Merlin Adds Indie Labels To Sony Music Unlimited

Global rights agency Merlin has cut a deal with Sony to deliver its large independent label catalog to Sony's cloud-based digital music service "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity". The deal is global with with Merlin member's repertoire initially available in nine countries: U.S., France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.

Merlin's members' digital market share reportedly represents about 10% of the global market from independent labels including Domino, Curb, Merge, Warp, Yep Roc/Red Eye, Epitaph, Naxos, Inertia, Ninja Tune, !K7, Naive, One Little Indian and Kontor.

"We are very excited to see the evolution of innovative cloud-based digital music services like 'Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity'… the service is well placed to attract a large amount of consumers, generating legitimate revenue for rights holders and taking digital music consumption to the next level of mass market appeal."   said Charles Caldas, CEO of Merlin.