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Dino Lupelli Q&A


-Good morning Dino. We’re glad we finally able to do this Q/A with you. How you doing?

- Hoping for a better future, as always.



-One thing we often ask to our guests is to walk us through the beginning of their passion for music. You’ve been greatly involved with it in many different situations throughout your career, so can you tell us how did your fascination for music start?

- I fell in love with live music when, back at university, I organised a concert with some fellow students. I never did it before and the sound of drums during the sound check really fascinated me. I never imagined how much work was needed to let a band perform and how hard it is to have an engaged crowd. After hours spent in communication, pre-production and soundcheck, just before the show I felt like music was much more magic lived from the producer’s perspective: harder, stronger, better. The rest is my personal history: music started to be my job to express political and cultural visions.






-In 2015 you founded the Italian Quality Music Festivals and since 2018 you’re an active member of the Music Innovation Hub. What’s the idea behind these two entities? And how important it is, for the Italian music industry workers, party promoters etc. To create strong consortiums and to develop a constructive level of communication between the parts?

- IMF was created to establish a connection between colleagues and soon became a broader network as the idea of networking and sharing experiences was so powerful that working alone at home on my own projects seemed very ‘boring’. I love the idea that music is a good and I work to create a positive impact on society through it so Music Innovation Hub is my place to be and to work. Here the social aspects of music are our purposes much more than the entertaining part of it. The more I grew the less I was interested in creating selfish projects but music is still my professional passion, so I felt honoured to be called as a general manager of the first social enterprise focused on general development of the music sector.

 
 
 

-We know you coordinate the Music Studios at the BASE (Milano) and you also organise the Linecheck Music Meeting and Festival whose claim is ‘Shape Your Future’. How are you guys reshaping your activities after the impact of the pandemic? Can you tell us how important you think it will be its next edition (23-25 November 2021)?

Soon we are going to launch the main subjects and contents of the 7th edition of Linecheck which is actually the most important Italian music conference. What I can anticipate you is the theme: #reverse. A reflection on a large scale on how to change the perspective of a music industry that is rapidly changing but with a lack of values and visions. We are re-designing every single aspect of this event and we’re building a strong connection with other similar entities in Europe.

 
 

-When you founded Elita, what was the original idea behind the creation concept? Could you describe to us how it evolved throughout the years and what has it become today?

- Music content’s productions are hard to fund especially if you work on left fields, but I also thought that the only way of doing this was by having a vision and risk with it. I never liked the idea of being mainstream which is probably the only way to survive in this market. When Elita was launched we wanted to keep the focus on being an ‘alternative’ to the mainstream so we bet on being relevant for a specific target of people: music lovers. This gave us a strong identity and a large an initial strong ‘fanbase’ of influencers and innovators. This kind of people were a specific target for cool brands and we were able to communicate consistently our values to the brands. So Elita was a balanced model between the corporate communication needs and curated contents. Than the social network culture grew and our community too so it was impossible to keep the same balance as before and we got tired of working only on corporate events with small budget for contents, while huge amount of money were spent on social media.


 
 

-Which are the main difficulties when you organise en event and what’s the funniest part for you?

The funniest and the most difficult part are the same thing: connecting people. You need talented and passionate people working with you in order to be successful. But people are individuals with their specific problems, and relations can change from being creative to destructive. Same for partners and professional organisations: each event is a different story of personal relationships.



-We know that in 2012 you started to collaborate with IED Milano as a teacher of the Event Management course. What do you teach to your students and which are the key points of your ‘doctrine’?

I teach how to organise a real event with Zero Budge. Students cannot imagine how much power they have in their hands: connections (once again), friends and the appeal of their ideas. Each year, for 8 years, we built together at least two formats per group of students, real events where they learn by doing things and without any (or very few) money to spend.

 
 
 

-What’s your daily routine like (if you have one) and what is the music that you like to listen to during the day?

- I tried to have regular daily workflow since I became a father! So my life is a regular one where music fills each space. My favorite way to listen to music is with all the people I love while traveling and I can’t wait to go back to work on international showcases, festivals to discover new music… To be honest I’m quite obsessed with the idea of giving the chance to new talents to perform their music... much more than having big names on the stage. Last confession: I don’t like at all to go to big concerts or festivals!



