Secretly's 2023 in Review: New Chart Records, Fresh Signings & Historic Milestones Mark Culture-Defining Year For The Independent Music Ecosystem

See Below For Highlights From Secretly Group (Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records, Secretly Canadian), All Flowers Group (drink sum wtr, Ghostly International), Numero Group,

Secretly Publishing & Secretly Distribution

From multiple opening slots on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour to a record-setting six weeks spent at #1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, Secretly's influence and presence reached remarkable heights throughout 2023. Across its affiliates of Secretly Group (Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records, Secretly Canadian), All Flowers Group (drink sum wtr, Ghostly International), Numero Group, Secretly Publishing and Secretly Distribution, the independent, international and industry-shaping ecosystem continued to set the precedent for helping artists to consistently realize and surpass their creative dreams. 

This year, a fresh class of rising stars subverted the indie music canon (aja monet, Wednesday), as some of the alternative zeitgeist's most visionary talents produced monumental successes (Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers). Within the company, newly appointed leaders helped to achieve newfound breakthroughs across an array of music charts and emerging platforms, resulting in the recent promotions of Secretly Group's Jessica Park (Global Label Director), Robby Morris (VP, Creative Marketing) and Zoe Kerrigan (Director of Projects, NA), and the hire of Will Edge (Director of Projects, UK & EU), not to mention the nine executives honored on Billboard's 2023 Indie Power Players. 

The work of more than 200 employees around the globe was reflected in nominations at the GRAMMYs, Liberas, Oscars and Polaris Prize, but more so in the intangible, immeasurable achievements that have solidified the past and shaped the future. Numero Group celebrated 20 years by transcending its role as "the cult record label that brings forgotten music back from the dead" (GQ), while Secretly Distribution caps its 25th Anniversary and a period of major growth with a steadfast commitment to ongoing investment and maximal support in elevating artists and labels across a variety of genres, relationships and release models. 

Driven by the belief that the most important cultural contributions come from artists and small to medium-sized businesses that support them, Secretly enters 2024 with an abiding focus on further scaling the resources put into each campaign, adding staff and services who are able to execute at the highest level across a myriad of musical spaces.

See below for highlights from each company, and check out the Secretly Society podcast for more of the stories behind these artists and accolades:

Made up of Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records and Secretly Canadian, the Secretly Group of record labels together accomplished a record-setting year on a culture-shifting scale, providing new platforms and possibilities to multiple generations of artists. 

Dead Oceans helped to achieve the biggest success that the TikTok Billboard Top 50 has seen thus far. Mitski's "My Love Mine All Mine," from her Dead Oceans-backed The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, topped the chart for six weeks - making it the most weeks at #1 and longest-reigning song in TikTok Billboard history. "My Love Mine All Mine" also become Secretly Group's fastest song to reach 500k SES and is quickly nearing 1 million, in addition to delivering the company's highest-ever streaming days on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon, soaring to #2 on Spotify's Daily Global Streaming Chart and #3 on the platform's Weekly Global Streaming Chart, and earning new peaks on a myriad of Billboard charts: Rock On Demand Streaming (#1), Rock Overall Streaming Weekly (#1), Audio on Demand Streaming (#9), Top 200 Song Consumption Weekly (#14) – all following Mitski's Academy Award nomination for her work on "This Is a Life" from Everything Everywhere All At Once. Furthermore, Dead Oceans saturated Best of 2023 lists with Wednesday's Rat Saw God, earning superlatives from Stereogum (#1), Paste (#1), Consequence (#2), Pitchfork (#4), Rolling Stone, NPR and many more, as the label also received a Platinum single certification for Phoebe Bridgers' "Motion Sickness," and Gold album certifications for Khruangbin & Leon Bridges' Texas Sun, Mitski's Be The Cowboy and Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher. All of this on top of releasing acclaimed new albums from Durand Jones, Fenne Lily, Shame and Slowdive, and compendiums from Bright Eyes and Khruangbin. 

Jagjaguwar was one of multiple Secretly Group labels that welcomed a new class of artists in 2023, as recent signings such as Chanel Beads, Gia Margaret and Malice K joined a roster of longstanding legends. Jamila Woods and Lonnie Holley released their latest records to widespread praise, as did Unknown Mortal Orchestra, whose single "So Good at Being in Trouble" earned a Gold certification. Throughout the year, Jagjaguwar dove further into both the past and future, between bringing to life the historic Epoch collection from DeYarmond Edison, and an Anniversary Edition of Sharon Van Etten's Tramp. 

