New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Orchard) - The Orchard, a global leader in digital music, video and new media services, today announced several new, exclusive digital distribution deals with both established and up-and-coming independent labels: Reader's Digest Music, MC Records, and Gigantic Music, among others.
Among The Orchard's new partners is Readers Digest Music, an impressive catalogue of well-merchandised music encompassing 17,000 master tracks from artists such as Henry Mancini, Billy Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald. Readers Digest Music is renowned for their box sets, having sold more than 225 million box sets in over 33 countries, including 9 multi-platinum releases, 20 platinum titles and 23 gold releases.
"Our move to The Orchard was driven by a desire to reach broader markets through The Orchard's more robust distribution network, and sell more music through the marketing services that The Orchard offers," said Len Handler, Director, Product Development of Readers Digest.
Other recent Orchard signings encompass music from a wide array of genres:
* American roots music by Odetta, R.L. Burnside and Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, among others, in the MC Records catalogue;
* Gigantic Music's broad selection of punk and rock music, including The Boggs, Big A Little a, Dragons of Zynth, and Human Television;
* The Symphony Orchestra of Canada from Backstage Productions International;
* Emmy-nominated children's series Sheira & Loli's Dittydoodle Works from Rogar Studios;
* Ernest Jenning's "classic rock from the future" from artists such as O'Death, Takka Takka and The Black Hollies;
* Electro-pop cult sensation Devo, produced by The Teddy Bears; and
* Electronica and drum 'n bass from NYC avant garde musician Bill Laswell's label, Ohm Resistance.
"As we continue to expand our library, we are consistently bringing aboard a vast array of different types and categories of music to reflect the demand that currently exists in the marketplace today," said Brad Navin, VP, Global Licensing and Operations. "We attribute the success of our service in part to the wide variety and quality of music we provide that appeals to the ever-expanding digital music consumer base."
"Our artists' eclectic music has always performed strongly at digital retailers and we're looking forward to seeing how high The Orchard's marketing team can grow the digital percentage of our total music sales," said Peter D'Angelo, Label Manager of Ernest Jenning.
The Orchard was recently recognized by Deloitte & Touche as the 5th fastest-growing company in the New York region.
