While digital music retailer
Amie Street Inc.'s unique flexible pricing model has always been appealing for consumers, shopping on the site has at times been a frustrating experience, as its roster of artists and labels has been fairly limited. Today, though, the company
announced a key partnership with digital distributor The Orchard Enterprises Inc. [
ORCD], which will add a great deal of content from many large indie labels to the AmieStreet.com online store.
Although The Orchard says it distributes 1.1 million songs from thousands of record labels, not all of it will be available immediately in the Amie Street store. An Amie Street spokesman said most of its partners initially add their most popular content, then flesh out their presences with more catalog songs afterward. The Orchard distributes content from popular indies such as Temporary Residence, Daptone, Dim Mak Records, Vice Music, Surfdog,
Audio Dregs, Huume Records, Decon Media, Chocodog Records, Gern
Blandsten Records, Park The Van / Cornerstone RAS, Up Above Records,
Lookout Records, Ernest Jenning Record Company, and Truth & Soul LLC.
Amie Street's unique pricing model bases a song's monetary value on its popularity. Songs are initially offered for free, but increase in price when more people buy them, topping out at 98 cents. (There are some great deals -- say, a well-regarded Yo La Tengo
album for just over
$4.) The two-year-old company was founded by a group of Brown University students; Amazon.com Inc. took a stake of undisclosed size in Amie Street last year, alongside a group of angel investors in Amie Street's Series A round. The company doesn't offer major-label content yet, but my understanding is that arrangements with those labels could be on the way soon.
Although it remains publicly traded, The Orchard is majority-owned by private equity firm Dimensional Associates. A March 31, 2008 regulatory filing indicates that Dimensional and its affiliates control 54% of The Orchard's shares; the distributor sports a market capitalization of more than $34 million. Dimensional also controls subscription-based MP3 seller eMusic Inc.
-- Paul BonanosSee press release from Amie Street and The Orchard
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