Licensing Deal Announcement: The Nacelle Company

Alliance Entertainment’s Mill Creek Entertainment Announces Licensing Deal with The Nacelle Company!

Minneapolis, MN – October 18, 2022 – Mill Creek Entertainment, a division of Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation, today announced it has signed a licensing deal with production company and distributor The Nacelle Company, LLC.

The Nacelle Company offers an impressive catalog of feature and documentary films. Through this partnership, Mill Creek Entertainment will distribute their content into the physical marketplace.

Mill Creek Entertainment will utilize content from nearly 1,000 hours of stand-up comedy specials via The Nacelle Company’s Comedy Dynamics Division, combining the biggest comedian acts, like Jim Gaffigan, Tom Segura, Tiffany Haddish, and Ali Wong, to create exclusive sets for retailers across the country.

Mill Creek Entertainment will also bring The Nacelle Company’s most popular series and documentaries to retail for the first time ever, such as Icons Unearthed: Star Wars, and The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek.

“Partnering with The Nacelle Company establishes Mill Creek as a leader in premium comedy content on physical media, adding some of the best comedy entertainment on the market to our library,” said Jeff Hayne, SVP of Acquisitions for Mill Creek Entertainment. “We are equally excited to bring ground-breaking documentaries and popular series that have never been available as physical media to shelves nationwide.”

“There’s no better feeling than holding one of your favorite films in your hand, and as we work towards that goal, there’s no better partner than Mill Creek Entertainment,” said Founder and CEO of the Nacelle Company, Brian Volk-Weiss.

About The Nacelle Company

Founded by Brian Volk Weiss, The Nacelle Company develops, produces, and distributes feature and documentary films as well as TV shows – both scripted and unscripted. Nacelle’s vast array of partnerships include Netflix, Amazon, Disney +, HBO, Discovery, BET+, A&E Networks, Hulu, Viacom, and many more. The Nacelle Company has produced the hit Netflix docu-series, Down To Earth with Zac Efron, The Movies That Made Us, and The Toys That Made Us, as well as Behind The Attraction for Disney +, Sony’s Mad About You reboot, Netflix’s How To Fix A Drug Scandal, CW’s Discontinued, Netflix’s Kevin Hart’s Guide To Black History, All The Way Black for BET+, and Grant for The History Channel.

About Mill Creek Entertainment

Mill Creek Entertainment is the home entertainment industry’s leading independent studio for Blu-ray, DVD, and digital distribution. With direct sales pipelines to all primary retail and online partners, Mill Creek Entertainment licenses, produces, markets, and distributes a dynamic array of film and television content to the entire North American retail marketplace, both in-store and online. Mill Creek Entertainment’s expansive library includes Oscar®-winning theatrical feature films, Emmy®-winning classic and current TV series, original documentary productions and pop-culture favorites that enlighten, educate, and entertain. Mill Creek Entertainment is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information, please visit www.millcreekent.com.

About Alliance Entertainment

Alliance Entertainment is a premier distributor of music, movies, and consumer electronics. We offer 485,000 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.

On June 23, 2022, Alliance Entertainment announced that it will become publicly listed through a merger transaction with Adara Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: ADRA, ADRA.U, ADRA.WS) (“Adara”), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, at which point the combined company’s common stock is expected to trade on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol “AENT”.

About Adara Acquisition Corp.

Adara raised $115 million in February 2021 and its securities are listed on the NYSE American under the ticker symbols “NYSE: ADRA, ADRA.U, ADRA.WS”. Adara is a blank check company organized for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization, or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Adara is led by its CEO, Thomas Finke (former Chairman and CEO of Barings LLC) and its director, W. Tom Donaldson (founder of Blystone & Donaldson). In addition to Messrs. Finke and Donaldson, Adara’s Board of Directors also include Frank Quintero, Dylan Glenn and Beatriz Acevedo-Greiff.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.adaraspac.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 financial and performance metrics, projections of market opportunity, expectations and timing related to Alliance Entertainment’s business, customer growth and other business milestones, potential benefits of the proposed business combination (the “Proposed Transactions”), and expectations related to the timing of the Proposed Transactions.

These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of Adara’s and Alliance Entertainment’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 Entertainment and Adara.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political, and legal conditions; the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the Proposed Transactions, including the risk that any regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the Proposed Transactions or that the approval of the stockholders of Adara or Alliance Entertainment is not obtained; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Proposed Transactions; risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Alliance Entertainment; risks related to the music, video, gaming, and entertainment industry, including changes in entertainment delivery formats; global economic conditions; the effects of competition on Alliance Entertainment’s future business; risks related to fulfilment network; risks related to expansion and the strain on Alliance Entertainment’s management, operational, financial, and other resources; risks related to operating results and growth rate;  the business could be harmed the amount of redemption requests made by Adara’s public stockholders; and those factors discussed in Adara’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 under the heading “Risk Factors,” and the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 23, 2022 and other documents of Adara filed, or to be filed, with the SEC.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such other jurisdiction.

