Verizon Wireless Expands Relationship with The Orchard, The First Independent Music Supplier for V CAST MUSIC

Verizon Wireless Expands Relationship with The Orchard, The First Independent Music Supplier for V CAST MUSIC

Verizon Wireless Customers Will Have Access to Full-Length Tracks, Mastertones and Ring Back Tones from The Orchard

NEW YORK and BEDMINSTER, N.J. and AUSTIN, Texas, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- From SXSW (South by Southwest) today, The Orchard, a leading digital distributor and marketer of independent music, and Verizon Wireless, the company with the most reliable wireless network in the nation, announced the latest extension of their landmark relationship. Under the expanded agreement with Verizon Wireless, The Orchard will become the first independent to directly supply indie music for full-song downloads on V CAST Music as well as mastertones and ring back tones.

The Orchard currently provides indie music for Verizon Wireless' V CAST Music service, which offers full-track downloads culled from The Orchard's licensed catalog of more than 800,000 tracks, the largest in the industry.

Along with mastertones from chart-topping artists like Green Day and Coldplay, international superstars like Bob Marley and Ravi Shankar, and a vast array of unique tones offering unprecedented personalization alternatives, The Orchard will offer some of the most unique and innovative tones in the market. For example, customers will be able to choose from Tolstoi's voice, a message of peace from the late Pope John Paul II, quirky mobile-only mini- songs by cult favorites Ween and ring tone comedy from Lewis Black.

The Orchard offers an unprecedented and peerless digital catalog of the best independent music from around the world, including landmark indie rock and punk from SST (Black Flag, Minutemen) and Lookout! Records (The Donnas, Ted Leo), classic hip-hop from Delicious Vinyl (Tone Loc, Young MC) and Nature Sounds (MF Doom, Masta Killa), world-renowned classical music from Analekta and Qualiton, Bollywood hits from Saregama (Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar) and other top Indian labels and much more. The Orchard catalog also includes music from multi-platinum acts such as Green Day, Coldplay and Ray Charles from their early years, before they were signed to major labels, and breaking bands like The Hold Steady and Art Brut. Overall, The Orchard's catalog encompasses music from thousands of record labels spanning 73 countries and every music genre.

"Extending our artists' and labels' music into ring tones and ring back tones provide yet more choice for V CAST customers who want music beyond the Billboard Top 40," 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. "We are pleased to work with Verizon Wireless to enhance the V CAST customer experience and provide some of the best independent music from around the globe to Verizon Wireless customers in new and innovative ways."

John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, said, "We want our customers to have maximum choice in music and formats. Since the launch of V CAST Music, The Orchard has been a trailblazer for independent music purveyors and an invaluable resource for us, providing a diverse catalog that's unmatched by any other supplier. With our latest extension of Verizon Wireless' Orchard relationship into mastertones and ring back tones, The Orchard continues to be first to market in helping position V CAST Music to become the biggest and best music service."

The Orchard represents a growing catalog of more than 800,000 tracks which it markets to all of the world's leading digital music stores, including eMusic, iTunes, Napster, MSN, Yahoo!/MusicMatch and Real/Rhapsody. The Orchard also distributes thousands of ring tones to the leading global mobile companies, maintaining the largest mobile network of any music distributor.

Available to 150 million Americans coast to coast, V CAST Music runs on Verizon Wireless' award-winning broadband network. V CAST Music from Verizon Wireless signals the availability of revolutionary new services from the leading U.S. wireless provider.

About The Orchard

The Orchard 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 800,000 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, Berlin, Barcelona, Lausanne, Ramallah, Nairobi, and Sao Paulo.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 51.3 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Source: Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon Wireless, +1-908-306-4824,
jeffrey.nelson@verizonwireless.com; Andy Morris, The Morris + King Company for
The Orchard, +1-212-561-7465, andy.morris@morris-king.com

Web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia

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