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The following Wikipedia contributor may be personally or professionally connected to the subject of this article. Relevant policies and guidelines may include conflict of interest, autobiography, and neutral point of view. Caldascm (talk · contribs)

The Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use require that editors disclose their "employer, client, and affiliation" with respect to any paid contribution; see WP:PAID. For advice about reviewing paid contributions, see WP:COIRESPONSE. Sam Shemtob (talk · contribs) has been paid by unknown on behalf of Merlin Network. K E O'Leary (talk · contribs) has been paid by unknown on behalf of Merlin Network. Dom Athanassiou (talk · contribs) has been paid by Name PR on behalf of Merlin Network.

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This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. Per WP:CLOSEPARAPHRASE

First suggestion:

• Change to second paragraph - current version: Launched in 2007, after the appointment of current chief executive Charles Caldas, the organisation now has over 700 members from 42 countries.[3] It also represents more than 20,000 independent labels and aggregators worldwide, including Beggars Group, Amadea Music,Domino, Epitaph Records, !K7, Kobalt Label Services, Marquee Music Group, Merge Records, Ninja Tune, PIAS, Secretly Group, Terrabyte Studios, Symphonic Distribution, Phonofile, Sub Pop, The state51 Conspiracy, AWAL, CD Baby, Vohnic Music LLC, Artists Network Revolution, Spare Music, and Warp.[4]

• Explanation of issue: The second paragraph needs updating as the number of countries and member list are no longer accurate.

• Suggested new version: Launched in 2007, after the appointment of current chief executive Charles Caldas, the organisation’s members wield in excess of 12% of the digital recorded music market and embody more than 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries.^[3] These include Altafonte Distribution, Armada Music, Beggars Group, Curb Records, Domino, Eleven Seven Music Group, Entertainment One, Epitaph Records, Hopeless Records, INgrooves, !K7, Kobalt Label Services/AWAL, Mad Decent, Merge Records, Naxos, Ninja Tune, PIAS, Redeye Worldwide, Secretly Group, Symphonic Distribution, Sub Pop, The state51 Conspiracy and Warp Records.^[4]

Second suggestion:

• Change to last paragraph - current version: The organisation was named ‘Independent Champion’ at both the 2015 and 2016 A2IM Libera Awards,[12] while CEO Charles Caldas received the IMPALA annual outstanding contribution award in 2013.[13]

• Explanation of issue: Merlin has won the A2IM Libera Award in 2018 as well. Charles Caldas has been recognised by Billboard in its 2018 list of the 100 most influential people in the music business and as one of the title’s ‘Digital Power Players for 2018’.

• Suggested new version: The organisation was named ‘Independent Champion’ at the 2015, 2016 and 2018 A2IM Libera Awards ¹², while CEO Charles Caldas has been recognised by Billboard in its 2018 list of the 100 most influential people in the music business ^[13] and as one of the title’s ‘Digital Power Players for 2018’ ¹⁴. He is a previous recipient of IMPALA's Outstanding Contribution Award. ¹⁵

Third suggestion:

• Information to be added as last paragraph: Coinciding with its 10th anniversary, Merlin published an ‘Impact Report’ in June 2018 revealing that Merlin’s distributions to members had topped $0.5bn annually. Merlin members’ repertoire commanded a 25% higher market share on the paid tiers of streaming services in comparison with their free tiers. Meanwhile 68% of Merlin members reported that the majority of their digital income comes from streaming. ¹⁶

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 16:22, 19 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 19-DEC-2018

  Edit request declined  

1. The proposed text in the edit request was found to be insufficiently paraphrased from the source material. All submitted text must be in an editor's own words and phrasing, per WP:CLOSEPARAPHRASE.
2. Already existing text in the current version of the article was also found to be insufficiently paraphrased from the source material. This text has been deleted from the article. Both instances, from the request and the article itself, are listed below.

