DEEZER CLINCHES WORLDWIDE DEAL WITH MERLIN

  Global licensing deal sees world’s leading independent labels now available to Deezer subscribers  10 May 2012 London: –The global independent rights agency, Merlin today announced a comprehensive licensing agreement with Deezer, a leading streaming subscription service. The international breadth of Merlin’s membership and the global nature of its licensing made Merlin the perfect partner for Deezer’s global ambitions and, as a result of the deal, Deezer’s users across the globe will have access to some of the world’s top independent labels as represented by Merlin.Deezer, a web-based music streaming service, is already available in more than 50 countries. It allows users to listen to music anytime and anywhere on various devices on- or offline thanks to a catalog of 18M tracks.As a result of the global deal, Deezer’s users will now enjoy access to some of the world’s most important independent artists. Merlin’s members account for the largest set of rights outside of those held by the larger major record companies. This includes repertoire from labels and distributors such as Warp, Yep Roc/Redeye, Epitaph, Phonofile, Tommy Boy, One Little Indian, Kontor New Media, !K7, Merge, and Koch/E1.Charles Caldas, Merlin’s CEO said:“It is very encouraging to see innovative and ambitious services like Deezer broadening their scope and bringing wider choice to consumers across the many markets in which they operate. We are sure that Deezer’s users will enjoy the vast choice of amazing repertoire delivered to them via this deal”.Julien Simon, Label Relations Director, said:"We are pleased to count Merlin as one of our key global music partners, along with its independent label members across the world. Inclusion of the widest, deepest and best-selling independent repertoire to our service will help us provide the best musical experience to our customers”.With its member's repertoire representing an approx 10% share of digital services worldwide, Merlin provides an invaluable solution to digital music services looking to offer their users the world’s most important independent labels. About Merlin:Merlin represents the world's most important set of independent music rights. Merlin commenced operations in May 2008. Since then it has struck deals with a large number of digital services including Spotify, YouTube, Google Music, Rdio and Simfy and reached a number of copyright infringement settlements on behalf of its members with amongst others XM Satellite Radio, Grooveshark and Limewire. 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.A global organisation, 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 released in the past three years and commanded a 11% digital UK market share in 2009.www.merlinnetwork.orgAbout Deezer:Deezer is a leading worldwide music streaming service reaching 20m users and with 1.5m paying subscribers. As well as offering access to more than 15m tracks, Deezer provides a unique solution for organising your music library, building and sharing playlists and expanding your musical scope through new discovery (e.g. genre-based editorial recommendations adapted to each country, and 10,000 smart radio channels).Thanks to its exceptional partnerships with Facebook, Orange and Belgacom, Deezer is now available in more than 50 countries and will be accessible worldwide, excluding the US and Japan.