Secretly Canadian also championed a fresh group of rising stars and visionary new voices this year, signing Eaves Wilder, gglum and Loren Kramer, while releasing an eclectic, genre-adverse series of breakthroughs from ANOHNI, Baby Rose, Cherry Glazerr, Current Joys and Wesley Joseph. In addition to releasing multiple new tracks via Secretly Canadian in 2023, Faye Webster earned a Gold single certification as well, for enduring streaming hit "Kingston." 

Two members of Saddest Factory Records joined Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour this year, including label owner Phoebe Bridgers and signee MUNA, who continued their path to world domination in 2023. The company also released a second album from Claud, launched its own signature show on SiriusXMU, and more.

In its first full year of operations, All Flowers Group earned its first GRAMMY nomination, launched numerous new artists to additional accolades and acclaim, and further reasserted the record label concept. Formed in 2022 as an extension of the Secretly ecosystem, All Flowers Group consists of Ghostly International and the newly birthed drink sum wtr, uniting both companies through the "same soil, water, and sun" approach that has fostered the longtime success of its sister Secretly Group. In 2023, All Flowers not only grew nearly twofold, but flew in the face of the self-distribution model of late, with a commitment to artist development and legacy-building that has been overlooked in the algorithm-saturated and trend-driven era of the music business. All Flowers Group is about consistently championing distinctive and art-forward voices, taking chances during early career stages, and bringing creativity to commerce with freedom of expression. The mission has been mirrored through everything released by both drink sum wtr and Ghostly International this year: 

Currently nominated for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album at the 2024 GRAMMY Awards, aja monet's debut, when the poems do what they do, led a banner first year of breakouts for drink sum wtr. Earning high praise from The New York Times, LA Times, Pitchfork, NPR and many more, when the poems do what they do exemplified drink sum wtr's goal to break unique forces across the worlds of hip-hop, R&B and adjacent sounds. The label's roster flourished with the release of Gareth Donkin's debut LP, and albums from AUNDREY GUILLAUME., deem spencer and Kari Faux, and Single Series entries from Heath240, Kayla Steen, Shelley fka DRAM, Sol Galeano, and Wahid. 

To complement the upward trajectory of All Flowers Group and drink sum wtr, Ghostly International maintained a prolific release schedule that is perpetually defined by quality, integrity and individuality. Khotin's Release Spirit was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize; Dua Saleh signed to Ghostly and shared the first hint of new music, alongside appearances on BBC Radio 1 and the cover of GAY TIMES; Julie Byrne's The Greater Wings received Best New Music from Pitchfork, debuted on the Billboard Album Sales chart, and has been a year-end favorite of Pitchfork, Stereogum, Paste, MOJO, Uncut and more. Mary Lattimore's Goodbye, Hotel Arkada broke the Top 10 on Billboard's New Age charts, and was supported by tour dates with Mitski and a Brooklyn residency; C418's Minecraft soundtracks re-entered the Billboard charts; influential drone trio Emeralds reunited for their first shows in over a decade following an expansive reissue campaign; and Ghostly imprint Spectral Sound renewed its commitment to the dancefloor, welcoming EPs from rising producers SUCHI, Tom VR, and gum.mp3 alongside the return of founding roster artist Audion. Tycho's "Awake" also earned a Gold certification, and Ghostly continued to flourish in the ambient and spatial audio space with releases from Christopher Willits, Lusine, and Helios.

In celebration of its 20th Anniversary, Numero Group began 2023 with an unforgettable, two-night festival at Los Angeles' Palace Theatre. Featuring Unwound, Codeine, The Hated, Karate, Tsunami, Everyone Asked About You, Chisel and more from the record label and rights management organization's 200 Line reissue series of punk, hardcore, and artistic rock, Numero Twenty "promised a reconnection with a certain era, but ultimately offered a reconnection to yourself – to your memories, to your musculature, to your community, to your potentiality" (The Washington Post). Throughout the year, Numero also brought thousands of LPs, 45s, cassettes and CDs to an unprecedented Pop-Up Tour across Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Los Angeles and Austin, and continued its reign as the "cult record label that brings forgotten music back from the dead," described GQ, in a profile with co-founders Ken Shipley and Rob Sevier. “The fact that Numero has survived for twenty years – weathering everything from the rise of streaming to a supply-chain-glutting 'vinyl revival' that ironically made it harder to press new records on vinyl – is no surprise."

