I think what makes us (and every independent label) unique are the relationships we’ve formed with each other and with our artists, and how we try to reflect what’s important to us and the way we exist as people through the way that we exist as a company. I’m not super sure what makes us different, beyond the fact that most independent labels are only run by one, two, or a small handful of people, meaning that personal philosophies and tastes have a lot more room to flourish and shape the label than larger companies. What makes Topshelf different from other independent labels? Over the last year and a half, I’ve been hired on as staff, taking over our socials, run our webstore, send our newsletters, and work with our artists to help develop supplementary content to help extend their album cycle, give context to the music and who the artists are as people, and give listeners new opportunities to connect with the music and with the community. I was brought on to help with all kinds of back end, logistical work, but also to help expand the type of content we produce with and about the artists we work with. I started as an intern in the fall of 2019, mostly helping Kevin prep to launch our new website, which was redesigned not only for aesthetic purposes, but to make space for a more interesting exploratory experience. We’re a small label with a small staff (5) all located in different cities around the US. My role with Topshelf is all over the place. What is your role within Topshelf and how did you come to be involved? The transcript has been edited slightly for the sake of clarity. Interview was conducted via email on April 22, 2021. I hope our conversation will inspire you to give some of Topshelf’s catalog a try. Her responses are genuine and enlightening while providing somewhat of a roadmap for doing what you love and getting right. She provided some incredibly valuable insights about how the label continues its mission and meets the demands of artists and fans in the ever-changing landscape of the music industry. To learn more about this fantastic engine of underground discovery and promotion and what makes it tick, I reached out to the label owners and was connected with their communications point-person and all-around irrepressible music enthusiast Mack Werner. Following this muse over the past fifteen years, the label has curated a remarkably diverse catalog of records that is the envy of any label, boutique or otherwise. Even though its members are spread across the United States, from New York to Seattle, they are still united by a single goal: to discover and share great new music. The label has since expanded, adding new team members, and branching out beyond the emo and pop-punk of its salad days, releasing material by underground hip hop and experimental pop artists. Originally conceived as a BYOF style resource, the project eventually evolved to the point where they were releasing records, with the first being Sixfinger’s Songs for the Escape Artist, a band that both Seth and Kevin had played in, and which became the foundation for their decades-long collaboration. Topshelf Records started in 2006 as an endeavor of founders Seth Decoteau and Kevin Duquette to promote their local indie rock scene in Peabody, Massachusetts.
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