Today, brands have access to more music than ever before. Streaming catalogs boast hundreds of millions of tracks, and algorithms can surface many options in seconds. Despite this abundance, the work, the advertising, branded content, and digital campaigns meant to resonate with audiences increasingly sound like they were scored by the same invisible hand, pulled from the same subscription library, or using the same reference tracks.
Topshelf, announced by music executives Michael Frick and Elad Marish, is a direct response to that problem. Not just another licensing catalog. Not another discovery platform. Topshelf is a curated, rights-centered, creative infrastructure built from genuine artist relationships. The kind that took twenty years to build and cannot be replicated with a better interface.
The roster reflects that premise. Topshelf’s catalog draws from artists and composers including Groove Armada, Donavon Frankenreiter, and Ubiquity Records, as well as work from Italian label Blind Faith Records and stalwart indie dance label Dirtybird. Not simply catalog acquisitions, they are relationships with artists, managers, and labels who trust where their music ends up and collaborators who have worked with Frick and Marish directly over the course of their careers.
“The music and ad industry runs on relationships, but the bridge between those two sides has never really been efficient. Consolidation is creating a quiet brain drain across both industries. Topshelf is built to improve that, helping the right artists, brands, and ideas align so it can mean something more for everyone involved.” -Michael Frick, A&R/Talent Strategy
Elad Marish, founder and executive creative director of Swell Sound, brings the production and engineering side of the equation to Topshelf. “For fifteen years, the industry optimized for access. More catalogs, more algorithms, more subscriptions. What that produced was creative teams with unlimited options and increasingly uniform output. Topshelf is the layer that was always missing.”
Topshelf operates as a collaborative creative network. Artists, songwriters, producers, composers, managers, labels, and publishers are not vendors in a marketplace. They are active participants in a shared creative project. For brands, this means working with people on the music side who are as invested in the outcome as the agency is.
What Topshelf Is
Topshelf is a creative network where the relationships came first, and the platform followed. Every artist, songwriter, producer, composer, manager, label, and publisher here is here because the relationship makes sense on both sides. This changes the quality of every creative conversation and the outcome of each placement. You can hear when the people making the music care. And you can feel when the room actually wants to be there.
Why Now
The timing reflects a pattern that has become difficult to ignore. Deadlines are shorter. Teams are stretched. The volume of available music has created a paradox: more choice has produced less distinction. What once required a music supervisor with deep industry contacts now theoretically requires only a subscription. The word theoretically is doing most of the work in that sentence. And AI won’t save the day anytime soon,
The artists in Topshelf’s catalog are represented here because they want their work placed thoughtfully. For brands, this means access to music that hasn’t already been licensed to three competitors. For agencies, it means a creative partner with a point of view.
Background
Michael Frick brings to Topshelf a background spanning major label, artist management, and brand partnerships across music, advertising, and culture. He founded the music production and talent development company Mophonics, where he helped develop emerging artists and composers while producing music for global campaigns during the early era of Apple’s iPod and iTunes launches. His work includes partnerships and licensing with brands such as Apple, Google, DoorDash, and Nike, along with cultural programming tied to Inglewood, California’s The Miracle Theater and major events including The GRAMMYS, FIFA, and the NBA.
Marish, founder and executive creative director of Swell Sound, brings deep post-production, engineering, and catalog expertise across independent and mainstream artist ecosystems. Together, they position Topshelf at the intersection of brand strategy, music operations, and creative production, with particular emphasis on campaigns requiring premium sound, original composition, and exclusive licensing.
Topshelf operates as part of a broader collaborative ecosystem: artist relationships flow into creative strategy at No Friction and post-production at Swell Sound, giving clients an integrated path from music selection to final delivery.
For media or licensing inquiries contact Elad Marish or Michael Frick at contact info below.
