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December 2004 Table of Contents
Ministry Focus
Indiheaven, A Vehicle of Change in the Christian Music Industry
By Keith Mohr
As the founder and CEO of Indieheaven.com, Keith Mohr has worked with well over 1000 independent Christian artists, assisting them with marketing, promotions, distribution and advice since 1997. But Mohr's journey toward this internet endeavor began many years before.
Keith has known since 1987 that He was on a mission from God. Called out of the rock and roll scene near Washington, DC, Keith knew that one day he would lead a revolution within the Christian Music industry. It took until 1992 for Keith to get a taste of the industry, when he joined a popular CCM group, "Harvest." Based in Lindale, TX, Keith toured with the group for two years and acted as road manager and keyboardist. In the office, Keith worked as a radio promoter, booking agent and public relations. When plans of developing a recording studio and discipleship training program did not come to pass, Keith knew it was time to move on.
After leaving the group in 1993, Keith found himself looking to resume the calling on his life. Keith moved to Virginia where he worked in a small music store and developed a recording studio. This fueled Keith's desire even more to enable Christian musicians in their missions. After a one year stint, Keith moved to a larger music store in Harrisburg, PA. He developed another recording studio business based out of the store owner's home and began recording full time within months. In 1998, Keith recorded live over 20 popular CCM groups at the world's largest Music festival, called Creation Fest. His mixes were used in a PBS documentary called, "Message in the Music." Soon after, an opportunity opened up for Keith to lease a 9000 Sq. Ft. Studio 60 miles north of Harrisburg, PA. It was at that time that Keith looked to the internet to promote and market his artists.
Starting with just four artists Mohr produced in his studio, Keith launched Broken Records.com as a way to reach directly to fans and consumers with new, fresh artists. Broken Records quickly grew to 800 artists and attracted attention from several well known Christian music magazines. In 2002, Keith changed the name of his website to Indieheaven, which better reflected the mission and vision of the organization. At that time, Indieheaven was one of the first music sites on the internet to require member support, which was a different model than other music sites. Keith believed the only way a website would survive was not via investor capitol and subsequent return revenue through advertising, but by support of its members. After most early "music dot coms" became "dot gone" through numerous financial failures, the Indieheaven website continued to grow strong to this day, at almost 300 members strong.
Indieheaven's members understand the value of being interdependent, enabling one another as they enable the organization to oversee the activity. Artists are coming together and realizing that camaraderie, not competition is paramount to success as an independent artist. Some artists on Keith's site have gone onto being successful signed artists with major labels, and others have seen success as independents. To Mohr, it's all good and all valid.
During the six years Mohr was at the Harrisburg location, Broken Records/Indieheaven enabled almost 1000 artists to pursue their calling and he recorded over 75 custom independent projects with artists as far away as Alaska. In August of 2003, a three album deal consisting of scripture memory verse/aerobics products for a major publisher brought Mohr to the Christian music capitol of the world, Nashville, TN. It didn't take Keith long to make his way around town and cultivate strategic alliances with those he knew would be instrumental in the success of his mission. In March of 2004, Mohr held his first conference for indie artists called the CIA Summit, which stands for Christian Indie Artist. The best teachers in their fields were assembled and almost 300 artists were in attendance. Many who attended said the event was life changing, as the focus of the event was cultivating relationships as artists fulfill their missions. Another Summit is scheduled for March 17-20, 2005. Already the buzz is out about this event and a capacity crowd is expected.
Visit the Summit site at, www.ciasummit.com
Indieheaven continues to grow, adding the services of Cal Evans as IT. Cal has added new features to the website, with more on the way. As independent artists see value in the tools Indieheaven provides, the more the site will grow. Keith believes there is strength in numbers, yet hope in one!
Keith has been married for 18 years to Cheryl, and has three children, Jon-Kyle, 14, Jameson, 11, and Caroline who is about to turn 4. Keith and his family attend Crossroads Community Church in Franklin, TN where he is active in leadership as house sound engineer. They reside near Nashville, TN.
Visit Indieheaven to learn more
about the site and its roster.
www.indieheaven.com
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