hile five major record labels control the country's popular music, businessmen Robert Davis and John Klemme want to work with the artists no one has heard of through Internet promotion.
The two Hoosiers recently created Bandwerks.com, a music downloading site focusing mainly on unsigned acts. A hybrid of KaZaa and "American Idol," the service allows fans to vote (for a fee) on their favorite artists, who could then obtain a record deal through the site's own label as well as other independent labels.
"The major labels focus most of their attention and money on the big acts or people they feel can become overnight successes," Davis said. "As a result there are thousands of talented musicians across the country who are missing out on the opportunity to even have their music heard. Our concept basically involves mixing the fans and artists into a support group that allows bands to get instant awareness."
Launched on March 27, Bandwerks will eventually feature groups of artists from all genres. Fans pay $25 to access anything on the site, and bands send in their demos for review. The first 15 songs are scheduled to go up on July 4 for fan consideration.
Unlike other music sites such as KaZaa and Gnutella, as well as Mp3.com and Garageband.com, Bandwerks integrates a record label with file sharing services, providing production services for featured artists. The service doesn't allow the public to upload their own files.
"We feel like we're giving people a chance to help pick tomorrow's rock stars," Davis said.
"We also work with a lot of other labels that want exposure," Klemme said. "Initially we want to cater to artists and bands on an underground level."
The project, which is based in Watseka, Ill., has been in the works for the past few months as part of Davis' company Corporate Development Agents, a marketing strategies firm.
Davis' past is shrouded in mystery. He claims to have worked for the National Security Agency for almost 10 years,a stint that included assignments in Europe and Egypt. During his time overseas he spent some time working with bands and cultivated a desire to work in the music industry.
With cousin Klemme, who is a senior at Purdue, he developed the idea for the music service, which would allow musicians and listeners to communicate on a more intimate level.
"The corporate world only looks at bands in a way of how they can exploit them," Davis said. "They do not realize or respect the fact that there is no right or wrong in someone's song."
Davis believes that the record industry took the wrong approach in dealing with online music. In 2001 a lawsuit by the major labels forced music sharing pioneer Napster offline, and the industry continues to battle other services such as Morpheus, KaZaa and Gnutella. The record companies have had limited success with pay services such as Pressplay and MusicNet.
"They (the major labels) did not evolve with technology," Davis said. "The models they rely on were built before Napster and other such technologies even existed. They didn't evolve with the way fans get their music. And as a result they are losing between $150 and 200 million a year. And it also means that piracy and free music sharing have been cutting into their budgets, and they don't have a lot of money to support new bands. It's one of the reasons why it's harder than ever for a new artist to make it."
Davis hopes to attract 400,000 fans to his site within the next year. About 4,000 have already joined, Klemme said. Among bands, the two have been promoting themselves mainly by word of mouth. More than 100 musicians have already contacted them.
"Most major labels don't accept demos from bands and even if they do, typically they're demagnetized and thrown into a 55-gallon drum," he said. "They're not a position to accept new music and can't handle the liability."
"This is open to all artists who are willing to contact us," Klemme said.
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