Welcome, Jonathan!

Introducing Jonathan Sirlin, Operations Manager

I’m very excited to be joining The Orchard in this new capacity after five beautiful, gorgeous, unforgettable months with Compilations. I’m originally from New Rochelle, NY and graduated from Wesleyan University in 2008. I currently live in Sunnyside, Queens, where everything’s cheaper and the apartments are bigger.

Music has consistently been the central focus of my life. Prior to coming to The Orchard, I worked as the Operations Manager at Turtle Bay Music School for four years. If you were around for the holiday party this past December, you may or may not have seen me attempting to publicly re-teach myself how to play the violin in the Battle of the Bands. I started classical violin lessons at the age of 8, and stopped practicing once I got good enough to sit far up enough in orchestra to play the better parts, but still far back enough to goof off and not pay attention during rehearsals. This is when I tell people I started playing “jazz and bluegrass” violin, which is really code for “I stopped practicing scales and other pretty boring music and learned to have more fun with the instrument.” I took up guitar shortly after starting violin and have since played in various bands in a few different capacities, most notably along fellow Orchardites Max Horwich and Zac Meyer during our collective time at Wesleyan University.

I’m a Randy Newman fanatic, I still play video games (ladies), my brother-in-law is a professional Russian-Israeli weightlifter, I recently wrote a musical for children about a depressed turtle, and I can’t believe how the last season of Breaking Bad ended (WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG NEW EPISODES LET’S GO). These are the most interesting things about me, and if you take anything away from this email, let it be this sendoff.

Thanks to everybody for the warm reception these last few months, and I’m thrilled to be given this new opportunity!

Riding The Line Between Marketing and Entertainment

The Orchard Sports has opened up a whole new world for Action Sports Filmmakers. You see, the Action Sports genre primarily consists of propaganda pieces that are used to showcase a new snowboard, an athlete, or communicate the culture of a brand. The sponsor dollars that are devoted to these projects could have been allocated to print, web, or even events for marketing.

But now, more than ever in the last 5 years, dollars are pouring back into the film space because we’re able to provide a clear path to distribution. Bigger and better projects are being funded because the reach to the consumer is greater than ever. Brands can devote funds to films specifically distributed by The Orchard Sports because they know the film will be seen and available on all the major digital video platforms worldwide. Brands like Oakley, Rockstar Energy and Racer X view The Orchard Sports as an extension of their marketing department, a conduit to the reach. Coupled with our extensive marketing support, its a true partnership in every way.

Additionally, The Orchard Sports has put the “Mo” back in “monetization.” By collecting revenue from all angles, we’re able to maximize the eyeballs and the revenue for the brand. Whether its EST, VOD, Ad-Supported, or Subscription VOD, we’re collecting every impression and dollar for the sponsor. This ultimately goes right back into future production budgets. And it doesn’t stop at just new releases. Catalogue releases continue to generate revenue year after year, and as the digital universe expands, we’re seeing this revenue tick up year over year, even though titles themselves are are getting older. It’s proving to be a great model for brand funded films; the caliber of films on the slate for 2013 and 2014 are proof that the model is working!

Coming up, we have Lakey Peterson: Zero to 100, a project funded by Hurley to showcase the talent and rise to fame of women’s surfing sensation Lakey Peterson. The film will be available on iTunes starting April 20th. Other projects on the horizion include Into the Mind, sponsored by The North Face; Oakley’s Naturally; and #Recoil from Monster Energy. Take a minute to check out the teasers — these projects are taking action sports film making to the next level.

Tripwires: Avoiding The Seven Year Itch

Tripwires is a band from Reading, UK that has been rocking venues with its reverberating, shoegaze grunge for the past six years. Though there are a handful of bands out there with a similar tag line, Tripwires are somewhat of an anomaly. Though the band was conceived in 2007, they have yet to release their debut album, which has been in the works for the past six years. To put that into perspective, Tripwires has been writing and recording this forthcoming album since the announcement of the 1st generation iPhone. Though this seems like centuries ago, Tripwires have taken the time to carefully hone their sound and will release their long-awaited record, Spacehopper, on June 18th via Frenchkiss Records.

Let’s look back in time a little, shall we? The town in which longtime friends (frontman, Rhys Edwards; guitarist, Joe Stone; bassist, Ben White; and drummer, Sam Pilsbury) grew up was placid and quaint. However, though the town may not seem enchanting by any means, the four friends found a musical refuge in it and took their time to pen this upcoming record. They claim that the sound of Spacehopper is influenced by a wide scope of artists including Neil Young, The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Talk Talk. Nevertheless, between all these sonic layers of inspiration, they found their own voice.

