Let’ s Meet IndieHeaven CEO, 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
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