Merlin
Chris Tarbet has a background in media sales and marketing, with experience in commercial partnerships and business development within the music industry. They have held various roles such as Senior Director, Director, and Head of Global Member Operations at Merlin and Technical Operations Manager at Base79. Chris also worked as a Media Sales and Marketing Executive at One&Other. Their education includes a degree in Criminology and Forensic Science from Northumbria University.
Merlin
Merlin provides independents the means to own their future. Merlin is a member led, music focused organization providing digital music licensing for independents across the globe. Members benefit from Merlin’s premium deals, but work directly with key digital partners. Our membership consists of independent labels, distributors, and other rights-holders, representing tens of thousands of labels and hundreds of thousands of artists from every country in the world. Merlin works collaboratively with our digital partners, delivers value back to those digital partners, and seeks to drive other incremental benefits to our members. Merlin’s approach has enabled our membership to grow to represent 15% of the global market share. Merlin’s membership includes independents such as Amuse, Armada Music, AudioSalad, CD Baby and Downtown Music (including FUGA), Beggars Group, Cinq Music Group, Dim Mak, DistroKid, Domino, Epitaph Records, Freeme Digital, IDOL, Kontor New Media, Mad Decent, MNRK Music Group, Monstercat, Mushroom Music, Ninja Tune, ONErpm, [PIAS], Pony Canyon, Redeye, Secret City, Secretly, Symphonic Distribution, Sub Pop, Vydia, and hundreds more. Merlin has deals with nearly 40 digital services, including partners like Apple, AWA, Boomplay, Canva, Deezer, FLO, JioSaavn, KKBox, Meta, NetEase, Pandora, Peloton, Snap, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tencent, TikTok, TREBEL, Twitch, YouTube Music, and many other global, regional and strategic partners, as well as being in conversations with dozens more. Merlin has resources in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Thailand.