About two months ago, Sean covered here at Mashable the news that an organization named Merlin has become the fifth biggest record label, behind giants like EMI, Warner and Sony. Given that the age of giant labels is dying, it’s odd that 12,000 indie labels (those best poised to be nimble and adaptable to the ever-changing landscape of the modern music business) would sign on to create what is essentially a model of the Old Media record label concept. From Sean’s May coverage:  You may remember that we first discussed Merlin all the way back in January 2007, so this success has been a long time in the making for the international rights holder. For those who may not remember what exactly it is the company aims to do, it’s a fairly easy idea: Merlin sees a strength in a centralized, concentrated voice for independent record labels when it comes to negotiating for rights.  Merlin sends us a bit of news today that comes hot on the heels of an announcement from Last.FM to their member artists (a program I have participated in the past), announcing that they’ll now be awarding royalties to qualifying independent artists on Last.FM. Shortly after Paul posted on this news, Merlin alerted us that they “have for the last few months been negotiating with Last.fm regarding a non exclusive blanket licence and a settlement agreement on behalf of Merlin members” and that these negotiations “have stalled.”  They also accuse Last.FM of having profited off the backs of independent artists illegally up until this point, and that they show no signs of willingness to make restitution for this past sin.  We contacted a representative of Last.FM for comment, but the fact that they appeared to have been blindsided by this accusation as well as the fact that it was around 11 PM London time was probably the culprit behind the gruff declaration of “no comment” for this post (though the representative added that start of business tomorrow, they’ll examine the issue and likely have some sort of statement in response).  Quite honestly, I’m baffled as to why any indie artist would sign on with a group like Merlin. They appear to have all the trappings of an Old Media label, replete with grubby pawed lawyers, executives and board members all more than willing to claim their chunk of the cash earned by hard working artists. Meanwhile, systems like Last.FM and the Apple store already have mechanisms in place to accept and sell music for and from independent artists.  If I had to guess (and given the lack of independent comment at the moment, I may have to), I’d guess this is the reason talks broke down - Last.fm didn’t see a need to deal with Yet Another Intermediary Record Label, and openly invited all the artists to deal directly with them (and ultimately bring home more of their royalty monies in the process).
Merlin, the indie record label, is trying to get money out of Last.FM by extorting them via the press.