Twitch and Merlin Announce Strategic Partnership to Empower Independents to Better Engage Audiences
Merlin, the independent’s digital music licensing partner, today announced a dynamic new agreement with Twitch, the interactive live streaming service for content spanning gaming, entertainment, sports, music, and more. Through its creator-first culture, Twitch has served as a powerful service for fan engagement and new music discovery. This partnership recognizes the power of independent artists and their impact in the Twitch community, creates revenue earning opportunities for Merlin members and their artists, and leans into Twitch’s increased focus on music-centric programming.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Twitch for this groundbreaking deal. We’ve been engaged in conversations with Twitch since the day I started at Merlin, and I’m pleased that our team found a path for Merlin members and their artists to better engage fan communities across the Twitch ecosystem, whether in music, gaming or beyond. Merlin members are excited to lean into this opportunity on behalf of their artists.”
Jeremy Sirota, Merlin CEO
Over the past two years, Twitch has become an increasingly popular way for artists to create content, interact with their fans, generate earnings, and build community. This new relationship with Merlin will expand direct communications between Merlin members and Twitch, open up dedicated support for those members and their artists to grow their audience bases, and unlock marketing opportunities to the benefit of all.
“It really is an exciting time to be an independent artist. The relationship between fan and artist has been transformed, and we’re proud to offer a new pathway to success for so many artists. Our partnership with Merlin affords their members’ independent artists an on-ramp to our devoted and engaged Twitch community. We are grateful for the collaborative work of our colleagues at Merlin and know that, together, we can achieve great things for a sector of the music community that has never been more influential.”
Tracy Chan, VP, Head of Music at Twitch
Reflecting Merlin’s global membership, this agreement will unlock live experiences worldwide, create artist and label marketing opportunities for Merlin members (e.g., via The Collective, Twitch’s recently launched artist incubator program), and help bring Twitch and independents closer together. Accounting for over 15% of the global music market share, Merlin members and their artists are highly diverse—representing more than twenty thousand labels and hundreds of thousands of artists from every country in the world. Merlin acts as a bridge between its partners and its membership, offering support and tools to help partners better understand and connect with Merlin members. In addition, Merlin educates and engages its members to help them innovate, incubate new ideas, lean into the latest features and marketing opportunities with partners, and build strategies for success on digital platforms. The synergies between Twitch and Merlin are an exciting starting point for a long term partnership.
Additionally, Twitch has created a process that enables participating music rights holders, including Merlin and its members, to report certain unauthorized uses of their music.
About Twitch
Launched in 2011, Twitch is an interactive live streaming service and global community that comes together every day to create unique, live, and unpredictable experiences from the interactions of millions. It brings the joy of co-op to everything, from casual gaming and world-class esports to anime marathons, music, and art streams. Twitch also hosts TwitchCon, the biggest community event of the year, where tens of thousands of people come together to celebrate and connect with others who share their interests and passions. We’re always live at Twitch. Stay up to date on all things Twitch on Twitter and on our Blog.
About 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, Anjunabeats, Armada Music, Beggars Group, Group, Dim Mak, Empire, MNRK Music Group, Epitaph Records, Foundation Media, IDOL, Kontor New Media, Lex Records, Mad Decent, Mushroom Music, Ninja Tune, [PIAS], Pony Canyon, Secret City, Secretly, Symphonic Distribution, Sub Pop, Vydia, and hundreds more.
Merlin has deals with nearly 40 digital services, including partners like Adaptr, Apple, AWA, Boomplay, Deezer, JioSaavn, JOOX, KKBox, Lickd, Meta, NetEase, Pandora, Peloton, Snap, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tencent, TikTok, TREBEL, Triller, YouTube Music, and many other global, regional and strategic partners, as well as being in conversations with dozens more.
Merlin has resources in London, New York, North Carolina, the Netherlands, and Tokyo.
Media Contacts
Merlin: Crystal Henderson, The Press House crystal@thepresshouse.com Twitch: Laila Mahmud, Twitch mahmudla@twitch.tv
