Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Digital marketing and distribution |
Founded | 2003San Francisco, United States | in
Founders | Matt Laszuk (CEO), Bryn Boughton (CMO), Vic Sarjoo (CFO) and Eric Ferraro (General Counsel) |
Defunct | May 2012 |
Headquarters | San Francisco , USA |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Matt Laszuk (CEO), Bryn Boughton (CMO), Vic Sarjoo (CFO) and Eric Ferraro (General Counsel) |
Products | Distribution and promotion of digital music, ringtones, and video |
Services | technical, marketing, and legal services |
Owner | The Orchard |
Website | www |
IRIS Distribution ( for Independent Recording Industry Services) was a digital music distribution and marketing firm based in San Francisco. Co-founded by Matt Laszuk (CEO), Bryn Boughton (CMO), Vic Sarjoo (CFO) and Eric Ferraro (General Counsel) in 2003, IRIS distributed digital music, ringtones, and video to over 450 digital retailers in over 85 countries. It also promoted label catalogs through various outlets, including social networking sites, newsletters, and label profiles. The company offered technical, marketing, and legal services to independent artists and labels from all genres. Artists distributed by IRIS included She Wants Revenge, Le Tigre, Lou Reed, and Mogwai.
IRIS Distribution was acquired by The Orchard, a division of Sony in 2012. [1]
In 2003, after the launch of Apple's iTunes digital music store, IRIS Distribution was founded to support independent labels entering the digital marketplace. IRIS began as a co-op for independent artists, but soon became a distribution company specializing in facilitating negotiations between retail services and independent labels.
IRIS Distribution's first digital distribution deals were with Force Inc. and Megaforce Records. [2] It added more labels in 2005. [3]
IRIS launched a podcast with Live365 in 2005. [4] In 2007, IRIS launched BlinkerActive, a dedicated marketing arm devoted to music promotion and branded entertainment. Some of BlinkerActive's clients included Scion/Toyota, Ninja Tune, Chemikal Underground, Surfdog Records, BYO Records, and Mack Avenue Records. IRIS reported strong growth and profitability in 2008. [5]
IRIS Distribution placed twice in The National Association of Record Industry Professionals’ poll, Best In The Biz (2009); [6] IRIS placed second in the ‘Best Digital Distribution Company’ category, and Bryn Boughton as ‘Top New Media Representative.’
In May 2012 New York City-based digital distributor The Orchard acquired IRIS Distribution. This consolidation came only two months after The Orchard had merged with IODA Distribution. [1]
This is not a complete list.
The Orchard Enterprises NY, Inc., doing business as The Orchard, is an American music and entertainment company, specializing in media distribution. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, based in New York City. In 2019, the company sold off its film and television division, which was renamed 1091 Media.
TVT Records, originally Tee-Vee Toons, was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb in 1984. Initially created to release the Television's Greatest Hits series of classic TV theme tune compilations, the label would expand into rap, industrial rock, and electronic music amassing 25 Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum albums over the course of its 24-year history.
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Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used for remixes. It also operates a specialized music streaming service oriented towards DJs.
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Frenchkiss Records is an independent record label based in New York City. The label was started in 1999 by Syd Butler, bassist and founder of Les Savy Fav. The label's first purpose was to release Les Savy Fav's second album The Cat and The Cobra, but has since been the label responsible for discovering a varying array of artists such as The Hold Steady, The Antlers, The Dodos, Local Natives and Passion Pit. The label has recently added a music publishing side as well, Frenchkiss Publishing.
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SpiralFrog was a very early music streaming service based in New York City that launched in the United States and Canada on September 17, 2007. SpiralFrog offered free and legal music downloads, all supported by advertising, and was the largest site of its kind in North America. On March 19, 2009, SpiralFrog terminated operations due to loan recalls. While SpiralFrog was not successful in the end, it nonetheless helped shaped the digital music industry shift from the purchase to streaming models, and its ultimate revenue recovery
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[PIAS] UK Distribution is the distribution arm of the [PIAS] Entertainment Group and is the United Kingdom's largest independent sales, marketing and distribution company. Founded in March 1994 as Vital Distribution, Ltd., and renamed in January 2008, [PIAS] UK represents over 100 record labels from around the world. With offices in London and Dublin, Ireland, [PIAS] UK has played a significant role in the European and worldwide successes of some of the most well-known independent artists, including Oasis, The White Stripes, The Strokes, Moby, and others.
24 Hour Service Station is an American independent record label founded by Marshall Dickson in Tampa, Florida, in 1993. Among its releases are Ceremony - A New Order Tribute, a charity album, and albums from artists such as Freebass, Peter Hook and The Light, The Beauvilles, John Ralston, and punk band Pink Lincolns. It also operates the division 24 Hour Distribution, a global media distribution network which is partnered with entities such as the Independent Online Distribution Alliance and The Orchard.
Love Da Records is an international record label founded in 1998. The label is one of the largest indie music distributors in South East Asia, distributing over 150 individual labels covering music of different genres. With its headquarters in Hong Kong, Love Da Records also extended its branches to Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.
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DistroKid, formerly titled Fandalism, is an American independent digital music distribution service, founded in 2012 by American entrepreneur Philip J. Kaplan. DistroKid principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell or stream their music through online retailers such as Spotify, Pandora, iTunes/Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Roblox, Tidal, Deezer, iHeartRadio, and more. Originally known as Fandalism, it was originally a social media website for musicians before going into its current name while also becoming a music distributor over a year later in mid-2013.
Believe SAS is a global digital music company headquartered in France. Believe has several brands including TuneCore, Nuclear Blast, Naïve, Groove Attack, Play Two and AllPoints.