It’s evident that the members of Tripwires are closely-knit. Maybe it’s that they’ve successfully collaborated together on creating a record for over half a decade, or maybe it’s the fact that they used to cover Slipknot songs together during their lunch breaks in grade school. These guys have grown up and matured with each other not only in their personal lives, but musically as well. The strong relationships that exist between them have helped them craft their own, diverse sound that is sure to be well worth the wait.

Freeloader Friday: AM & Shawn Lee, Black Star Riders, Young Man, Charles Bradley, PVT, Little Tybee and The Lovely Bad Things

The weekend is here, which means it’s time to turn off your email and turn up your stereo. Whether you’re hitting the road for a quick getaway, hosting an epic dance party, or just looking for an aural escape this weekend, you’ve come to the right place. We have tons of new music that is guaranteed to make your weekday hiatus a truly raucous event.

To start things off, AM & Shawn Lee spin a cosmic cover of a Joe Jackson classic, Black Star Riders share a feel of summer with the premiere of their newest single, and PVT gets turned up a notch with a remix by The Antlers.

What’s that? You want a full album to jam out to this weekend? Well you’re in luck, as Young Man spreads infectious Pop sounds and Little Tybee wanders into the atmosphere with their respective full record streams. Both albums drop next week, so be on the lookout.

If you’re looking for visuals, The Lovely Bad Things have you covered with the music video premiere of “Fried Eyes.” It features fireworks, mini-bike races, and enough party vibes to get your weekend kicked into gear.

But the feel good story of the week comes from Funk maestro Charles Bradley. The cook-turned-James-Brown-impersonator-turned-Soul-singer ignites NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, a weekly podcast hosted by Bob Boilen, with the track “You Put The Flame On It.” The redemptive story of Bradley’s career and his newest single are both bound to lift your weekend spirits.

AM & Shawn Lee: “Steppin’ Out” via NYLON
La Musique Numerique out May 7 on Park The Van

Black Star Riders: “Bound For Glory” via Classic Rock Magazine
All Hell Breaks Loose out May 28 on Nuclear Blast

Young Man: Full album stream via Rolling Stone
Beyond Was All Around Me out April 9 on Frenchkiss Records

Charles Bradley: “You Put The Flame On It” via NPR Music’s All Songs Considered
Victim of Love out now on Daptone Records

PVT: “Nightfall (The Antlers Remix)” via Stereogum
Homosapien out now on Felte

Little Tybee: Full album stream via Paste
For Distant Viewing out April 9 on Paper Garden Records

The Lovely Bad Things: “Fried Eyes” music video premiere via Death and Taxes
The Late Great Whatever out now on Volcom Entertainment

Digital Music as Democracy: Let The Fans Speak

It’s official:  Ant and Dec, aka PJ and Duncan, officially hit #1 in the UK singles chart, firmly holding off competition from the likes of P!nk, Justin Timberlake and the Saturdays. While older songs hitting the UK singles chart is not unusual since changes to the chart rules in 2007, very seldom does the original of a 19-year old song sell 84,000 downloads to reach the summit.

The details of how this happened have been widely documented, and you can bring yourself up to speed here should you have been outside of the UK, likely enjoying more pleasing weather, while all of this was happening. Basically, “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble” became number one because the public wanted it to.

Much has been written in the field of Media Studies about digital media’s role in fostering democracy and whether it creates a more perfect public sphere, though not often in regards to music. The success of “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble” serves as a prime example of the democratization of the music industry via digital media. Once upon a time, the power to have a song in contention for Number One was firmly in the hands of the music industry. The public ultimately had final say over what they would buy, but in order to have a chance at being a number one single, a label would choose the song, choose how to market it, choose how many to manufacture and distribute, and retailers would choose how many they took into their shops. The public only chose what they requested their favourite radio station to play and what single to actually buy.

The public holds the power now. Labels still choose singles and release dates, but ultimately, the public can pluck a song from out of nowhere and make it a hit. In the case of “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble,” a moment on television jogged the nation’s collective memory. Every Christmas in the UK brings another campaign for a song with some indie-cred to beat the X-Factor single du jour to Christmas number one, with some success (“Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine in 2009). The singles chart has become more of an election as to what song is inspiring the nation’s collective consciousness.

The music industry’s job is now to listen to the people and react accordingly. With fast access to sales ands streaming data, we can quickly monitor the market and be sure we are giving the public what they want. In the case of “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble,” it was evident the song was going to be a hit first thing on the Monday morning following the performance. Pricing adjustments were made to the album containing the song, playlists were quickly assembled featuring the track, special placements with services were arranged within hours and sales and trends were monitored continuously throughout the week.

When Sunday morning rolled around, there was no question as to what was going to be Number One that week; the people had spoken.

Check out more hits from yesteryear from Ant & Dec, currently featured at a very special Album of the Week price at Amazon.co.uk.