Question: How can a Creative Innovator make big jumps and leaps into new areas?
Guest: Jeremy Sirota, CEO, Merlin
Our 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.
Our Guest
Jeremy 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, visit https://merlinnetwork.org/
Mentioned Links
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
