New York, NY — Notes to the Soul, nonprofit, acquired Independent Ear, record label, currently valued at $1.1M, via a unanimous donation by all Independent Ear shareholders in December. This acquisition marks a consolidation that combines strengths of a traditional label with a nonprofit to guarantee high quality and high impact services to musicians.
“We go to school to learn a skill; however, we are not taught to make a career or business of that skill. Independent Ear’s merger with Notes to the Soul is addressing that issue in general and creating a strategy that will revolutionize how we support music careers,” says Ryan Block, General Manager.
Independent Ear has reorganized to be one of the few Non-Profit Record Labels in the World
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36% of musicians are self-employed. Music career development has become more and more important. Independent Ear is working on that challenge and is pulling together top music industry professionals to help. This business model and Notes to the Soul’s career development program help the music community and the roster of artists to define their brands, tell their stories, expand their available revenue streams and to maintain healthy work/life balance.
IE is tightening the relationships between the artists & their support team, which adds a much needed layer of accountability in an industry that notoriously lacks it. By putting the interest of the artist & community first, there’s an opportunity to create an integral balance between artists needs and financial sustainability. Independent Ear’s move transforms the mission of the organization to truly push for artist financial freedom and equality of rights within the business of music – as never before seen.
Independent Ear (IE) is a full-service music label/publishing house dedicated to disrupting the status quo inside of the music industry, through an artist-driven model, providing traditional music label services in conjunction with non-traditional methods of marketing.
Notes to The Soul (NTTS) is dedicated to inspire positive social change through sustainable music education and empowerment programs to benefit the socio-economic and musically disenfranchised.
For more information, or for interview requests, please contact:
Ryan Block, Founder / General Manager, Independent Ear, email: ryan@independentear.com Felista Sutherland, Operations Manager, Independent Ear, email: felista@independentear.com Ray Archie, Executive Director, Notes to the Soul, email: ray@notestothesoul.org
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