{"id":248583,"date":"2026-01-14T10:32:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=248583"},"modified":"2026-01-14T10:36:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:36:05","slug":"merlin-appoints-2026-27-board-adding-five-new-global-representatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/merlin-appoints-2026-27-board-adding-five-new-global-representatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Merlin appoints 2026\u20132027 Board, adding five new global representatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merlin has confirmed the makeup of its Board for the 2026\u20132027 term, bringing together representatives from independent labels, distributors, and rightsholders across 12 countries spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Oceania.<\/p>\n

The Board is elected by Merlin\u2019s<\/strong> global membership, which comprises tens of thousands of independent music companies worldwide. The organisation says its membership collectively represents around 15% of the global recorded music market.<\/p>\n

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The Board includes a mix of new and returning members.<\/p>\n

The five newly elected Board members are: Bugwu Aneto-Okeke<\/strong>, Measurable Accurate Digital Solutions (Nigeria); Charles Caldas<\/strong>, Exceleration (Portugal); Manami Ogawa<\/strong>, STARBASE (Japan); Rachel Buswell<\/strong>, Domino (UK); and Sascha Lazimbat<\/strong>, Zebralution (Germany).<\/p>\n

In addition to the elected members, Merlin has named Dan Waite<\/strong> of Better Noise (UK) and Ver\u00f3nica Rojas<\/strong> of Casete (Mexico) as Board Observers.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Claire Jonas<\/figcaption><\/figure>

“As the digital landscape continues to evolve, our Board\u2019s experience across markets and business types is an invaluable resource in ensuring we continue to deliver premium value to our members around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie Lexton, CEO of Merlin<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Re-elected to the Merlin Board and continuing their service are: Carlos Mills<\/strong>, Mills Records (Brazil); Chris Maund<\/strong>, Mushroom (Australia); Darius Van Arman<\/strong>, Secretly Group (US); Golda Bitterli<\/strong>, Revelator (Israel); Justin West<\/strong>, Secret City Records (Canada); Louis Posen<\/strong>, Hopeless Records (US); Marie Clausen<\/strong>, Ninja Tune (US); Megan Jasper<\/strong>, Sub Pop (US); Pascal Bittard<\/strong>, IDOL (France); and Tom Deakin<\/strong>, AudioSalad (UK).<\/p>\n

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Beggars Group<\/strong> and Merlin<\/strong> founder Martin Mills<\/strong> continues as Director of Merlin Network, the organization\u2019s parent entity, alongside Chairperson Darius Van Arman<\/strong> and Merlin CEO Charlie Lexton<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Outgoing Board members include Eniko Gallasz<\/strong> (WMMusicDistribution), Fer Isella<\/strong> (limbo music), Jeffrey Chiang<\/strong> (Fluxus), Jennifer Newman Sharpe<\/strong> (Exceleration), Michael Ugwu<\/strong> (Freeme Digital) and Simon Wheeler<\/strong> (Beggars).<\/p>\n

Charlie Lexton<\/strong>, CEO of Merlin, said: \u201cWe are delighted to welcome our new Board Members, each of whom brings a unique and high value perspective to Merlin\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMerlin\u2019s dedication to delivering unique benefits and best in class deals is at the heart of our mission. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, our Board\u2019s experience across markets and business types is an invaluable resource in ensuring we continue to deliver premium value to our members around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Merlin<\/strong> recently signed a licensing agreement with Singa<\/a>, the Finland-born karaoke technology company, adding what it describes as \u201cthousands\u201d of original master recordings from independent labels to the platform.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Merlin<\/strong> also expanded its long-running relationship with Spotify<\/strong>. The companies announced plans to collaborate on what Spotify described as \u201cresponsible\u201d AI-driven music<\/a> products, alongside similar work involving Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.<\/p>\n

In September, Merlin<\/strong> and Spotify<\/strong> also renewed<\/a> their global, multi-year licensing partnership, extending their 17-year collaboration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New execs join Board from Nigeria, Portugal, Japan, Germany and the UK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7183,"featured_media":248673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[588],"class_list":["post-248583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-merlin"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248583"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248678,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248583\/revisions\/248678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}