Modern Magic

The secret to the nine-year success of music consulting and partnerships agency, Secret Signals lies in their human touch to the business.

- Bryan Goh

Before the term “label services” or “music consulting and partnerships” became an emblem of Instagram-profile-cool or LinkedIn-humblebragging, Esmond Wee and Sameer Sadhu tapped into the zeitgeist in 2012 by forming Secret Signals as partners. Simply put, it is an agency that represents music talents in the area of business development, promotions and public relations in Asia. While they might talk the corporate talk (“There are plenty of failures, pivots and learnings, and as a company we go in with the mentality of constant growth and evolution,” says Sadhu), their nine-year longevity and success lies in how they address the top three tiers of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — selfactualisation, esteem and friendship.

However, this trifecta of traits seems to have been lost on most businesses in recent years — akin to a global scarcity of human compassion. While this problem seems to runs rife in Singapore, perhaps it can be said that it is magnified under the spotlight of the music industry — the $300 million fight between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun, the clash between Allen Klein and The Beatles and the #FreeBritney movement. In the local context, the secret to the Secret Signal sauce lies in one succinct sentence by Wee. “One of the key things I felt that has remained constant from day one of business and with no discount on, is our company values. I’d like to think we’re driven by people, purposeful mentorship and servant leadership — and that really stands out in the world of constant hustle and flexing.”