CHAPEL HILL, NC (CelebrityAccess) — Secretly Group, the independent music company, announced a new partnership with Merge Records that will see Secretly Co-Founders Ben Swanson, Chris Swanson, Darius Van Arman and Phil Waldorf acquire a 50% stake in the label.
Following the close of the deal, Merge co-founder Mac McCaughan will continue to oversee the label as President and Head of A&R while his Co-Founder and Co-President Laura Ballance will depart from her role at the label.
Founded in 1989 by Ballance and McCaughan, both also members of the band Superchunk, Merge was intended to support musicians that the duo believed in.
Merge Records would go on to become an influential indie, with a catalog that includes releases from Neutral Milk Hotel, Lambchop, The Magnetic Fields, The Clean, and Waxahatchee, among others.
“We continue to be inspired and amazed by the musicians we work with,” says Mac McCaughan. “I have known many of the people in the Secretly world for decades, and I know that they share Merge’s dedication to artists and getting their music into the hands of as many people as possible. We have seen this in action working with Secretly Distribution’s international team since 2012, and are excited about what the future looks like with the strength and experience of Secretly Distribution working for Merge artists around the world, and now here at home. I know Laura has her own exciting future ahead, and I am excited to continue and expand upon the label we’ve run for 36 years.”
“It was never my goal to start a record label when I was 21 and run it for the rest of my life,” added Laura Ballance. “I have been doing this for 36 years now. Life is short. There are other things I have always wanted to do: make more art, travel for fun, volunteer more, write a book and lots of other things that being so entrenched in running a business does not allow me to do. Merge Records started as a literal bedroom label, in my bedroom, and lived there for a few years before we were able to give it some space of its own. It has always been a labor of love. I am going to miss it and all the people and bands tremendously.”
“When we heard that Laura was looking to move on from Merge, we immediately engaged in conversations with Mac and Laura about what a new partnership with Secretly could look like,” says Secretly Co-Founder Phil Waldorf. “We looked up to Merge as we started our labels. We are not just fans of the music they’ve released, but their independent ethos and commitment to being an artist-first company. Becoming a partner in Merge is beyond a dream for me – I saw Superchunk for the first time when I was a teenager, before I even knew you could have a full-time job in independent music, and attended Merge’s 5th Anniversary celebration at the Cat’s Cradle while I was a college student in Athens, GA, making this a real ‘pinch me’ moment three decades later.”
