Merlin Names Board For Global Indie Trade Group

Merlin, the global independent music trade group has named its board of directors.  Collectively indie music accounts for 80% of new releases and a 30% share of the global music market and Merlin’s goal is to act as a collective voice of this "fifth major".  The inaugural board members are:

North America:

• USA Kevin Arnold, Founder & CEO IODA
• USA
  Susan Ferris, Founder & CEO Long Live Crime Records
• USA
  Bob Frank, President Koch Records
• USA
  Tom Silverman, Chairman and CEO Tommy Boy Records
• Canadian representative tba

Europe:

• Stephan Bourdoiseau, President Wagram Music, France
• Michel Lambot, Co-President PIAS Group, Belgium
• Martin Mills, Chairman Beggars Group, UK
• Hein Van der Ree, Managing Director Epitaph Europe, Netherlands
• Horst Weidenmüller, CEO !K7, Germany

Rest Of World:

• Mark Kneebone, President Tardus Music
• New Zealand
  Clive Hardwick, Director, BULA Music, South Africa
• Takashi Kamide, Senior Adviser MS Entertainment, Japan
• Yongge Shen, Founder Zu Shu Entertainment, China
• Eduardo Muszkat, President MCD Entertainment, Brazil

The elected Directors will join permanent Directors, the President (currently Alison Wenham) and Merlin CEO Charles Caldas, who is a non-voting board member. Three non-voting observers will be appointed soon to represent each of the three geographical blocks.

With the company incorporated and inaugural board in place, Merlin will soon finalise its members’ mandate and appoint a chairman, before getting on with the business of providing access to and protecting the global independent sector, by ensuring competitive terms for new and emerging media usages of its music.

Said Charles Caldas, Merlin CEO “The global community has delivered to Merlin a fantastic board representing a remarkably broad range of interests. Combined with Merlin’s incorporation, the independents finally have the vehicle to ensure the value of their music be properly recognised and their common interests represented on a global scale.

“I am confident that the future will show the formation of Merlin as a key moment in rebalancing the business environment for independent labels.”

Term

The inaugural board replaces Merlin’s interim board with immediate effect, and will sit for two years.  After this first term new elections will be held, with all incumbent Directors eligible for re-election. 

From the beginning of the second term, a rotation system will begin, whereby two members from each geographical block will be required to step down mid-term (i.e. after a year), with elections then being held to fill the newly vacated posts.  These new members will be exempted from standing down at the main board elections the following year. No individual director should sit for more than four consecutive years.

Election Process

The election process was overseen by independents’ trade bodies operating across the three constituent territories –  A2IM/CIRPA/ADISQ in North America, IMPALA in Europe and the World Independent Network (WIN) for ROW. Geographical allocation of board positions was guided by the global distribution of recorded music sales*, resulting in the 3 x 5 system.

* Independent sector global market share 2005 is 29.0%, source Music & Copyright, Sep 13 2006. 80% of releases stat based on an amalgamation of Nielsen Soundscan figures (2005: 81.65% of total US releases were independent) and BPI figures (2005: 83% of total UK releases were independent).

** The USA and Canada combined accounts for ~37% global recorded music sales, while Europe and ROW account for ~34% and ~29% respectively. Given that this territorial split is roughly in three equal parts, the respective board positions were allocated in the same fashion (source: IFPI Global Recording Industry In Numbers 2006.)