Please re-write your proposal so that it is properly paraphrased, and feel free to re-submit that request at your earliest convenience.
Regards,  Spintendo  17:55, 19 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Thanks Spintendo for the reply and explanation. I have now made the requested edits and paraphrased the text. Please see below and please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve for next time. Thanks!

First suggestion - changes to second paragraph:

• Suggested new text: Merlin was launched in 2007 following the appointment of chief executive Charles Caldas.^[1] The organisation’s members represent over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries, whose share of the global recordings market is in excess of 12%. Members include Altafonte Distribution, Armada Music, Beggars Group, Curb Records, Domino, Eleven Seven Music Group, Entertainment One, Epitaph Records, Hopeless Records, INgrooves, !K7, Kobalt Label Services/AWAL, Mad Decent, Merge Records, Naxos, Ninja Tune, PIAS, Redeye Worldwide, Secretly Group, Symphonic Distribution, Sub Pop, The state51 Conspiracy and Warp Records.^[2]

Second suggestion - additions to last paragraph:

• Suggested new text: The organisation was awarded ‘Independent Champion’ at the 2015, 2016 and 2018 A2IM Libera Awards ^[3] and named as an advocate for Billboard’s 2018 ‘Indie Power Players’^[4], while CEO Charles Caldas has been recognised by Billboard in its 2018 list of the 100 most influential people in the music business ^[5] and as one of the title’s ‘Digital Power Players for 2018’ ^[6]. He is a previous recipient of IMPALA's Outstanding Contribution Award.^[7]

Third suggestion - new paragraph addition:

• Suggested new text: Coinciding with its 10th anniversary, Merlin published an ‘Impact Report’ in June 2018. This revealed that Merlin’s distributions to members had topped $0.5bn annually and that Merlin members achieve a 25% higher market share on paid tiers of streaming services in comparison with free tiers. The report also notes that streaming accounts for the majority of digital revenues for 68% of Merlin members.^[8]

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 14:45, 7 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Under the |client= parameter of the disclose template it states "Name PR". Please clarify the name of this group which is paying for these edits. Thank you  Spintendo  21:33, 24 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Name PR is the PR agency that is hired by and represents Merlin Network. Merlin Network is a client of Name PR. I am an employee of Name PR. For more information on Name PR, you can see their website.Dom Athanassiou (talk) 11:59, 25 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 28-JAN-2019

  Unable to review edit request  
Your edit request could not be reviewed because the provided references are not formatted correctly.^[a] The citation style predominantly used by the Merlin Network article is Citation Style 1 (CS1). The citation style used in the edit request consists of bare URL's.^[b] Any requested edit of yours which may be implemented will need to resemble the current style already in use in the article – in this case, CS1.^[c] (See WP:CITEVAR.) In the extended section below titled Citation style, I have illustrated two examples: one showing how the edit request was submitted, and another showing how requests should be submitted in the future:

Kindly rewrite your edit request so that it aligns more with the second example shown in the collapsed section above, and feel free to re-submit that edit request at your earliest convenience.^[c] If you have any questions about this formatting please don't hesitate to ask myself or another editor. Regards,  Spintendo  11:51, 28 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Spintendo: Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate your help. I have rewritten the edit request as described in your comment but would be great if you can have a look below before I submit. With regards to point c in your notes above, can we add the year '2018' to the last paragraph so that the information is up-to-date (see second suggestion below)?

Also, regarding the first suggestion, I wanted to point out that the list of members not found in the source below (2) can also be found here. I appreciate that it is better to use one source for all if possible, so wasn't sure how it's best to reference this as the source on the current version of the article also does not include all the members mentioned (Phonofile and Amadea Music are not Merlin Network members for example). Additionally, I used a primary source based on the criteria that a self-published source is not always automatically invalid. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dom Athanassiou (talk • contribs) 15:23, 30 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

First suggestion - changes to second paragraph:

