Merlin, the global digital rights agency for the world’s independent label sector, has extended and enhanced its existing music licensing partnership with India-based music streaming service, JioSaavn.
The deal marks the first renewal between the two parties since regional music streaming service Saavn merged with India’s JioMusic, the music streaming service owned by telecom service provider Reliance Jio.
The merger, which made Saavn’s entire catalog available on the JioSaavn app, grew JioSaavn’s monthly active users to more than 100m.
JioSaavn now comes preinstalled on Jio’s own JioPhone and is also available for web, Android, and iOS users.
The expanded partnership will enable Merlin’s membership to increase their presence in South Asia, and will expand JioSaavn’s catalog offering to its worldwide audience.
Accounting for more than 15% of the global digital music market, Merlin members represent tens of thousands of labels and hundreds of thousands of artists from every country in the world.
“We look forward to collaborating with Merlin on impactful initiatives.”
Keshav Bhola, JioSaavn
Keshav Bhola, Vice President – Content Partnerships at JioSaavn said: “We look forward to collaborating with Merlin on impactful initiatives.
“This is a strategic step to work towards the growth of partners, artists and the music industry in the long term. This endeavour will further build on our commitment to make a positive impact on the music streaming ecosystem.
“Our audience will now have access to an elevated experience with regard to global music, while artists and musicians from around the world will have a borderless platform for their work.”
“We’re grateful to expand our partnership with JioSaavn, and to enable our members to share their diverse catalog with JioSaavn’s global South Asian audience.”
Charlie Lexton, Merlin
Charlie Lexton, COO of Merlin, added: “We’re grateful to expand our partnership with JioSaavn, and to enable our members to share their diverse catalog with JioSaavn’s global South Asian audience.
“As the scope of the Merlin membership grows around the world, we’re excited to grow the opportunities for our members and their repertoire.”
Last month, Merlin signed a licensing deal with Adaptr, a B2B music platform that lets developers legally integrate music into their apps.
In April, Tencent-owned music streaming platform JOOX inked a licensing agreement with Merlin.Music Business Worldwide
