Start A Chapter

Establishing A New Indie Connect Chapter

Note: Chapter Presidents are licensees and do not own a franchise. As such, we can offer the following suggestions and a lot of assistance on how to build your business, but ultimately, the way you build it is up to you. Your methods simply must not tarnish or conflict with the Indie Connect brand.

What is an Indie Connect meeting?
Indie Connect meetings are normally 90-120 minutes long, and consist of 2 primary components:

• Structured networking (we teach you how to facilitate the networking so that everyone meets everyone else and all of the attendees are supporting each other. (45 minutes)
• An educational segment featuring either
  • A guest speaker (best)
  • A panel discussion (several speakers)
  • A video (we supply this)
  • A mini workshop (we can make suggestions and provide curriculum)

Why establish an Indie Connect Chapter?

• As an indie Connect Chapter President, you can increase your network with your local, statewide, regional and national music industry. If you build it properly, you can become the ‘go-to’ person for industry contacts and networking.
• You can create an additional side income.
• You can create a full-time income if you live in a large city and decide to run multiple weekly meetings, recruit other people to run meetings for you, sell advertising and sponsorships, hold workshops and seminars etc.

Chapter President
As a Chapter President, your primary goal is to recruit members to build a local community of singers, musicians, songwriters and music professionals. This is done by running at least one regularly scheduled Indie Connect meeting per month, and as many as the local population will support. Your main income comes from meeting attendees. The Nashville Chapter hosted an average of almost 4 meetings per week in 2009.

You are required to promote Indie Connect memberships, for which you receive a residual commission (when they renew in 1 yr., you get paid again). To increase your income you can also sell advertising, products and sponsorships. In addition, you can set up and market local, regional seminars and workshops. You also help with regional and national conferences.

Note: You are an independent contractor / commission-only salesperson. You are not an employee of Indie Connect.

Responsibilities as Chapter President

• Click HERE to see the full position description
• Hold regularly scheduled meetings (weekly or monthly). Multiple locations, as well as multiple weekly meetings are allowed. You can hire ‘Meeting Coordinators’ to run one or more of your meetings for you by working out an equitable financial arrangement between you and them. You must personally run at least one location as the Chapter President for at least 3 months before recruiting Meeting Coordinators to run meetings for you.
• Schedule chapter meeting agendas, including speakers, videos, panel discussions etc.
• Conduct your own advertising campaigns (with help from the corporate office).
• Foster an inviting, fun, safe and nurturing environment that makes people want to return and participate.
• Responsibly handle cash and other financial transactions.
• Build relationships within the local music community.
• Sell Indie Connect memberships.

 Members receive:

• Access to our vast library of industry training videos, articles, tools, e-books etc.
• Partner discounts (many national, some you set up locally)
• Free 6-month membership to Broadjam
• Discounts to attend all meetings and events.
• Access to member-only events
• Inclusion in 1 issue of Indie Connect Magazine
• More!

Revenue Streams  

• Meeting attendance. Chapter Presidents who are looking to create a full-time income will most likely have multiple meetings happening every week.
• Newsletter, e-magazine, weekly program handout advertising.
• Meeting, event, speaker and chapter sponsorships.
• Product sales (books, CDs, DVDs etc).
• Ticket sales and sponsorships sold for conferences, workshops & other special events. Commissions are paid on a revenue participation basis on larger events.
• Memberships. Residual income is possible when members you personally recruit re-enroll in your chapter upon their anniversary.* Restrictions apply.

Your Cost(s): 

• You receive a license from Indie Connect to operate under and use its name and logo. There is no cost for this license. You are an independent contractor. You do not own a franchise.
• As a new Chapter President, it is recommended that you order a Chapter Setup and Marketing Kit.  In this kit you receive virtually everything you need to start marketing and running your chapter immediately. The Setup And Marketing Kit contains pre-printed advertising/marketing materials, materials used during the course of a meeting, and an Indie Connect polo shirt.
• You are required to pay a very minimal marketing fee per meeting or event, based on the size of your meetings (begins at $25 per meeting). This pays for the company to market your chapter both locally and nationwide.
• Much of your marketing can be done online for free. The company also has some pre-designed marketing materials that you can download or purchase.
• You are responsible for your own cell phone, Internet and transportation costs. You also pay for your own office supplies. If needed, you also provide your own projector, movie screen DVD player, laptop or other technology that you wish to use.
• You are responsible for obtaining local city, county or state business licenses as required by law.
• You are responsible for your own local, state and federal income taxes.

Summary:

You can be a part-time Chapter President who holds an Indie Connect meeting either monthly or weekly or several times per month. Your income may be limited to meeting attendance and membership commissions, based on the size of your meetings. Or you can make the leap to full-time Chapter President and create a full-time income. Keep in mind that this takes time. It goes faster if you already have a mailing list of local musicians and service providers, as well as contacts in the industry who would speak at your events, and who would like to expand their own networks while supporting other musicians.

Check out the video on the home page, and ‘What they’re saying about Indie Connect’ under the ‘About’ tab.

For more information, contact:
Vinny Ribas
CEO
Indie Connect
615-568-4736
vinny@indieconnect.com