Jon Glass joins independent label group Merlin as general counsel

Merlin has named Jon Glass as its new general counsel, putting him in charge of the independent licensing group's Business and Legal Affairs function as well as its Partnerships team. Glass, based in New York, will report to Merlin CEO Charlie Lexton.

Glass joins after nearly two decades in senior legal and business roles across the recorded music industry, most recently as senior vice president and head of digital legal affairs at Warner Music Group, which he joined in 2010. Before that he worked in digital business and legal affairs at Sony Music Entertainment and practiced law at firms including Morrison & Foerster.

"Jon is one of the most respected legal executives in the digital music business," Lexton said, calling the move to combine Business and Legal Affairs with Partnerships under one leader a way to coordinate how Merlin builds relationships with its digital partners. Glass said he has "watched the digital business develop from downloads to streaming, social platforms, and now AI services," and looked forward to putting that experience to work for Merlin's members.

The Partnerships team Glass now oversees has recently expanded, including the promotion of Emma Robinson to VP, Partnerships; that team manages Merlin's relationships with digital platforms including Apple, Canva, ElevenLabs, Meta, Spotify and YouTube. Merlin has also built out a run of AI licensing deals, including agreements with Udio in January 2026 and ElevenLabs' Eleven Music platform in August 2025, letting member labels opt in to license recordings to those services.

Lexton became Merlin's CEO on January 1, 2026, succeeding Jeremy Sirota after his six years at the company. Merlin says its membership, which includes independent labels such as Domino, Epitaph, Ninja Tune, Secretly, Sub Pop and Warp Records, represents about 15 percent of the global recorded music market across more than 70 countries, funded entirely by a 1.5 percent admin fee charged to members.