Hey there! Welcome to Indie Music Center! I'm Niko, the founder!
Everything started in 2001 when I started promoting indie musicians on an FM local radio station.
Do you remember when you were a bit younger and went to a record store, asking the guy for advice about a new release? Good news! IMC is that store, and I'm that guy. Now, the music is free, thanks to the magic of the streaming world, and unfortunately that dream job has disappeared. Oops.
I wanted to apply but all the stores were closed. So I've decided to create my own, but as we're now living in the streaming area, all the music is free. And I've designed this website to make you feel at home. So you can spend as much time as you want on IMC, from page to page, and take the time to discover amazing musicians worldwide.
I started promoting indie music in 2001 as a radio presenter. I used to have fun in local and then national FM radio studios and I gave birth to 40+ online radio stations.
Also, I wrote 300+ songs and recorded, mixed, mastered, and released independently 2 albums in the 2000s. Along the way, I gathered knowledge about the music industry and how musicians struggle to stay alive in that mad world.
Of course, I still love writing about music, and sometimes, I just can't stop! But that's just passion. And my passion is music. Even more: I often say that music is not a passion, it's my blood type!
This is why you will now discover a monthly magazine called "Niko's Music Magazine" accompanied by "Niko's Music Mixtape" on Spotify. The first issue is now out on Patreon.
You can learn more about my career and the whole story in the "IMC Rewind: The Story Behind IMC" podcast.
What is IMC?
I need to be clear from the start: IMC is not a music blog, because music blogs were part of the 2000's. And also, music blogs seem to be part of the music industry. And I don't feel like I'm a part of the music industry. That would mean that I have a job related to the music industry and that I'm well-paid for it. I'm not paid to run IMC. I even lose money. So this is not a blog. It's a community of friends sharing quality indie music. At IMC, I create magical encounters between fans and musicians, and I also help musicians with effective promotion strategies to push their music forward. I used to write short news about new releases, in-depth reviews, and interviews, I host several podcasts, I run an Instagram account and now I release a monthly magazine with a monthly mixtape. I also do 1:1 consultations to help musicians grow their fanbase and refine their promotion strategy. Today, IMC is read in 140+ countries by 60K+ monthly fans, and I can't believe it! Thanks, dear readers, for your trust!
Building genuine relationships
I'm a human being. Not an algorithm. And I hate everything that includes "Algorithm" or "AI". When I was using Submithub in the past, when this was still a music blog, when I got submissions with song descriptions or biographies written with Chat GPT, I just declined. I am using my brain to write about music, so I ask musicians to respect this and do the same :)
This means that I always appreciate having a good chat with my readers through Instagram and listening to their suggestions and comments about my writing. Most of them became friends and to communicate with some of them, I even occasionally learned their language. I can speak French, English, Spanish, Italian, German, and... Musician.
I would say that IMC brought to us more friends than a house can hold. My "Artist Directory" helps you find artists in your location. I've also built strong connections with emerging and established artists.
Oh. I forgot. English is not even my main language.
I just create magic
As I've just said, beyond just reviews, I'm all about collaboration. I've paired up talented artists who've gone on to create some musical magic together. Some would tell you that I should start my own music-themed dating app. Here's the best example below! Thomas had this song sleeping on a shelve for more than a year, desperately looking for a female voice to build wonderful vocal harmonies. Then he came to Indie Music Center and read an article about Luna Keller. Boom. Lightning strike!