• Suggested new text: Merlin was launched in 2007 following the appointment of chief executive Charles Caldas.^[1] The organisation’s members represent over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries, whose share of the global recordings market is in excess of 12%. Members include Altafonte Distribution, Armada Music, Beggars Group, Curb Records, Domino, Eleven Seven Music Group, Entertainment One, Epitaph Records, Hopeless Records, INgrooves, !K7, Kobalt Label Services/AWAL, Mad Decent, Merge Records, Naxos, Ninja Tune, PIAS, Redeye Worldwide, Secretly Group, Symphonic Distribution, Sub Pop, The state51 Conspiracy and Warp Records.^[2]

Second suggestion - addition to second sentence in last paragraph:

• Suggested new text: The organisation was named ‘Independent Champion’ at the 2015, 2016 and 2018 A2IM Libera Awards ^[3], while CEO Charles Caldas received the IMPALA annual outstanding contribution award in 2013 ^[4].

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 16:09, 29 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 31-JAN-2019

1. Regarding WP:USINGSPS I don't recall raising that issue with any of your proposals for this article. If I'm mistaken please advise.
2. Regarding the first suggestion I think an embedded list of these members would work better than prose here, per MOS:EMBED.^[a]
3. Regarding the second suggestion, the designation Independent Champion and the Libera Awards are not notable subjects with their own articles in Wikipedia. This has been taken as a prerequisite to mentioning these types of laudits in corporation articles in order to prevent obscure award mentions.^[a]

Regards,  Spintendo  15:26, 31 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for explaining, Spintendo. I will re-submit the edit request now based on your answers. The main purpose of the edit request is to remove any labels or distributors mentioned in the article that are not in the public domain as Merlin Network members (such as Vohnic Music LLC, Artists Network Revolution, Spare Music, Amadea Music, Phonofile) and replace them with ones that are. Dom Athanassiou (talk) 16:48, 31 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

As per my conversation with Spintendo above, I would like to submit the following edit requests.

First suggestion - changes to second paragraph:

• Suggested new text: Merlin was launched in 2007 following the appointment of chief executive Charles Caldas.^[1] The organisation’s members represent over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries, whose share of the global recordings market is in excess of 12%.^[2]
• Section to be removed: 'It also represents more than 20,000 independent labels and aggregators worldwide, including Beggars Group, Amadea Music,Domino, Epitaph Records, !K7, Kobalt Label Services, Marquee Music Group, Merge Records, Ninja Tune, PIAS, Secretly Group, Terrabyte Studios, Symphonic Distribution, Phonofile, Sub Pop, The state51 Conspiracy, AWAL, CD Baby, Vohnic Music LLC, Artists Network Revolution, Spare Music, and Warp.[3]'
• Explanation of issue: The number of members (700) and countries (42) in current version of article are no longer accurate. That is taken from a 2016 source. Please see Merlin Network boilerplate at the bottom of linked press release to see that it is 'over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries' that Merlin Network currently represents. As discussed above, the member list will be removed from this paragraphed and made into an embedded list.

Second suggestion - new section:

• Suggested new text:

Merlin Network members include:

• Explanation of issue: As discussed with Spintendo above, it was recommended that the Merlin Network member list be changed from prose to an embedded list. Was not sure how best to reference so feel free to correct or advise.

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 18:06, 31 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 31-JAN-2019

1. The information has been presented in ((wikitable)) form. When two or less elements are used per entry (per line or box) the use of a list is preferred over the use of a table.^[a] As this collection of information contains only one entry per line (the name of the company) please modify the entries to make use of a list as opposed to a table. (See Help:List for more information about lists.^[b])
2. Please ensure that when a reference is used more than once, the template's name parameter is used to utilize one entry with multiple ref tags.

Regards,  Spintendo  18:16, 31 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Please see revised edit request below.