For investor inquiries, please contact:

MZ Group

Chris Tyson/Larry Holub

(949) 491-8235

AENT@mzgroup.us

Partnership Announcement: MUBI

Alliance Entertainment’s Distribution Solutions Announces

Physical Media Partnership with MUBI

Sunrise, FL – September 20, 2022 – Alliance Entertainment Holding Corporation (“Alliance Entertainment”), a distributor and wholesaler of the world’s largest in stock selection of music, movies, video games, electronics, arcades, and collectibles, today announced its partnership with the distributor, streaming service and production company, MUBI.

MUBI is dedicated to elevating great cinema and distributes, produces and champions visionary films from iconic directors to emerging auteurs, connecting them to audiences all over the world. Introducing MUBI      into the Alliance Entertainment distribution channel is a strategic opportunity for suppliers, retailers, and Alliance Entertainment to increase revenues by diversifying content offerings. Distribution Solutions, a division of Alliance Entertainment, will manage sales and distribution of MUBI’s physical sell-through releases in North America.

The partnership will commence with the release of feature film Decision to Leave directed, co-written, and produced by Park Chan-wook following its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Director’s Prize, and had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. MUBI will release Decision to Leave in US theaters starting October 14, 2022.

“MUBI is a perfect complement to our distribution portfolio,” said Ben Means, President of Distribution Solutions. “We look forward to collaborating with their team to reach premium film buyers in the US marketplace.”

“MUBI is excited to be partnering with Distribution Solutions to bring our strong curatorial voice to home entertainment in the US,” said Chris Wells, MUBI’s Director of Distribution, US. “Not only will we be distributing the best in cinema in theaters and via streaming on MUBI, we will now also be releasing our films in deluxe edition Blu-rays.    

About MUBI

MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor dedicated to elevating great cinema. MUBI makes, acquires, curates, and champions visionary films, connecting them to audiences all over the world.

MUBI is a place to discover ambitious films from iconic directors to emerging auteurs. A new hand-picked film arrives on the platform every day, each carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators. Notebook explores all sides of cinema culture — both in print and online. And with MUBI GO, members in select countries can get a free ticket every week to see the best new films in cinemas.  Some recent and upcoming MUBI Releases include Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, Lukas Dhont’s Close, Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman, Aftersun from Charlotte Wells, Leos Carax’s Annette, Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, Julia Ducournau’s Titane, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, First Cow from Kelly Reichardt, Ben Sharrock’s Limbo, Pablo Larraín’s Ema, and Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria; MUBI’s co-productions include Michel Franco’s upcoming film Memory, Mia Hansen-Løve’s One Fine Morning, Ekwa Msangi’s Sundance prize-winner Farewell Amor and Rachel Lang’s Our Men.

MUBI is the biggest community of film lovers, available across 190 countries, with more than 12 million members around the world. MUBI acquired renowned sales agent and production company The Match Factory and Match Factory Productions in January 2022.

On June 23, 2022, Alliance Entertainment announced that it will become publicly listed through a merger transaction with Adara Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: ADRA, ADRA.U, ADRA.WS) (“Adara”), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, at which point the combined company’s common stock is expected to trade on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol “AENT”.

About Alliance Entertainment

Alliance Entertainment is a premier distributor of music, movies, and consumer electronics. We offer 485,000 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.

About Adara Acquisition Corp.

Adara raised $115 million in February 2021 and its securities are listed on the NYSE American under the ticker symbols “NYSE: ADRA, ADRA.U, ADRA.WS”. Adara is a blank check company organized for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization, or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Adara is led by its CEO, Thomas Finke (former Chairman and CEO of Barings LLC) and its director, W. Tom Donaldson (founder of Blystone & Donaldson). In addition to Messrs. Finke and Donaldson, Adara’s Board of Directors also include Frank Quintero, Dylan Glenn and Beatriz Acevedo-Greiff.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.adaraspac.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 financial and performance metrics, projections of market opportunity, expectations and timing related to Alliance Entertainment’s business, customer growth and other business milestones, potential benefits of the proposed business combination (the “Proposed Transactions”), and expectations related to the timing of the Proposed Transactions.

These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of Adara’s and Alliance Entertainment’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 Entertainment and Adara.

These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political, and legal conditions; the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the Proposed Transactions, including the risk that any regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the Proposed Transactions or that the approval of the stockholders of Adara or Alliance Entertainment is not obtained; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Proposed Transactions; risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Alliance Entertainment; risks related to the music, video, gaming, and entertainment industry, including changes in entertainment delivery formats; global economic conditions; the effects of competition on Alliance Entertainment’s future business; risks related to fulfilment network; risks related to expansion and the strain on Alliance Entertainment’s management, operational, financial, and other resources; risks related to operating results and growth rate;  the business could be harmed the amount of redemption requests made by Adara’s public stockholders; and those factors discussed in Adara’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 under the heading “Risk Factors,” and the Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 23, 2022 and other documents of Adara filed, or to be filed, with the SEC.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such other jurisdiction.

