Justin Chollet (born April 7, 1986) is an American Music Producer, Computer Programmer and serial entrepreneur. He developed Grindstop.com, One of the first invitation only Music Social networks for Hollywood’s elite Independent Music Scene (“A2Fâ€) Since it’s launch in early 2011. Hollywood based Artists have been lining up at the tech company’s headquarters in west Hollywood, in hopes to build a bigger buzz.. Currently the site is by invitation only. However, a paid version along with expansion to other cities is underway, when asked why he created Grindstop Chollet says, “it’s pretty simple really, our team knows how the music game here in Hollywood really works. Our street team are all professional musicians, Our club promoters are already well established in the Hollywood club scene and our board is made up of executives from three of the four major record labels. So I had the idea why not take our already successful music production, promotion, and networking model that we use for our clients and turn into a website, to help more artistsâ€
Chollet was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey He worked summers at his cousin’s music studio, where he honed his musical talent “I actually spent much of the time sleeping on the couch. “I was just getting into music production then, so I spent a lot of my time just fiddling with projects and hanging out.†During this work, Chollet was simultaneously spending his nights writing the code for Grindstop, When asked what inspired your to make Grindstop. Chollet says, “hmm… I really wanted to make something that would help others†I knew we already had a successful system the buzz we were generating for bands in Hollywood was huge, but it was the teams ideas, and constant motivation propelled me to “closing the deal†so to speak.â€
Since the launch of Grindstop Chollet has appeared on the cover of Young Hollywood, Digital Takeover, and Wired Magazines; he was one of the key note speakers at this years annual digital media west conference, at the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood, where he spoke on “the future of digital music marketing†Soon after Chollet and his dream team made a deal with Sequoia Capitall. April 2011 Grindstop began it’s first $200,000 seeding stage and since has been approved for round 1 funding. In late June 2011 the legality of the website came into question as they were the target of several music industry-backed lawsuits. but were ultimately dropped. In August, 2011 it was reported that Reverbnation and Purevolume both had made offers in purchasing the logo, trademark, and Grindstop custom algorithm.
In September 2011, Chollet was named to the Hollywood Tech Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in Hollywood under the age of 35.
