The Orchard Launches Global Digital Promotion for Billy Bob Thornton's New Album, 'Hobo'

The Orchard Launches Global Digital Promotion for Billy Bob Thornton's New Album, 'Hobo'

Orchard Secures Apple iTunes In-Store Performance in Santa Monica Today

- Additional Promotional Packages to Run on eMusic, Napster, Real/Rhapsody, and Others -

NEW YORK, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The Orchard, the world's leading distributor and marketer of independent music, today announced a global digital promotion campaign for Academy Award-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton's third roots-rock album, "Hobo." The Orchard has arranged promotion packages with all of the major digital music services worldwide, including iTunes, eMusic, Napster and Real/Rhapsody. The program highlights include:

* Santa Monica Apple In-Store Performance today (10/28)
* iTunes Celebrity playlist
* eMusic free download of the day
* Napster Live Session (to go live on 11/8)
* Rhapsody interview (streaming interview conducted by Real Networks
editor)
* Real Listening party for the album the week of its release

Thornton already has two critically acclaimed records under his belt, released on Lost Highway and Sanctuary. Tom Petty says, "Billy Bob's music has a style and lean all its own. It can catch you off guard with as much as a word's inflection." The Los Angeles Times wrote, "If Thornton had tried to make it as a singer-songwriter in Nashville in the early '70s, he would have surely played the same clubs as Kris Kristofferson. They might have even shared an apartment." Aside from his solo albums, Thornton has supplied backing vocals to recordings by Warren Zevon [Grammy-winning '03 album "The Wind"], Earl Scruggs and Dwight Yoakam.

"Hobo is a great record, Billy Bob is an incredibly talented artist, and we're lucking to be working with him," 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. "For Hobo, our initiatives extend beyond simple digital marketing projects like securing a homepage placement, which given Billy Bob's stature, would not be that hard for any distributor to do. Instead, we are working a broad array of coordinated programs across services, channels and territories, all in synch with his larger album marketing objectives. The Orchard has pioneered a new level of sophistication for merchandising digital music, and we continue to set the standard."

The Orchard leverages its marketing expertise on behalf of the thousands of independent labels and artists and labels -- spanning 72 countries and all music genres -- that it represents to more than 125 digital music stores and to over 200 mobile phone carriers globally.

The Orchard's marketing is internationally focused, as over half of The Orchard's client labels and retail partners are outside of the United States. For example, two weeks ago, The Orchard successfully had over 500 promotions running on iTunes France alone, of which half about were for European artists and labels.

The Orchard draws on its network of 15 regional offices across the globe to maintain direct local relationships with digital music stores and services in each country. With expertise in the local repertoire, the regional offices also provide valuable insight into regional trends.

The Orchard has brought the concept of "windowing" to the digital music world. For priority titles, the company develops a detailed sales strategy that includes different exclusives in different services and territories, and making content available across global digital retailers and mobile operators in a coordinated and integrated fashion. The Orchard also excels at innovative programming, such as follow-up EPs of remixes or rare tracks, in-studio live performances, album re-releases with extra tracks, and more. Unique ringtones are added into the mix for some Orchard clients.

The Orchard has also raised the bar on reporting their extensive marketing efforts to record labels. The company tracks every merchandising placement and makes them available for their record label clients to view at anytime through an online interface. The Orchard also compiles this information quarterly to present in a printed report, as companion material to the actual sales and accounting statements.

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 73 countries and every music genre. The Orchard supplies its catalogue of more than 650,000 tracks to all of the leading legal digital music retailers and mobile operators throughout the world. The company is headquartered in New York and London, with operations in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Toronto, Kolkata, Johannesburg, Moscow and Melbourne, and local representatives in Paris, Milan, Barcelona, and Ramallah.

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).

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

Source: The Orchard

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

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

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