Frequently asked questions
Who owns FUGA, and who is it for?
FUGA’s about page states “As part of Downtown Music, FUGA is now proudly part of Virgin Music Group”, and their knowledge base names “Downtown Music’s four core divisions – Publishing, Distribution, Artist & Label Services, and Royalties & Financial Services”. Their own description of the buyer is “a wide range of clients—from boutique labels to enterprise-level music companies”. LabelGrid has been going since 2017 and sells three distribution products on one backend: self-serve distribution, Imprint the white-label portal, and Engine the API.
Does FUGA publish its pricing?
Their 27 distinct captured pages, read on 23 September 2026, carry no price, no currency amount and no percentage of any kind. What their knowledge base publishes instead is a route: “To find out how we can tailor a setup to your needs, no matter your scale or scope, please contact your FUGA representative or reach out to [email protected].” LabelGrid publishes every distribution plan and every API tier on the pricing page, including starting prices for Custom Distribution and Custom API. The honest half of that: Imprint is waiting-list only and scoped at onboarding, and custom-deal numbers are not published, so on the white-label product we publish no price either.
Can I get FUGA API access without talking to sales?
Their knowledge base documents the FUGA Catalog & Distribution API with OAuth client credentials exchanged “for a short-lived access token at the API gateway”, a Client Secret “shown once at creation time” and revocation that “is immediate”. The credentials tab appears only when “API access is enabled on your account”, and their webhooks guide asks a client without it to “reach out to your business development representative, or through [email protected]”; webhooks themselves are activated “when your agreement with FUGA includes the use of webhooks”. LabelGrid prices each API tier on the pricing page, so you can pick the tier yourself; credentials come with the plan, and the sandbox is enabled once that plan is active. Their documentation and ours are both public, so the difference here is the route, not the reading.
Does FUGA offer a white-label platform?
Yes, two of them by name. Their service-offering article describes “Remote Control Distribution” as “a ready-to-use custom-branded distribution platform” and “Custom-Branded Distribution: Efficiently manage catalogs directly from your own client-facing platform”, with ingestion and “analytics via API, DDEX, or XML”. Certain features sit with that product: “Note: this feature is exclusive to White Label clients.” LabelGrid’s equivalent is Imprint, your brand on your own domain with each end customer in its own workspace. Imprint is waiting-list only today, scoped at onboarding rather than published, so neither company lists a price for its white-label product.
How are accounts structured on each platform?
FUGA documents a Primary Account with subaccounts: the API credentials tab “is visible when” the account “is a Primary Account. Subaccounts do not see the tab”, and “Subaccounts cannot create their own API credentials”. LabelGrid composes end-customer workspaces of identical capability, each with its own logins, and publishes the ceiling per plan: one label on Solo, three on Basic, five on Pro, fifty on Custom Distribution. On the API tiers the number counts the registered labels on your account, at five, twenty-five, one hundred and unlimited on Custom API. It is the same meter at a higher ceiling rather than a separate one.
How does catalogue get into each platform?
FUGA’s own guides describe changes “managed by sending an update through the UI, XML/DDEX or the REST API”, refer to “FUGA’s DDEX or FUGA XML ingestion interface”, and point self-service clients at their “Metadata Ingestion Self-Service (MISS) Tool” with a “FUGA CSV Template”. LabelGrid takes catalogue in through the platform on every distribution plan, and through the Engine REST API on the four API tiers. DDEX ERN import, as a one-time load or a continuous SFTP or S3 feed over 3.8.2, 4.3.0, 4.3.1 and 4.3.2, runs on the API plans and on Custom Distribution, not on Solo, Basic or Pro, needs support to switch on, and carries a one-time setup fee. Delivery to stores uses those same four versions on every plan.
Can I deliver on my own DSP deals?
Both platforms distinguish delivering over the distributor’s own DSP deals from other setups. FUGA’s onboarding article gives guidance for “ingestion of your catalog and deliveries made via FUGA’s own deals with Digital Service Providers (DSPs)” and scopes part of its content guidance to “clients who deliver over FUGA’s DSP deals”. On LabelGrid, Custom Distribution and the API tiers carry SOBO, not Solo, Basic or Pro: you keep 95% of royalties earned through our own standard-DSP deals and 100% of what you earn on your own direct deals or your own Merlin membership, with LabelGrid as infrastructure only.
Does FUGA review releases before they go out?
Their published content policy states that “Downtown Music enforces mandatory compliance standards across all services, including FUGA, CD Baby, and Downtown Artist and Label Services”, and their Content ID and UGC articles set eligibility rules, from “exclusive rights to the recording” through exclusions for functional audio and SEO-styled artist names. One narrower sentence is often misread: their webhooks guide says “delivery attempts with a Rejected status are only applicable to specific aggregation feeds FUGA does QC for”, which is about which feeds return that webhook status. On LabelGrid, a person reviews every release for quality, metadata and rights before distribution, on every distribution plan and every API tier, at no extra cost, unless the account distributes only through its own direct deals.
What does FUGA offer beyond digital distribution?
Their service-offering article lists seven areas: digital distribution and catalogue management, analytics and reporting, physical distribution, Remote Control Distribution, Custom-Branded Distribution, marketing services and audio-visual services. Their physical team handles vinyl, CD and cassette “from product ideation to campaign rollout” including “packaging, stock control, and in-store strategy”; their marketing team covers “frontline and catalog pitching to audience development strategies”; and their neighbouring rights page claims direct membership of “30+ societies worldwide”. LabelGrid sells three distribution products on one backend, self-serve distribution, Imprint and Engine, and publishes the price of every distribution plan and API tier.
Is FUGA’s documentation public?
Yes. The FUGA Knowledge Base is public and browsable without a login, with an onboarding path naming the articles a new client should read first, and it is the source for most of what this page says about them; their service-offering article carries an updated_at of 13 February 2026 in the help centre’s own API record, which is the version quoted here. LabelGrid publishes help documentation and API documentation openly too, so documentation is not the axis on this page. The difference is that our API tier prices sit beside the docs.