Secret Road Music Services

Secret Road Music Services
Founded	2007 (2007)
Founder	Lynn Grossman
Distributor(s)	The Orchard
Genre	Indie rock, alternative rock, Latin, folk, hip hop, Americana, pop
Country of origin	U.S.
Location	Los Angeles, California
Official website	www.secretroad.com

Secret Road Music Services is a boutique music licensing, music publishing, artist management, and record company based in Los Angeles with teams in Nashville, New York City, and Perth, Australia.

History

With a nod to the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken” and the spirit to support artists who chose to take an independent path, Secret Road was founded in 2007 by Lynn Grossman.^[1] The young sync licensing agency quickly became known for representing emerging independent artists and providing one-stop licensing with a high-touch service philosophy. A management arm was added in the same year with the signing of Ingrid Michaelson for both licensing and management. As their roster strengthened and grew, the idea for a music publishing company was developed in early 2012 and named Secret Road Music Publishing. Also, Wayne Davis joined Secret Road as a partner with focus on growth and operations, acting as the COO/CFO of the Secret Road companies.

Secret Road has grown to represent 200+ artists/songwriters and 40,000+ songs,^[2] including the certified platinum and gold singles “Where's My Love,” written and recorded by SYML, and “Conversations in the Dark,” written by Chance Peña and recorded by John Legend.^[3]

The company remains distinct in that it predominantly works with artists who have chosen to stay independent and retain their own rights (Ben Rector, Josh Ritter) and songwriters whose genres are in demand for synchronization (Amy Stroup, Jordyn Dodd, WILD).

Services

Licensing

Through licensing efforts of Kayla Masnek VP Film/TV and Lauriana Zuluaga VP Advertising, Secret Road has launched many artists from both a notoriety perspective and providing a stable income source. Secret Road has placed songs in tastemaker television shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Ted Lasso, Virgin River and Little Fires Everywhere, in the films The Broken Hearts Gallery, Five Feet Apart, and Abominable, and in trailers for the films Little Women and The Last Letter from Your Lover. Additionally, Secret Road has licensed songs in commercials for brands like Adidas, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, BMW, Dove, Ford, Google, Guinness, Jaguar, Lego, Lexus, Lipton, Meta, Old Navy, PlayStation, Samsung, and more.^[4]

Management

Lynn Grossman has managed the career of singer-songwriter and composer Ingrid Michaelson for over 18 years. Michaelson is a force in the music industry, known for her distinctively soulful folk-pop style. Her music is released on the label she founded, Cabin 24 Records, including her gold and platinum hits "The Way I Am," "Girls Chase Boys," and "You and I." She's scored songs for television, including Little Fires Everywhere (Emmy nomination)^[5] and Tiny Beautiful Things (both for Hulu), and was executive music producer for Apple TV+’s Slumberkins, creating original songs for the series. Michaelson made her Broadway on stage debut in Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 and starred in the indie film Humor Me alongside co-stars Jemaine Clement and Elliott Gould. Ingrid recently made her Broadway debut as a composer in 2024 writing the music and lyrics for The Notebook The Musical.^[6]

Chance Peña who was signed to Secret Road Music publishing when he was just 17 years old, is now co-managed by Lynn Grossman and Elizabeth Baylog. As an independent artist, Chance's music has garnered record-breaking streaming numbers, consistently appearing on various Billboard charts.

Secret Road's Hannah Parker and Carolyn Evans also manage up-and-coming indie-rock/bedroom-pop band, girlhouse, who has released four EPs and shared stages with Halsey, Sabrina Carpenter, Yoke Lore, The Wrecks, Copeland (band) and others.

Publishing

Secret Road began their Publishing division in early 2012.^[7] With their extensive network of relationships throughout the music industry, the company finds and creates co-writing opportunities, arrange songwriter/producer collaborations, and find suitable active artists to cut their writers’ songs. The creative arm of this division is led by VP of A&R/Publishing, Elizabeth Baylog. Baylog brings 15+ years of experience as a music manager, publisher and A&R executive. Secret Road administers compositions and masters worldwide ensuring that all royalties are collected and delivered to creators.

Record Label

Further expanding their indie services, Secret Road launched Secret Road Records in 2014, distributed by The Orchard, and has since released songs by Chance Peña, girlhouse, Slumberkins, Jordyn, goth gf, Marshall, AG, Matthew Perryman Jones, Arum Rae, and more.^[8]

Notable Placements

Ingrid Michaelson's songs have been placed in the TV shows Tiny Beautiful Things, Little Fires Everywhere, Slumberkins, and Batwoman, films such as The Broken Hearts Gallery and Humor Me, and commercials for Google and Old Navy. Fifteen of Michaelson's songs have been placed in the ABC show Grey's Anatomy. Of these, “Keep Breathing” was included on Volume 3 of the Grey's Anatomy Original Soundtrack.

Placements from other Secret Road artists include the films Abominable, Five Feet Apart, I Love You Phillip Morris, No Strings Attached, and Spirit Untamed, trailers and promos for A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Blue Eye Samurai, Heartstopper, Maleficent 2, Manifest, Nightmare Alley, The Handmaid's Tale, The Witcher, and Willow, as well as the TV shows Apples Never Fall, Castle, Grey’s Anatomy, Hawaii Five-O, How to Get Away With Murder, Little Fires Everywhere, One Tree Hill, Physical, Pretty Little Liars, Riverdale, Shameless, Ted Lasso, The Last Thing He Told Me, The Vampire Diaries, Virgin River, YOU, and countless more.

Advertising placements include brands such as Airbnb, Amazon, Android, Apple, BMW, Celebrity Cruises, Chevrolet, Coors, Ford, GoPro, Guinness, Kinder, Mazda, Meta, Old Navy, Oral-B, Ralph Lauren, Sky Glass, Smartwater, Vans, and Volvo, as well as international and worldwide placements for Adidas, Dove, Jaguar, John Lewis, Lego, Lexus, Lipton, Mini Clubman, PlayStation, and Samsung.^[9]

Roster Past and Present

Current roster available at https://www.secretroad.com/roster.

Releases

See also

• Music Licensing
• Music Publisher
• Record Label
• Artist Management
• Ingrid Michaelson

References

External links

• Official site