Amsterdam - SellaBand, a fan-financed recordings venture for unsigned artists, announced on Monday that it has partnered with Arena Works Entertainment on ArenaFest, a festival tour of 91 venues that will feature unsigned bands, extreme sports, video game tournaments and even a dating game in what are being billed as "the first live social network event(s) ever."

London - A new U.K.-based venture called Bandstocks allows consumers to invest in a promising artist's recording, and receive a cut of profits from the resulting album's sale and licensing, the Guardian reported. Once enough Bandstocks visitors purchase $19 stakes in a band, the funds are released for recording. The model is very similar to one launched by Netherlands-based Sellaband in 2006. Bandstocks is backed by music manufacturing and distribution firm The Vinyl Factory, and the founders of record label B-Unique, home to artists including Primal Scream and Kaiser Chiefs.

Amsterdam - Sellaband, a Netherlands-based company that helps bands raise funds for recording by enabling fans to contribute online, announced on Friday that it has signed a deal with YouLicense.com, to allow bands using the service to make their music available for licensing to producers, filmmakers, marketers and ad agencies. Sellaband will split revenues between the artists, their fan supporters on the service, and the company.

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.