At a time when independent labels are battling for market share with major-label consolidation and do-it-yourself distribution alike, the day-to-day employees at one of the biggest U.S. indies are now fighting for changes in the workplace. In late March, around 85 staffers across various positions and locations at Secretly Group—the label family that includes Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar, Dead Oceans, Numero Group, and Ghostly International—announced that they were forming the Secretly Group Union. (Secretly artists, such as Angel Olsen, Phoebe Bridgers, Japanese Breakfast, Bon Iver, and Jamila Woods, are not in the union, though some have voiced their support publicly.) The workers said they unionized for fair pay, better work-life balance, and structures to improve diversity. Two days later, the label’s leadership applauded the effort as “a positive step for our company and the industry writ large,” suggesting that both parties might be able to bypass the contentiousness that often comes with negotiating a labor contract.
Although the music business has a long and complicated history with the labor movement, the unionization of an indie label’s office staff breaks significant new ground, according to labor experts and advocates alike. Janice Fine, a labor professor at Rutgers University, says Secretly Group’s initial response was extraordinary and could be an example to managers at other organizations on how to handle unionization without turning it into a war. “I’ve never heard a statement like this,” Fine says. “I’m flabbergasted by how progressive that is.”
In a statement to Pitchfork on behalf of Secretly Group’s management, Dead Oceans founder Phil Waldorf says their response is part and parcel with the label group’s forward-thinking ethos. “Once we received SGU’s initial letter, we found that a lot of the available resources framed union bargaining in adversarial terms, which is just not how we view our colleagues or the labor movement in general,” the statement reads. “Instead, we’re going into this with a hopeful and open mind.”
Given traditional indie ideals about fighting for a voice, it might be surprising that indie label unions haven’t taken root previously. John Logan, a labor professor at San Francisco State University who once worked for legendary UK indie Rough Trade, says it’s a positive sign that Secretly Group gave the union voluntary recognition so quickly, avoiding an early skirmish. “You don’t have to feel that your employer really sucks in order to want to have a union, and a voice at work, and the security of having certain things written into a contract,” Logan says. “A lot of people who work at independent record labels probably like the companies that they work for. That’s part of the reason they want to work there.” It remains to be seen whether the conciliatory mood will continue when Secretly Group’s management and Secretly Group Union sit down to hammer out the details of their first contract, which often takes years, if it happens at all. Logan adds that under U.S. law employers have no obligation to come to an agreement.
The effort by Secretly Group Union also highlights the often-unseen labor that goes into making, releasing, and promoting new music. “There’s a lot of focus on artists and rightly so—they’re the ones who are delivering the art,” says a member of the union’s organizing committee, who requested anonymity in fear of retaliation. “But I think it’s often a mystery how much work goes on behind the scenes to get a record out.” The union is keeping its process public, this person says, in hopes that others in the industry who have had similar issues will see that it’s possible to solve them.
Secretly Group’s unionization and management’s voluntary recognition of the Secretly Group Union sets out a challenge to other label bosses whose workers potentially come to them seeking union recognition, says Georgetown University labor professor Joe McCartin. “Employers like Secretly that take this more progressive stance can become trendsetters,” McCartin says, noting that Secretly Group’s labor affiliation could eventually become a selling point, both for artists and fans.
A spokesperson for the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), an advocacy group that supports higher streaming payouts and has voiced solidarity with Secretly Group Union, points out that this fight is particularly important within independent music. “Indie labels were originally formed around the concept of creating more artist-friendly alternatives to the majors, and that kind of ethos needs to translate to the workers at those labels as well,” a statement provided to Pitchfork reads. “Any music fans who believe in workers rights, fair pay, and safe and inclusive workplaces need to be supporting the formation of SGU and unions like it.”
The existence of the Secretly Group Union may in part reflect how indie music as a whole continues to grow out of its DIY origins, to a point where internal counteracting systems are now necessary to achieve equity and accountability. And perhaps unionization could soon be a new way for independent labels to make good on their progressive bona fides and differentiate themselves from major labels.
Secretly Group Union’s campaign comes during an upswell in union activity nationwide, as seen in the ongoing fight to organize workers at Amazon, and in arts and media in particular. (Full disclosure: Pitchfork Union, which formed two years ago, continues to bargain for its first contract with parent company Condé Nast and has expressed solidarity with Secretly Group Union via social media.) Within digital media, Gawker was able to negotiate its pioneering 2016 union contract within several months, while The Ringer and Gimlet Media just reached deals earlier this year, after sometimes-contentious talks that lasted a couple of years. Logan points out that many companies quietly retain law firms or consultants who can drag out negotiations and block a first contract from happening.
Though the share of private-sector workers who are union members has been cut almost in half over the past three decades, to only about six percent last year, a poll last year found that 65 percent of Americans approved of labor unions. And President Joe Biden has pledged to be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen.” The Biden-backed Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would set up an arbitration process when a new union and management can’t reach a deal on a first contract, recently passed the House of Representatives, though it faces an uphill battle in the Senate. While union organizers continue to challenge a recent electoral defeat at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, labor has seen victories in previously uncharted territories such as the video game industry and Silicon Valley.
Unions have proven to be successful in the music industry in past eras, too. During World War II, a two-year musicians’ strike against record labels resulted in a long-running royalty fund. Today, labor journalist Kim Kelly reports in Rolling Stone that only 1 percent of music workers are represented by a union. But many musicians have joined in other collective actions in the past couple of years, such as 2019’s No Music for ICE movement protesting Amazon and last year’s rise of UMAW, with its recent demonstrations at Spotify offices.
Secretly Group Union is organizing with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 174, which counts among its members the office staff at Universal Music Group, as well as various film and TV employees at companies such as Warner Bros., Disney, and Sony. “Local 174 pushes for better standards in the workplace, equitable wage scales, and employer-paid medical [insurance] that includes spouses and dependents,” says OPEIU representative Lupe Valles in a statement. “Local 174 will be pushing hard to improve the standards in the music industry.”
For now, the Secretly Group Union seems to be taking the process one step at a time. Last week, union members celebrated management legally finalizing its voluntary recognition for the union, meaning that the union and their bosses reached an agreement on such matters as which workers are eligible to participate in the unit. Next up, the organizing committee member tells me, the union will be selecting its bargaining committee and working with members to specify their concerns—and start tackling ways to address them. The world of indie music will be watching.
