The Orchard
The Orchard is a full-service music distribution company operating in 47 cities worldwide. The Orchard's comprehensive artist & label services offering harnesses innovative technology, transparent data analysis, and expertise to reach fans and grow audiences. Offerings include digital and physical sales and marketing, advertising, brand partnerships, rights management, video monetization, collaborator splits and royalty accounting, publishing administration, neighboring rights, and more. Championed by an exceptional community of music lovers and experts, The Orchard empowers creators and entrepreneurs to grow and adapt in the dynamic, global industry. For further information, visit www.theorchard.com.www.theorchard.com
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Search complete. 3 mentions across 2 episodes found for "The Orchard".
Sep 7, 2026
Jay GilbertHOST
Yeah, that's a lot.
Jay GilbertHOST
You know, Sony's acquisitions of The Orchard and AWOL...
Jay GilbertHOST
They're cited in this report as examples of major label ownership expanding inside the indie distribution space.
Jay GilbertHOST
They also talk about how Merlin and Cobalt both have opt-in AI licensing deals with 11 labs that let participating rights holders share in
Mike EtchartHOST
Yeah.
Jay GilbertHOST
So Mike, if an artist keeps their own masters, why do you think the report says that's not the whole story here?
Mike EtchartHOST
Well, I think it's because artists can still be routed through distribution, royalty accounting, or publishing admin systems that are owned by a major, like, as we mentioned, The Orchard and AWOL, which Sony acquired.
Mike EtchartHOST
So the report says whoever controls those systems gets the data and market access, even if the artist owns the copyright.
Marti CuevasGUEST
He was providing these to digital distributors with zero permission or authorization from anybody, and so we started to communicate with him and say, "Look, you know, you have to take this stuff down," et cetera, et cetera.
Marti CuevasGUEST
Well, this went on for years, and we complained because this particular person had a contract with our digital distributor, which is The Orchard, and we complained to The Orchard, and they finally kicked him off, but it took them nine years to kick him off.
Marti CuevasGUEST
I, I think the guy has, you know, what they call in Spanish labia, you know, the gift of gab.
Darrell Craig HarrisHOST
[laughs]