Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance; it began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends.
The first Merge full-length release came on April 1, 1992 with MRG020 Superchunk - Tossing Seeds, the band's first collection of singles.
The label's first album to reach the USA Billboard 200 was the Arcade Fire's Funer...
more
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance; it began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends.
The first Merge full-length release came on April 1, 1992 with MRG020 Superchunk - Tossing Seeds, the band's first collection of singles.
The label's first album to reach the USA Billboard 200 was the Arcade Fire's Funeral, a 2004 release. Arcade Fire then gave the label its highest-charting release with their follow-up, Neon Bible, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200.
In February 2009 it was announced that Touch and Go Records would no longer manufacture and distribute records for Merge and other labels; Merge had been "under the Touch and Go umbrella" ever since its release of Tossing Seeds.
In September 2009, Algonquin Paperbacks will release Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, a book chronicling the label's history.
less
