Invest in Rock to Get Yourself Rolling

Its still a relatively new concept but one wonders why it has taken so long for it to come about. A new venture is giving music fans the chance to invest their money in their favorite up and coming music acts.

A new funding model known as Bandstocks, which was founded by Andrew Lewis, will give members of the general public a chance to invest in their favorite emerging music act by purchasing ‘stocks’ in their new album. To die-hard long-term investors, this may seem like a rickety investment, but not only will investors get a percentage of the profits if the band is good enough, but they’ll get a CD in return for their cash and their names printed on the CD. The Bandstocks concept will inject funds into the music industry, providing aspiring musicians with a very noteworthy alternative to other major record labels. Not only will the investment from fans help the musicians out financially, but signing with the Bandstocks label will provide them with a better return than what is currently offered by most major labels. It will also give them a lot more freedom and control regarding the copyrighting of their CD.

The music executives behind the concept were also the names behind the Kaiser Chiefs and Primal Scream’s rise to fame. The way the new website works is that the public can purchase a stake in an artist in £10 increments. Once the funding has reached a certain, predetermined level, the money is released and used to help the band record their album. The different investors will automatically get a copy of the album that they helped to produce. They will also get their names printed on the CD Sleeve and a percentage of any profits made from the sale and licensing of the CD. It seems to be a win-win situation for both musicians and fans.

But will it work? The success of the project no doubt depends on sufficient involvement from the public. Even though the website is backed by The Vinyl Factory, it will need continual investment to succeed in the long run. It will also be important that a large number of musicians return to Bandstocks in order to record further albums. So far it seems the concept has attracted the interest of a number of noteworthy musicians. Singer-songwriter Jersey Budd has actually turned down major label deals so that he could record his music through Bandstocks. Popular singer-songwriter FrYars is also jumping on the bandwagon. Established artists such as Martin Carr are also looking to get in on the action. The musicians will be carefully selected for the website to ensure the largest possible chance of success and concept founders say they hope to see about ten artists funded by the website in their first year. Only time will tell how successful this concept will be but it seems that its definitely on the right track.