More than 25 years after starting the Ghostly International record label from his University of Michigan dorm room, Sam Valenti IV still feels the inspiration Ann Arbor provides the label, now based in Brooklyn, New York.

That includes one of its most famous small businesses, Zingerman’s Delicatessen, which Valenti describes as a good role model for young companies and one Ghostly looked to for inspiration in executing its vision as a trailblazing record label, famous for its diverse roster of electronic and experimental music and its wide range of branded merchandise.

“I think we were looking for inspiration, so to speak,” Valenti said. “[Zingerman’s is] independent, it's entrepreneurial, it's creative, it's quality-oriented, it's local. I brought the whole [Ghostly] team once to the class seminars they had and read the books.

“I love it as a framework, because it's not a lot of waste. So, we organized the company early on, kind of as these units. I'm not sure we were as successful, obviously, executing them, but it gives you something to sort of look at as like, ‘OK, most companies are just this hierarchical thing, but what if you create space, and you create safe space to do different things that self-serve the rest of the community?’”

Steeped in Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan independent music lore, Ghostly International are commemorating the label’s story and the people who helped it grow with the release of its first hardcover book. The 488-page We'll Never Stop Living This Way: A Ghostly International Catalogue includes a visual history of the label's archives, exclusive essays by critics Michaelangelo Matos and Philip Sherburne, as well as unseen photos, original interviews, and oral histories with both musical and visual artists from across the roster.

Although the release of the book aligns closer to the label’s 25th anniversary, Valenti admitted the idea to catalog the label’s history was initially driven by Ghostly’s 20th anniversary, enlisting publisher Hat & Beard to work with Ghostly to assemble a chronological look at the label, with stops along the way to feature the perspectives of its artists and creators.

Valenti teamed up with publisher JC Gabel and designer James Goggin to develop the idea, working to get it assembled in fit and starts, he said, noting the challenges of getting a book of its size and scope published.

“Books are a really crazy project, because I'm aware of prints and the challenges of getting print right and getting credits right, but then you multiply it by 1,000 releases of some sort, and it becomes like an endurance test of accuracy,” Valenti said. “There's certain things you want to get in, but you can't find a file that's high-res enough.

“I think also, if we had done it totally internally, it would have been almost impossible, because there's too many opinions. It's nice to have somebody who's slightly outside to drive, and James [Goggin] is so good at putting information together.”

Growing up in the suburbs of Southeast Michigan, Valenti knew from an early age that he wanted to start a record label, marrying his love for many different types of music with his passion for art.

Learning to DJ by carrying records for the legendary Detroit DJ House Shoes, Valenti said he began to notice regional addresses on the techno and dance records he toted and shopped for locally. It inspired him to seek out and join forces with artists making music in the Ann Arbor area, including the late Dave “Disco D” Shayman, whom Valenti credited as an “unofficial co-founder” of Ghostly.

In addition to delving into Valenti’s insights for creating Ghostly International while majoring in art history at the University of Michigan, the book also naturally tells the story of the label’s extensive roots in Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan, from Valenti’s job at former record store The Grooveyard on State Street, to his encounter with the label’s first artist Matthew Dear while he was DJing in the basement of a house party during welcome week at U-M.

We'll Never Stop Living This Way also documents the origins of Valenti’s connections with several of its Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti-based artists, including Tadd Mullinix, Todd Osborn, and Ryan Elliott, as well as Shigeto, one of the most prominent artists of the label’s second wave.

In the embryonic stages of Ghostly, Valenti said Ann Arbor’s clubs like Necto and Goodnite Gracie (now LIVE and The Last Word) provided ideal audiences for artists like Dear, Mullinix, Elliott, and Osborn to test new material they were planning to put out on the label.

“I just felt like it was an area that you could build something in,” Valenti said. “I think of Ann Arbor and Ypsi together as being a place where you can forge a path.

“It was just a really fun way to build out the label as well as find new friends—both townies and fellow students—that you just sort of rope into being part of this.”

