The Orchard Polishes Its Deutsch with Membran Entertainment Group

Guten Tag, Deutschland! And a good day, it is. Today, we announce our new partnership with the renowned and respected Membran Entertainment Group, based in Germany. With them, we kick off The Orchard GmbH, run by Membran CEO, Manlio Celotti.

We’ve gotten to know the German market over the years — we opened our first office there in 2006 — and with so much potential for growth in the region, we knew it was time to grow our roots. Manlio brings over two decades of experience to the table, not only in the German music market, but also across Europe. We know that with him and Membran by our side, our labels and artists will benefit on all fronts: more label and marketing attention on the ground, a wider network to add to our 25+ markets around the world, and a stronger presence across Europe.

In addition to that, Membran will now handle all of our physical distribution in Europe, rounding up our partnership into one that promises great things.

Find out more in our official press release, and, if you want to polish your Deutsch too, take a look at this feature in MusikWoche.

Ringing in The Next Generation at the 2015 Winter X Games

At the tail-end of January, the 2015 Winter X Games returned to Aspen, CO for their 13th straight year. In typical X Games fashion, they outdid all previous years with action and entertainment.

To give you some highlights, there were both fresh faces on the podium and repeat gold medalists, with the most notable absence on the podium being the great Shaun White. Shaun was tempted out from “retirement” to compete in one last Winter X in an effort to claim a 14th gold medal. Unfortunately for Shaun, his best run could not compete with the young guns of the Mens Snowboard SuperPipe and he placed 4th — still, not bad! Danny Davis on the other hand threw down a jaw dropping gold medal run that made him the repeat champion. Like it? Stay tuned for the feature length film coming in November 2015 around the multi-time champ and his incredible story to the top.

In another sign that the kids are coming, Chloe Kim became the youngest Winter X Games gold medalist ever, overtaking the greatest women’s snowboarder of all time on her final run in the halfpipe final Saturday night. Kim, who wasn’t even born until 2000, scored 92 points in her third and final run. Chloe suffered a huge crash in practice, but regrouped and bounced back to take the Gold when it mattered. With that, she pushed four-time reigning X Games champion Kelly Clark to silver.

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Congrats To Our 2015 Grammy Awards Winners!

Last night, all music-lovers and creators — well, almost — watched one of the year’s biggest events in music: The 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Some of us were lucky enough to attend in person — here’s lookin’ at you Colleen and Laura, our COO and Latin American Regional Manager who doubles as Chair of the Latin Grammys — while the rest of us watched from our living rooms (or if you’re like me, treadmills).

Of course, at The Orchard, we were rooting for our slew of nominated artists, many of whom didn’t actually get air time last night (there’s a whole score of wins that get awarded pre-prime time!), but who still deserve the highest praise for their accomplishments.

Speaking of, we tip our hats to our four big winners:

Anne Sofie von Otter for her album Douce France [naïve classique], who snagged the Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

Wouter Kellerman & Ricky Kej for their album Winds of Samsara [Raveolution Studios], which took the title of Best New Age Album

Ziggy Marley for Fly Rasta [V2 Records Benelux], which brought home the award for Best Reggae Album

Partch for Harry Partch: Plectra and Percussion Dances, which won Best Classical Compendium

The whole night was full of epic performances, important messages and cringe-worthy moments but honestly, would we expect any less? Check out the full list of winners on the Grammy website, browse through photos and fashion, or just read a nice good recap courtesy of the NY Times.

Freeloader Friday: Cody Simpson, The Black Ryder & More

How ’bout them Patriots! (Or not…) We’re really getting into the thick of winter. Which (as brutal as it is for some) means we’re even closer to SXSW! 5 weeks and counting… who’re we gonna see there? But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves; we’ve got a Freeloader Friday list to get to first!

Vision Fortune get the party started with their oh-so-lovely crushing House album, appropriately titled, “Country Music.” Gotta love a sense of humor. The sound is lackadaisically warped synth mixed with Drum-n-Bass. These guys know how to get started on a Friday night.

Next up, a plethora of track nuggets! Cody Simpson‘s (think Jack Johnson in Aussie, blonde form, who pals around with Miley Cyrus from time to time) newbie is beachy, breezy Singer-Songwriter goodness. Good ol’ boys The Bright Light Social Hour wind back the clock with their new track, transporting you to the golden age of Psychedelic Rock. The Black Ryder take you down a Shoegaze, melodramatic rabbit hole, while Karl Kling sets the stage for an all-out Disco-Pop dance. Ruby the Hatchet go hard with a fuzzy Rock ‘n Roll sound, Rapper Big Pooh & Apollo Brown team up to create powerful, lyric-heavy Hip-Hop, and Dalton paints a whirlwind dream through melodic guitar strings. Doesn’t get much more varied than that!

Also be sure to check out the latest in music videos, featuring Rock Supergroup Revolution Saints rockin’ out like it’s ’79 and Whitehorse harmonizing their Folk Rock around a campfire.

You’re all set for the weekend, folks. Here’s to having a fab Friday!

Vision Fortune: Full album stream via The Fader
Country Music out February 9 on ATP

Cody Simpson: “Flower” track premiere via Rolling Stone
Flower out now on Bananabeat Records

The Bright Light Social Hour: “Slipstream” track premiere via Consequence of Sound
Space Is Still the Place out March 10 on Frenchkiss Records

The Black Ryder: “Let Me Be Your Light” track premiere via Entertainment Weekly
The Door Behind the Door out February 24 on The Anti Machine Machine

Karl Kling: “Careful” track premiere via Indie Shuffle
Karl Kling out March 3 on Crazy Heart Records

Ruby the Hatchet: “Demons” track premiere via Metalsucks
Valley of the Snake out February 24 on Tee Pee Records

Rapper Big Pooh & Apollo Brown: “Stop” track premiere via 2 Dope Boyz
Words Paint Pictures out March 24 on Mello Music Group

Dalton: “New Time” track premiere (+ Free Download) via NoiseTrade
Dalton out February 24 on Fierce Panda

Revolution Saints: “Back On My Trail” music video premiere via Billboard
Revolution Saints out February 24 on Frontiers

Whitehorse: “Baby What’s Wrong” music video premiere via Pop Matters
Leave No Bridge Unburned out February 17 on Six Shooter Records

Introducing: The 4 Commandments of Marketing Drivers

Marketing Drivers are the absolute most important thing you must be communicating to your client rep, when working on priority new releases. We’ve already broken down the what, when, why, and overall best practices for marketing drivers. Today, we’re going to introduce you to the 4 commandments of communicating these invaluable assets.

Remember, the questions to ask yourself when you are putting together Marketing Drivers is “why is this a priority?” “why will this album sell?” “who is the artist?” and “what is this album about.” Long story short, we are looking for key sales drivers that will compel retailers to editorially feature a release.

And now without further ado, the 4 commandments of communicating marketing drivers!

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