Merlin
Ryan McWhinnie is an experienced legal professional currently serving as Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Merlin, a global rights agency representing over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors. Ryan's tenure at Merlin began in August 2014 and includes prior roles as Senior Director and Director of Legal & Business Affairs, where responsibilities included negotiating licenses with major digital services such as Spotify and YouTube. Before joining Merlin, Ryan worked as an Associate at Harbottle & Lewis LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, gaining valuable expertise in legal affairs. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) in Accounting and Finance, both from the University of Sydney.
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.