The Indie Tide of Merlin

Independent music labels around the world are being brought together by a non-profit collective called Merlin, and now, together, they are starting to shape the music industry.

This from a quick article on ArsTechnica:

Merlin is trying to pull off a magic act: unite the world’s indie labels into a single negotiating force that can fight for a seat at the table with the Big Four of EMI, Warner, Sony BMG, and Universal. According to the group, it has already succeeded, and in the US at least, now commands the same market share as EMI. While EMI is the smallest of the majors, that’s still no mean feat, and it puts indie music in a better position to do deals in the emerging digital music ecosystem. Merlin isn’t a “real” label in the sense that it doesn’t do business the same way. The group negotiates licensing arrangements on behalf of its members so that small labels can get the benefits of a more sizable organization, but Merlin does not take any control of copyrights and does not do marketing or promotion.

And from Wired:

Merlin’s indie labels were able to grab as much US market share as EMI did, despite having fewer songs. This seems to constitute mathematical proof that Merlin’s indie labels are better at finding bands with commercial appeal than at least one of the majors.

Merlin’s goal seemed to be to turn indie bands and labels into a loose, decentralized version of the major label when it comes to negotiating with music services, while retaining their nimbler and apparently more efficient methods of discovering new artists.