Billboard Indie Power Players (June 2025)

Benz and De Oliveira run their company on the belief that “discoverability is decided by fans and algorithms, no longer by major players or playlists,” as Benz puts it. It’s a lesson the two learned when building up the popular YouTube channel Trap Nation as passionate, entrepreneurial teenagers looking to break into the music business. Since starting broke records, the label has seen “Embrace It” by Ndotz and “Alibi” by Sevdaliza land on Spotify’s Global Top 50 chart, and its international roster, which includes bbno$, ZHU, sosocamo, RJ Pasin and BLP Kosher, do tens of millions of streams a day on Spotify globally, according to the company.

“You can have a hit single now in a matter of several weeks and do not have to spend a dollar, if you’re lucky. This landscape did not exist 10 years ago, and the freedom to do what you like, how you like did not either.” —Benz