Upitup.com 2024

In 2003, a group of high school teenagers decided to form their own music label.

Apple had just introduced its iPod a year and a half earlier. It was the high times of P2P platforms like Napster and Limewire, when music fans were getting sued by the major labels for sharing music online.

That’s why to us, a group of likeminded besties from Stuttgart, Rome and Liverpool, publishing our music for free online was a somewhat radical gesture.

We celebrated the spirit of network culture: long before YouTube or Spotify, Soundcloud or Bandcamp, and even before MySpace was launched, years before the "Like" button was invented and artists were defined by their view count, we explored what it means to collaborate and publish online.

Upitup Records (from our battle cry "up it up!") served as our medium for musical experimentation and communication with our peers on the internet. We became part of a small international movement of so-called net labels, and since then we have released dozens (more than 80!) of curated albums from incredible artists from all over the world.

In the 20 years that followed, we formed connections, created new friendships and we played and hosted gigs at countless clubs across Stuttgart, Munich, Berlin, Rome, Liverpool, London, sharing stages with our idols such as Ceephax, Legowelt, Global Goon, Otto von Schirach, and many many others.

To celebrate this milestone and to kick off the next chapter of Upitup's evolution, we are releasing a compilation of 21 tracks (20 to celebrate, 1 to kick off the next decade!) and an entirely new way to discover and enjoy our extensive catalogue.

We are also super excited to announce the release of Upitup Forever, our first ever mobile app, available for free for iOS and Android.

Upitup Forever brings you the entire Upitup Records catalogue on the go. With Upitup Forever you can browse and stream our entire catalogue for free, explore our catalogue through curated playlists and also use a brand new shuffle function to explore our catalogue based on genres.

We hope you'll enjoy our app and our music.

Finally, we would like to thank all the artists, fans and followers who over the decades have made Upitup the special place it is today. Thank you for the continued support and a toast to a new decade of Upitup goodness, together.

Bella!