Secretly Group
American independent record label
Secretly Group is a family of American independent record labels based in Bloomington, Indiana. The group is made up of Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar, and Dead Oceans, as well as a 50% stake in Merge Records. Secretly Canadian, the first of the labels, was formed in 1996 by brothers Chris and Ben Swanson, Eric Weddle, and Jonathan Cargill. Their first release was a re-issue of an album by June Panic. Weddle later left to form label Family Vineyard; the remaining trio were joined by Darius Van Arman, as well as his label Jagjaguwar, in 1999. The two labels had worked closely before Jagjaguwar's offices moved to Bloomington to work alongside Secretly Canadian's.
In February 2007, the partners behind Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar, along with Phil Waldorf, former label manager of Misra Records, announced a third label, Dead Oceans. The three labels share offices and staff in Bloomington, IN; however, they maintain distinct and separate aesthetic visions. In June 2013, The Numero Group, an existing re-issuer out of Chicago, joined forces with Secretly Canadian and the collection of labels known as Secretly Group. In 2025, it acquired a 50% stake in the influential independent label Merge Records.
All five labels are distributed by Secretly Group's in-house distribution arm, Secretly Distribution.
01Artists
A number of artists have appeared on the four labels over the years.
Secretly Canadian
Jagjaguwar
Dead Oceans
Numero Group
02All Flowers Group
The All Flowers Group is a label group which is part of the Secretly Group family of record labels.
drink sum wtr
drink sum wtr is an American independent record label founded in 2022. It operates under the All Flowers Group. drink sum wtr was founded in May 2022 by music executive Nigil Mack, Chris Swanson and Sam Valenti IV. It primarily releases music in genres such as hip hop and R&B. Its first signing was Queens-based rapper Deem Spencer in 2022, followed by poet Aja Monet.
In 2023, drink sum wtr signed Annahstasia, who later released the album Tether and the EP Surface Tension under the label. In 2025, the label signed Yaya Bey, and released her album Do It Afraid. Other artists the label has signed include Gareth Donkin, Your Grandparents, JEMS!, Seafood Sam, Halima, St. Panther, Kari Faux, THEY., Elujay, Aundrey Guillaume, and Say She She.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Secretly Group”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Secretly Label Group logos.png by Unknown author, Fair use
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