For investor inquiries, please contact:

MZ Group

Chris Tyson/Larry Holub

(949) 491-8235

AENT@mzgroup.us

Partnership Announcement: Glass House Distribution

ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT / DISTRIBUTION SOLUTIONS ANNOUNCE MEDIA PARTNERSHIP WITH GLASS HOUSE DISTRIBUTION

Distribution Solutions, a division of Alliance Entertainment, is pleased to announce a digital and physical media partnership with Glass House Distribution.

Distribution Solutions will handle digital and physical sales, distribution, and marketing of Glass House Distribution sell-through releases in the US and Canada.

“What Glass House Distribution brings to the table with their extensive catalog of feature films and television has us thrilled to partner in business with them,” states Distribution Solutions President, Ben Means. “They are a company founded by filmmakers, so their depth of knowledge into representing quality film and TV is unparalleled.”

Glass House Distribution has a wide-ranging collection of films and television including comedies Me, Myself, and Di, About Hope, and Canadian Strain, dramas Skipping Stones, Shuttlecock, and Gutterbug, and horrors La Patasola, If She Screams, and Infrared Dreams, in addition to thriller, science fiction, family, and documentary genres.

“We’re very excited to work with Distribution Solutions and to be able to allow films to reach more platforms and a bigger audience,” says President and Co-Founder Tom Malloy.

The first Glass House Distribution release distributed by Distribution Solutions hits the marketplace on January 7, 2021.

About Glass House Distribution

Based in New York and Los Angeles and founded by Tom Malloy and Bryan Glass in 2015, Glass House Distribution is an international sales & distribution company focused on feature films, television, & series.

The simple guiding motto of “Full Transparency,” (hence the Glass House), as well as a high bar for quality movies of all genres has catapulted Glass House into a major player in the world of film and TV sales, attending markets at Berlin, Cannes, Toronto, MipCom and AFM in Los Angeles.

In addition to Skipping Stones, current and upcoming Glass House Distribution releases include thriller The Security of Fear starring Jean-Marc Barr, Brad Dourif, William Baldwin, Laura Cayouette and John Robinson, Brit comedy Me Myself & Di starring Lucy Pinder, James Lance, Wim Snape, Will Mellor and Katy Clayton, and horror La Patisola inspired by a Columbian legend and starring Luciana Faulhaber, Patrick Walker and Naja Bradley. Glass House’s original series “Dropping the Soap” won an Emmy for Star Jane Lynch for Best Actress in a web series or comedy.

Glass House Distribution is a member of IFTA, the International Film and Television Alliance.

Find out more at www.glasshousedistribution.com.

Easy as S-B-T

Not so long ago, retailers across our delightful nation started to discuss new trading terms for their home entertainment departments.

Quickly the “talk” turned to adoption across the marketplace. While whispers of “Scan Based Trading” were just beginning to buzz in the corridors and conference rooms of other distributors and studios, our team was already leading the charge to transition our labels into this new world as seamlessly as possible.

But let’s back up. Not everyone even knows what we’re talking about. To appreciate this pivot fully, here’s the backstory: the home entertainment industry existed for decades under a model where the process was pretty much as follows:

  • (1) distributors pitched retail buyers,
  • (2) orders were placed by retailers for all those awesome DVD titles,
  • (3) goods were shipped to retail stores and warehouses by distributors, who then
  • (4) collected monies after an agreed-upon interval of time.

Most of these DVD/Blu-ray goods were expected/projected to go home with happy customers, with a certain unfortunate percentage destined to return to distribution warehouses eventually. In this model, a retailer’s resources were tied up in inventory, awaiting a sale.

The Scan Based Trading model represents a different approach entirely. With SBT, suppliers maintain the ownership of the inventory within the retailers’ stores or warehouses until the item is scanned at the point of sale. This reduces financial risk on behalf of the retailer, while literally, nothing looks different to the consumer in the store.

But what’s the impact on the supplier? We asked Pat McDonough, our SVP of Sales and here are his thoughts on the topic:

“The benefit of the SBT model is that it gives Distribution Solutions control of the space, which guarantees product placement for our label partners. It also allows us to make sure that the right product is in the right stores for the best sell-through.”

Pat McDonough, SVP Sales

As far as scope, Distribution Solutions currently trades on SBT terms with Target, Best Buy, FYE, Fred Meyer, and Bi-Mart. But that’s not all…

Distribution Solutions also manages SBT inventory within Dollar General (with permanent racks in 4,700 of their 17k stores!) and Menards (a value bin AND a dedicated 4’x6′ fixture).

Our team’s dedicated floor space and fixtures represent valuable opportunities for our team to curate re-sets that support the lifecycle planning of our partners’ content. Our relationships also allow us to think outside the box (and in-line sections) and place trays and other specialty POS displays to support key releases across these accounts.

To learn more about Scan Based Trading and Distribution Solutions, drop us a note at studios@ds.aent.com