New York - Sellaband, a Netherlands-based company that helps bands raise funds for recording by enabling fans to contribute online, has raised $5 million in new financing from Prime Technology Ventures.

London - SellaBand, an Amsterdam-based online record label where fans pledge funds to help artists record albums, has partnered with online retailer Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN), and will place a dedicated store on the site, The Guardian reported. So far, 11 of the 6,000 or so acts on SellaBand have raised the $50,000 from fans through the site that gets them a record release. Once released, revenues from the records are split between the artists, the fans who invested in them and SellaBand.

New York - The Orchard, a digital distributor of independent music and video, announced that it has partnered with Sellaband, an online music platform where fans invest in unsigned artist, and get a share of profits from future advertising revenues and album sales. Under the deal, The Orchard will provide global digital distribution and marketing for each Sellaband artist that raises the $50,000 required by Sellaband to record a qualifying album. To date, Sellaband said that 11 artists from seven countries have raised $50,000 through "crowdsourcing" on the service, while $1.2 million has been invested in unsigned talent, and three albums have been released.