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Downtown Records Signs Deals With Fontana, Interscope

According to an industry report by Billboard, Downtown Records has just signed a distribution deal with Fontana and a marketing/promotion deal with Interscope. The latter will cover Downtown's three boutique labels (Dim Mak, Fools Gold, Mercer Street) and select albums by such artists as Mos Def, Kid Sister, Spank Rock, MSTRKRFT, Eagles of Death Metal, and Carla Bruni.Gnarls Barkley and Kevin Michael will continue to be co-releases with Atlantic, however, and the Alternative Distribution Alliance still has control of Santogold, Justice, and Brett Dennen.

The first album affected by all this distro/promo business will be Cold War Kids' Loyalty to Loyalty LP, which drops on September 23.

"Downtown has a huge release schedule, and we're very excited to start working the records," Universal Music Group Distribution (UMGD) CEO Jim Urie told Billboard. "I've admired (Downtown co-founder/CEO) Josh (Deutsch) for a long time, and we wanted them onboard. They're exactly the type of label we started Fontana to do business with. He added, "It's good to be in business with labels like Downtown, who are hungry. They bring great indie cred and a wonderful management team, and they are a high-visibility label."

Downtowns deal with Interscope and Fontana covers the next three years and reportedly cost Fontana $1.5 million in advance money, with Interscope tossing in another million.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
09.05.08