New-York based indie label and home of Recondite, Shigeto, Tabacco and Tycho Ghostly Int. will merge together with Secretly Canadian umbrella Secretly Group.
Ghostly CEO Sam Valenti with this will become managing partner of Secretly, while the four owners of Secretly will likewise become executive partners of Ghostly International. The merger brings together two well known and appreciated labels on the market, creating a new opposition to the Mayor-Indie merger model:
Nowadays, indie labels form business groups themselfes, giving ever bigger competition on the market share to the mayors.
The old model of a mayor label buying out any indie that comes close to considerable success seems outdated. With ever more market share on their side, indies are gaining ground through the aftermath of the digital streaming revolution.
The merger was announced during the online-version of A2IM 2020 (due to the COVID-19 crisis the organizators had to move the event online).
Ghostly International is a notable forerunner when it comes to product development and merch, while the Secretly Group with 135 employees is holding a strong labor pool in their hands.