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Executive Director, 2003 - present


Details:

Upitup Records is a non-profit organization committed to free music, internet culture and DIY production. Based in Rome, Stuttgart and Liverpool, Upitup has been playing a leading role in the international netaudio scene and setting standards in artistic quality and innovation.














In 2003, when the first peer-to-peer filesharing platforms had just been taken down due to copyright issues, we started releasing our own music for free on upitup.com. Long before SoundCloud, Myspace, Bandcamp, or Creative Commons licenses, this felt like a political act.


"We are skeptical about how the notions of Copyright and Intellectual Property can apply to works distributed through the internet. We are aware of the specific affordances of the digital medium. Rather than trying to limit them with legal restrictions and design features, we acknowledge that digital files can be freely copied and modified, and that such operations are inherent to the digital realm."

– Excerpt from our own public license (never released)



Our fanbase kept growing steadily so we began throwing regular parties. Our live shows included artists such as Ceephax Acid Crew, Legowelt, Cylob, DMX Krew, Global Goon, Tim Exile, Jason Forrest...



































...The slogan "Up It Up!" can be comprehended as a battlecry of digital culture. Unless you "up something up to the network", it stays where it is, unshared (in your brain, on your pc etc.). To "up it up" equally means to "go for it", to "make it hot".


— From the Upitup website, 2009



After almost 10 years Upitup has published over 50 releases showcasing artists from all around the globe. We are currently working on a new website but since our frontend ninja Roglok is busy building his own instruments it might take a while...

So in the meantime we had nifty business cards made and set up an online store. We're also quite proud about our first non-free vinyl release, Dub Pets by UNION JACQUES. Have a preview listen.





















Our work has been covered by numerous blogs and magazines such as De:bug, Groove, FACT, The Guardian, Rugged, Spex, Igloo Magazine, Rhizome.org, ARTE Creative and radio shows as for example Deutschlandradio Kultur, Chaosradio (Chaos Computer Club), Fritz (Berlin-based), among others.


Furthermore, our music has appeared in iPhone apps and video works such as Know Your Meme (with Weird Al Yankovic), Snapshot The Movie, By The Way, some commercials, student works and non-profit projects. Co-founder Paolo Maria Elmo has also been featured in an episode of Home and Away by NIKE Italy.


Upitup was ranked among top 3 netlabels by Telepolis (heise online). Since 2009 we are closely collaborating with the Free Music Archive.


Visit the Upitup website

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