Merlin, the global rights agency for the independent label sector, has hired Christopher Tarbet in the newly-created position of Technical Operations Manager. 

Based in London, Tarbet will assist Merlin members worldwide to ensure all practical elements of their participation in Merlin deals are fully optimised – advising on content delivery to digital services and ensuring that members are aware and taking advantage of the tools and opportunities provided by those services.

Tarbet joins from Rightster (formerly Base79), where he developed particular expertise in the management of the YouTube CMS.

Charles Caldas, Merlin CEO said: “I am delighted to welcome Chris to the Merlin team. He will benefit our worldwide membership by providing hands-on practical assistance - saving them time and ensuring they get the very best from all Merlin agreements in which they participate. Going forward, his expertise and knowledge of managing the YouTube CMS will be particularly invaluable.”   

Christoper Talbert said: “I am hugely excited to be joining Merlin, and look forward to working closely with members to help navigate the practicalities of their deals and maximise the full benefits.”     

About Merlin

Merlin is the global rights agency for the independent label sector.

The organisation’s members command around a 10% share of the US and global recorded music markets and embody more than 20,000 independent record labels and distributors worldwide, representing some of the world’s most important artists, including:

  -   Beggars Group - Bon Iver, Jack White, The National, Queens of the Stone Age

  -   Cooking Vinyl - Billy Bragg, Marilyn Manson, The Prodigy

  -   Domino - Animal Collective, Anna Calvi, Arctic Monkeys

  -   Epitaph - Bad Religion, Tom Waits, Wilco

  -   !K7 - Tricky, Fat Freddy’s Drop

  -   Kobalt Label Services - Lenny Kravitz, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

  -   Merge - Arcade Fire, Caribou

  -   [PIAS] - Editors, Enter Shikari, Soulwax

  -   Razor & Tie - HIM, Yellowcard

  -   Warp - Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Grizzly Bear

Merlin acts to ensure these companies have effective access to new and emerging revenue streams and that their rights are appropriately valued and protected.

Since commencing operations in May 2008, Merlin has licensed key digital services including YouTube Music Key, Spotify, Pandora, Beats Music, Google Play, Rdio and Deezer and reached a number of high value copyright infringement settlements on behalf of its members with, amongst others, Limewire, XM Satellite Radio and Grooveshark.

Merlin has offices in London, with a head office in Amsterdam.

www.merlinnetwork.org