Founder Michael Mantler | ||
Headquarters New York City, New York, United States | ||
New Music Distribution Service (or NMDS) was a non-profit record distributor based in New York City. It was founded in 1972 by Carla Bley and Michael Mantler as a means of distributing recordings of experimental contemporary music. It was a program of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra Association (JCOA). The NMDS began by distributing recordings released by many different independent labels and artists, including Nodlew (Weldon Irvine's label), Jahari (Richard Dunbar's label), Gibex (Michael William Gilbert's label), Philip Glass's Chatham Square label, and many others. Several international labels such as Incus and ECM were also included in their catalogs.
In 1984, the NMDS was awarded a $10,000 grant by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation.
Due the long illness of a manager, and the resultant failure to pay New York state taxes, NMDS suspended operations in 1990.