Actuation Group
Actuation Group  ·  Est. 2019  ·  Forbes 30 Under 30

The Only
Indie Major.

Distribution. Promotion. Label development. The full infrastructure of a major label. Built from nothing. No investors. No compromise.
Groningen, Netherlands

Recognition
Forbes
30 Under 30
Josh Brust and Jeroen Dekker. Recognised among Europe's most impactful independent music operators.
F
Funding Model
100%
Self
Funded
No external funding means no external influence. Every decision made for artists, never for investors.
0
Certifications
10+
Platinum
Artists
We have taken artists from their first release to platinum certification. Repeatedly, across genres and territories.
★
Distribution Rate
2%
To 10%
Royalty
MERLIN membership. Spotify Preferred Provider. STOMP member. Direct to every major DSP on the planet.
%
Trusted by
Billie Eilish · Ed Sheeran · Akon · Jason Derulo · Tory Lanez · Universal Music Group · Sony Music · Warner Music Group · MERLIN · STOMP · Spotify Preferred Partner
Where This Came From

We Are The
Artists Who Got
Burned.

Josh Brust and Jeroen Dekker started as musicians. Not executives. Not investors. Artists who went through every disappointment the industry has to offer.

Labels rejected us for not fitting a genre box. Promo companies took our money and delivered fake streams. Distributors promised editorial support and disappeared. We decided to build the companies we wished had existed.

Not one company. Three. Each one born from a specific failure we experienced firsthand. That is why they work. Every product, every policy, every rate is designed by people who know exactly what it feels like to be on the other side of a bad deal.

2019  ·  The Label
Actuation
Labels kept rejecting us for not fitting into a genre box. So we built one that signed on energy, not genre. If you could listen to it in the gym, we would sign it. Actuation was born. And it worked.
The Promotion Company
YouGrow
We kept getting burned by promo companies selling fake streams. So we learned to do it ourselves — and discovered we were exceptionally good at it. Our network noticed. YouGrow was born out of demand, not a business plan.
The Distributor
IndieMassive
Every distributor promised editorial support, fast service, and low fees — then took 15% to 20% and delivered nothing. We built IndieMassive with modern infrastructure to keep our royalty rate at 3%, our support response swift, and our promises unbreakable.
The Proof

€500.
$25 Million.
Zero Outside
Capital.

We started with a drum kit. Sold it for €500. Used every cent to release our first song and reinvested every royalty that came back. No label. No investors. No shortcuts.

We reinvested every royalty. Every time. Across every artist and release. That is what built Actuation Group into a $25 million operation by Q4 2025.

The methodology is not theory. It is a track record. And it is repeatable.

$25M
Company valuation Q4 2025, built entirely through reinvestment from a €500 starting point
5.53×
Average portfolio MOIC across all catalog assets. Every song acquired, marketed, and monetized using our data-driven model.
3.6 Months
Average hold period across the portfolio, from acquisition to significant return
47%
Of all recorded music revenue now comes from independent artists, the market we have operated in since day one
Catalog Performance
Fully Exited
8.29×
MOIC in 7 months
The Infamous — How Do You Do
$24k invested. $55k in royalties while holding. Sold catalog for $144k. Total return $199k. Complete full cycle proof of concept.
Offer Received
5.43×
MOIC in 30 days
Bryan V — Where Have You Been
$73k invested. 154,000 daily streams. $400k total asset value in 30 days. Pure asset appreciation before royalties even started.
Market Context
$635M
Raised by one catalog buyer alone
Institutional capital is flooding music rights
13× current NLS multiples for catalog exits. 80+ songs acquired per month by Duetti alone. Actuation is already operating in this market with proven exits and active buyer relationships.
$797k
Total portfolio value generated from $144k invested across 5 catalog assets — average hold of 3.6 months. Every song acquired, marketed and monetized using the same data-driven methodology that built this group from a single drum kit.
Why Artists Trust Us

This Industry
Burns People.
We Built It
Differently.

Most artists and labels who find us have already been burned. They have paid for streams that turned out to be fake, for campaigns that did nothing, for distribution deals that locked up their masters.

We have been there. That is not a tagline — it is the founding story of every company in this group. We built Actuation Group because we went through the same thing. Every company in this group exists because of a specific failure we experienced and refused to repeat.

We do not make promises we cannot keep. We do not lock artists into deals that do not serve them. And with no outside investors, that will never change.

✗
What others promiseEditorial placement guarantees, massive growth, personal attention. Then you never hear from them again.
✓
What we do insteadWe tell you exactly what we can deliver and we deliver it. No invented guarantees. Real results with our name attached.
✗
What others charge15% to 20% distribution fees, hidden costs, recoupable advances that take years to pay off.
✓
What we charge2% to 10% royalty rate through IndieMassive, tiered to your catalog size. Built on modern infrastructure that keeps our overhead low so yours stays lower.
✗
What others deliverFake streams, inflated reporting, campaigns optimised for their metrics rather than your growth.
✓
What we deliverReal curator relationships, real playlist placements, real audience growth and a platinum track record that proves it.

