Don't just buy the music, fans told - now you can invest in big names of the future

Don't just buy the music, fans told - now you can invest in big names of the future

It may not be the most obvious investment choice in these turbulent economic times. But a new venture is seeking to convince music fans to place their savings as well as their faith in rock 'n' roll.

The music executives behind Kaiser Chiefs and Primal Scream are backing a new website that will allow music fans to invest financially as well as emotionally in hotly tipped new acts.

The venture, dreamed up by a music business lawyer and backed by the founder of Friends Reunited, is being billed as the latest innovative funding model that could provide artists with an alternative to major labels.

Bandstocks will let the public buy a stake in an artist in £10 increments. Once funding reaches a preordained level, for example £100,000, the money will be released for the act to record an album.

Investors will get a copy of the album, a credit on the CD sleeve and a percentage of the profits from its sale and licensing. They will also get priority ticket booking and the opportunity to buy limited edition releases. For the artist, founder Andrew Lewis claimed that Bandstocks would offer a better return than a major-label deal, as well as more freedom and control over copyright.

He hoped that if successful, artists would return to release subsequent albums using the scheme. But he admitted its success or failure would depend on attracting sufficient investment from members of the public. The site, backed by investment from music.....continued below

Advertisement starts

---

---

Advertisement ends

manufacturing and distribution company The Vinyl Factory and four years in development, has launched with two artists. FrYars is a 19-year-old singer-songwriter who has been compared to Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright and Lloyd Cole. Jersey Budd, another singer-songwriter, said he had turned down major-label deals to pursue funding through Bandstocks.

"I had the opportunity to do deals with a number of record labels but I'm confident about my music and the future of Bandstocks, which seems to be a much more honest and transparent way to release records," he said.

The site is also looking to attract established artists. Former Boo Radleys guitarist and songwriter Martin Carr is to use the model to fund his next album.

The founders of B-Unique, the label that is home to Kaiser Chiefs and others including Primal Scream and the Twang, will help find and select artists to appear. Mark Lewis and Martin Toher, the two former major label executives who launched B-Unique in 2001, will act as artist and repertoire advisers.

Lewis said he hoped albums by about 10 artists would be funded by Bandstocks in its first year. Once the target figure is reached, the money will be spent on recording and marketing the album. Revenues from album sales and licensing will be divided up, with half going to the artist, 30% to the Bandstocks holders and 20% to the website.

Lewis said Bandstocks would work with each artist to put together a bespoke operation. It will use the same independent distribution network as Arctic Monkeys, the White Stripes and Oasis. The shifting sands of the music business, blown about by the winds of technological change and rampant digital piracy, have given rise to a range of new funding models. Some artists, such as the Charlatans and Radiohead, have sought to give their music away free or on a "pay what you like" basis.