Non-traditional Investments: Your Neighbor's Garage Band!

Ever have one of those annoying punk ass neighbors that thought they could play guitar, or worse yet, the drums?

Did they constantly insist that "one day I'll be a star!", while you struggled to avoid strangling them with your bare hands? I've been there too, but what happens when you actually get lucky and have a neighbor that can really play?

Did you say to yourself... "These guys rule, but how can I cash in on some of their talent?" Aside from becoming a professional roadie or starting your own record label, you're basically just wasting your time and brain power.

If you fall into this category, I would like to introduce you to a company I came across while looking for new tunes.

Sellaband.com is a site that actually lets you buy a stake (referred to as "Parts") in a new, and hopefully upcoming, musician/band. It has already caught on in a large way in Europe, and steadily making its way across the pond to the good ol' USA.

How it works is rather ingenious!
Lets say you like the music samples offered by the artist in question. You can buy one $10 Part (what an investor would call stock) in that artist. If you really like the artist, you can even buy more if you choose.

Once a total of $50,000 is reached (5000 x $10 parts), Sellaband takes the artist into the music studio, and works their recording magic! Pretty cool eh?

So what's in it for you?
By investing, you get a limited edition CD, as well as any potential ad revenues and profits made from the artist's success. However, don't forget about the potential revenues from downloaded files. Sellaband recently partnered with Amazon to sell tracks at $0.50 per download, which you will get a percentage of depending upon the size of your investment.

My personal opinion, if you are going to spend $10 to $20 bucks on a CD, you may as well make some extra money from the passive income that comes with the artist's success.

For those that aren't aware, passive income in its simpliest form is money you make by creating something unique (which you own the intellectual property), or by something you own (real estate, stock investments, etc.). Basically, it's a way of earning money while sitting on your ass(ets) -- which greedy bastards like me love to do!

To show my conviction in this story and Sellaband.com, I myself became an investor just prior to writing this article. I love old school Jazz and the vibe that is associated with hearing it live or with that "someone special." So when I ran across a new artist by the name of Amber Ojeda, I first said...

"DAYUMMM this girl has some serious talent!" Then I tossed in a quick $20 to simulate a regular CD purchase.

I personally haven't bought a CD in 10 years because I firmly believe downloadable music will win the war of attrition. However, the threat of pirated music always applies to potential lost revenues, but 10 years ago, everyone thought that Napster would destroy the music industry with person to person file sharing applications.

Much to the chagrin of it's former opponents, Napster is now a subscriber based cash cow, just like other MP3 or Podcast media thanks to the explosion of Apple's iPod and other portable MP3 listening hardware.

So, enjoy your latest (People)jam session and in the immortal worlds of Wayne and Garth --> Party on!

Full Disclosure: Author owns 2 parts, or $20, in the Sellaband's aspiring artist Amber Ojeda.