Grass roots music investment site Slicethepiece has announced the appointment of Pandora's MD International Paul Brown to its board where he will take the title of Commercial Director and will be responsible for driving business development and commercial partnerships. Brown has previously worked in the mainstream investment industry, as well as for SonyBMG, but has more recently moved very much into the digital domain.
Speaking to CMU, Brown said he decided to take on the Slicethepie role, which he will perform alongside his work for Pandora, because: "I was really impressed with the site and the product. I first came across the whole venture when judging for the BT internet awards, and from the start I thought the idea was fantastic in that it provided a real solution to tackle some of the issues the music industry is currently facing. There is some good IP in this business, and I feel the market is really ready for this kind of proposition. The number of bands and fans already signed up is proof of that".
As previously reported, Slicethepie gives music fans the chance to preview and rate unsigned bands and, on top of that, pledge a small investment in the bands they especially rate. When a band has amassed a sufficiently large investment the money is used to send them into the studio and release an album. Investors receive a free copy of the album plus they and slicethepie get a small royalty on sales or advertising revenue generated by the band's music. The master recording, though, remains the property of the band.
So far the site has been very much about grass roots fans discovering and investing in grass roots bands, but Brown sees the potential for expansion moving forward. "Every one talks about the web as exposing new music, but there is so much music on it it's really overwhelming. As a grass roots scouting arena and financing engine we are able to offer a filter of the new music out there – whether that be for other music fans, grass roots investors, or any other people looking to make partnerships with new or even established music talent. In the near future I think slicethepie's growth will be in developing the current model, but long term I think we can be the middle men between all sorts of people looking to make music and looking to invest in music, whether the latter be fans, or other investors, or brands looking to forge music partnerships for marketing purposes".
Confirming Brown's appointment, Slicethepie CEO David Courtier-Dutton added: "We are delighted to have someone of Paul's calibre join us at such an exciting time. Paul is both widely known and well respected across the music industry both in the UK and US. With extensive experience of the commercial realities of driving change within the industry, both inside and outside the label structur, he is ideally placed to help Slicethepie achieve success".
You will be able to read more of CMU's interview with Brown, including what he thinks the major record companies – the traditional investors in new music – think about the slicethepie move in our new 'in the news' interview feature on the CMU Music Network website later this week.