VIPbandmanager: Crowd-managing popstars 12 Jul 2007

Springwise reports on VIPbandmanager - a site that takes Pop Idol (or American Idol, as it's known to our American cousins) to its logical conclusion. (Bet Simons Cowell and Fuller wish they'd thought of it):

"Giving music lovers the opportunity to play an active role in the music industry, VIPbandmanager is recruiting 50,000 band managers to propel a band to stardom. For a GBP 20 lifetime fee, which is collected after 50,000 people have signed up, managers get to vote on everything from picking the band's name to choosing a drummer. After the band has been formed, members will continue to make all the behind-the-scenes decisions and plans that artist managers and record labels make: choosing producers, helping pick tracks, deciding on the band's image and promotion, organizing a UK tour and, of course, reaching the top of the charts. The latter will be aided by the viral marketing clout of 50,000 fervent fans."

Crowd-managing isn't a new idea, of course - MyFootballClub, has already signed up 45,247 of the 50,000 football fans it needs to buy an English football team. The jury is still out as to whether these ideas have any real shelf-life though.