Indie911.com's Independent Artists Thrive without Record Labels

HOLLYWOOD--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2005--These are uncertain times for the U.S. music industry. Substantially slowing CD sales, fledgling digital sales, massive piracy and controlled radio playlists have led to cutbacks across the industry, which has limited the number of new artists signed and developed by record labels. So how then did an unsigned band from rural Vermont manage to go on tour this summer with superstars like Dave Matthews, Taj Mahal and Trey Anastasio while managing to sell over $6,000 worth of music per month and top it off with a sold out tour grossing over $35,000 in a single week?



22-year-old Grace Potter fronts a Hammond B3 organ fueled roots-rock quartet from Vermont known as Grace Potter & The Nocturnals; their stirring blend of talent and hard work has earned them a loyal audience that has been able to grow exponentially in part because of some heavy promotional help from a new online music company called indie911.com. Through digital downloads, a streaming music video they produced, and indie911's Caffeinated Distribution service (a competitor to Starbucks' Hear Music platform), indie911 has successfully marketed Grace Potter & The Nocturnals' independent releases throughout the country. Indie911 was founded in March of 2004 by former Sony A&R executive Justin Goldberg as an alternative support system for artists between labels as well as those deliberately avoiding signing to major labels. Indie911.com now boasts over 3,000 artist members and handles various sales and promotional functions for musicians and labels including music sales, ringtones, online marketing and film & TV licensing.

Indie911 is unique in that it combines an extensive online social network with its emerging artist network. This enables its artists to interact directly with their audiences, who in turn help promote and digitally distribute the music and video they listen to most often as it becomes publicly playable on their own personalized pages.

Other artists, such as the UK based independent act The Cranes, have had success through indie911's licensing platform, having earned a high five figure licensing fee for a song used in a worldwide American Express commercial featuring actress Kate Winslet. Free iTunes podcasts and daily free digital downloads are accessible to the public on http://www.indie911.com/.