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.
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 artist produced recordings of, primarily, experimental contemporary music.