Aardvark
Records, today announced that it has signed an agreement
with the digital music download and ringtone aggregator, Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA). The
deal sees the transference of the digital exploitation of Aardvark's catalogue of 260+ tracks from
21 albums and various singles to IODA. The digital media aggregator will also distribute music videos from the label to its various content partners.
Run by an experienced team of digital music experts with a passion for independent music, the San Francisco-based company distributes thousands of releases from independent labels to digital music and video outlets around the world. IODA will provide a variety of services: digital marketing and promotion through tools like Promonet, collective licensing negotiation with digital content retailers, aggregated royalty collection and payment administration.
While IODA's track record and reputation brought it to Aardvark's attention, it was IODA's marketing platform that clinched the deal. Across the web, there are hundreds of communication networks, lifestyle sites, internet radio stations and mobile and video sites hungry for content — be it downloadable mp3s, streaming audio, artist bios or video. Servicing these outlets the old fashioned way required sending packages, signing usage agreements and conforming to each site's particular content ingestion workflow.
IODA uses its leverage as a top digital distributor to strike promotional deals with these sites, automating content delivery and establishing promotional opportunities for artists. The company inked promotional partnerships with dozens of online outlets, including MP3.com, hi5.com, Live 365 and imeem. It offers content in exchange for buy links and positioning, building thousands of doorways to online retailers across the web, ensuring millions of web users are a click away from purchasing music.
"IODA's marketing platform will save Aardvark's marketing department untold hours of encoding, meta-taging and content delivery to a variety of digital outlets," said Aardvark's director of marketing and promotions, Alex di Savoia. "IODA deals with many of the same digital entertainment outlets that we do: Google Video, Yahoo Video, Live 365 radio stations just to name a few. IODA's managing this side of our operation means our marketing team can spend more time doing bespoke marketing campaigns to support our various releases. For an independent label with a small team, that time saving is invaluable."
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Andrew Reeve, Aardvark's Chairman, said: "IODA simply offered us services our previous aggregator partner wouldn't. We found ourselves in a position where our marketing efforts weren't being supported. As a result, we found that we had great sales levels with digital download services we dealt with direct but fairly poor sales levels from digital music providers our previous aggregator dealt with."
When asked what the new deal would mean for Aardvark's artists, Reeve said: " IODA places as much importance on marketing releases with digital download providers as we do. It's all part of the same deal. I found that truly impressive. The bottom line will be higher digital download and ringtone sales for our artists."
di Savoia continued, "Transferring a catalogue from one digital aggregator to another is a daunting prospect for any label. IODA have been great in addressing our concerns and making the transition seamless. I know we, and our artists, are in great hands."
About IODA
Kevin Arnold, a self-described "music technology geek" and founder of San Francisco's Noise Pop festival, was convinced that there is a market in cyberspace for songs by obscure artists like the Plastic Constellations and Drist. In 2003 he launched the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, better known by its mystical-sounding acronym, IODA. Today it is a fast-growing company, distributing music from 500 independent record labels to digital retailers like iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, MSN Music, and Starbucks' Hear Music.
About Aardvark Records
Established in 2001 by Chairman Andrew Reeve, Aardvark Records is one of the UK's most creative record labels with an international reach disproportionate to its small size. Its staunchly independent stance and pioneering spirit have produced a string of well-received releases worldwide, spanning a variety of music genres: dance, pop and rock. Its current hit-making writers and producers include: EricM, Zetan Spore, QED, Thabani, Everett Young, Thabani and Jeff Alford.
Aardvark started life as a local record label handling a variety of Cornwall-based artists. It became a small national independent label in 2002 and has since grown into an international label with a network of in-house licensing agents and A&R spread around the globe.
Its directors bring a collective 25 years' music industry experience to the label. |
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 Additional Information
 IODA
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