The Orchard Selected As Independent Music Programming Provider For Verizon Wireless’ New V CAST Music Service

The Leading US Wireless Provider and The Leading Digital Music Distributor to Offer Consumers Variety from Top Independent Record Labels Around the World

01/06/2006, LAS VEGAS, NV – 2006 International CES Show — The Orchard, the world’s leading distributor and marketer of independent music, yesterday announced a landmark relationship with Verizon Wireless, the leading US wireless provider. Verizon Wireless’ new V CAST Music service, launching January 16, will draw from The Orchard’s industry-leading catalogue of independent music and leverage The Orchard’s digital marketing expertise to program all of the new service’s independent music. The Orchard and the four major labels constitute the primary music partners for V CAST Music, further solidifying The Orchard’s position as the leading distributor of independent music.

The Orchard will serve as the preferred provider of all independent music for V CAST Music going forward, ensuring that independent labels have the same access to marketing and promotion programs as the majors. The Orchard’s catalogue represents one third of the total number of tracks in the service, and includes a diverse roster of music: landmark indie rock and punk from SST (Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, Minutemen) and Lookout! Records (The Donnas, Ted Leo), classic hip-hop from Delicious Vinyl (Tone Loc, Young MC) and Nature Sounds (MF Doom, Immortal Technique), world-renowned classical music from Analekta and Qualiton, Bollywood hits from Saregama (Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar) and other top Indian labels, and much more. The Orchard catalogue also includes music from multi-platinum acts such as Green Day, Coldplay, and Ray Charles from their early years, before they were signed to major labels, and breaking bands like The Hold Steady and Matisyahu. Overall, The Orchard’s catalogue encompasses music from thousands of record labels spanning 73 countries and every music genre.

As part of the relationship, The Orchard will actively assist the V CAST Music programming team in promoting, highlighting and merchandising independent music from around the globe. The Orchard will use its advanced merchandising platform, built around the tenets of traditional retail category management as well as “windowing” from the film industry.

“The Orchard’s pioneering relationship with Verizon Wireless benefits consumers and independent artists and labels worldwide. Verizon Wireless’ entrusting this important aspect of their new service further solidifies The Orchard as the industry leader serving the best independent record labels in the world. It’s the latest example of how The Orchard works to ensure they enjoy pricing and promotional parity with the major labels at the top digital retailers globally. Verizon Wireless’ assigning the broad and diverse category of independent music to us is a privilege, and we look forward to serving Verizon Wireless V CAST Music customers in 2006 and beyond,” said Greg Scholl, chief executive of The Orchard and managing director of Dimensional Associates, the company that owns The Orchard, eMusic and Dimensional Music Publishing.

John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, said, “V CAST Music from Verizon Wireless is the most comprehensive mobile music service in the world. We want V CAST consumers to experience their music anytime, anywhere, and have access to a deep and diverse set of music that will appeal to virtually every music fan. The Orchard has helped position V CAST Music to become the biggest and best mobile music service because their catalogue encompasses the top music from outside the United States, as well as music from outside the mainstream. We are confident that The Orchard’s expertise in helping the V CAST Music team understand and merchandise these diverse genres will prove invaluable.”

The Orchard manages a growing catalogue of more than 700,000 tracks, which it markets and distributes to all of the world’s leading digital music stores, including eMusic, iTunes, Napster, MSN, Yahoo!/MusicMatch, and Real/Rhapsody. The Orchard also distributes tens of thousands of ringtones to the leading global mobile companies, maintaining the largest mobile network of any music distributor.

About The Orchard
The Orchard (www.theorchard.com) 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 700,000 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, Toronto, Kolkata, Johannesburg, Moscow and Melbourne, and local representatives in Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Lausanne, Ramallah and Nairobi.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation’s most reliable wireless network, serving 49.3 million voice and data customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

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Jeffrey Nelson

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Verizon Wireless

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