Merlin Signs Deal With iMesh

MERLIN, the global rights agency and virtual fifth major, representing major independents including Domino, Beggars Group, KOCH (now E1 Music), Epitaph and [PIAS], whose artist rosters include Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Anthony & The Johnsons, Basement Jaxx, Bjork, DJ Khaled, Franz Ferdinand, Maxïmo Park, Röyksopp, and Vampire Weekend has signed a content deal with iMesh, the third largest music subscription service in the US, who are soon to expand operations into Europe. Merlin member labels’ repertoire will now be fully available through iMesh’s subscription and download services, which include iMesh and Bearshare.The deal also includes a settlement relating to usage of Merlin members’ repertoire on the hitherto unlicensed Lphant P2P network, recently purchased by iMesh as part of their European expansion. Merlin members’ repertoire will be available from launch on the new legitimately licensed and filtered version of Lphant.Said Charles Caldas, Merlin CEO, “We are pleased that iMesh inherently recognised the value of the Merlin repertoire in expanding their footprint to the global market, and are happy to be involved in working with them to license and legitimise the Lphant P2P network. It shows again that the tremendous efficiency and global reach that Merlin provides those wishing to license the world’s most exciting and commercially valuable independent repertoire has been recognised.”Commented Talmon Marco, President and Chief Marketing Officer of iMesh, “We have long understood the importance of independent music. This agreement adds substantially to the availability of that content to iMesh users. The agreement is an extension of the understanding of iMesh and supporting labels, that music fans will maintain loyalty to a site when revenue is directed to content creators. In this instance, we add Lphant to the list of iMesh services.”Announced at MIDEM in 2007, Merlin opened for business in May 2008 when it received its members’ mandate. Since then Merlin has been actively involved in negotiations with a number of digital services and in October 2008 announced its first deal with the newly launched music streaming service Spotify. With over 13,000 members Merlin represents the largest and most important collection of independent music rights in the world, with a US market share of over 9%, equivalent to that of the smaller majors.Established in 1999, iMesh is one of the world’s largest music communities. iMesh lets its millions of users connect with each other and with over 20 millions tracks from all major labels, independents and other users. iMesh offers both free content and paid content via subscription and mp3 downloads.Lphant is an application for sharing files using a P2P database. Compatible with the biggest file sharing networks in the world, such as eDonkey, eMule and BitTorrent, Lphant has a worldwide user base but has proven particularly popular throughout Europe.Download a PDF of this press release from here.