Valenti said he built connections with musicians and visual artists by frequenting record stores throughout Southeast Michigan, like Dubplate Pressure, which was run by Osborn, as well as Street Corner Music in Southfield, where DJ House Shoes worked, and Record Time in Roseville, where “big brother” figure DJ Mike Servito worked. Valenti met future Ghostly artist Mike Dykehouse and longtime photographer for the label Doug Coombe at Encore Records in Ann Arbor.

The stores were an ideal spot to pick the brains of vinyl heads and producers alike, Valenti said, helping ensure the label’s first wave was carried by those passionate about electronic music at a time when the genre wasn’t particularly respected in the U.S.

“I like the idea that it was a disparate crew of locals to start, because it felt organic,” Valenti said. “I could go drive over there and then listen to what they're working on, and kind of do the rounds and put together releases.”

As the label found its footing, its expanded roster has helped grow Ghostly’s sonic footprint, with well-regarded artists like Gold Panda, Tycho, Com Truise, Mary Lattimore, Ginger Root, Loraine James, Dua Saleh, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, and Julie Byrne joining the fold.

Through the years, Ghostly's reputation has spread beyond music, with the label becoming known for its wide variety of merchandise and product partnerships, "transcending its record label roots to sell an ethos," according to a 2015 profile in The New York Times.

Valenti said that aligns with his original mission to build the label as a central hub for his passions while breaking norms for the industry. The outside-the-box approach that runs contrary to typical record labels has led to Ghostly-branded partnerships with Warby Parker, Carhartt, Timex, Harry’s, and Japan-based audio company Phonon, as well as a compilation album with Adult Swim. Elsewhere on its website, you’ll find Ghostly-branded umbrellas, disposable cameras, the “world’s smallest portable record player” shaped like a VW bus, and the company's own brand of Hyperion coffee.

“The original mission statement is we're going to do all these different genres, and on the original website I had running out of my apartment in Ann Arbor, we were selling stuff,” Valenti said. “Friends of mine had made a cool wood vase and these sort of humorous greeting cards. We were always selling oddball things, even before they were Ghostly branded. So, it was always supposed to be almost like a boutique or like a gallery with different types of artists and types of projects.

“I hope that people who do like Ghostly have strong sensory experiences, whether it's events or music or products. It doesn't mean the cheapening of the thing or the mass production of it. It means that it carries a lot of emotional resonance. Great brands do that for me, whether they're toothpaste or cars or record labels. It’s just the feeling you get around something.”

While innovation has been central to Ghostly’s second chapter in expanding its audience, Valenti said he’s begun to shift to a music-first mindset in an industry that is competing for people’s attention. In 2020, Ghostly became part of All Flowers Group, an international collection of music labels, joining drink sum wtr and Sacred Bones Records.

“I think I came to the place recently where I felt like doing our core thing the best, meaning music, felt like the most radical thing to do,” Valenti said. “We had pushed further enough in different directions that we always were going to be sort of tourists in. Now, it feels like just the act of putting out an album and really marketing it correctly, and all the streaming and licensing other capabilities, just doing that well is very hard.

“I feel like doing what we do as well as we can is about the best thing we can do with our time, currently, [while] not blocking out ideas or killing innovation.”

Although the label left its Ann Arbor offices around 2016 to relocate to Brooklyn, Valenti said he maintains connections with many of the label’s founding members and people responsible for helping get it off the ground, noting many of those members still reside in or have moved back to the area.

“It's the roots. It's everything,” said Valenti. “I wish I still was there.”

Martin Slagter is a writer and reporter with 18 years of experience in print and digital media. He also writes about Michigan-based music in his weekly newsletter Radio Amor.  

“We'll Never Stop Living This Way: A Ghostly International Catalogue” will be released on Nov. 21. More information on ghostly.com. Ann Arbor District Library cardholders can download MP3s from licensed Ghostly International and Spectral Sounds releases here.

Related:
➥ "Ghostly Guide: 25 essential songs from Ghostly International releases" [Radio Amor, November 7, 2025]