March 19, 2004Music DownloadThe Orchard Becomes First Independent Distributor to Hit One Million Paid Downloads and Streams World's Leading Supplier of Independent Music Experiencing Growth of 100% Per Month NEW YORK, Mar 17, 2004 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Orchard, the world's leading supplier of independent music, today announced its unmatched achievement of one million combined paid downloads and streams. The company is experiencing explosive growth, increasing its sales by 100% per month. "Doubling our sales month over month signals an inflection point in the online music business," says Daniel C. Stein, CEO of Dimensional Associates, Inc., the private equity firm that owns the Orchard. The Orchard has become the world's largest distributor of non-major label music, with a catalog of 130,000 tracks from 2,500 labels representing music from more than 48 countries. It is the only company to have successfully secured licensing deals with all of the leading digital music services in the US and Europe, including iTunes, Rhapsody/Real Networks, Napster/Pressplay, Music Net/AOL, Music Match and BuyMusic. Currently, the Orchard's full catalog is available and for sale through all of these Digital Music Services, with new titles quickly becoming available as they enter The Orchard's distribution system. More than 80% of the albums in this vast catalog generate revenue through the digital services, bearing out the premise that the digital revolution benefits independent artists and labels and allows for effective distribution outside traditional channels. In the first month alone of 2004, The Orchard generated digital revenue equal to the prior 12 months combined. "Having achieved an unmatched one million combined paid downloads and streams proves that independent artists and labels can get their music distributed to a world audience, and that music fans are hungry for access to this cutting-edge content," said Greg Scholl, CEO of The Orchard. "The Orchard will continue to lead the way for independent artists and labels and, working with our retail partners, we will ensure that artists have a paying audience, and music fans have access to the best music in the world -- which, as everyone knows, is not exclusively Top-40 radio." The influential New York-based alt-rock label French Kiss recently joined The Orchard for digital distribution, and four weeks later, their entire catalog was available on iTunes and the other major digital music services. "The Orchard has solved the logistical riddle of digital distribution for us," said Label Manager, Aaron Roman. "I can't tell you how simple it is to have all the various sites accounted for on one statement, not to mention the fact that they have been able to get our product on to sites like iTunes that we would not have the leverage to do so on our own. Basically, as a small record company, we wouldn't be able to get this much done on our own." Other artists who have benefited greatly from The Orchard's service offering include The Raveonettes, Elysian Fields, The Features, The Hong Kong, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Jon Auer (Posies, Big Star) and The Hold Steady. About The Orchard The Orchard (www.theorchard.com), based in New York and London, is the largest distributor of non-major label music in the world. The Orchard currently represents more than 130,000 tracks spanning a multitude of musical genres, including Blues and R&B, Country, Classical, Children's, Christian, Electronic, Folk, Hip Hop/Rap, Jazz, Latin, Metal, New Age, Pop, Punk, Rock, Seasonal and World Music. The songs were supplied to The Orchard by over 2,500 record labels and thousands of artists from 48 countries. About Dimensional Associates, Inc. Dimensional Associates, Inc., is the Rye, New York-based private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc. Its portfolio companies include eMusic, The Orchard and Digital Club Network (now eMusicLive). Contact: SOURCE Orchard Adele Plumail, +1-212-561-7454, [email protected], or Andy http://www.theorchard. Posted by Craig at March 19, 2004 06:55 PM |