LOS ANGELES and CLEVELAND, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ — Fontana Distribution, the independent distribution arm of Universal Music Group, the world’s leading music company has partnered with Cleveland-based Element 9 Muzik LLC to release upcoming titles from the label. The announcement was made today by Ron Spaulding, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Fontana, and Element 9 President Tony “X” Franklin. The label’s release schedule is currently being finalized with plans to make the label’s first release through the new partnership available during the second quarter of 2010.

Franklin brings close to 20 years of experience working in the music industry. He previously served as the President of NuBlud Management, a Cleveland based Management Company specializing in the promotion and marketing of various urban acts. Franklin also served as the Head of Street and Lifestyle/ Midwest Radio Promotion for Asylum Records/ Warner Bros. Records and previously helped broker the Swisha House major distribution deal with Asylum Records

Joining Franklin will be Stu “DJ Xplosive” Pflaum, who founded the Element 9 Company in 2005 and has partnered with Franklin in the past on various music ventures. Pflaum will act as the label’s Vice President, bringing his expertise in internet marketing and new media strategies and will manage the label’s digital presence.

Also joining the team will be Douglas “Fresh” Jones, who previously worked with Franklin’s NuBlud Management team and will oversee Lifestyle Promotion of the label’s acts. Marlowe “Mauly T” Taylor will serve as the studio engineer for all the label’s projects, including the mixing and mastering of all recordings. Mauly T has mastered several Fontana projects (Capone & Noreage, Killer Mike, Beeda Weeda etc). Doc Taylor looks to continue in this capacity. Studio 76, is a renowned studio that has hosted the likes of Bone Thugs N Harmony, Snoop Dogg, Young Joc, Killer Mike, Ice Cube, Trae & Public Enemy to name a few.

“We are excited to welcome Element 9 Muzik to the Fontana family of labels,” stated Spaulding. “Tony and his team are true entrepreneurs and innovators, and we look forward to working with them to maximize opportunities on all fronts for their artists.”

Franklin commented that he was “proud to bring together a group of talented individuals from the Cleveland area to form a team capable of delivering professional results for our artists” and looks forward to using the Element 9 label to demonstrate the ability of a record label to prosper during this new era in the music industry without having to be based in big cities like New York or Los Angeles.

About Fontana

Fontana Distribution, the independent arm of Universal Music Group Distribution (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, Downtown, 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 Universal Music Group labels worldwide.

SOURCE Universal Music Group

Like I said when I debuted this track, this is my favorite record I’ve ever worked.

Now I’m loving to watch the hard work pay off. This is just a start, as we’ve got support coming in from all angles for the Ordinary Guy video and my phone doesn’t stop ringing about this artist.

Element 9 and NuBlud Management- we keep ya’ll hating us!

We’ve done it again! For those of you that live under a rock, Element 9 artist QP has a hit single with his track “You Rollin Shawty (I Got $$$)”. For the 2nd straight week, QP has topped Facebook’s chart for most dedicated songs using the iLike application. With over 100,000 dedications this month, QP has outperformed chart favorites like Katy Perry and Chris Brown.

Peep the complete chart here.

And in case you didn’t know, QP’s single is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD on iLike. Just follow this link to grab your free copy (and make sure to add it to your Facebook profile while you’re at it)!

SNIPPET: “Now 22 years old and signed to independent powerhouse SMC Recordings, QP maintains that Born 2 Win attitude that led him to early success; and, using a fast-paced flow reminiscent of his hometown group, Bone Thugs, he describes the lifestyle that’s The Norm 4 Me.”- M.Burmy for DJBooth.net

LINK TO THE FEATURE: http://www.djbooth.net/index/tracks/review/qp-the-norm-4-me/

By Kristin Majcher
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter
March 13, 2008

Situated in Appalachian Ohio, Athens is not necessarily known as a hip-hop center. Grammy-nominated Stu Pflaum hopes to change this by using Ohio University as a tool to promote artists on his Element 9 record label.

Pflaum was nominated for a Grammy for working on the hit song “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and is a 2006 OU graduate. After college he moved to New York to develop his production company Element 9.0 LLC, which he recently announced will start distributing recordings by artists on the Element 9 Muzik label.

Element 9 started as just a promotion company, but has recently expanded to also serve as a record label. Unlike major hip-hop labels, Element 9 is using a grassroots approach to promote artists by allowing them to leave a message on a dedicated phone line to show off their skills.

Pflaum started the Dial-A-Deal program to allow unknown artists the chance to make it big, without needing much else but talent.

“I’m very excited about the potential of this new approach to talent scouting because it allows us to focus on the raw talent an artist possesses, as opposed to the common industry practice of researching radio airplay statistics, which basically eliminates the possibility of label consideration for artists without the funding to hire the right people to get them that airplay,” Pflaum said.

Element 9 Muzik will put on a 10 p.m. Saturday show at 19 South to promote its first artist, Devon “QP” Hubbard. The 22-year-old MC grew up in Cleveland, and is excited to represent Ohio by doing his first show this year in Athens.

“This is a big event for me because it’s in Ohio, and I have family in Athens right now,” Hubbard said. “I know I can tear it up down there.”

Hubbard’s influences include older rap artists such as Snoop Dogg, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Biggie Smalls, but he also avidly listens to R&B. He tries to stay original and strays away from sounding like other contemporary artists. “I do what I do and not what they do,” he said.

While QP will perform mostly older songs already available online, fans can participate in a “text mob,” with details available on his Myspace page. This will allow them to listen to tracks from his upcoming album at a secret location only disclosed through text messages on the day of the show. Pflaum hopes to gather opinions from fans in Athens to influence marketing plans for the album.

Also performing will be Atlanta duo Young Snead and Yay-High, as well as DJ Kut Nyce from Cleveland. Pflaum himself will perform under the name “DJ Xplosive.”

While the upcoming show is the first for Element 9 recordings, Pflaum hopes to use Athens as a place to introduce his artists to the world.

“I’ll bring an artist I work with to Athens at every opportunity I get,” Pflaum said.