Patrick Wolf is going public with his upcoming album Battles, selling £10 shares on Bandstock.com, a UK-based site for unsigned artists. Speaking to NME, Wolf Said, “Basically, you can invest in the finishing of the album and the production of it, and you get a share in the album. So you almost become part of the record company, like a co-owner of the album.”
When I looked closer at Bandstock.com, I found the service is really closer to a fan club than an album investment, as most of the perks include exclusive tickets, limited copies of the album, and behind the scenes footage of the production. However, they do advertise that if the album reaches an undisclosed level of success, the investor will get a share of receipts. Another site offering a similar service is Sellaband.com. Both sites haven’t really taken off, but this is the first time a relatively big music star has joined up, so we’ll see.
Patrick Wolf’s followup to 2006’s The Magic Position, will be a double album. Wolf told NME, “One disc is a pure nihilistic battle record, and the second is battles of love.” Wanna invest in nihilism and love?