Merlin’s Jim Mahoney Promoted to VP, Global Operations

Merlin, the global rights agency for the independent label sector, today announced that Jim Mahoney is promoted with immediate effect to the newly created role of VP, Global Operations.

Joining the Merlin team in October 2014 as General Manager US, Jim has overseen the establishment and growth of the organisation’s North American operation – providing a primary contact for Merlin’s expanding US membership of independent record labels, distributors and artist service companies, and ensuring they derive full benefits from the agency’s global licensing partnerships.

Jim was recently named among Billboard’s 2019 Indie Power Players, and the promotion to this new global role will see him step up alongside Charlie Lexton (CCO & General Counsel) and Helen Alexander (CFO) as part of Merlin’s senior management team, reporting directly to CEO Charles Caldas.

Jim will continue to work in Merlin’s New York office, alongside Bela Zecker, Merlin’s Member Services & Operations Manager, Americas.

“Jim has earned the respect of the entire independent music community. Since joining Merlin in 2014, his hands-on approach has played a key part in our successes and expansion – providing a trusted point of contact in the world’s largest music market, and ensuring our members are benefitting from the full scale of Merlin’s global licensing deals. His promotion to VP Global Operations is recognition of this important work, and ensures our worldwide network will grow even stronger in the months and years ahead.”

Charles Caldas, CEO, Merlin

“I’m grateful for the support of Charles, the Merlin Board of Directors, my colleagues and, really, the entire Merlin membership who challenge us, educate us, support us and rely upon us. It’s been my life’s work supporting independent distributors, labels and artists and the music partners who value this community’s work. As such, Merlin’s mission is quite personal to me and it’s with that great respect that I enthusiastically approach this new role.”

Jim Mahoney, Merlin VP, Global Operations

Merlin operates globally with offices in London, New York and Tokyo, with a head office in Amsterdam.

Supporting the senior management team are Tom Deakin, Merlin’s longstanding Director, Global Member Services as well as Akira Nomoto (General Manager, Japan), Chaida Kapfunde(Head of Technology & Development), Christopher Tarbet (Head of Global Member Operations) and Marta de la Hoz (Head of Reporting & Analysis).

In June 2019, Merlin revealed record revenue distributions, with $845m paid to independent label and distributor members between April 2018 and March 2019 – including more than $130m in revenues from settlements and other non-royalty income such as proceeds from the sale of Spotify shares.

As previously announced, Merlin CEO, Charles Caldas, is due to step down at the end of 2019.