Record Label

Shelflife Records

Shelflife Records is a Portland and San Francisco based record label run by and and has produced such bands as Thieves Like Us, The Radio Dept., Burning Hearts, Days, and The Ruling Class. Shelflife traces its 1995 origins to a bedroom in a southern California suburb, where it began in conjunction with a mail order and distribution service. A fan of 80's britpop and inspired by labels such as Factory and Sarah Records, Ed launched the label as a way to expose foreign indie pop groups to US audiences. Shelflife's first release was the August 1996 compilation Whirl-Wheels which included tracks by Club 8, Boyracer, La Buena Vida, and Ed's own band The Autocollants. In 1997 the mail order and distribution service were discontinued in order to devote more time to the growing roster of artists, a move that quickly propelled the label out of its hobby status. During the late 90's Shelflife steadily gained recognition as twee pop and indie music became increasingly popular. From 1998 until 2001 the label hosted The September Set, an annual showcase of live pop music from bands on Shelflife and other labels. In 2007 Ed and Matthew Bice relaunched the label with a new focus on blending art with music and a commitment to making every release worth collecting. With this came the launch of a new format, the 1000 series; a CD and a 7" vinyl single are housed together in a limited edition gate-fold sleeve designed by an up-and-coming artist and packaged with free download of all mp3s at an ultra-high 320 kbps.