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Secretly Group Acquires 50% Stake in Merge Records as Co-Founder Departs

As Secretly Group acquires a 50% stake in Merge Records as part of a new partnership, the label's co-founder Laura Ballance announces her exit.

Secretly Group has announced a partnership with Merge Records as the veteran indie label’s co-founder and co-president exits the business. Merge was founded by MacCaughan and Ballance in North Carolina in 1989 as a means of independently releasing music made by those within their immediate circle of friends. Merge would attract plenty of attention throughout the ’90s and ’00s thanks to releases by bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel, The Magnetic Fields and Arcade Fire, with the latter proving to be a breakout success in the new millennium, giving the label their first appearance on the Billboard 200 with 2004’s Funeral, and first chart-topper with 2010’s The Suburbs.

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