Keith Mohr

As the founder and president of Indieheaven.com, Keith Mohr has worked with well over 2500 independent Christian artists, assisting them with marketing, promotions, distribution and lots of 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 in a divine appointment with 2 prophetic individuals whom he had never met, 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 including DC Talk, Newsboys, Rich Mullins, Out of the Grey, Geoff Moore and the Distance, The Kry, and others 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. During the years Mohr was at the studio in Central PA., Keith recorded over 50 custom independent projects with artists as far away as Alaska. 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. It didn't take long for Mohr to build the roster to over 800 artists! From 1997 until 2000, Keith served many indie artists, adding each new artist to the Broken Records website one by one, and adding all of the music files and content for the artists. The Broken Records website was free of charge for members, but in 2000, Keith sensed the Lord leading him to ask for a small monthly membership fee to help cover the costs of maintaining the growing organization. After announcing the membership support fee, over 600 artists left the Broken Records website. Mohr was left with 200 artists who believed in the mission and provided the nucleus of the next phase in his mission.

In 2002, Keith developed a new website that allowed artists to add and manage their own content. Mohr also 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, with over 700 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.

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 2008, Mohr will hold his 5th annual conference for indie artists called the CIA Summit, which stands for Christian Independent Alliance. The best teachers in their fields will be assembled and over 400 artists are expected to attend. Many who have attended previous Summits say they are life changing.

Keith also produced a tour in June 2005 called, "Will Play for Change" which connected artists from around the USA in a concert/outreach event to teach artists how to produce multi-artist events. Over 5000 miles were logged on the tour, which was a major success.

In January 2008, Keith founded The Christian Independent Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support and fund raising services to Christian independent musicians.

Keith has been married for 21 years and has 3 children and lives near Franklin, TN. Keith attends Journey/Ecclesia (formerly Crossroads Community Church) in Franklin, TN where he is active as their house sound engineer. You can reach Keith at: info@indieheaven.com

Kelly Poe- VP of IT

Kelly is Indieheaven's designer/coder and head of IT. Kelly brings with him years of design experience, running his own company designing websites for numerous artists. Kelly was the web services manager for a large corporation in Ohio for 5 years, and has a degree in computer science. Kelly also has managed indie bands, handling promotions, booking, branding and other duties. Kelly is the designer of Indieheaven v 3.0 which launched on 03-30-07. You can reach Kelly at: kelly@indieheaven.com

Sue Ross- Artist Relations Specialist

With a "mini-lifetime" of experience in the music and entertainment industry, Sue, mother and prior manager of Hollywood/Disney recording artists, Everlife, has delved and many times found herself thrown into, every aspect of the music industry. With a grass roots approach and a "unique to the artist alone" mindset, Sue has helped create individual foundations for an artist to stand and then walk on. These foundations turned into plans that have literally seen businesses expand almost immediately. Having put her energies into a young, unknown band with a passion to "share" that has now seen national recognition, has given her a huge heart for the Independent artist and helping to bring their success to fruition.

As creator and owner of The Inner Vizion Management Consulting Agency, a myriad of independent artists have experienced her unique ability to bring out distinctive avenues of their gifts and use them to build their ministry/career with the total picture in mind. She has also been a co-founder/promoter of many events, including Godstock, Back to the Music GMA Showcase and The Tsunami Rock Benefit show, to name a few.Her teaching ability was sparked from her involvement as a Life Skills teacher and counselor for Hitek Industries in Orlando, FL, visionary and instructor of LEA (Leadership, Evangelism and the Arts), teaching theatrical drama for church organizations and through the home schooling of her three daughters. She has been a keynote speaker for various youth seminars, women and leadership events, parent training seminars and our own CIA Summit.

With fervor for missions, Sue has participated and has been involved in leadership on the mission field with Teen World Outreach, Big World Ventures, Food for the Hungry and began her own short-term mission organization called Pilgrims of Hope. She just recently returned from Bolivia, where she spent time with two independent bands who shared their music abroad. Sue has authored many articles, press releases, bios and is currently finishing her first ideas for independent music artists book, "Managing Your Band the Indie Way".

She has handled publicity for various artists, including Nashville top 20 recording artist, Andrew Carlton and Walden Media/Bristol Bay Productions for the movie Amazing Grace that was released this spring to theaters nationwide.

"Instead of thanking us, it should be US thanking YOU. You brought us vision, passion, strong contacts, and an impeccable work ethic to the Nashville market. Not incidentally, Nashville was one of our top performing markets. We cannot thank you enough. Thanks for passing this story on."- Clayton Ferguson, Walden Media, Los Angeles, CA.

Indieheaven President, Keith Mohr states, "With all of this experience behind her, I believe Sue will be a vital addition to the resources that we offer to our current and future members. She is a dynamic speaker, with an ear that listens. She is a visionary who will work alongside and enable us to take the "next step and beyond" with IndieHeaven as we continue to soar to new heights in the quest to serve our members with passion and excellence."

So grab a cup of coffee, browse the multitude of opportunities available to independent artists on IndieHeaven and also get to know Sue a little better. Check out Sue's news corner weekly on THE INDIEHEAVEN NETWORK - AS THE WORLD TURNS - for insight and noteworthy ideas! You can reach Sue at: sue@indieheaven.com