FUGA Continues Expansion in APAC; Strikes Partnership with ASINTADA, Home to Gloc-9

• Follows recent key signings in the Philippines, including Morobeats, 314 Studios and Crown Studios Inc.
• Hires Noorcahyo Istyabudi to lead business development in Indonesia and Jaya Singh as Regional Representative for South Asia 

October 2024 – Following a string of significant signings in the region, Downtown-owned B2B distributor, FUGA has announced a new partnership with Manila-based management and production company, ASINTADA. The distributor also announced new hires across APAC, including Noorcahyo Istyabudi and Jaya Singh who will lead business development in Indonesia and South Asia respectively.

Founded in 2012, ASINTADA represents some of the local region’s biggest names in hip-hop, including renowned Filipino rapper, Gloc-9, also providing artist management and production services to the next generation of OPM (Original Pilipino Music) talent, including, Shanti Dope, Flow G, Skusta Clee and more. 

Widely recognized as a Filipino rap icon, Gloc-9 is one of the highest-selling and most successful hip-hop artists in the country. With an impressive 60 award wins, including the prestigious ‘Sudi National Music Award,’ and half a billion Spotify streams under his belt, Gloc-9 is among the few Filipino artists to have won an award in almost every album released.

Thea Gomez-Pollisco, CEO and Head Talent Specialist for Asintada Mgmt and Prod Inc has said, ‘Being at the forefront of the Filipino music industry, particularly the hip-hop scene, we want to work with the best. Asintada not only carries the name of headliners such as Gloc-9, Flow G, and Skusta Clee; we are also in the business of helping rising hip-hop artists by guiding them towards the ideal path to reach their goals. We are hopeful our new partnership with FUGA will bring us to greater heights as we face the challenge of whatever is next for us.

As part of the wide-ranging partnership, FUGA will provide global distribution and bespoke marketing services to ASINTADA which will also benefit from access to the distributor’s trends and analytics platform. 

Also announced today are FUGA’s partnerships with Jesuit Communications Foundation – the media arm of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus, whose ministry of evangelization and education are behind its acclaimed audiovisual productions, music and publications, as well as digital programs and campaigns – alongside Crown Studios Inc, a full-service talent and entertainment management agency led by Maja Salvador, one of the Philippines’ most high-profile actresses, and 314 Studios, a record label and production house founded in 2023 by a collective of singer-songwriters, music producers, and audio engineers and home to artists Lipip, esseca, Chelly Lim, and koi.

Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of new partnerships in the Philippines, including

label and publisher, Morobeats – founded in 2014 by DJ Medmessiah and home to Naus, Prophecee, H20 Klann, JMara, Flackos and more.

FUGA continues to expand its service offering in APAC by hiring Noorcahyo Istyabudi to lead business development within Indonesia. Jakarta-based, Istyabudi brings extensive marketing and business growth experience to the distributor, holding previous roles at ByteDance/Resso, MOLA Records and the AMI Awards (Anugerah Musik Indonesia). Since his arrival, the company has seen significant growth in its partnerships across Indonesia – including 12Wired, FAX Music Group, Sintesa Pro, La Munai Records, VtmnD by VinDes, Dentum, and DD.

Also joining the company is Mumbai-based, Jaya J. Singh, FUGA’s Regional Representative for  South Asia where her responsibilities include overseeing all business development and marketing in India and SAARC region.

Both Istaybudi and Singh will report directly to Anita Zagar, FUGA’s Business Development Manager for Asia Pacific.

Anita Zagar, FUGA’s Business Development Manager, Asia has said, ‘With such remarkable growth of local talent across the region, FUGA is proud to be working with some of the most groundbreaking labels and artists that APAC has to offer. We look forward to continuing our expansion in the territory and working closely with our new partners to provide our best-in-class services and helping them reach new global audiences.

About Downtown & FUGA
Downtown is the world’s leading music services company with over 2 million clients from 145 countries representing a catalog of over 50 million music assets in a wide variety of genres and languages. Downtown’s technology and service offerings support creators and businesses in all facets of the music industry including music creation, distribution, publishing, marketing, royalty collection, financing, accounting and payment services.

Part of Downtown Music, FUGA is the largest full-service B2B music distributor in the world with clients ranging from Beggars, Better Noise and Curb to Mom + Pop, Epitaph, and Ninja Tune. With a global award-nominated marketing team operating across 17 countries, FUGA and its partners deliver over a quarter of the world’s new releases and empower 1600 music rights holders globally.