Indie By Choice

Written by Sara Elliott

Sunday, 06 May 2012 19:30

Indie By Choice
A former news reporter turned her music passion into a profession as she now runs Indie By Choice, a social network for musicians. Learn how she's connecting listeners with local talent.

Mercedes Brown

Mercedes Brown is a communicator by trait, entrepreneur by profession, and independent music lover by choice. Her newest venture, IndieByChoice.com, mixes it all together in harmony.

Brown began her career in broadcast journalism, which led her to sign on as a community reporter at Fox19. That's where she started to explore the world of producing. It was love at first sight. "[I] researched everything possible on video editing," she says, and quickly decided to purchase her own video equipment and editing software.

After reading several books, watching hours of online tutorials, and experimenting with various projects, word of Brown's multi-media work started to spread. Local businesses started to call and hire her for local production jobs. This work gave Brown the confidence she needed to start using these newfound talents for her own passions. "This time last year, [I] knew nothing about video editing," she recalls, "Today, [I'm] working on producing my very own online show."

Brown also partnered with her husband Raimone to launch IndieByChoice, an independent music community that connects artists with fans and record labels. In researching, Brown says, she found few resources were available to independent artists. She discovered there was a large demand for an outlet dedicated to helping the independent artist connect with fans.

She and Raimone brainstormed and developed the idea for IndieByChoice, "a social place" as they call it, where musicians can:

connect with new fans
advertise new music and videos
book venues
sell music in an environment dedicated solely to independent music

Brown says musicians join IndieByChoice so they can promote new music and make it available to music lovers around the world. A trial version of the site launched in 2008 for testing and they officially launched in 2009. Today, IndieByChoice focuses on musicians who are not financially backed by a record label. "In a world where we survive off of the internet, upcoming musicians can make money online and control their own record sales without paying a percentage to those hungry record labels," Brown says. "These musicians that have chosen to not sign with labels, they become independent, and 'Indie By Choice.'"

Since 2009, Brown has focused on leveraging multi-media to promote the talented, undiscovered musicians on her site - many of which are from Cincinnati, but others from all over the world. IndieByChoice.com offers music downloads, music performance videos, news, blogs, and an internal networking section for fans and artists to search by genre and connect.

As for the future, Brown says she's currently working on a new mobile app that will focus on live shows and streaming. She says the new app will not only make it easy to stream, find, and share new music on-the-go but it will also "help artists promote shows and assist music lovers in their search for local entertainment." To learn more, visit IndieByChoice.com.

Sara Elliott -
	Sara is the assistant editor at Cincy Chic. Send her an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Read More >>

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