STEFANO NOFERINI’S DEEPERFECT TAKES LABEL OF THE MONTH ON BEATPORT.

Since its launch more than two decades ago, Deeperfect has remained one of the most respected labels in the tech, tech house and minimal scenes. Undoubtedly, the key to the imprint’s success has been the long-standing DIY attitude of its founder, Italian DJ and producer Stefano Noferini.

Having first started DJing in 1980, he recalls Florence and Tuscany having “a really underground spirit”, particularly thanks to clubs like Tenax. Stefano adds that whatever the scene may have been lacking in size, it made up for in other ways. “Maybe it was not huge compared to some big European cities like Berlin and London, but it was very passionate and hot”. All this proved beneficial as it allowed him to build a community around the sets he was playing locally: “it helped me a lot because we were all very young DJs, but we cared about the music quality”.

Stefano’s breakthrough moment arrived when he made his debut at Cocoricò in Riccione around a decade later. “That was my first step inside the scene,” he recalls. While he remembers the first room being techno-focused – “because in Italy progressive techno works very well” – his first experience there was playing in the second room when they started expanding to house music. “It was nice, but it was also strange for that club,” he considers, adding that people were initially surprised.

In the years that followed, Stefano went on to perform at globally-renowned clubs, including Ministry of Sound London, Space Miami, Space Ibiza and Cocoon Frankfurt. Having become one of Italy’s most respected artists by this point, he decided to take the next logical step: launch his own record label.

Deeperfect began life as a vinyl-only imprint with a focus on spotlighting local talents. “I remember the feedback sheet was just a fax,” Stefano laughs of receiving written reactions about their earliest releases. The operation expanded in 2010 when the label began working with Self, a large distribution company in Italy that started circulating their product around the world.

Stefano – who also runs DPE Records, has released on Toolroom and SPINNIN’, and whose Club Edition radio show is broadcast by 110 stations in 15 countries – fondly remembers the first time that Deeperfect had feedback from an international DJ. “It was a real surprise,” he says, drawing comparisons between the industry 15 years ago and nowadays. “It’s completely different,” he suggests. One of the biggest changes, he believes, is the way in which music is promoted, especially the switch from physical to virtual…

Turning the clock back again, to a time before social media, let alone viral moments, Stefano instead took matters into his own hands — quite literally. “When I’d play a club, I would go to the DJ with a record and then say ‘this is our new release’,” he says, reflecting on the process as being “easy”.