Jeremy Sirota, MerlinOur first guest of Season 2 shares his tales of two loves: music and technology. His journey to Merlin includes early fandom in the Orange County punk rock scene, learning brand design in New York City while launching a mini fashion brand, and a road through technology law, Warner Music, and Facebook. He shares his adventures "leaning out over his skis" and growing outside of his comfort zone. He talks about relationships and "finding enough space that luck finds you." Jeremy shares his learnings and beliefs in managing organizations and teams, as well as his challenges in managing as a new CEO into the heart of the Pandemic.
BioJeremy Sirota is CEO of Merlin, the Independents’ digital music licensing partner that strikes premium deals for its members with services like Apple, Facebook, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube. Sirota has been recognized four times by Billboard, including Indie Power Player, International Power Player, and the 2022 Power List. Last year, Merlin added 32 independent labels and distributors from 17 countries to its membership and represents over 15% of the global market share. Prior to Merlin, he was an executive on the Facebook Music team, where he helped shape its music strategy as well as licensed rights from independents worldwide. Sirota previously held a number of senior positions at Warner Music Group, culminating as Head of Business & Legal Affairs for WEA and ADA. Early in his career, he was a technology lawyer at Morrison & Forster. For more, visithttps://merlinnetwork.org/ ( https://merlinnetwork.org/)
Mentioned Linkshttps://merlinnetwork.org (Merlin Network)
https://www.ada-music.com/ (Warner Music ADA)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremysirota/ (LinkedIn)
https://www.facebook.com/merlinnetwork (Facebook)
https://www.twitter.com/merlinnetwork (Twitter)
Timecode
00:00 Introduction
01:03 Merlin
03:51 Growing Up: Punk Rock & CIA?
06:42 College in Rhetoric?
08:33 New York in Design
14:03 Luck Finds You
19:28 Managing in Large and Small Companies
22:03 Merlin in 2020-22
28:12 North Stars and Team Goals
31:34 Big Ahas
36:14 Personal Side
39:19 Encouraging as a Parent
41:05 Intersecting Music and Tech
Our Mission
Through our guests’ stories, we aim to inspire current and future change agents who are creatives, entrepreneurs, researchers, or community leaders who are seeking inspiration and support around creative innovation — changing the ways we create, collaborate, engage, change lives, and build communities.
Your Host: Gigi Johnson, EdD
I run transformative programs, speak/moderate, invest, advise, and produce multimedia on creativity and technology. I taught for 22 years at UCLA, where I ran the Center for Music Innovation and the podcast "Innovating Music," built four industry-connecting programs, and taught undergraduates, MBAs, and executives about disruption in creative industries. Before UCLA, I financed media M&A at Bank of America for ten years.
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