First suggestion - changes to second paragraph:

• Suggested new text: Merlin was launched in 2007 following the appointment of chief executive Charles Caldas.^[1] The organisation’s members represent over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries, whose share of the global recordings market is in excess of 12%.^[2]

• Section to be removed: 'It also represents more than 20,000 independent labels and aggregators worldwide, including Beggars Group, Amadea Music,Domino, Epitaph Records, !K7, Kobalt Label Services, Marquee Music Group, Merge Records, Ninja Tune, PIAS, Secretly Group, Terrabyte Studios, Symphonic Distribution, Phonofile, Sub Pop, The state51 Conspiracy, AWAL, CD Baby, Vohnic Music LLC, Artists Network Revolution, Spare Music, and Warp.[3]'

• Explanation of issue: The number of members (700) and countries (42) in current version of article are no longer accurate. That is taken from a 2016 source. Please see Merlin Network boilerplate at the bottom of linked press release to see that it is 'over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries' that Merlin Network currently represents. As discussed above, the member list will be removed from this paragraph and made into an embedded list (see below).

Second suggestion - new section:

• Suggested new text:

Merlin Network members include:

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 11:07, 1 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 1-FEB-2019

  Edit request implemented  

1. The list was implemented.^[a]
2. The section requested to be removed was done so.
3. The requested new text was not added because the text was insufficiently paraphrased from the source material. All additions to the article need to be placed in an editors own words and phrasing, per WP:CLOSEPARAPHRASE. Nevertheless, the figures were updated.

Regards,  Spintendo  13:33, 1 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Spintendo: Thanks for implementing the changes. Would it be possible to slightly change the wording of the second sentence in the article?

• Current version: The organisation is made up of over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries.

• Suggested new text: The organisation's members represent over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries.

• Reason for change: As per the source, it states that "The organisation’s members command in excess of 12% of the digital recorded music market and embody more than 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 57 countries". Therefore, this suggests that it is Merlin's members that represent the 20,000 labels and distributors, rather than Merlin being made up of 20,000 labels and distributors. The significance of this different wording is that a Merlin member can represent a number of record labels and distributors, rather than Merlin representing every single one individually. In other words, the 20,000 is the sum of all the record labels and distributors that Merlin members represent.

Thanks, and have a great weekend. Dom Athanassiou (talk) 16:51, 1 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Prior content in this article duplicated one or more previously published sources. The material was copied from: https://web.archive.org/web/20150708095848/http://www.merlinnetwork.org/what-we-do. Copied or closely paraphrased material has been rewritten or removed and must not be restored, unless it is duly released under a compatible license. (For more information, please see "using copyrighted works from others" if you are not the copyright holder of this material, or "donating copyrighted materials" if you are.)

For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or published material; such additions will be deleted. Contributors may use copyrighted publications as a source of information, and, if allowed under fair use, may copy sentences and phrases, provided they are included in quotation marks and referenced properly. The material may also be rewritten, providing it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Therefore, such paraphrased portions must provide their source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously, and persistent violators will be blocked from editing. While we appreciate contributions, we must require all contributors to understand and comply with these policies. Thank you. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 20:24, 1 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Justlettersandnumbers:

Thanks for reviewing the page and cleaning it up so that it complies with Wiki policies.

I found a reference for the third sentence in the first paragraph that is not a press release. I also suggest that the wording changes slightly. Please see below.

• Current version: It claims to have a membership of over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from about 50 countries.^{[citation needed]}

• Suggested new text: The organisation's members represent over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 55 countries.^[1]

• Source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8461401/merlin-500-million-annual-collections-distributions-billion

• Reason for change: Please not that the wording should be similar to the suggested text: "The organisation's members represent over 20,000...". As mentioned above, the significance of this different wording is that a Merlin member can represent a number of record labels and distributors, rather than Merlin representing every single one of those 20,000 individually. In other words, the 20,000 is the sum of all the record labels and distributors that Merlin members represent.

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 10:37, 6 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Part of an edit requested by an editor with a conflict of interest has been implemented. [See below]

Thanks for your help so far. In addition to the proposed change from February, I’d like to propose some additional changes. Please see the complete list of changes below.

