“I signed my first group when I was 17.”
IndieU founder and entrepreneur Natalie Edell joined Mark and Patrick for a rousing discussion about her startup and the Indie music movement. This wide-ranging conversation covered a lot of ground including:- What’s the story behind IndieU and why now?
- How she is building a network of campus reps
- What it’s like to wear all the hats – including product development and QA and work till 3 am, and be a guest early in the morning
- Working with 40 talent scouts in Colleges and Universities across the country
- Why they only take unsigned musicians
- What ‘being indie’ means in terms of legitimacy with her target market
- How IndieU is different and financially viable with so many choices for players out there.
- How partnering with brands is helping to build out their platform
- Why she’s going into ticketing and Events – and why that’s an excellent idea. Booking – Tours – Ticketing
- Listening to your market (for product ideas) Listeners: have we heard this a few hundred times now?
- Basement Parties (Is this a thing? Yes.)
- Her story about getting her first taste of dealing with the music industry – this is a story about persistence. Something that is a hallmark of a true entrepreneur
- How the licensing model (in music today) works
- Her favorite thing about the business? Listening to the artists
- A bit about her Dad (works at the company, formerly one of the early guys at MySpace.)
This was one of those interviews that we didn’t want to end. Natalie has a ton of energy and passion to spare when it comes to talking about her vision.
Thanks to our good friends at HUB101 (part of the California Lutheran Univeristy’s School of Management) for introducing us to Natalie. They did a great profile on her, with a lot more background on the company – you can read it here.