Original Signal Recordings and Universal Motown Records have entered a partnership under which the Universal imprint will provide select marketing and promotional services for certain OSR releases, while the major’s indie distributor Fontana will offer distribution services for select albums.
In addition, OSR has completed a second round of funding led by Greylock Partners and Point Judith Capital. The label declined to disclose how much it raised in the latest funding round.
OSR’s previous distributor was Sony Music Entertainment’s RED, which had the ability to sign artists jointly with Epic Records. Representatives at RED declined to comment. OSR’s joint venture with Bug Music Publishing isn’t affected by the new agreement.
OSR co-founder Lucas Mann says the Universal pact isn’t a traditional upstream deal.
“When Downtown Records did the upstream deal with Interscope, it did get us thinking,” he says. “But we are not becoming a Universal Motown label. All they are doing is distribution and some promo.”
Mann emphasizes that Universal Motown will only work on a handful of OSR releases. “For bands that have a more indie audience and don’t have a radio hit, we’ll distribute them through Fontana and work them in-house,” he says.
The first act to be signed to OSR and make use of Universal Motown’s resources is…
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