Between surpassing half a billion streams on the Duster catalog, assembling historic releases and reintroducing unsung heroes like American Analog Set, Helene Smith, Isabella Antena, Joyce Street, Laraaji, Maxx Traxx, Native Nod, 90 Day Men and more, and adding to beloved record series like Eccentric Soul and Side Story, Numero Group entered its second decade doing its most adventurous work. In addition to producing box sets, streaming hits, TV and film placements, TikTok trends, samples in hip-hop hits and more for legends like pioneering, transgender R&B singer Jackie Shane, gospel god T.L. Barrett, Chicago blues forefather Syl Johnson, and Indian disco-jazz visionary Rupa, Numero has resurrected a boundless array of overlooked styles and scenes. The company keeps shining much-needed light on regional music of remote islands, cosmic country, electro-samba, privately issued folk, the punk and hardcore of Numero Twenty and much more.

In 2023, Secretly Publishing inked over 40 publishing deals with songwriters including Anastasia Coope, Angelo de Augustine, Being Dead, Chanel Beads, Day Wave, Green House, Jean Carter, Joviale, Loren Kramar, Olivia Barton, Panchiko, Poolside, Princess Chelsea, Salami Rose Joe Louis, Sammy Rae & the Friends, Tim Bernardes, Wild Child and Wild Nothing. Despite a year where domestic sync was slowed by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, Secretly Publishing's sync team invested time and energy into developing relationships abroad, leading to notable growth in international sync revenue. Highlights for 2023 include high profile placements for their writers' music in campaigns for GMC, IHG Hotel Group, Walgreens, and The Holdovers trailer, while writer cuts on new songs performed by Drake, James Blake, Killer Mike, The Kid LAROI, Tyler, the Creator and Quavo underscore Secretly Publishing's ability to place independent writers at the forefront of major cultural moments. The company also placed its artists and writers in films such as John Wick: Chapter 4, TV series including Apple TV+'s The Morning Show, Hulu's Love Me, Netflix's Elite, AMC's Lucky Hank and ABC's The Rookie, plus ads for Lexus, Nando's and more.

In the past week alone, Secretly Distribution rounded out its 25th Anniversary with the announcement of several new, global deals with partners including multi-platinum Irish hitmaker David Gray (via Bella Figura) and iconic musician-producer Madlib. Secretly Distribution also announced multi-year contract renewals with three longtime label partners – Captured Tracks, Rhymesayers Entertainment, and Run for Cover – as it continues to offer not only a fully independent path to market, but a boutique service model, and a singular, culture-first vision that stands in contrast to the proliferation of major-owned and scale-oriented distribution platforms and services. 

Secretly Distribution is projected to ship 3.1 million units by the end of 2023, marking a staggering 29% year-over-year increase in physical units shipped, and a total that nearly doubles the company's annual ship in 2020. Secretly Distribution has also experienced a 20% year-over-year streaming increase, building on a 2022 that saw its distributed repertoire count more than one billion streams per month, and earn more than 50 billion views in TikTok videos.

Furthermore, to support their growing roster, physical retail account base, demand for physical product, and local-meets-global mindset, Secretly Distribution opened its new 90,000 square-foot warehouse facility in the company headquarters of Bloomington, IN this fall.

Additionally, throughout 2023, Secretly Distribution signed a label services deal with Academy Award-nominated, Grammy-nominated and Emmy-winning composer, pianist and producer Nicholas Britell (Succession, Moonlight), announced a global deal with the London-based labels Chrysalis and Moshi Moshi, formed a strategic partnership with independent royalty accounting platform Infinite Catalog, and widened the scope of their work far beyond the "indie" genre base, alongside new partners like drink sum wtr, soul labels Colemine and Big Crown, reissue mainstays Mississippi Records, quickly-growing Latin alternative/electronic outfit ZZK, soundtracks from indie powerhouse A24, and artist-led labels from Beirut, Crumb, Madison McFerrin, Santigold, Sylvan Esso and more, as well as diverse legacy estate deals including MF Doom's Metalface and John Denver's Windstar.