything, this dilutes Pulse more than it was before because they'll have other acts to work. But, the press release came out of NY, where it would seem the Universal folks who managed to hang onto their jobs, are the ones who know how to book national television. Otherwise, I'm not reading anymore into this other than this being a Pulse business deal, and not necessarily an Elliott business deal.

Yeah, I agree. It's not an Elliott business deal at all.

But what I think it does show is that the record industry really is breaking up, with small players taking over parts of the business that they couldn't have been involved in before, reframing the industry in a more flexible, weblike way, etc. -- and if things continue to go that way, then the Josh-Abraham, Elliott-Yamin indie mode with subcontractors way of doing things will actually be what the industry of the future looks like. The big companies will still fight this tooth and nail in a lot of ways, though, I think, because it threatens their longheld near-monopoly power, even as they participate in it in other ways (for specific business reasons), as Universal has done here.

It's part of an industry shakeout that will probably help determine down the road whether Elliott ever goes to a major, because it's part of a process that's slowly changing the roles of majors and indies, and thus changing the relative benefits of being with one or the other, I think.