The Orchard Expands Its European Presence With New Appointments In London Office

 LONDON - March 23, 2006 - The Orchard, the world's leading distributor and marketer of independent music, today announced an expansion of its London office, making key management appointments encompassing label relations, product management, content licensing and marketing, in support of its rapidly-growing UK and European businesses.

Neil Cartwright, previously Head of New Media at Sony Music UK, a post he held for nine years, joins the Orchard as Regional Manager responsible for content licensing to European digital retail and mobile services. Naja Detrekoy has been appointed as product manager for Snapper Music plc, Peaceville Records, Baroque Records, Proper Records, The Babel Label, Leo Records, Critical Rhythm, Simply Red, Big Bear Music, Music Village and the acclaimed breaking band Four Day Hombre. Veronika Dann joins as label relations manager. In addition, the company is recruiting additional product management staff and will shortly announce a European marketing appointment.

The Orchard is the largest digital distributor and marketer in the world, with a catalogue of over 800,000 tracks distributed in over 73 countries around the world to all of the leading services hundreds of digital retailers and mobile services globally. The company has a network of 19 offices across every worldwide music territory. The London office is overseen byco-founder Scott Cohen, who also manages local offices and European teams in Paris, Lausanne, Milan, Barcelona and Berlin.

UK artists and labels distributed by The Orchard include albums spanning as diverse an artist roster as Coldplay, Blazin' Squad, Simply Red and Cradle of Filth. Deep catalogue of major artists from Avid, Acrobat, Proper and Azzurra and tastemaker labels like Tough Cookie, Babel, Fire, Fierce Panda, Mr. Bongo and Grand Central complement other breaking and established acts.

It is a pleasure to formally welcome Neil, Naja and Veronika to The Orchards UK and European team. Over the past year, weve experienced exciting growth in these key music markets, and we are confident that this expansion is a demonstration of our long-term commitment to recognizing the incredible value and importance of servicing markets at the local level. The business might be global, but all music is local, said Cohen.

Last week at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, The Orchard announced two major new deals:

• a landmark partnership with Nettwerk Music Group to digitally represent Nettwerks recorded music division globally, and also have Nettwerk serve as The Orchards partner for Canada. Nettwerk is a multi-dimensional management company, record label and publishing business helmed by industry pioneer Terry McBride, Nettwerks chief executive and founder of Nettwerk. McBride, a master manager/promoter, was recently ranked number 33 out of 100 Most Powerful people in music and represents many of today's top world-wide recording artists including Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, and Dido. Commenting on the deal he said,We believe The Orchard represents a vision consistent with our view of where the music business is headed and will play a key role in the direction of the industry as the inevitable shift to digital sales continues. As the largest but also the best digital distributor and marketer in the business, The Orchard is a logical choice to represent Nettwerk globally, and we are pleased to serve as their partner for Canada. We also believe Nettwerk will derive great value across all aspects of our business by being a part of the unprecedented global partner team The Orchard has assembled.

• an expansion to their landmark alliance with Verizon Wireless, the leading US wireless provider with over 48 million mobile customers, for its new V CAST Music service. The Orchard was the first independent to license music to the service, and represented all of the independent music available at launch; and recently became the first independent to license the service directly for mastertones and ringback tones, shattering a barrier that has existed for independents who have found it difficult to execute direct mobile arrangements with the leading operators worldwide.

As part of its ongoing commitment to the UK music scene, The Orchard stages monthly showcases at The Notting Hill Arts Club the next of which is next week on March 28. Set up in 2005, these regular events which have proven to be both a commercial and artistic success showcase a wide range of up-and-coming, diverse acts and have recently featured, amongst others,media favourites Four Day Hombre and Gliss (both represented digitally by The Orchard), as well as Essay Like Nephew. The next showcase will feature Orchard act The Alps along with Jack Penate, Salvage, Air Traffic and SixNationState.

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, Vancouver, Kolkata, Johannesburg, Moscow and Melbourne, and local representatives in Paris, Milan, Berlin, Barcelona, Lausanne, Ramallah, Nairobi, and São Paulo.