Five years ago today, we launched this blog to share artist news as we grew our roster of Interactive Marketing campaigns. We quickly evolved The Daily Rind into a vital piece of our corporate content marketing strategy, focusing on client communication, Orchard news, tips for navigating the digital landscape, op-eds on industry topics, and yes, artist news. All of this through the eyes of my very talented co-workers, who we continuously pester for more posts.
In honor of our five year mark, here are some of our favorite Daily Rind moments :
2008
Sharon Jones on Austin City Limits, Grammy Consideration by Tonia Samman
2009
Getting Social: The Orchard is on Facebook! and Let’s Twitter! by James Volpe
2010
Streaming vs P2P (Round #543324): Why Does Spotify Feel So Much Faster? by Nathan Thompson
Honorable mention to a republished Billboard piece: Billboard Op-Ed by Scott Cohen (Our Co-Founder and VP): LESS BEGETS MORE by Scott Cohen
2011
SoundCloud: So…About Just Sending Out That MP3? by Robbie Mackey
Honorable mention for a catchy song and catchy topic: Ai Se Eu Te Pego: When Music + Soccer Collide by Celia Saez
2012
Indie Artist Makes a Killing from Streaming – Yep, You Heard Right. by Chris Duncan (this was reposted by Hypebot)
Honorable mention for being our sixth most read post of all time: The Most Valuable Thing You Don’t Know About YouTube’s Business Model by Doug Shineman
Thank you to all our writers, readers and sharers throughout the years. As always, let us know via comments if there are topics you’d like us to cover in the future.
Introducing Dan Griffiths, Interactive Marketing Manager, UK
My path into the music industry was not a standard route! When I was a teenager, in the early days of the Internet and 56k dial-up modems, I decided I would set up a website to blag my way into shows and get a few free CDs. When reviewing shows for the website I would take my camera along and take pictures of the artists (to scan and upload to the website). As I began to get better at using the camera, one of my images got found and used by Marshall Amps and I later became one of their more regular London-based live photographers.
Close to that time I would also go to shows to take pictures of a friend’s band called Reuben. One of the pictures I took got used on the band’s first single to be released through London-based independent label Xtra Mile Recordings. I sent a CV into their sister company, Press Counsel PR, and was brought in to look after online press at the company. During my time there, I handled the online press for Latitude Festival (Festival Republic), New Order, Capdown, Reuben and many more!
After a few years, my role grew and I was brought over to work on developing Xtra Mile Recordings with the Managing Director. My role was very diverse but largely focused on overseeing all digital aspects of running a record label, be that digital marketing, social media, online press, copy for our distributors, D2C, etc. When I started at the label we only had two artists and our focus was purely U.K. based but fast-forward to today and it now has a large roster of artists from all over the world and distribution in all of the major territories you would expect an international label to have! In my time there, I worked with Frank Turner (who we also managed), Against Me! and was influential in helping sign many of the labels roster including The Swellers, My Vitriol, Sonic Boom Six, Future of the Left, Straight Lines, HalfNoise (ex-Paramore), Far and The Xcerts to name only a few.
I have always had a keen interest in all aspects of digital media and music, so when I started speaking to Mark Denby [The Orchard's Director, Video Network and Marketing] about The Orchard towards the end of last year, it was the perfect fit!
Introducing Jennifer Schwartz, Assistant Programmer, The Orchard Video Network
Hello everyone! I’m excited to be joining The Orchard’s New York team. I recently graduated from Fordham University with a degree in Communications and Psychology, so I’m a total Audience Behavior nerd.
Most recently I interned in Digital Advertising at NBC Universal and in New Media at Roadrunner Records before that. At Roadrunner, I helped develop the online presence of Metal and Hard Rock artists, which I’m thrilled to be continuing here at The Orchard.
Music is my biggest passion. From the time I learned my multiplication tables, I’ve been composing, playing flute, and singing. In college, I was the Entertainment Reporter for a niche on-campus paper, interviewing everyone from Minus The Bear to Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. Last year I even helped execute CMJ Music Marathon.
By 2014 I plan to dabble in guitar and piano. I also love animals and baking. My specialties include bacon brownies and Blue Moon cupcakes, but I’m always looking for a crafty new recipe.
I look forward to meeting everyone on The Orchard’s New York team, and making beautiful music together.
On Thursday, April 25, from 6:30 to 10:00PM at Harvard Club of NYC, The Orchard will partner once again with World Savvy to celebrate the organization’s 11th anniversary at the New York City World Savvy Gala.
The evening will consist of delicious cuisine from all around the world, a beer and wine bar, live entertainment, interactive media stations created by World Savvy students, as well as exclusive live and silent auction items. Some of the top-tier live auction items include a day at Gardiner’s Bay, “A Capitol Weekend” in the nation’s capitol, a weeklong trip to Supetar, Croatia, and much more.
World Savvy is an organization that promotes systematic change in education for students in grades K-12. They hope to provide opportunities for these students that will give them the knowledge, skills, attitude and behavior to become the future leaders and decision makers within each of their local and global communities.
For more information and to find out how to purchase tickets for the New York City World Savvy Gala, please visit this event page. All of us at The Orchard hope to see you at this wonderful event for a great cause.
To conclude, here’s a throwback to 2010, when we helped put together the first ever World Savvy student album:
Introducing Timothy Vargas, Video Engineer
I’m very excited to be a part of The Orchard team! I am 26 years old, born and raised in Queens, NY, but have called Stamford, CT my home for the last year. I worked for the WWE for the last 3 years in CT doing broadcast operations and for the Sound Lounge in NY before that, doing audio post production for commercials. I went to Brooklyn College for Film Production, transferred, and finished my degree in Audio Recording at Five Towns College out on Long Island.
I like Quentin Tarantino films, “Breaking Bad”, “Seinfeld” re-runs, and “Girls” on HBO. My music tastes vary from growing up on Blink 182 and Gorilla Biscuits, to Between the Buried and Me and Saves the Day, and recently Of Monsters and Men and The XX. I’ve been in a couple of bands, love local shows, and love listening to and seeing new things.
Getting a job at The Orchard is incredibly exciting. I look forward to meeting everyone, making new friends, contributing to the company, and being a part of something I truly believe in.