Some Call
Themselves Indie.
Check Who
Wrote The Check.

Across the music industry, companies with hundreds of millions in venture capital and private equity backing market themselves to artists as the independent alternative to the majors.

They are not independent. Their deal structures are shaped by investor return targets. Their long term decisions are made by people who have never listened to a single one of their artists.

We have taken no outside funding. Ever. Every decision Actuation Group makes is accountable to one thing only: the artists and labels we work with. That is not possible when you have investors to answer to. It never is.

$0
Outside capital raised by Actuation Group across six years and six companies
$B+
Raised by VC backed companies calling themselves the "indie" alternative to the majors
100%
Of our decisions made for artists — with zero investor override, ever
Proof Of Work
Case Study  ·  Actuation Artist

From Zero
To Platinum.
In One Year.

GYMBRO did not exist before 2024. No streams, no audience, no label history. We built them from the ground up through Actuation — our label — using the full group infrastructure.

Within their first year, their debut release had gone 4x platinum and 10x gold, driven by 100 million streams on a single track and significant viral penetration across dozens of countries in the EU.

This is what the Actuation Group pipeline looks like when it operates as designed. Not a one-off. A methodology. Applied to over ten platinum and gold artists across our roster.

4x
Platinum certifications on debut release
10x
Gold certifications across territories
100M
Spotify streams on a single track
<12
Months from first release to platinum
Kernkraft 400 Viral across dozens of EU countries. Built through Actuation Music, promoted through YouGrow, distributed through IndieMassive. The full group pipeline — from zero to platinum — on a single debut.
The Numbers

Six Years.
Zero Shortcuts.

10+
Platinum and gold certified artists built from the ground up
$M+
In royalties paid to artists and labels every year
1000s
Of artists and indie labels distributed through IndieMassive globally
12+
White label distributors using IndieMassive as their backend infrastructure
What The Industry Says

Words From
Those Who Know.

Actuation Group dominates in a league of their own. The full team is next level and deeply understands what's relevant right now, and how to connect with a massive modern global audience. Next to that, they function at a high pace, accommodating the ever so high demand for engaging, top-tier, great sounding dance music across the board.
— Bram Fidder
World-Class Mastering Engineer — Don Diablo, Nicky Romero, Mike Williams, W&W
Actuation Group have helped me a lot to get my music out there. They believed in my vision and we all had a lot of fun in the process.
— Skytech
Artist
Actuation is one of the finest labels I've worked with throughout my artist career. With good promotions, clear budgets and a very responsive staff.
— R3SPAWN
Artist
Have been working with the IndieMassive team for our label Zero Cool for almost a year now and it has been really great so far. The team is very professional, works fast and is quickly in responding. We upload songs weekly and sometimes very last minute, and they still manage to get the upload on the DSPs in time. The portal is very easy to use, and makes uploading and royalty management very straightforward.
— MOTi / Lukas Romme
Artist & Label Owner, Zero Cool
The Group

Three Companies.
One Ecosystem.

Each company was built to solve a specific problem we experienced firsthand as artists. Together they form the only vertically integrated independent music infrastructure of its kind.

IndieMassive YouGrow Actuation
Global Distribution
IndieMassive
Direct music distribution to every major DSP at a 3% royalty rate. Built on modern infrastructure that keeps our overhead and your costs as low as they can go. No promises we cannot keep. No slow response times. No astronomical fees.
Spotify Preferred Provider  ·  MERLIN Member  ·  STOMP Member
Thousands of artists distributed. Dozens of white label partners. Millions in royalties paid annually.
Go to IndieMassive
01
Music Marketing & Promotion
YouGrow
We do not run campaigns. We build careers. Born from getting burned by fake stream companies, YouGrow was built on real curator relationships, real playlist placements, and a methodology that has produced results for artists at every level of the industry — from debut releases to global icons.
Billie Eilish  ·  Ed Sheeran  ·  Akon  ·  Jason Derulo  ·  Tory Lanez
All three major labels. Indie artists and global stars.
Go to YouGrow
02
Label & Artist Development
Actuation
An electronic music label built around energy, not genre. If you can play it in the gym, we will consider it. We develop artists from zero — using the full group infrastructure — and we do not take what is not ours. Your masters stay yours.
GYMBRO  ·  4x Platinum  ·  10x Gold  ·  100M Streams
10+ platinum and gold artists developed through the Actuation pipeline.
Go to Actuation
03
The Pipeline

The Full
Pipeline.

Most artists work with a distributor, a marketer, and a label. Three separate relationships, three separate agendas, and zero coordination between them.

