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Either he’s generous or he’s crazy, but David Isaacson’s passion for independent music eclipses any financial incentives. While still in high school, Isaacson created IndieMuse, a blog whose slightly redundant mission is to be “a place where people who are as passionate about music as we are can come together to listen and talk about music.” Initially conceived as an outlet for his ramblings, Isaacson’s IndieMuse began attracting attention, garnering around 4,000 hits a day. Now a student at American University (which I also attend), Isaacson wants to promote indie rock by creating a site where artists can sell their music and keep every penny. And Isaacson doesn’t want a dime. This is his vision for MusicFloss.
As Isaacson describes it, MusicFloss operates on two levels: It’s a music store where independent artists and labels sell or give away music directly to fans; whereas most music stores pocket a 30-50 percent commission, MusicFloss doesn’t take a cut from sales. He also sees MusicFloss is a Web community for like-minded music fans and artists to directly contact other artists.
Some notable bands who have signed on to the site include These United States, Hey Marseilles, You Can Be A Wesley, and Pale Young Gentlemen. Despite the laborious process of creating a site like MusicFloss, Isaacson has been going at it alone, paying a fairly low overhead cost, he says.
“I took off some time from school and invested some of my savings,” says Isaacson. “I’ve been working on this for three years and it’s taken this long because I’ve done most of this on my own.”
But Isaacson’s pocket change can’t keep the site running for long. But recently, he entered a contest sponsored by Pepsi, which hands out $50,000 grants to projects supporting independent music. MusicFloss was voted into the top 100 of the applicant pool, and Isaacson is now waiting to see if his project will make the top 10, which will be decided at the end of the month.