First suggestion - changes to first paragraph:

• Current version: It claims to have a membership of over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from about 52 countries.[citation needed]

• Suggested new text: The organisation's members represent over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from 62 countries.^[1]

• Source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8497038/no-81-charles-caldas-power-100

• Reason for change: The significance of this different wording is that a Merlin member can represent a number of record labels and distributors, rather than Merlin representing every single one of those 20,000 individually. In other words, the 20,000 is the sum of all the record labels and distributors that Merlin members represent. Secondly, as specified in the Billboard article, the number of countries represented in Merlin’s membership now totals 62, not 52 as the current Wikipedia article states.

Second suggestion - changes to list of principal member labels:

• Suggestion: INgrooves should be removed from the list of principal member labels.

• Source: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-fully-acquires-ingrooves-music-group-upping-distribution-power/

• Reason for change: As stated in the Music Business Worldwide article linked above, Universal Music Group has recently fully acquired INgrooves. As such, they are no longer an independent label and, as Merlin only represents independent labels, they are no longer represented by Merlin. For that reason, they need to be removed from the principal member labels list.

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 11:04, 1 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 1-MAY-2019

  Edit request partially implemented  

1. Y INgrooves was removed.
2. Y The number of countries in the proposed claim was updated to 62.
3. N The remainder of the proposed claim was not rephrased. This is because the word represent has two definitions:
   1. appointed to act or speak for someone
   2. constitute; amount to

Owing to the second definition above, changing the phrase to use the word represent would not clarify the relationship between the members and the labels they are representatives of. For a concise meaning, please choose concise phrasing.
Regards,  Spintendo  15:23, 1 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Thanks for the reply and for partially implementing the edit request, Spintendo.

May I also ask that the first sentence of the article is updated? The sentence is missing an 'a' and doesn't read well.

• Current version: Merlin Network is digital rights agency for independent record labels.

• Suggested version: Merlin Network is a digital rights agency for independent record labels.

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 11:58, 8 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 8-MAY-2019

 Done  Spintendo  14:18, 8 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Part of an edit requested by an editor with a conflict of interest has been implemented. Please see the reply section below for additional information about this request.

A couple suggested changes to the article as the company has a new CEO with a new board, and has signed a major partnership, which has been widely reported.

First suggestion - changes to first paragraph:

• Current version: Merlin Network is a digital rights agency for independent record labels.^[1] It was started in 2007 with Charles Caldas as the chief executive. The agency reportedly has a membership of over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from approximately 62 countries.^[2]
• Suggested version: Merlin Network is a digital rights agency for independent record labels. ^[1] It was started in 2007 with Charles Caldas as the chief executive, with Jeremy Sirota succeeding him in January 2020. ^{[2] [3]} The agency reportedly has a membership of over 20,000 independent record labels and distributors from approximately 62 countries.

Second suggestion - edit to sidebar:

• Suggested edit: Currently, this links to the page for a different Dave Hansen, a member of the US Senate. Please remove. You can check that the Merlin Chairperson, Dave Hansen, is different on the Merlin website here: http://merlinnetwork.org/team

Third suggestion - addition to History:

• New text: In January 2020, Jeremy Sirota was appointed as CEO, with Dave Hansen appointed as executive chairperson alongside eight new board executives, including representatives from Australia, Brazil, Nigeria, the Netherlands, North America and South Korea. ^[3] In the same month, Merlin announced that it had signed a global licensing deal with TikTok, licensing music from its members’ repertoire on a global basis. ^[4]

Dom Athanassiou (talk) 17:33, 18 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Reply 18-FEB-2020

  Edit request partially implemented  

1. N The changes to the first paragraph were not implemented because reasons for the change were not provided with the request.^[1]
2. Y The Wikilink for Dave Hansen was removed.
3. N The addition to the History section was not implemented because this information constitutes normal business practices (the hiring of employees and the commencement of business deals) which are not germane to the article.^[2]

Regards,  Spintendo  20:51, 18 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]