• FUGA across distribution and marketing services for PolyEast’s chart-topping roster, including Francis M, Joey Albert, Regine Velasquez, Bamboo, Sugarfree, Martin Nievera and TJ Monterde.
• Hires Jeffrey Joson to lead Business Development in the Philippines and Jay Villasenor as Regional Head of Operations for APAC

Leading full-service B2B distributor FUGA, a division of Downtown Music, has announced a new partnership with Filipino-owned independent label, PolyEast Records. The distributor also announced new hires in the region, including Jeffrey Joson and Jay Villasenor who will lead business development and operations respectively. 

FUGA, which is the preferred platinum and plus supplier for Spotify and Apple, will be providing its extensive global digital distribution offering to PolyEast Records for all current and catalog artists on their impressive roster. 

Home to successful Filipino acts such as Francis M, Joey Albert, Regine Velasquez, Bamboo, Sugarfree, Sandwich, Martin Nievera and TJ Monterde, PolyEast Records will also be utilizing FUGA’s award-nominated marketing services, including access to the distributor’s enhanced trends and analytics platform, which processes and analyzes almost 30 billion streams per month. 

PolyEast Records has become synonymous with nurturing and championing independent artists who have garnered significant success in the OPM (Original Pilipino Music) industry. With its head office based in Metro Manila, PolyEast is led by Ramon Chuaying, Jesmon Chua and Sharon Dy-Law and boasts a multitude of arms, including talent management, events production and an extensive publishing division; as well as continuously exploring additional  business partnerships. 

The announcement lands ahead of new singles from breakthrough Filipino singer/songwriter and vlogger, Benedict Cua who rose to fame with his cover version of Justin Bieber’s ‘10,000 hrs’; receiving viral reception across YouTube and TikTok, and award-winning Filipino alternative rock band, Sandwich, who’s most notable work includes ‘Sugod’ and ‘Betamax’. Both will be released by PolyEast records later this year. 

Ramon Chuaying, President of PolyEast Records has said, “PolyEast is happy to announce our partnership with FUGA, a well-known and established music aggregator worldwide. PolyEast, which has a strong all-genre catalog, has full confidence in FUGA being able to digitally distribute our content to all digital markets. We expect this partnership to be beneficial to both our companies and to grow even stronger in the coming years.” 

Jesmon Chua, General Manager of PolyEast Records also comments, “The recently forged partnership with FUGA has opened the doors of the new future for PolyEast Records. We look forward to growing and making beautiful music together in the years to come.” 

Sharon Dy-Law, Finance Director for PolyEast Records adds, “It’s true what they say that music brings people together. This partnership is proof of it.” 

Alongside its new partnership with PolyEast Records, FUGA continues to expand its service offering in APAC by hiring Jeffrey Joson to lead all Business Development within the Philippines. Based in Manila, Joson has almost 20 years of experience driving operations and revenue growth for various high-performing music companies and record labels including Sony Music, UMG, Believe, and Tower Records. Since joining FUGA, the company has seen significant growth in its client base in the Philippines, which includes PolyEast Records. 

Also joining Joson in Manila is Jay Villasenor, FUGA’s Head of Operations for APAC where his responsibilities include overseeing all operations and client integrations for the region. Villasenor has over 10 years of operational experience with previous roles including Digital Operations Executive for Warner Music Philippines and Operations Manager for Ditto Music. 

Dorothée Imhofff, CCO of FUGA has said, “The APAC region is a flourishing landscape of creators, and partnering with key, forward-thinking labels such as PolyEast Records marks a significant next step in FUGA’s expansion within the region. With both Jeffrey and Jay’s presence in Manila, we look forward to connecting our partners in the Philippines further with audiences globally.” 

Jeffrey Joson, FUGA’s Business Development Manager, Philippines comments, “The Philippines has always had a diverse and vibrant music ecosystem- something that Filipinos pride themselves in. PolyEast Records has greatly contributed to the independent music landscape for OPM artists in the region and It gives me great joy, together with FUGA, to be able to provide a better alternative of flexible music distribution and marketing services for our clients”

About FUGA

FUGA is the largest full-service B2B music distributor in the world. Mixing deep marketing prowess with continual investment in leading technologies, FUGA’s clients – from Armada, Better Noise and Curb to Mom + Pop, Epitaph, and Ninja Tune – get equal access to its all-encompassing services. 

FUGA is one of the very few distributors to sit on the highest preferred partner tiers for Spotify, Apple, and all other major DSPs. After its acquisition by Downtown Music Holdings in 2020, FUGA has joined Downtown Neighbouring Rights, Downtown Music Publishing and Downtown Music Services in the newly established Downtown Music division led by President, Pieter van Rijn. 

FUGA’s global marketing team operates across 17 countries and its partners deliver over a quarter of the world’s new releases. Together with marketing and distribution, FUGA’s holistic product and services suite – including analytics, royalty accounting, neighboring rights, rights management, and white label services – empower over 950 music rights holders globally.  

Visit www.fuga.com.

About PolyEast 

PolyEast Records Corporation is an independent record label company fully Filipino-owned. 

The company’s management is headed by professionals who are veterans in the music industry. Their expertise has made the company one of the top recording labels in the Philippines. PolyEast Records is well positioned to capitalize on the rapid growth of Digital Music. The company’s strategy is to deliver music to a wide range of consumers in any form, at anytime, and in any territory. 

PolyEast Records boasts of its string / roster of Filipino artists who have made a name for themselves in the OPM (Original Pilipino Music) industry. Presently, PolyEast Records is also venturing into artist management and producing events and concerts of local and foreign talents. Aside from having its own publishing arm, PolyEast Records controls and administers two of the biggest publishing companies, EMI Music Publishing and Sony ATV Music Publishing. 

Together, these two of the leading music publishers, each with comprehensive and diverse music catalogues of music copyrights, cover all genres, periods, and territories around the world. 

PolyEast Records also has a sub-label, Galaxy Records, which has its own roster of both Foreign and Local Artists as well. 

Visit https://www.polyeastrecords.com.

About Downtown

Downtown is the world’s leading music services company with over 1.7 million clients in over 145 countries with a catalog of over 38 million music assets in a wide variety of genres and languages. Downtown’s service offerings support creators and businesses in all facets of the music industry including music creation, distribution, marketing, royalty collection, financing, accounting and payment services. Downtown clients can choose to opt-in for only the services they need, in any territory they want, for as long as they want, without having to give up ownership or control of their work. 

Visit www.downtownmusic.com.