NEW YORK, NY (Mediaguide) - Mediaguide, the top provider of digital fingerprinting technology and airplay data, and TransMedia, developer of the Glide Effortless Web-based multi-media environment and social network, have expanded their ongoing technology alliance by joining forces with The Orchard, the world's leading distributor and marketer of independent music.
Under an agreement between the three companies, customers of TransMedia's Glide Effortless service who are looking to discover, share, and purchase independent music can now draw from The Orchard's unmatched catalogue, which encompasses more than 800,000 tracks from 73 countries - leading artists from every geography and genre. Mediaguide will serve as a music discovery backbone, using its proprietary audio fingerprinting technology to identify any Orchard-distributed songs uploaded to Glide by fans so that those tracks can be automatically e-commerce-enabled. Mediaguide will also connect its college and commercial airplay charts and playlists by format, genre and market to the forthcoming Glide MusicShare store, so every spin becomes a sales opportunity.
"Our work with Glide and The Orchard is all about fan-driven music discovery and sales," said Paul Wright, vice president of business development for Mediaguide. "By using our fingerprinting software to identify Orchard tracks uploaded to Glide accounts, every user with Orchard music in their collection becomes a natural 'storefront' for those labels and artists. Through the simple act of legally sharing personal playlists with friends and family, users both inside and outside of Glide can discover and collect new music, providing The Orchard with a powerful new viral promotion and sales venue."
"Fans of independent music take pride in sharing their favorite music with friends and family, and turning people on to great new recordings - whether a new digital-only recording laid down last week, or a field recording laid down on a wax cylinder in the early 1900s," said Greg Scholl, CEO of The Orchard and Managing Director of Dimensional Associates, which owns The Orchard, eMusic and Dimensional Music Publishing. "Independent music fans crave discovery, and that makes them great sales people and advocates."
Music Discovery, Sharing and Purchase Made Easy
Glide Effortless transcodes music and other media files to allow them to seamlessly stream within the Web-based Glide environment, which means that Glide users never actually transfer any music files. The streams, which can be full-length clips, 30 second clips or blocked completely - depending on the wishes of the content owner - can be grouped into lists of personal favorites for friends and family to see.
Mediaguide fingerprints will identify songs uploaded to Glide user accounts to determine which are licensed by The Orchard for sale. If Glide users' family or friends want their own copy of a licensed song, clicking on the song title will take them to the Glide MusicShare store for legal purchase and download. The end result is both legal sales for content owners and viral music discovery for consumers.
Mediaguide will also provide Glide Effortless with radio playlists and charts, allowing Glide users to both find their favorite songs and discover new ones that were played on college, non-commercial and commercial radio. For The Orchard and the content owners in its network, this means that any airplay can directly drive online sales. For Glide users, this means that they can easily and legally purchase music heard on their favorite local (or non-local) radio stations and add them to their Glide accounts.
"Mediaguide provides consumers with a powerful and legal environment to introduce music to others, and combines it with Glide Effortless's innovative e-commerce platform," Scholl said. "Pairing Glide's social networking with Mediaguide's discovery capabilities and The Orchard's leading catalogue of music is great for artists, labels and people who care about music."
