Alliance Entertainment held their annual Sales Convention & Vendor Fair in Hollywood, FL earlier this month. The Orchard kicked off the trip with a night of music at the Funky Buddha Brewery with performances that highlighted the week of festivities. Living Colour (MRI Entertainment) started off with a high energy set that included songs from their upcoming September 8th release Shade, a cover of “Who Shot Ya?” by The Notorious B.I.G. and of course their signature classic “Cult of Personality.”
A star-struck, 22-year old Christian Lopez (Blaster Records) took the stage next. “Let’s give it up for Living Colour – never thought I’d say that before,” he joked to an already fired up AEC audience. The talented singer-songwriter from West Virginia did not disappoint. Lopez delivered an emotional performance of tracks from both his debut album and his upcoming sophomore release Red Arrow. The combination of his smooth vocals and onstage charm wooed listeners and concluded our evening.
The successful event was also a great introduction of The Orchard US Physical Sales team following this summer’s merger announcements. With key leadership Cat Kreidich (SVP, Global Account Management), Mary Ashley Johnson (VP, Sales) and Dan Tousignant (Senior Director, National Accounts) present, we put our best foot forward gathering with various AEC sales reps and key coalition indies in attendance.
After a few more days of internal meetings and presentations, the Alliance Vendor Fair took place on Saturday, August 5th. Jake Anderson, Bob Ardrey and I spent several hours meeting with members of the AEC team and talking about our priority artists and key Q4 releases. It was great to be in a room with so many music enthusiasts who are important to our physical business and finish up our trip with strong impressions across the industry.
A very special thanks to Jake Anderson for all of his hard work in securing the Funky Buddha venue and coordinating other important aspects of the convention to help make it a successful event!
