The Orchard Expands Its Presence in China, Mid-East Through New Aggregator Partnerships

The Orchard Expands Its Presence in China, Mid-East Through New Aggregator Partnerships

Asia Markets Development Limited joins with The Orchard to Help Source Local Chinese Content for Global Digital Distribution; New Sound will Expand The Orchard's reach in the Mid-East

- Names European Content Aggregator Consultants -

NEW YORK and CANNES, France, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The Orchard, the world's leading distributor and marketer of independent music, today announced new partnerships with China-based Asia Markets Development Limited (AMDL) and Palestine-based New Sound. AMDL will help The Orchard source the best independent music from China and other Far East music territories, and will additionally serve as The Orchard's local liaison for label partners. Similarly, New Sound will significantly expand and deepen The Orchard's reach in the Mid-East. The addition of AMDL and New Sound enhance The Orchard's global network of aggregation partners, which include The Orchard Japan, Carmel Music (Middle East), EPSA (South America) and Amped Music (Australia).

AMDL was formed to protect Asian content, which is notoriously subject to piracy, and to establish overseas distribution for music and other forms of intellectual property originating from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. AMDL is helmed by a triumvirate of executives with significant music, media and local business experience. Daniel Cheung is a seasoned digital media executive with more than 20 years experience in telecom and global information technology. Jolland Chan is an accomplished songwriter and producer with 20 years in the music industry. He has written more than 800 titles of Cantonese and Mandarin pop songs in the Greater China Region, and has received countless accolades, including Best Lyrics Award, 10 Golden Song Awards, and the Most Performed Work by Media and Society of the Year Award. Mike Davies is a management and tech executive with 25 years of experience in telecom and Internet development. He has worked extensively in Asia, Africa, Europe and Russia.

New Sound is Palestinian company based in Ramalla and run by Yousef Khalaf. Established in the early 1960s, the company started as a manufacturer of audiocassettes. Currently, New Sound distributes music to the Arab Countries and maintains strong relations with music companies there.

"Early on, we made a commitment to establish a powerful international network of savvy and strongly-positioned music companies to take advantage of The Orchard's market position and marketing capabilities," said Greg Scholl, chief executive of The Orchard and managing director of Dimensional Associates, the company that owns The Orchard, eMusic and Dimensional Music Publishing. "Music from international sources has historically been 'landlocked' due to the major labels structure and the way physical distribution has worked in the past. The Orchard is helping to change that, working with players woven into the fabric of local music markets. Our recent success with Saregama content on American iTunes, for example, where we accomplished an unheard of 20% share for Indian music in the Top 100 World Music charts, is testament to effectiveness of our approach and our ability to execute."

Other announced aggregation partners of The Orchard include:

* Carmel Music - Carmel Music is based in Israel and headed by long-time
music executive Miki Tunis. Prior to Carmel, Mr. Tunis served as CEO of
Hed Artzi Israel, one of Israel's largest entertainment and media
companies, and served as chairman of Tower Records, a subsidiary of Hed
Artzi Israel. For The Orchard, Carmelis aggregating the top independent
Israel and Palestinian labels as well as aggressively moving into the
surrounding Middle Eastern countries and Northern Africa to source music
catalogues.

* Amped - Amped Music serves as The Orchard's exclusive content
aggregation and digital distribution partner in Australia. The company
is headed by Gary Mackenzie (AC&T's co-founder and managing director)
who has more than 25 years of music industry experience, including
serving as managing director of the highly successful 90's label Def
Records and now Blah Records

* Epsa - Epsa Music is a leading Argentinean record label and one of South
America's largest CD manufacturing companies. Headquartered in Buenos
Aries, Epsa is the dominant tango and folk label in Argentina with a
large, diverse catalogue. The Epsa catalogue contains acclaimed and
Grammy award winning artists such as Gerardo Gandini, Orquesta el
Arranque and Color Tango.

* Orchard Japan - Orchard Japan is helmed by digital music pioneer Hiro
Watanabe, founder of DMI (Digital Music Initiative), the first and only
advertising-based Internet solution able to stream major label music
content in Japan. Orchard Japan serves the Japanese market,
aggressively licensing The Orchard's catalogue to Asia's mobile music
market while also aggregating top independent labels from Japan for
global distribution through The Orchard.

* Saregama - The Orchard is continuing to build on its strong relationship
with legendary Indian record company Saregama, the oldest and one of the
largest music companies in India. The Orchard distributes and markets
Saregama's catalogue worldwide and to western audiences through
prominent placements on iTunes, eMusic and other digital music services.
Saregama executives continue to support The Orchard in efforts to source
the region's best music, expose it to new audiences for the first time,
and build a strong Western market for contemporary Indian music and
music representing India's rich and diverse musical heritage.



The Orchard also announces relationships with an array of content aggregation consultants throughout Europe:

* Biz4Music - Biz4Music provides services including management of music
catalogs, representation, licensing and synchronization, for producers
and publishers. Owned by Francois Vautier, Dominique Rottet and
Olivier de Simone, the company maintains a strong team of
representatives in Europe, with a focus on France, Belgium and
Switzerland.

* The Orchard Scandinavia - The Orchard has appointed Michael Hoffman to
be Director, Artists and Label Relations - Scandinavia. Mr. Hoffman
founded Stellar Artist Management in Malmo, Sweden in 1998. In 2003, a
sister (head) office was opened in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stellar Artist
Management represents a wide array of artists from all over the world.

* Simon Lait (UK) - Simon Lait founded the pioneer video record label
Radial choice and released the first ever long form music video
featuring US artist Toni Basil, whose hit single "Mickey" became a pop
classic. Recognized as an innovator with an instinctive feel for
developing new opportunities in the music sector, Mr. Lait was an early
player in online music with Al Teller's Atomic Pop label and consulted
on the development of the online music licensing platform,
Licensemusic.com. Mr. Lait is a director of a number of prominent
independent record labels and is a leading consultant on business
development, financing, licensing and acquisitions in the music and
media industries.

* Michele Forte (Italy)-Michele Forte is a former producer and major/indie
marketing expert. At Universal Music, he's overseen marketing campaigns
for Aqua, Aerosmith, Jakob Dylan, Tupac and more. He has co-founded an
alternative label and served as Head of Alternative for Sony Music. He
co-founded Italy's first online marketing agency, Semilla.

About The Orchard


The Orchard (http://www.theorchard.com/) is the leading distributor and marketer of independent music in the world, representing thousands of labels spanning over 72 countries and every music genre. The Orchard supplies its catalogue of more than 300,000 tracks to all of the leading legal digital music stores and services throughout the world. Headquartered in New York, The Orchard maintains operations in London, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv and Melbourne.

About Dimensional Associates, Inc.

Dimensional Associates, Inc., is the New York-based private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc. Its portfolio companies include eMusic, The Orchard and Dimensional Music Publishing (formerly DreamWorks Music Publishing).

Contact: Andy Morris
Andy Morris & Company
212-561-7465
andy@amc-pr.com


Source: The Orchard

CONTACT: Andy Morris of Andy Morris & Company, for The Orchard,
+1-212-561-7465, andy@amc-pr.com

Web site: http://www.theorchard.com/


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