Fringe Product
Fringe Product (or Fringe Records) is a defunct Canadian independent record label which was owned by Ben Hoffman. Genres on the label included punk, rock, metal, hardcore, death metal, industrial and electronic music. Hoffman was also proprietor of Record Peddler Distribution (specializing in UK and US imports) and The Record Peddler from the late 1970s to the year 2000.
Fringe Product
- Name
- Fringe Product
- Headquarters
- Canada
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Fringe Product (or Fringe Records) is a defunct Canadian independent record label which was owned by Ben Hoffman. Genres on the label included punk, rock, metal, hardcore, death metal, industrial and electronic music. Hoffman was also proprietor of Record Peddler Distribution (specializing in UK and US imports) and The Record Peddler from the late 1970s to the year 2000.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Fringe Product. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q5504588 · wikipedia · Fringe Product
In this article
Overview
Overview
Acts on the Fringe Product label included HYPE, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Dayglo Abortions, Guilt Parade, Teenage Head, A Neon Rome, Breeding Ground, Sacrifice, Slaughter, Corpus Vile, Razor, Vital Sines, UIC, TBA, Sudden Impact, YouthYouthYouth, The Demics, Change of Heart, Bunchofuckingoofs and Random Killing. Also noteworthy for licensing bands such as Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Butthole Surfers, Killdozer, Rapeman, Jello Biafra, Die Kreuzen, Corrosion of Conformity, Gang Green, Swans, and Black Flag for distribution in Canada via Record Peddler Distribution. Fringe usually released albums and mini-lps in two formats at once. First on vinyl and cassette, then on CD and cassette. The first CDs came out in the winter of 1987-1988, but they were re-releases of big sellers like Forward to Termination. The last vinyl was the Disciples of Power Powertrap LP, which was released at the beginning of April 1990.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Fringe Product • Founded —? • Founder — Ben Hoffman • Status — Defunct • Genre — Punk Heavy metal Death metal Electronic Industrial • Country — Canada
Obscenity charges
Obscenity charges
In 1988, obscenity charges were laid against Fringe Product and Record Peddler, on the basis of their distribution of two albums by Dayglo Abortions. It was the first time that the Canadian obscenity laws, established in 1959, were used against a record label. A jury cleared the companies of the charges in a trial in November 1990.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The canonical record carries the following identifying particulars. Institutional cataloguing adds that fringe Product is associated with Canada.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Canada
Named but not plotted · 1
Fringe Product is associated with Canada.
Country
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,934 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Friedrich ZehmPerson
- Friedrich-Wilhelm JungePerson
- Friendly Fire RecordingsOrganisation
- Frigyes HidasPerson
- Frits LandesbergenPerson
- Fritz ArlbergPerson
- Fritz BaltruweitPerson
- Fritz BrasePerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Fringe Product?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.