CD Baby Expands Operations to London, Hires Rich Orchard & Steve Cusack

Independent distributor CD Baby announced on Monday (June 25) it has expanded its operations to London. The company has also appointed Rich Orchard to lead the European office as director of market development, EU.

Orchard has more than 15 years experience in music and tech, previously serving as head of digital at Absolute Label Services. Prior to that, Orchard spent six years at Activision, where he dealt with publishers on games such as Guitar Hero Live.

“I’m extremely pleased to welcome Rich Orchard to the team,” said CD Baby CEO Tracy Maddux in a statement. “Given his experience in independent music distribution, music licensing and technology development, Rich is one of the most well-rounded candidates we considered for the role.” 

Orchard added: “In what is undoubtedly a golden age to be making music and self-releasing, I am thrilled to be joining a team that embodies the DIY ethos and everything it means to be independent.”

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As well, CD Baby has named Steve Cusack as artist relations and promotions representative. Cusack has a background in artist relations and music promotions and has been running his own independent song pitching company called PluggerBeatz.com. Cusack will join CD Baby’s newly formed creator services department — an eight-member team spread across the U.S., Argentina, Brazil and the U.K.

Head of creator services Jon Bahr said in a statement: “We are thrilled to bring Steve onboard the team at the inception of our new Creator Services department. The team serves our priority artists with marketing and label services to further propel their releases. Steve brings an expertise in music promotion and relationships at the streaming services to hit the ground running and be a big asset to our growing team.”

CD Baby is home to more than 650,000 artists and 9 million tracks that are made available to over 100 digital services and platforms around the globe. The company celebrated its 20th anniversary in March when it announced of $80.1 million in payouts to independent artists in 2017 and over $600 million worldwide since its 1998 launch.