Some independent music labels are banding together in a new group called 'Merlin,' with backers asserting that they will be the "fifth major" in the industry.
They look at this as the golden opporunity and time to secure artists with the burgeoning number of acts being uploaded to social networking sites like YouTube (GOOG) and MySpace (NWS).
The overall indie music sector accounts for 30 percent of all music sold across the world. The four majors are Warner Music, Universal Music, EMI Group and Sony BMG.
Representatives of the new group said that one of their major goals is to change the "poor cousin" status of deals previously offered to independent labels and will address the "growing assumption that, for emerging media, only the four majors need to be licensed, with the rest free to air."
The group has named the former head of Australia's independent music distributor, Charles Caldas, as their CEO.
"The form of copyright apartheid currently being applied to the value of independent rights is unacceptable," Caldas said. "Merlin will enable independents around the world to participate in new licensing and revenue models on competitive terms."
Alison Wenham, president of World Independent Network, added that the group will be a non-profit organization that is privately funded and will be based in London.
» New Indie Music Agency Makes Deal for Selling Downloaded Music from TheAlphaMarketer
The recently formed new agency called "Merlin," which represents independent music artists, didn't take long to go into action, as they announced at the annual MidemNet music conference in France that they entered into a deal with Snocap,... [Read More]
Tracked on: January 21, 2007 6:25 PM | Permalink to Trackback