Secretly Distribution Hires The Line of Best Fit Founder & Warner Music Group Alum Rich Thane as Associate Director of Artist & Label Strategy

Today, Secretly Distribution is excited to announce the hiring of Rich Thane as the company's new Associate Director of Artist & Label Strategy, further expanding its operations and opportunities throughout the UK and EU. Based in London, Thane arrives at Secretly Distribution following an eight-year tenure at Warner Music Group, where he rose to Senior Director of Global Playlist Strategy and led teams across London, NYC and LA, while driving multi-million pounds of annual revenue and delivering a similar type of innovative, artist-centric and culture-driving campaigns that Secretly Distribution prides itself on as a leading, independent challenger to the mainstream. Thane also launched The Line of Best Fit, building the award-winning music magazine into a record label, promotions agency and annual five-day music festival focused on championing rising talent, in addition to holding a variety of positions at Eventim, Billetto, and Amazon, where he consulted on curation for the launch of its Prime Music streaming service. 

Working closely with the US-based Josh Madell, Director of Artist and Label Strategy at Secretly Distribution, Thane will be growing the company's client base with independent record labels throughout the UK/EU, as well as forming label services agreements with management firms, artist estates and more that are increasingly in need of the global support that Secretly Distribution provides to international partners such as Chrysalis, Moshi Moshi, PAN, PMR, Smalltown Supersound and Timmion. 

"I've been a huge fan and supporter of Secretly Distribution and their respective labels for many, many years," says Rich Thane. "So to be able to join them at such an exciting time of growth is a dream to me. In this industry it's harder than it should be to find like minded people who care so deeply about music, and that's something I've always admired about Secretly's ethos and approach to their artists and label partners. To be given the chance to make a true difference to independent music is something that I do not take for granted."

"Rich's passion for and knowledge of independent labels and artists is unparalleled, and he comes to Secretly Distribution with a wealth of close personal connections across the global music community," adds Josh Madell. "Add to this his deep understanding of modern playlisting strategy, and it's hard to imagine someone better suited to this role, as Secretly leans into our global growth. We could not be more excited to have Rich guiding our continued investment in the vibrant UK and EU independent music ecosystem."

Following a tremendous 2023, which saw Secretly Distribution ship more than 3.1 million units, increase by a staggering 29% in physical business and 20% at streaming, open a new 90,000 square-foot warehouse facility, and earn a nomination for Distributor of The Year at the upcoming Libera Awards, the company has already experienced major successes in 2024. Its Label Services clients in particular have included A24 Music's megahit soundtrack for Hazbin Hotel, which has amassed over half a billion streams since January, as well as Talking Heads tribute album Everyone's Getting Involved, featuring Paramore, Miley Cyrus, Lorde and Teezo Touchdown. The team has also launched catalog services with David Gray, Madlib, and Danger Mouse's 30th Century Records, and are currently working on upcoming releases from Crumb, Dr. Dog, Guster, POND and more.