The Opportunity
Merlin is seeking a highly motivated and commercially aware lawyer to join our team. The successful candidate will join an experienced Business & Legal Affairs team negotiating high value content agreements with the world’s leading digital platforms. This is an opportunity for a commercially minded lawyer with the desire to take on a challenging in-house role, to work within a relaxed working culture that also demands technical excellence.
This is a full-time, hybrid role, based in London and reporting initially to the General Counsel.
Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:
- Drafting, negotiating and managing a variety of commercial agreements relating to the digital use of recorded music
- Setting commercial parameters and negotiating business terms
- Liaising with internal teams (finance, royalty reporting, data analytics and insights, member operations and commercial partnerships) to ensure the implementation of, compliance with and successful operation of licensing agreements
- Dealing with the initial assessment of potential new licensing opportunities
- Liaising with external global legal advisors as necessary
- Assisting with the resolution of rights and other disputes
- Assisting with compliance issues faced by a music rights business operating on a global stage
- Assisting with the management of day-to-day membership and operational issues
- Assisting with general corporate, commercial and other legal matters
Ideal candidates will have experience of copyright licensing within a digital business and experience of, or a demonstrable interest in, the recorded music industry; and PQE commensurate with the ability to negotiate both the commercial and legal terms of complex licensing agreements with minimal supervision.
The Company
Merlin provides independent record companies with the means to own their future. We’re a member led, international music-focused organisation providing digital music licensing for independents across the globe. Our members benefit from our 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.
We have deals with nearly 40 digital service providers, including Apple, Deezer, Meta, Peloton, Snap, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tencent, TikTok, Twitch, YouTube Music and many other regional and strategic partners.
We have resources in London, New York, Thailand and Tokyo.
We are committed to inclusion and diversity; are proud to provide equal opportunity workplaces; and we will evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, religion or belief, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender assignment, marital or civil partnership status, disability, pregnancy, childbirth or any other characteristic protected by law.
Application Details: Please send a CV to our retained agent Nick Wasserman of Handle Recruitment using the link provided. Please note that any direct applications will be forwarded to Handle for their consideration on our behalf.
No Agencies.
All successful candidates will be contacted within 5 working days of application. Due to the high volume of applications we receive, though, we are not always able to respond directly to everyone, but we will try our very best.