Merlin

Merlin, the virtual 4th major, represents the world's most important set of independent music rights. Merlin commenced operations in May 2008 and since then has struck deals with a number of digital services including Rdio, Spotify, Sony Music Unlimited, Deezer, Google Play and Simfy. Merlin seeks to ensure its members have effective access to new and emerging revenue streams and that their rights are appropriately valued and protected. Merlin represents by far the largest and most compelling basket of global independent rights in the world and so offers the most efficient means of licensing this repertoire. Members include Rough Trade, Warp Records, Epitaph, Naïve, Tommy Boy, One Little Indian, Yep Roc/Red Eye, Kontor New Media, Beggars Group, Merge,!K7, PIAS, Domino and Koch/E1. Their artists include Vampire Weekend, Adele, Arcade Fire, The xx, Neko Case, The National, Tom Waits, Spoon, Grizzly Bear, DJ Khaled, Dorrough, Tiësto, Scooter and many, many more. A global organization, its members’ market share in the US alone is reported at around 10%, equivalent to that of the smaller major labels, whilst in Europe member labels released 72% of the top 60 independent albums issued in the past three years and commanded a 11% digital UK market share in 2009. Most recently, streaming service Spotify publicly announced that Merlin repertoire represented over 10% of the usage on its service.