The Orchard, a pioneering independent music and video distribution company operating in more than 20 global markets, provides an innovative and comprehensive sales and marketing platform for content owners. With industry-leading technology and operations, The Orchard’s creative, tailored approach streamlines its clients’ business complexity while amplifying reach and revenue across hundreds of digital and mobile outlets around the world, as well as physical retailers in North America and Europe. The Orchard was founded in 1997 to foster independence and creativity in the music industry.

The Orchard's History

2012

• The Orchard and IODA agree to combine their businesses in a new venture called The Orchard, to create a new market leader in comprehensive digital distribution services.

2011

• The Orchard begins to offer Neighboring Rights/Public Performance Royalty Collection to its clients
• The Orchard Marketplace debuts with 20 third-party sales and marketing tools integrated via an API, including SoundCloud, FanBridge and Moontoast
• Artist Builder is launched by The Orchard to enable clients to publish information and assets to Facebook, Twitter, artist sites and blogs
• The Orchard adds music video support to Release Builder
• The Orchard enhances Analytics to identify sales trends through overviews, comparisons and breakdowns across labels, genres, artists, releases and tracks
• The Orchard Sports debuts at www.theorchardsports.com to showcase its catalogue of action sports videos
• The Orchard signs labels such as EMI Pakistan (Pakistan), HIT Entertainment (USA), Picap/Actual (Spain), Tee Pee Records (USA) and Times Music (India), as well as direct deals with artists such as Boyz II Men, Kina Grannis Rhett Miller and Spank Rock

• Spotify enters the United States and launches their App store
• iTunes expands to Brazil and Latin America
• Google Music launches
• Digital channels now account for more than 50% of music sales in USA (Nielsen SoundScan) and 29% of global music industry revenues (IFPI)

2010

• Dimensional Associates acquires The Orchard, again, and The Orchard celebrates private company status and profitability
• The Orchard introduces Release Analytics to view release and track sales by multiple stores, time period and location
• The Orchard opens an office in Nashville
• Richard Gottehrer and Seymour Stein relaunch Blue Horizon on The Orchard, with The Black Angels' Phosphene Dream
• The Orchard upgrades Release Builder: upload hundreds of releases at once, build compilations and copy releases
• iConcerts, the world's largest provider of live concert films, partners with The Orchard
• The Orchard signs music from Enemy Soil (USA), Gracie Productions (USA), Lifeforce (Germany), PMI Jetstar (UK), Ryan Adams (USA), Sesame Street (USA), Joss Stone (UK), Suave Music (UK)

• Apple releases the first iPad
• Worldwide digital music market is worth US$4.6 billion (IFPI)
• Digital channels account for 29% of record companies’ global revenues

2009

• Deloitte ranks The Orchard as the 66th fastest growing technology company in North America
• The Orchard is the first independent company to launch on VEVO
• The Orchard signs music entities such as Acrobat (UK), Codigo Music (USA), Duck Records (Italy), Document Records (UK), Elaine Page (UK), Wynton Marsalis (USA), Invasion Music Group (USA), Kanine Records (USA), Massacre Records (Germany), Narnack Records (USA), RJD2 (USA), Ian Anderson (UK), Volcom Entertainment (USA)
• The Orchard signs video companies such as TrustNordisk, Scandinavia's largest film sales company, VAS/WAX Media, the largest action sports film company, comedic mainstay National Lampoon and independent film collector IndiePix

• First Music Hack Day starts in London
• In the US, online and mobile revenues now account for around 40% of music sales (IFPI)

2008

• TVT Records and TVT Distribution are acquired by The Orchard, powering The Orchard’s physical sales platform
• The Orchard begins to digitally distribute video and is among YouTube’s first monetization partner and iTunes’ first independent film deals
• The Orchard enhances its client dashboard with the Release Builder content management system and basic marketing and analytics tools
• The Orchard signs Acuarela Producciones (Spain), Barsuk Records (USA), GMM Grammy (Thailand), Groupe Analekta (Canada), Ipecac Recordings (USA), iPlay (Portugal), Kitty-Yo (Germany), Ovaçao (Portugal), Reader’s Digest (USA), Ruf Records (Germany), Sony ATV Europe (UK), Uprising (USA)

