The Orchard Signs Global Distribution and Marketing Agreement With MU-YAP

The Orchard Signs Global Distribution and Marketing Agreement With MU-YAP

The Orchard Will Digitally Distribute Music From MU-YAP Member Labels, Which Represent Approximately 80% of the Turkish Music Market

NEW YORK and ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Orchard, the world's leading distributor and marketer of independent music, and MU-YAP, the Turkish performing rights organization for phonogram producers, today announced that The Orchard has been selected to serve MU-YAP as its global and distribution partner. Through this partnership, the Orchard will distribute and market approximately 80% of Turkey's music. The agreement marks the first major initiative by The Orchard's recently-opened Istanbul office, which is overseen by industry veteran Metin Uzelli.

Formed in 2000 and representing 85 record labels, MU-YAP has been an innovative global leader with respect to the digital music marketplace. In 2005, the company launched its Digital Music Project with the goal of digitizing its catalogue while selecting the right marketing and distribution partner to fully exploit its rich music assets. Already, the organization has digitized 72,000 songs, and expects to have an additional 40,000 songs digitized and market-ready within a year.

The Orchard will market MU-YAP's catalogue across The Orchard's global distribution platform, encompassing more than 125 of the world's leading digital music stores, including iTunes, eMusic, Napster, MSN, MusicMatch, Real/Rhapsody, and Yahoo! In addition, The Orchard will supply the repertoire to over 200 leading mobile companies around the world.

"After a detailed review of the many different distribution alternatives available to us, it is clear that The Orchard is best positioned in the marketplace to exploit global revenue opportunities for our member labels and artists. The Orchard team demonstrated a sophisticated understanding to our catalogue and translated that into a creative marketing approach. What The Orchard is doing - and how they are doing it - is unique in the industry, and we're excited to be a part of it," said Bulent Forta, president of MU-YAP.

"As the literal crossroads between the East and West, Turkey has a magnificent cultural and musical history," said Greg Scholl, chief executive of The Orchard and managing director of Dimensional Associates, parent company of The Orchard, eMusic, and Dimensional Music Publishing. "Turkey's genres are dazzling in their diversity: pop, rock, arabesque, belly dance music, jazz, classical, folk, and Ottoman classical. We look forward to developing new global audiences for this rich catalogue while at the same time, ensuring Turkish people everywhere have access to the music of their cultural heritage."

MU-YAP's catalogue includes Turkey's most renowned pop artists such as Tarkan, 2005 Eurovision Song Contest winner Sertab Erener, and Mustafa Sandal, as well as master Turkish musicians including Burhan Ocal, Guher and Suher Pekinel, and Ibrahim Tatlises. Representative artists and songs by genre include:

-- POP: Tarkan ("Shikidim"), Sertap Erener ("Everyway That I Can"),
Serdar Ortac, Sezen Aksu, Mustafa Sandal, Ajda Pekkan;

-- ROCK: Duman, Erkin Koray, Bulutsuzluk Ozlemi, Cem Karaca, Mor ve
Otesi, Sebnem Ferah, Pentagram, Manga;

-- ARABESQUE: Orhan Gencebay, Ibrahim Tatlises, Sibel Can, Ebru Gundes,
Muslum Gurses, Ferdi Tayfur, Bulent Ersoy;

-- BELLY DANCE, ORIENTAL MOODS: Harem, Kirpi, Mustafa Kandirali, Husnu
Senlendirici, Selim Sesler;

-- FOLK: Aynur, Neset Ertas, Zulfu Livaneli, Arif Sag, Grup Yorum;

-- JAZZ: Aydin Esen, Burhan Ocal, Kerem Gorsev, Tuna Otenel, Okay Temiz,
Ayse Tutuncu, Ilhan Ersahin;

-- CLASSICAL: Ezgi Saydam, Guher Suher Pekinel, Anjelika Akbar, Cihat
Askin;

-- NEW AGE: Fahir Atakoglu, Tuluyhan Ugurlu, Hasan Cihat Orter;

-- TURKISH CLASSICAL: Zeki Muren, Muzeyyen Senar, Safiye Ayla;

-- HIP-HOP: Ceza, Sagopa Kajmer;

The Orchard represents an unprecedented digital catalogue of the best independent music from around the world, including indie rock and punk, hip- hop, classical music, Bollywood, and much more. The Orchard's catalogue 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 Bedouin Soundclash. The Orchard works closely with all of the leading digital retailers and mobile operators worldwide to market and sell this catalogue and also assist them as a close merchandising partner with respect to independent music in general.

For more information about The Orchard, please visit: www.theorchard.com. For more information about MU-YAP, please visit: www.mu-yap.org/english.

About MU-YAP

Founded in 2000, MU-YAP is a non-profit organization for the neighboring rights of phonogram producers. It also represents Turkish phonogram producers at the international level as the national group of the International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers (IFPI). Currently, MU-YAP has 85 members and represents nearly 80% of the music industry in Turkey.

About The Orchard

The Orchard is the world's leading digital distributor and marketer of independent music, with a catalogue of more than 800,000 tracks representing 73 countries, thousands of labels, and every music genre - including rock, punk, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, classical, Bollywood, and more. This catalogue includes titles from multi-platinum acts such as Green Day, Coldplay, and Ray Charles, as well as breaking bands like The Hold Steady and Bedouin Soundclash. The Orchard supplies all the leading legal digital music stores and mobile operators throughout the world, and markets its labels' catalogues for sync song placements in films, commercials, and television shows. In addition, The Orchard provides royalty administration and collection services for labels and copyright owners. The company is owned by Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc. whose portfolio companies also include eMusic and Dimensional Music Publishing. The Orchard is headquartered in New York and London, with offices in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Kolkata, Johannesburg, Moscow, and Melbourne, and local representatives in Paris, Milan, Berlin, Barcelona, Lausanne, Istanbul, Ramallah, Nairobi, and Sao Paulo. For more information, please visit: www.theorchard.com.

Media Contacts

U.S.
Paul Verna
Director of Corporate Communications
The Orchard
212-300-2824
verna@theorchard.com

Andy Morris / Justin Kazmark
The Morris + King Company
(212) 561-7465 / (212) 561-7466
andy.morris@morris-king.comjustin.kazmark@morris-king.com

U.K.
Jonathan Morrish
The Outside Organisation
011-44-20-7436-3633
jonathan.morrish@outside-org.co.uk

Source: The Orchard

CONTACT: U.S.: Paul Verna, Director of Corporate Communications of The
Orchard, +1-212-300-2824, verna@theorchard.com; or Andy Morris,
+1-212-561-7465, andy.morris@morris-king.com, or Justin Kazmark,
+1-212-561-7466, justin.kazmark@morris-king.com, both of The Morris + King
Company for The Orchard; or U.K.: Jonathan Morrish of The Outside
Organisation, 011-44-20-7436-3633, jonathan.morrish@outside-org.co.uk

Web site: http://www.theorchard.com/
http://www.mu-yap.org/english

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