I’m a Business, Man
June 29, 2011
The stock market’s getting boring, and your
relationship with your bookie Bruno has become, shall we say, tense. Why not try your hand at the music
industry? Even if you don’t know trip-hop from hyphy,
you can still play record exec to a whole crowd of bands.
Jay-Z, here we come.
Run by a former SONY BMG executive, Sellaband offers discerning ears a chance to cash in on good taste.
If you think you've found the next big thing among the bands on the site, you can put your money where your
mouth is by purchasing shares in the band and getting a percentage of any records they sell. And if the band
doesn’t raise enough to record, you get your money
back. (Good luck getting that guarantee from Bruno.)
Sellaband keeps weekly charts ranking bands by shares bought, number of buyers, and number of weekly
listens, so finding a good bet isn’t too hard. Artists
run the gamut from New Zealand-born rapper Maitreya to German electro-popper Kirt. As for the Scandinavian
throat-singers, it’s sort of a niche taste.
So far only two bands have sold enough shares to start reaping profits, but the numbers keep growing. At
best, you’ll scoop up the next Bowie while
he’s still young and hungry. At worst, you’ll scoop up the next Jermaine Jackson.