Merge Records

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox record label

Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world, with records reaching the top of the Billboard music charts.

History

In the summer of 1989, North Carolina musicians Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan drove to Seattle to visit the Sub Pop office, an independent record label.Template:Sfn A friend of theirs introduced them to Sub Pop founders Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, who in turn gave them a tour of the office and tickets to a Mudhoney and Nirvana show.Template:Sfn Inspired by their visit, Ballance and McCaughan decided to create their own record label.Template:Sfn The two felt confident as they already had experience recording music with bands like Bricks and Metal Pitcher, and McCaughan curated a box set of songs from local bands in the Research Triangle region.Template:Sfn McCaughan noted the decision to start a label was primarily to make it easier for him and his friends to release music, instead of relying on major labels who might not notice them.<ref name="Documentary">Template:Cite web</ref> Ballance came up with the name Merge Records, based on the merge traffic signs she saw while driving through Colorado.Template:Sfn

Merge Records began as a small-scale business that only put out 7-inch singles.Template:Sfn Ballance operated the label in her bedroom, and with the help of McCaughan's contacts at Schoolkids Records, developed relationships with distributors.Template:Sfn After releasing a number of 7-inch singles, the first Merge Records full-length CD release came on April 1, 1992, with MRG020 Superchunk—Tossing Seeds, the band's first collection of singles.

Merge's early successes included Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea, The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, and Spoon's Kill the Moonlight.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The label's first album to reach the Billboard 200 was Arcade Fire's Funeral, a 2004 release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Arcade Fire gave the label its then highest-charting release with their follow-up, 2007's Neon Bible, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and, later, reaching #1 with their third album, 2010's The Suburbs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other Billboard Top Ten releases include Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Transference, along with She & Him's (actress/musician Zooey Deschanel along with M. Ward, a popular Merge folk musician) Volume Two. Other notable Merge releases include Caribou's Polaris Prize-winning Andorra, M. Ward's Hold Time, Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out of This Country, and She & Him's Volume One.

In February 2009, due to adverse market conditions it was announced that Touch and Go Records would no longer manufacture and distribute records for Merge and many other independent record labels;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Merge had been "under the Touch and Go umbrella" ever since its 1992 release of Tossing Seeds.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Merge quickly reached an agreement with the Alternative Distribution Alliance to continue distribution of its releases.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In September 2009, Algonquin Paperbacks released Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, a book chronicling the label's history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This followed a 6-day music festival in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, NC, featuring over 40 Merge acts from around the world<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> celebrating the 20th anniversary of the label's first release. The label also released a subscription-only 17-disc box set SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> throughout the 20th anniversary year curated by pop culture tastemakers such as David Byrne, Amy Poehler, Zach Galifianakis, Jonathan Lethem, Peter Buck, David Chang, Mindy Kaling and more, with all proceeds going to charities.

In August 2010, Merge Records released Arcade Fire's The Suburbs to critical acclaim, preceding the band's headlining appearance at Lollapalooza. The album went straight to number one on the U.S. and U.K. charts. Famed director and Monty Python member Terry Gilliam also directed a live online broadcast of the band's concert from the historic Madison Square Garden in New York following the album's release, which was streamed live by an estimated 1.8 million unique viewers. The Suburbs won the Grammy for Album of the Year at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2011.

On June 10, 2025, Secretly Group purchased a 50% stake in Merge Records after years of handling their distribution. In the same press release, Merge announced the departure of co-owner Laura Ballance, who had been with the label since its inception in 1989. Mac McCaughan remains the sole president and head of A&R.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Artists

List of artists adapted from Merge Records website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

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See also

References

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