The Orchard Adds Katie Studley As Vice President Of Nashville Office

Full-service music distribution company The Orchard has tapped Katie Studley as the Vice President of its Nashville office. Based in Music City, she will report to Colleen Theis, The Orchard’s Chief Operating Officer.

In her new role, Studley will oversee the Nashville office’s day-to-day operations. Her responsibilities include developing new business relationships as well as providing on the ground support to existing clients in the market, further expanding the company’s presence in Nashville. She will be instrumental in driving The Orchard’s mission of empowering independent creators and entrepreneurs.

Studley joins The Orchard after a ten-year tenure at Jack White‘s Third Man Records where she served as VP, Operations and Marketing Director. While there, she assembled a record-breaking label team, strategized the diversification of the company’s operations and worked on album campaigns for artists, such as Margo Price, The Raconteurs, Sleep, Billie Eilish, Coldplay, Paul McCartney, and more. She previously worked in artist development and marketing at Thirty Tigers, contributing to the rapid growth of the Avett Brothers and Jason Isbell.

“I am equally excited to develop new relationships within Nashville’s independent creative communities as I am honored to foster growth for The Orchard’s incredible existing roster,” Studley explains. “I’ve long appreciated The Orchard’s quality of service and the good people behind it, and I am proud to join their impressive global organization.”

The company also announced the promotion of Mary Ashley Johnson to Executive Vice President, Sales and Artist & Label Management, U.S. and Canada. Based in the New York office, she will also report to Theis.

“We are proud to appoint these two well-deserving women to key executive roles in the company,” Theis shares. “Mary Ashley’s leadership, business savvy, and proven expertise has led The Orchard to unprecedented heights in 2022. In her newly expanded role, she will spearhead even bigger opportunities for our artist and label partners. We’re excited to welcome Katie to The Orchard family. As an instrumental partner on the client side, she comes to us with a deep understanding of our business strategy. Her relationships in the Nashville market and beyond will help us further connect local artists and labels to global audiences.”

In 2022, The Orchard celebrated its 25th anniversary. The company also delivered over 200 Billboard Top 200 releases, totaled over 518 billion total streams across its distributed artist and label clients and saw its market share hit an all time high.