The Company · Behind the Curtain

About.

We didn’t set out to start an entertainment company. We set out to make the work better — for ourselves first, and then for everyone we wanted to work with.

The Story · So Far

How we got here.

Step 1 of 401

We needed it. So we built it.

Upstage didn’t start as a company. It started as two artists tired of patching together a studio, a coach, a software stack, and a network that nobody had built for the way we actually work.

So we started building it ourselves. The studio came first. Then the coaching. Then the software. Then the roster.

Step 2 of 402

Four divisions. One philosophy.

We don’t treat the divisions like product lines. They’re different tools for the same job: making working artists better at the work they already do.

Recording. Development. Software. Talent. The same standards apply across every door.

Step 3 of 403

Family-owned. Selective by design.

A producer and a performer. We choose what Upstage takes on, and who it takes on with. The roster is small on purpose. The cohort is small on purpose. The room is intentional.

We’re not in a hurry to be bigger than that.

Step 4 of 404

Where we’re going.

More records. Cohort I in the room. Rehearsal Room out of private beta. A second performer on the roster, when we find the right one.

And — eventually — a permanent home for all of it under one roof.

What We Believe

Four lines we keep coming back to.

01

Craft is the strategy.

02

Selective is a value.

03

Tools matter. Use them.

04

The room is the work.

The Founders

A producer and a performer.

Founder
CZ

Cee Zavi

Producer · Engineer · Co-Founder

Studio side. Records, mixes, masters, and runs business operations. Builds the software.

Founder
JM

Joy Mwandemange

Performer · Educator · Co-Founder

Talent side. Leads the cohort program, the coaching roster, and the standards of the room.

Where We’re Going

More records. Better tools. A bigger room.

We’re still early. There is more coming — but it’s coming on our timeline. If you want to be part of what’s next, get in touch.

Work With Us

Tell us

who you are.

An artist, a label, a casting director, a developer, a friend-of-the-room. Reach out — we read everything.