Young Entrepeneur Makes Rock Bands Investment Vehicles

Drummer Bobby Matson thinks fans should be committed to their bands. Nothing unusual about that, but he goes a step further: he thinks they should become stockholders (literally)!

Matson, a business administration major at the University of Michigan, has created MyBandStock.com, a website where fans can put their money where their obsession is. On the site, bands invite fans to buy "stock" in their band. Instead of the traditional monetary dividends, the bands pay a return on their fans' investment in the form of band swag, backstage access, special concert seats--whatever they think their fans will value.

Matson and his business partner, Drew Leahy, originally conceived the business as being a straigh-up, traditional investment brokerage, with bands as their specialized niche. However, they discovered that the Federal Trade Commission would consider their scheme illegal. Instead of abandoning the idea, the young entrepreneurs thought about other dividends bands could pay, aside from money, that fans would value. They are starting small, with Matson's own band and some local Michigan indie bands, but hope to soon attract a major act to their concept.

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