Press Release / Art & Entertainment / IndieNinja, An Artist Services Marketplace, Launches At A2IM Indie Week In NYC

IndieNinja, An Artist Services Marketplace, Launches At A2IM Indie Week In NYC

Today at A2IM Indie Week, a team of music and tech veterans announced the launch of IndieNinja, the artist services marketplace for the independent music community, into private beta. The marketplace connects "indies" (music artists, managers, labels) to a curated list of "ninja" experts in fields ranging from live gig road crew, marketing & promotion teams, to accountants, attorneys, and more. In this initial phase, IndieNinja is now open to potential Ninjas and Indies to register at www.indie.ninja. IndieNinja is based in New York City, and will initially focus on providing connections to Ninjas in North America and Europe, adding other markets as demand requires.

IndieNinja grew from a direct need the company co-founders, Bill Wilson and Laurens Kusters together with Technical Co-Founder Constantine "Gus" Mavromoustakos, saw in their own interactions in the industry. Wilson is a well-known major label and music startup veteran who got his start in the business when he founded NYC indie label Blackout! Records in the late 80’s. Kusters is a label executive and music publisher turned artist manager, who founded I Scream Records in Brussels, Belgium in 1994, and now manages the hardcore and punk bands Sick Of It All and Street Dogs. Mavromoustakos has over 20 years of tech and mobile development experience, including in-house positions at The Lathe, Consumer Reports, and CrowdTap.

"We saw lots of friends posting on social media about needing help for publicity, legal and other essentials, and decided to do something about it to create a proper marketplace to connect verified experts to those that need their services," said Kusters. "Knowing that you have a qualified rock publicist in North America, a guitar tech in Germany or a t-shirt designer that understands metal - that’s where IndieNinja comes to the rescue."

"The evolution of the DIY mentality has been enhanced by crowdfunding platforms and easy access to distribution, but the independent community is often still overwhelmed by the amount of work that needs to be done to rise above the noise," said Wilson. "Further, the ’Ninja’ community gets a platform through which they can be hired and paid in a secure way, solving a major pain point on the services side."

In addition to the deep experience of the founding team, IndieNinja’s Advisory Board includes Aileen Atkins (Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard), Jake Beaumont-Nesbit (International Music Managers Forum),Bryan Calhoun (Freeform Development), Bill Campbell (Bigfoot Media), Doug Keogh, Larry Miller (Associate Professor & Director Music Business NYU Steinhardt), Neeta Ragoowansi, Benji Rogers (Co-Founder at Pledgemusic & CEO at dotBlockchain), Tom Sarig (President at Esther Creative Group), Kurt Soto (Operations Manager at Coachella), and Ken Umezaki (Co-Founder at dotBlockchain).

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