The Orchard, Nightlife Music strike ‘ground-breaking’ licensing deal

The Orchard, the powerhouse Sony Music-owned distributor and label services company, has licensed its catalogue to Nightlife Music for public performance use in what both parties are calling a huge win and a boon for small businesses and music creators.

Nightlife Music, the Brisbane-based background music specialist and tech firm, services thousands of venues around the country, from restaurants to gyms, retailers and more, and boasts a potential audience of more than six million people each week.

Through the new arrangement, announced Tuesday, the Orchard’s content will also be fed into Nightlife’s next-generation music jukebox, the app-based crowdDJ platform which has rolled out across thousands of venues since its commercial launch in 2016.

In a statement unveiling the “ground-breaking deal,” Stuart Watters, Nightlife’s Director of Licensing and Business Affairs, says the licensed works, “will be used in a legitimate, licensed environment ensuring the copyrights flow directly back to the creators.

“What it also means for Nightlife clients is the depth of content has been turbo-charged, exploding even more variety to our already unique and hand-picked playlists, which of course in turn will make music fans happy.” Terms were not revealed.

The Orchard called the partnership a “watershed”

Henry Compton, Director Australia and New Zealand for The Orchard, described the pact as a “watershed” for the business which “creates a benchmark for artist royalty payments.”

He added, “This is the first time we have done a deal like this in Australia and it stems from common values of best practice in licencing and transparency and facilitates our domestic and international partners being licenced in public performance in Australia. It also opens up new markets to amplify reach and revenue for our artists and labels with Nightlife established and accountable in a wide range of business sectors.

The Orchard, founded by legendary U.S. songwriter, record producer, and artist manager Richard Gottehrer and digital music entrepreneur Scott Cohen, last year celebrated its 20th anniversary. The company was fully acquired by Sony Music in 2015 when the Orchard boasted annual revenues estimated at about US$200 million.

Nightlife Music was established in 1989 and today boasts more than 100 staff and upwards of 3,500 clients in Australia and hundreds more in its expansion territories, which include Hong Kong and New Zealand. The company teamed up with global streaming market leader Spotify for the 2016 rollout of crowdDJ.

For more information on Nightlife Music and crowdDJ^®, visit nightlife.com.au

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.