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NEW
YORK TIMES
MEDIA TALK
Rock Group
Finds a New Way to Sell Out
By CHRIS NELSON
Here is some
investment advice you will not hear on CNBC: put your money in a rock
group.
Dozens of
people have done just that, buying shares in an unusual band-and-fan
venture started by the Philadelphia music group, Grey Eye Glances. Through
a private offering, the "adult alternative" band raised several
hundred thousand dollars to start the Grey Album, a company responsible
for producing, manufacturing and promoting Grey Eye Glances' seventh
album, "A Little Voodoo." Rykodisc will distribute the new CD.
The band's
financing innovation comes as the big labels in the consolidated music
industry, battling consumer malaise and the upheaval of online music
distribution, increasingly shy away from acts that cannot sell at least
500,000 copies of an altbum. For bands without obvious mass appeal,
strategies like Grey Eye Glances' "may be part of the future,"
said Jack Emerson, co-owner with the singer-songwriter Steve Earle of E
Squared Records. "I don't think it's that different from making a
movie where you've got outside investors."
The band's
bassist, Eric O'Dell, a Bucknell University economics major who spent six
years with a Wall Street firm, said the new company attracted more money
than Grey Eye Glances had available to it during a two-album stint in the
late 1990's with Mercury Records.
Potential
investors were allowed to hear demos of "A Little Voodoo." The
company prospectus even included a clause to prevent the band from
succumbing to music industry excesses. "Some of these investors are
like, `Well, what if you go nuts? What if this goes to your head and you
just start spending money like Elton John, $200,000 on an outfit?' "
Mr. O'Dell said.
If Grey Eye
Glances finds success beyond its traditional fan-base in the Northeast and
Midwest, investors could make more than just their money back. Members of
the company jointly own the mechanical copyright on "A Little
Voodoo." Revenue will come from CD sales and licensing of the music
to, for example, television or film projects.
Most of the
company's 40 members � who each could invest up to $20,000 � are fans.
For some, the novelty of the project holds more appeal than its economic
promise.
"It's a
way for me and the other people who are part of this to really feel like
they're a part of the band, part of their music," said Bob Smyth of
West Milford, N.J., a corporate travel manager with Gant Travel
Management.
Even before
investing, Mr. Smyth hired the band to play at company parties. Now he
hopes the group's popularity will spread.
"I would
hope that even if I weren't invested," he said. "Now that I have
a little piece of the action, I'm there. I'm pretty much walking around
with a sandwich board."
website
www.greyeyeglances.com
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