Actuation Group controls the entire journey. From first release to platinum record. Under one roof, with one aligned interest.

No handoff friction. No conflicting incentives. Everything compounds because everything is connected.

IndieMassive
Your music reaches every DSP globally at 3%. MERLIN leverage, Spotify Preferred status, and direct relationships that most artists never access.
↓
YouGrow
We build your audience using real curator relationships built over years. Playlist strategy, editorial targeting, and growth methodology proven at platinum level.
↓
Actuation
When the moment is right, the label becomes your home. Long term development, catalog investment, and a partnership built on the foundation we already created together.
The Journey

Built From
The Ground Up.

No funding rounds. No accelerators. No inheritance. Two musicians who got burned by the same industry they loved, and built what should have existed all along.

2019
The Beginning
Josh and Jeroen co-found the Actuation Group, a self-funded record label ecosystem built to support independent artists. Starting with a single drum kit sold for €500, every cent reinvested.
2019 — Company registration
2020 — In the studio
2020
YouGrow Launches
YouGrow launches with a clear mission: real promotion that benefits artists' music and careers, not empty numbers or vanity metrics.
2021
IndieMassive & MERLIN
IndieMassive launches and joins MERLIN. The Actuation Group becomes a full 360° music ecosystem: distribution, promotion and label development under one roof.
2021 — YouTube Silver Play Button
2022 — In the studio
2022
Global Scale
Tens of thousands of artists served, including Ed Sheeran and Billie Eilish. YouGrow launches its reforestation partnership, planting trees with every campaign.
2023
YouGrow+ Goes Live
YouGrow+ app goes live. Artists track campaigns and milestones in real time. The group's proprietary technology stack becomes a core competitive advantage.
YouGrow+ App
2024 Catalog Metrics
5B+
Streams Generated
80K+
Artists Served
9.1M
Listeners — Single Client
8.7M+
Playlist Adds
9.1M listeners represents a single client. Full catalog numbers are significantly larger.
2024
80,000+ Artists
80,000+ artists served. Meta Ads promotion launches. 5 billion+ streams generated and 50,000+ trees planted through the Eden Reforestation Projects partnership.
2025
Forbes 30 Under 30
Josh and Jeroen named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe. YouGrow joins STOMP, deepening roots in the Dutch independent music community. The only truly indie major.
2025 — Forbes 30 Under 30
The Founders

Two Musicians
Who Stopped
Getting Burned.

Josh Brust
Josh Brust
Founder
Forbes 30 Under 30. Josh is a strategist with a strong ability to identify gaps early, often before they are widely recognized, and act on them decisively.

He does not rely on existing templates or established approaches. His work typically starts with identifying what is missing in a market or system, and building the appropriate solution from first principles rather than adapting to what already exists.

Where others may focus on constraints, he tends to focus on how those constraints can be used constructively. He is also effective at moving from concept to execution in a way that maintains coherence through the entire process.

Actuation Group was not assembled reactively. It was deliberately designed and structured from the outset.
Jeroen Dekker
Jeroen Dekker
Founder
Forbes 30 Under 30. Jeroen is an operator with a strong bias toward execution. He identifies viable opportunities quickly and translates them into working systems without delay. Not in theory, but in practice.

He has been building alongside Josh from the beginning and operates in the part of the business where ideas are either validated or broken. His focus sits at the intersection of artist relationships and song growth, staying close to what actually moves the needle when marketing music, with a clear eye on ROI and building fanbases that stick around.

The methods that prove out don't stay internal. What works gets systematized and handed to YouGrow, which develops it into a service offered to other labels and musicians.

Operations, execution, day to day delivery, that's where he lives. At Actuation Group, he plays a central role in ensuring that intent is consistently carried through into outcomes.

The Results
Speak For Themselves.

10+ platinum and gold artists. Millions in royalties paid annually. A track record built on repeatable, meaningful success. Not lucky breaks. Choose the path that fits where you are.

For Artists & Labels
Start Now
Ready to distribute, grow, or get your music in front of real curators? Head directly to the company that fits your immediate need. Place an order and get moving. No calls needed. No lengthy onboarding. Just results.
IndieMassive YouGrow Actuation
Boutique Partnership
Interested In Becoming A Boutique Partner?
We work with a select number of serious partners — labels, managers, catalog owners, and investors who want results that hold up at scale. Platinum certifications. Billions of streams. A track record that speaks for itself.
If that sounds like you, we want to hear from you. Tell us about your project and we will take it from there.
Apply To Work With Us
Actuation label signings are by invitation only.

AI Will Flood
The World With Noise.
We Build Signal.

In a world where AI can generate infinite music, authenticity is the only thing that cannot be replicated. Real artists with real stories and real fans are worth more now than ever. That is what we build.

100% Self Funded  ·  No Investors  ·  Artist First Since Day One  ·  Est. 2019