PLANTATION, Fla., May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: AENT), a global distributor and wholesaler specializing in music, movies, video games, electronics, arcades, toys, and collectibles, today announced results of last month’s Record Store Day events. Record Store Day (www.recordstoreday.com) is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday every April to “celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store‘” and brings together fans, artists, and thousands of independent record stores around the world. As in past years, artists and record labels produce vinyl content pressed exclusively for Record Store Day. These exclusives are distributed to more than 1,500 record stores in the US participating in the event. Now in its 17th year, and haven taken place this year on April 20, 2024, the Record Store Day phenomenon continues to grow. Many attribute the success of Record Store Day to the continued growth and expansion of vinyl records across the music industry with physical vinyl album sales in 2023 surpassing 43 million units.
Alliance Entertainment is the leader in distribution of Record Store Day products to the independent retail community, utilizing our nationwide sales network and state-of-the-art distribution facility located in Shepherdsville, KY. In support of Record Store Day, Alliance Entertainment shipped more than 600,000 units across 400 unique titles to participating retailers. In comparison to Record Store Day 2023, sales increased by more than 30%.
“We are excited to see our hard work rewarded once again during Record Store Day and the positive feedback from the retail community,” said Ken Glaser, Alliance Senior Vice President of Sales. With much contribution from Record Store Day product sales, we saw our largest sales month ever. It takes a group effort from all parts of our business to ensure that such a large number of units are received, prepped and shipped in such a short window of time. Our goal is to always ensure timely and accurate shipments to our loyal customer base.”
Laura Provenzano, Alliance Senior Vice President of Purchasing, added, “From a supply chain standpoint, this year was even more challenging due to the Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam releases which were virtually concurrent with Record Store Day. It required a tremendous amount of close coordination with our suppliers, and a huge effort on the part of our distribution center to successfully navigate around the volume and unique requirements for each of these projects.”
Michael Kurtz, Co-founder of Record Store Day, added, “The combination of April 20th’s Record Store Day, the release of Pearl Jam’s ‘Dark Matter’, and Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ meant vinyl sales last week enjoyed their highest weekly total sales in our history. The Noah Kahan and Olivia Rodrigo back-to-back ’Stick Season/Lacy‘ single, along with Noah’s ‘I Am/I Was’ album, and Record Store Day ambassador Paramore’s two RSD releases, created the perfect storm for a whole new generation of music fans who flooded the stores, driving this massive celebration, and record sales.”
AMPED Distribution, a division of Alliance Entertainment, once again played a large part in this year’s Record Store Day, working with its label partners to release 68 unique titles including releases from Ateez (K-Pop Record Store Day Ambassadors), De La Soul, Fleet Foxes, and more. AMPED continues to grow its label and distribution roster, including independent record stores which are helping fuel its growth and impressive repertoire.
About AMPED Distribution
AMPED is one of the fastest growing, top-tier independent distributors committed to developing and growing independent artists and labels worldwide. A part of Alliance Entertainment, AMPED gives the indie community access to a global distribution system with the largest sales force, a seasoned and skilled staff that provides a suite of services and data second to none. AMPED’s customer base is the largest in the industry directly servicing brick and click retailers large and small along with (DTC) direct consumers. AMPED’s growing roster of labels include labels such as Believe Digital, Better Noise, By Norse, Cleopatra Records, Compass Records, Compound Interest, Empire, Epitaph Records, Firebird Records, Flatiron, Fuga, GoodToGo, Herp Alpert Presents, Hopeless Records, Iconic Artist Group, IDLA, Integral (PIAS, Harmonia Mundi), Kai Media, Kartel, Lex Records, Mascot, Merge Records, MNRK (eOne, Dualtone), Naxos, Nettwerk Music Group, Nuclear Blast, Polyvinyl, Proper Music Group, Rebel Records, Reservoir Media (Chrysalis, Tommy Boy), Ruf Records, Secretly Music Group, Shanachie, Smithsonian Folkways, Stem, Sub Pop, Vydia, Warner Classics and more. For more information, visit www.ampeddistribution.com.
About Alliance Entertainment
Alliance Entertainment (NASDAQ: AENT) is a premier distributor of music, movies, toys, collectibles, and consumer electronics. We offer over 325,000 unique in stock SKU’s, including over 57,300 exclusive compact discs, vinyl LP records, DVDs, Blu-rays, and video games. Complementing our vast media catalog, we also stock a full array of related accessories, toys and collectibles. With more than thirty-five years of distribution experience, Alliance Entertainment serves customers of every size, providing a robust suite of services to resellers and retailers worldwide. Our efficient processing and essential seller tools noticeably reduce the costs associated with administrating multiple vendor relationships, while helping omni-channel retailers expand their product selection and fulfillment goals. For more information, visit www.aent.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this Press Release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of other financial and performance metrics and projections of market opportunity. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether identified in this Press Release, and on the current expectations of Alliance’s management and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as and must not be relied on by an investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Alliance. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including risks relating to the anticipated growth rates and market opportunities; changes in applicable laws or regulations; the ability of Alliance to execute its business model, including market acceptance of its systems and related services; Alliance’s reliance on a concentration of suppliers for its products and services; increases in Alliance’s costs, disruption of supply, or shortage of products and materials; Alliance’s dependence on a concentration of customers, and failure to add new customers or expand sales to Alliance’s existing customers; increased Alliance inventory and risk of obsolescence; Alliance’s significant amount of indebtedness; our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness; our ability to continue as a going concern absent access to sources of liquidity; risks and failure by Alliance to meet the covenant requirements of its revolving credit facility, including a fixed charge coverage ratio; risks that a breach of the revolving credit facility, including Alliance’s recent breach of the covenant requirements, could result in the lender declaring a default and that the full outstanding amount under the revolving credit facility could be immediately due in full, which would have severe adverse consequences for the Company; known or future litigation and regulatory enforcement risks, including the diversion of time and attention and the additional costs and demands on Alliance’s resources; Alliance’s business being adversely affected by increased inflation, higher interest rates and other adverse economic, business, and/or competitive factors; geopolitical risk and changes in applicable laws or regulations; risk that the COVID-19 pandemic, and local, state, and federal responses to addressing the pandemic may have an adverse effect on our business operations, as well as our financial condition and results of operations; substantial regulations, which are evolving, and unfavorable changes or failure by Alliance to comply with these regulations; product liability claims, which could harm Alliance’s financial condition and liquidity if Alliance is not able to successfully defend or insure against such claims; availability of additional capital to support business growth; and the inability of Alliance to develop and maintain effective internal controls.
For investor inquiries, please contact:
MZ Group
Chris Tyson/Larry Holub
(949) 491-8235
[email protected]
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