-You moved to Milan since many years and, in twenty years time, the city has massively evolved and expanded, becoming (in our opinion) a truly European capital with a great prospect. Can you tell us what does Milan represent to you and what’s its prospect for the future (in your field and beyond)?

- Milan changed a lot since I came here in 2000. From a very grey city without a music scene - where politicians where literally fighting every day against the so called Movida and the industry workers were fighting against each other - to a real explosion. The reasons are many: Expo2015, cultural policies, the opening of new live and dance music spaces. Us too played our part with Elita, as our festival was built with the purpose of creating a network of spaces and fellow music industry workers. In our world the larger is the offer the more you have an engaged and motivated audience. We discovered how to grow: talking to each other, learning from each other, competing to get the audience and the sponsors. I also think that in a couple of decades the city became more friendly and open in different ways but - to be honest - it also started to be a bit ‘selfish’ becoming the only platform to host all the important events, while the rest of Italy was in an utter need of cultural projects. I hope that, in the next few years Milan can ‘relax’ a bit, being the leader of a national and international cultural movement, without being the center of everything but just being a link in the chain. That’s more sustainable.

 
 
 
 

-Grazie for your time Dino. We hope you felt comfy on our imaginary couch and we expect to you see you around pretty soon!

- Thank you guys, arrivederci e a presto.


 
 
 

-Which are the main difficulties when you organise en event and what’s the funniest part for you?

The funniest and the most difficult part are the same thing: connecting people. You need talented and passionate people working with you in order to be successful. But people are individuals with their specific problems, and relations can change from being creative to destructive. Same for partners and professional organisations: each event is a different story of personal relationships.



-We know that in 2012 you started to collaborate with IED Milano as a teacher of the Event Management course. What do you teach to your students and which are the key points of your ‘doctrine’?

I teach how to organise a real event with Zero Budge. Students cannot imagine how much power they have in their hands: connections (once again), friends and the appeal of their ideas. Each year, for 8 years, we built together at least two formats per group of students, real events where they learn by doing things and without any (or very few) money to spend.

 
 
 

-What’s your daily routine like (if you have one) and what is the music that you like to listen to during the day?

- I tried to have regular daily workflow since I became a father! So my life is a regular one where music fills each space. My favorite way to listen to music is with all the people I love while traveling and I can’t wait to go back to work on international showcases, festivals to discover new music… To be honest I’m quite obsessed with the idea of giving the chance to new talents to perform their music... much more than having big names on the stage. Last confession: I don’t like at all to go to big concerts or festivals!



-You moved to Milan since many years and, in twenty years time, the city has massively evolved and expanded, becoming (in our opinion) a truly European capital with a great prospect. Can you tell us what does Milan represent to you and what’s its prospect for the future (in your field and beyond)?

- Milan changed a lot since I came here in 2000. From a very grey city without a music scene - where politicians where literally fighting every day against the so called Movida and the industry workers were fighting against each other - to a real explosion. The reasons are many: Expo2015, cultural policies, the opening of new live and dance music spaces. Us too played our part with Elita, as our festival was built with the purpose of creating a network of spaces and fellow music industry workers. In our world the larger is the offer the more you have an engaged and motivated audience. We discovered how to grow: talking to each other, learning from each other, competing to get the audience and the sponsors. I also think that in a couple of decades the city became more friendly and open in different ways but - to be honest - it also started to be a bit ‘selfish’ becoming the only platform to host all the important events, while the rest of Italy was in an utter need of cultural projects. I hope that, in the next few years Milan can ‘relax’ a bit, being the leader of a national and international cultural movement, without being the center of everything but just being a link in the chain. That’s more sustainable.

 
 
 
 

-Grazie for your time Dino. We hope you felt comfy on our imaginary couch and we expect to you see you around pretty soon!

- Thank you guys, arrivederci e a presto.


 

Giuseppe D'Alessandro

Illustrator / Editor