Today we’d like to introduce you to Mario and Kim Cangemi. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Upstate Records is an independent underground hardcore and metal record label founded by Mario and Kim Cangemi. We started Upstate Records in November of 2017 based upon our passion for music and the creative aspects that go along with promoting music.
Kim handles all the graphics and video production and Mario focuses more on audio production side of the label. We both have a business experiences that have enabled us to understand the business side. Since we started, we have gained worldwide distribution outlets in Europe, Australia and Japan as well as digital distribution arrangements with all the major online download and streaming providers. In 2020, we became the first independent label to partner with Blood Blast Distribution, further strengthening our reach with digital distribution.
We work hard to maintain a family atmosphere for our artists, since we are a family-owned label.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our biggest challenge is time. Being a husband-and-wife team, we have become efficient at balancing our time between our kids, day jobs and the label. As we continue to grow, we recognize that we will not be able to do it all. We recently added Liam Glynn to the Upstate team to help with radio promotions.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Upstate Records is more than just a label. We offer a variety of in-house services that help our artists succeed with increasing their “brand”. Such services include: mixing and mastering, merchandising, video production, social media promotion campaigns, graphics and tour booking.
We’d love to hear about what you think about risk-taking.
We started Upstate Records, knowing that there is a lot of competition out there in the music scene. We put together our first release, a 26-band compilation, within the first few weeks of starting the label. We reached out to all those bands, knowing we did not have a presence in the music scene. We took a risk with them, and they took a risk with us. Since then, we have never been timid about putting ourselves out there. There are no mistakes, just experiences.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.upstaterecordsny.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upstaterecordsinc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upstaterecords
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/upstaterecsny
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UpstateRecordsNewYork
Image Credits
Kim Cangemi
