Merlin partners with Pandora to increase the exposure of indie artists

Merlin partners with Pandora to increase the exposure of indie artists


Today Pandora announced its first direct label deal by unveiling a partnership with Merlin, the global rights agency for the independent sector.

The deal is designed to help promote independent labels and artists on Pandora, growing their audience that helping them connect with fans.

Brian McAndrews, the CEO of Pandora, stated: “This is an important step to advance Pandora’s ongoing commitment to build a vibrant and sustainable music industry,“ […] “It’s a true partnership that will grow our collective businesses, help artists reach larger audiences and give our listeners an even better music discovery experience personalized to their tastes.”

This is a new kind of partnership for Pandora because obviously the company is still paying its royalties to SoundExchange, nothing is changing in that department, but it enables a new level of communication between rights holders and the service.

The partnership in first instance will enable independents to get new tracks into Pandora's playlists faster by combining the tips from participating labels with the company's own Music Genome Project.

In addition Merlin’s labels and artists will have direct access to a whole new set of metadata and insights derived from Pandora’s 75+ million monthly active users. This is a functionality that has long been awaited by artists who want to get more data from Pandora and could lead to more data-driven decisions around touring options for example. 

Pandora will also offer “customised communication channels for artists on Merlin labels to directly engage their fans and create more intimate connections.” This sound good but is an extremely vague point. Will Pandora build new functionality into its app enabling a bit more of a conversation with artists? How will that take shape? We’ll have to wait and see to find out.

Another question mark is whether any money changed hands in this transaction since the financial terms were not disclosed. As I mentioned earlier Pandora is still going through SoundExchange so is this deal just a show of good faith or did it warrant a financial transaction?

If not did Pandora do this simply to strengthen its relationship with the independent sector, which could potentially improve its standing in current negotiations around rates? These are all questions that we'll seek to answer as the deal is rolled out and we learn more about its impact.

The press release by Merlin on the announcement is not short of a few positive quotes from members of the organisation.

Alan Galbraith, General Manager at Wind-Up records states: “I am thrilled to see the Merlin-Pandora deal come together. It presents opportunities for all parties and is a real statement from Pandora to the value of independent labels and artists.”

Victor Zaraya, COO at Razor & Tie, comments: “This new deal will enable Pandora to offer its listeners even more of what they already enjoy. Artists and listeners will benefit from giving extra prominence to independent music.”

News of the deal comes just weeks after independent labels publicly fell out with YouTube over the terms of its yet-to-be-launched new music streaming service. Pandora has come under fire before for its attitude towards artists and its royalty payments so this seems like a savvy way to smooth its relationship with the independent industry but also restore its image as a company that is on the side of the artists.


(Andrea Leonelli)