'Big Four' digital music standards board accepts indie advocate

DDEX has announced digital music distributor The Orchard has become a charter member, and will deal with marketing and promotion standards in the Web 2.0 sector.

The Digital Data Exchange (DDEX) was formed in 2006 under the "big four" major label record companies Sony, Universal, Warner, and EMI with the purpose of creating a single set of standard XML messages for the digital media trade. By doing this, the information on album and video streams and sales would be easier for participating companies to exchange, simplifying the flow of money among them.

The group which counts Apple, Microsoft, ASCAP, BMI, Nielsen, and RealNetworks among its long list of members yesterday announced Digital media distributer The Orchard had become a charter member, and will be taking a lead role in organizing DDEX's development for standards, marketing, and promotion in the social networking sector.

Earlier this year, The Orchard chastised MySpace Music for its treatment of indie artists and lables saying it "harkens back to a time none of us want to revisit...where independent artists and labels were third-class citizens in the global music economy."

"DDEX is delighted that The Orchard has agreed to join DDEX as a Charter Member," said DDEX's chair Chris Amenita (also of ASCAP), "Their outstanding track record in the digital marketing and distribution of independent label content is second to none."