SUSTAINABILITY

The Secretly affiliates are proud to join others in the independent music industry in taking action to stem the tide of climate change.

Sustainability is a core value of The Secretly Affiliates (Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Secretly Canadian, Saddest Factory Records, Ghostly International, Drink Sum Wtr, Sacred Bones, The Numero Group, Merge Records, Secretly Publishing and Secretly Distribution).

We began our journey in concert with the celebration of our 25th anniversary in 2021, we made a formal commitment to lessen our environmental impact with the adoption of our first sustainability plan.

We’ve had some wins in the last year including a new solar array on The Numero Group’s office in Chicago in 2024, rewilding part of our lawn/landscape at our Bloomington locations, and continue the process of de-gassing our London office (completion looking to be by the start of 2026).

In addition to that we’ve partnered with climate charity Murmur to collectively organize around the most entrenched aspects of our carbon footprint - namely our emissions emanating from manufacturing and shipping - as well as create some scaffolding and resources for our peers to utilize in the industry. As it becomes more apparent, we can’t make fundamental shifts alone, it's imperative we work together to make our industry cleaner.

A key achievement at Murmur has been modernizing the emissions factors for LPs as previous numbers were woefully outdated. Owing to the updated factors and choosing to work with plants with strong commitments to sustainability, we’ve seen a reduction in our manufacturing footprint by 70% versus our 2023 baseline. While there is still room to improve, we feel energized by the progress.

In contrast to the above progress, we did experience a lowlight with a 74% increase in our shipping emissions vs our 2023 baseline. It's clear we need to intensify collaboration with our carrier partners to curb this trajectory and achieve meaningful reductions.

Below we lay out how our sustainability journey is going. Our path is anything but clear, but we are committed to forward progress in which we 1) do not let perfect be the enemy of the good and 2) respect that sustainability is a journey, not a destination.

We welcome all questions, concerns and, above all, dialogue as we continue our journey.

Yours,

Ben Swanson

Co-founder and COO