Merlin Elects 3rd Global Board
Re-elected: Martin Mills, Michel Lambot, Florian Von Hoyer, Horst Weidenmueller, Colin Daniels& Hilton Roth- Erik Brataas(Phonofile), OkeGöttlich(finetunes) and Luciana Pegorer (DeliraMusica) join as new additions
- Thomas Lorain returns as an observer
- Also returning: Alison Wenham
24th November 2011, London:-Global rights agency Merlinhas confirmed the results of its latest biennial board elections, welcoming two new European members and seeing the return of executives from the world’s key independent labels. The announcement follows news of Merlin’s North American board elections, revealed in June of this year.Re-elected to the European bloc are Martin Mills, founder and chairman of Beggars Group in the UK, Michel Lambot, co-president [PIAS] Group in Belgium, Florian Von Hoyer, CEO and director of Spain’s Altafonte and Horst Weidenmuelle, CEO of !K7 Records in Germany.Erik Brataas,CEO of Norway’s Phonofile, joins for the first time. Phonofile represents a catalogue of more than 250,000 tracksfrom more than 600 labels in the Nordic region. Brataas has been CEO since the company’s inception in 1999.To the Rest of World bloc, from outside Europe and North America,Luciana Pegorer, Executive Director of Brazil’s DeliraMusica and president of ABMI (Brazilian Independent Music Association) takes her seat as a further new addition. She joinsColin Daniels, Managing Director of Australian label Inertia, Hilton Roth, Founder & CEO of South Africa’s African Dope, whohave both been re-elected, and Alison Wenham, who remains by virtue of her position as chair of WIN.OkeGöttlich , Founder and General Manager of digital service provider finetunes has been elected as a Merlin board observer. He joins fellow observerThomas LorainofFrench label Naïve.The announcement comes after a continued period of strong membership growth which has seen significant US labels including Merge Records (Arcade Fire, Spoon, She & Him), Sub Pop(Fleet Foxes), Naxos of America, SecretlyCanadianDistribution, Jagjaguwar(Bon Iver), Thrill Jockey, Latin Cool Records, Righteous Babe and Music Media Mexico join the likes of Beggars/Matador, Saddlecreek, Victory and distributors Redeye/Yeproc, Virtual Label and United for Opportunity as Merlin members. Merlin’s global membership now includes over 14,000 of the world’s most prominent independents.Charles Caldas, Merlin CEO said: “Merlin's members are fortunate to have board representatives with a such a deep wealth of experience and knowledge, and I look forward to working with the board in the coming years to continue to deliver the maximum possible value to our members.”
The Election process is based upon the Merlin election rules (maximum 5 Voting seats per bloc, with no more than one voting candidate per territory).The Merlin board will sit for a period of two years.The Merlin board members are as follows:Europe BlocErik Brataas – Phonofile - NorwayFlorian Von Hoyer – Altafonte - SpainHorst Weidenmueller - !K7 Records - GermanyMartin Mills – Beggars Group - UKMichel Lambot – [PIAS] Group - BelgiumNorth American BlocBob Frank, Qello - USADave Hansen – Epitaph Records – USAKris Gillespie – Domino USA – USAThomas Silverman – TOMMY BOY - USAGeoff Kulawick – IDLA – Canadian seatRest of World BlocColin Daniels – Inertia - AustraliaHilton Roth – African Dope – South AfricaLuciana Pegorer – DeliraMusica – BrazilAlison Wenham – WIN, representing the balance of the ROWObserver MembersGlenn Dicker – Redeye, Yeproc – USA , representing North American BlocWilliam Crowley – E1/Koch – USA, representing North American BlocThomas Lorain – Naïve – France, representing Europe BlocOkeGöttlich– Finetunes – Germany, representing Europe Bloc
Merlin, the virtual fifth major, represents the world's most important set of independent music rights. 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 offers the most efficient means for digital music services to license repertoire from the largest and most compelling basket of independent rights in the world.Since commencing operations in May 2008, Merlin has struck deals with digital services including Spotify, Rdio, YouTube, Zvooq, MySpace Music, Grooveshark, Simfy, Muzu TV, AT&T, and Eircom. Merlin has also achieved settlements for its members with Grooveshark and XM Satellite radio.Members include Rough Trade, Warp Records, Epitaph, Naïve, Tommy Boy, One Little Indian, Yep Roc, Redeye, Kontor New Media, Naxos, XL Recordings, Beggars Group, Merge, The Mushroom Group, !K7, PIAS, Domino and Koch/E1.Their artists include Adele, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, The xx, Neko Case, The National, Tom Waits, Spoon, Grizzly Bear, DJ Khaled, Dorrough, Martin Solveig&Dragonette, Tiësto, Scooter and many, many more.Merlin is not an aggregator. Its members may opt in or out of any deal that it brokers and it is a non-profit organization, with all dividends from its commercial investments being shared among its members.A global organization, Merlin’s member labels released 72% of the top 60 independent albums issued 2008–2010, and commanded an 11% digital UK market share in 2009. Most recently, streaming service Spotify publicly announced that Merlin's repertoire represented over 10% of the usage on its service.