• Apple launches its App Store
• Spotify debuts in Sweden, Norway, Finland, UK, Spain, France
• Netflix begins to offer movies and TV shows to watch instantly

2007

• The Orchard launches an Interactive Marketing division to engage fans on behalf of its clients
• Procter & Gamble partners with the Orchard to power an on-pack ringtone promotion for Pringles
• The Orchard completes a reverse merger with Digital Music Group, Inc. and becomes a public company
• The Orchard signs Music for Dreams (Denmark), Massacre Records (Germany), Discos Musart (Mexico), EMI Pakistan (Pakistan), Babygrande Records (USA)

• Apple debuts the first iPhone
• CBS acquires Last.fm for $280 million
• Digital channels now account for 15% of global music industry revenues (IFPI)

2006

• The Orchard opens offices in Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania
• The Orchard launches its Film/TV/Advertising division to secure licensing opportunities and song placements for its music clients
• The Orchard signs Nuclear Blast (Germany), Azzurra Music (Italy), Butterfly (Italy), Farol (Portugal), Rotana (Saudi Arabia), Open Records (Spain), Meta Network (Spain), Alia Vox (Spain), Mu-Yap (Turkey), One Media Publishing (UK), Vee Jay Records (USA), BMB/Poor Boy Records/Bret Michaels (USA), Boots Enterprises/Nancy Sinatra (USA), Daptone Records (USA), Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (USA), Dim Mak (USA)

• Apple achieves its one billionth download
• Apple begins to sell movies and TV shows in the iTunes store
• Twitter launches

2005

• The Orchard opens offices in Australia, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, China, Hong Kong and Palestine
• The Orchard signs Music Brokers (Argentina), George V Records (France), Rendez-Vous Digital (France), Hed-Arzi (Israel), Frontiers Records (Italy), Time SPA (Italy), The Montreux Jazz Label (Switzerland), LicenseMusic (UK), Fire Records (UK), Next Music (South Africa), SST Records (USA), Plug Research (USA)

• Global digital music sales reach $1 billion
• YouTube launches

2004

• The Orchard opens offices in Argentina, Italy, France, Spain, Israel and Japan
• The Orchard becomes the first independent distributor to hit one million paid downloads and streams
• The Orchard signs Seasons of Mist (France), Saregama (India), Helicon Records (Israel), Plaza Mayor (UK), wyld pytch rekords (UK), Fierce Panda (UK), Simply Red (UK), Mr. Bongo (UK), Daniel Johnston (USA), Manifesto Records (USA), Frenchkiss Records (USA), Cleopatra Records

• Facebook and the paid version of Napster launch

2003

• The Orchard is acquired by Dimensional Associates
• The Orchard opens its European headquarters in London
• The Orchard supplies the largest catalogue of independent music in the world to iTunes
• The Orchard becomes the first distributor to launch a dedicated digital Retail Marketing team

• iTunes Music Store and MySpace launch
• RealNetworks acquires Listen.com’s Rhapsody service

2002

• The Orchard is the first independent to supply music to Pressplay and RealNetworks' Music Net

• Sony DADC introduces copy protected CDs, disabling the ability to listen to a CD from a computer

2001

• The Orchard supplies digital content to Sonera, the first over-the-air download service

• Apple introduces the iPod
• Napster peaks as a free peer-to-peer site with approximately 60 million users, and is shut down by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)

2000

• The Orchard becomes the largest supplier of independent music to Alliance Entertainment

• Pandora launches
• Universal Music Group (UMG) successfully sues MP3.com for copyright infringement

1999

• The Orchard licenses its catalogue to EverAd, the first advertising-based digital music service and to PeopleSound (UK) in the universally compatible MP3 format

• Napster and Netflix launch
• MP3.com goes public on July 21 and raises $370 million – the largest tech IPO to date

1998

• The Orchard is the first company to supply independent music to online retailer CDNOW (USA)

• Google and MP3.com launch
• Diamond Multimedia introduces the Rio, the first mass-market portable MP3 player

1997

• Richard Gottehrer and Scott Cohen start The Orchard in the Lower East Side of New York City to provide independent artists with the ability to sell their music to mainstream audiences

• RealNetworks launches