Indie retailers convened in New Orleans to discuss Record Store Day allocations, how customers are responding to vinyl sticker shock and more.
Duque, who has led Warner Latin since 2021, takes over for Cat Kreidich at the indie distribution division.
Kreidich, who has led the independent distribution division since April 2021, is departing the company. New leadership is expected to be announced this week.
“We’re not trying to create virality, but [we’re] always open to move with that when and if it happens,” says Ourness co-founder Andrew Klippel.
The National Independent Venue Association’s first-ever State of Live Study showed that 64% of independent venues were not profitable last year.
The program, designed to help support young women who aspire to careers in the music business by connecting them with executive mentors, launched in 2023.
As the race for market share continues and label distribution deals get more competitive, the majors have responded by acquiring pieces of independent companies.
The collapse in negotiations between Merlin and TikTok raises questions around how big a role music plays in TikTok's business, and how much they want to pay for it.
TikTok says it wants to enter "direct deals with Merlin members." Merlin reads it as TikTok "fragmenting" their membership to try to "minimize" licensing payments for indie music.
Sirota, who has led Merlin since 2020, says he's always thinking of ways to drive more value to the nonprofit's independent partners.
