THE ORCHARD REACHES 1.2 BiLLION MOBILE CUSTOMERS ACROSS ASIA
New York– May 26, 2010 – Today, The Orchard (NASDAQ: ORCD), a global leader in music and video distribution and comprehensive digital strategy, announced that the company is now reaching more than 1.2 billion mobile customers across Asia through distribution partnerships with top mobile operators and licensors in China, Japan, Korea, India, and the Middle East.
In Japan, The Orchard has direct agreements with Music.JP and Music Airport, as well as a partnership with the largest record label Avex, which brings Orchard content to Label Mobile, a mobile-content provider owned by leading Japan record labels. In The Middle East, The Orchard has an agreement with Viva, which provides The Orchard access to top mobile operators like Orange, Vodafone, and Mobinil. In Korea, a deal with NeoWizBugs supplies content to SK Telecom and third-party mobile music sites including Bugs, Melon and Dosirak. A deal with ZTEMT China brings The Orchard’s content to China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom subscribers. Finally, through its partner label Saregama, the Orchard also reaches the largest mobile service providers in India, such as Vodafone, Air Tel, Reliance, and BSNL. In total, The Orchard taps over 1.2 billion mobile users in the Asian mobile market.
“We are excited to expand our partnership with The Orchard and now distribute their catalog of over two million tracks into India,” commented Atul Churamani, Vice President of Saregama India Limited. “The large, and continuously growing, Indian mobile market provides a platform to exploit diverse genres and styles of music. The Orchard’s catalog allows us to create programs and market content to take advantage of this opportunity.”
According to IFPI, the number of mobile subscriptions in Asia surpasses its number of Internet users by 464%. “Since Asia is such a vast, culturally diverse region of the world, we have taken great care over the past 4 years to cultivate the right strategic relationships with both mobile operators and mobile platform providers,” commented Steve Haase, EVP, Business Development of The Orchard. “In fostering such marquee partnerships through complex technical integrations, a customized and targeted content selection process and localized merchandising campaigns, we have experienced strong revenue growth over the past 12 months.”
About The Orchard(R)
Headquartered in New York and London with operations in 26 markets around the world, The Orchard (NASDAQ: ORCD) is an independent music and video distributor specializing in comprehensive digital strategies for content owners. Through innovative global marketing and promotions, The Orchard drives sales across more than 660 digital and mobile storefronts in 75 countries, as well as physical retailers across North America and Europe. The company was founded in 1997 as a business partner that fosters creativity and independence within its global clients. For further information, please visit www.theorchard.com.