unsigned music finally brought to a mainstream audience

With the saddening amount of independent record stores that are closing down it's becoming more and more difficult for new unsigned acts to get themselves noticed. The major highstreet retailers like HMV and Virgin have established a dominating grip over the industry, with little or no room for the smaller businesses whose heart and souls are connected with the local live music scene.

Thankfully, Fopp records have taken the first step toward redressing the balance, by offering a simple way for unsigned artists to sell their music in their local Fopp store and get paid for sales quickly.

Fopp Unsigned Network Reps have now been appointed in each and every Fopp store across England, Scotland and Wales to administer the network in that local area and act as a point of contact for the acts. CDs will be sold in the act’s local store, stocking up to a maximum of 50 acts at any time, so that Fopp customers can be confident that the network is hosting the very best unsigned artists.

Sales from the best selling acts will be collated to form the Fopp Unsigned Chart online at Fopp.co.uk/unsigned. This will be based on monthly sales, and customers will be available to buy the titles that make it onto the chart online too, whilst they stay in the chart.

The response from customers, artists and industry alike has so far been fantastic, with over 500 acts submitting their material in the first months of the initiative, which first launched in 2003.

In response to valuable feedback from artists and customers, Fopp is introducing some improvements to this re-launched service for 2007. As well as receiving monthly payments, bands will also get the chance to be featured on the Fopp website with downloads of their music available too. This will be an excellent new way for people to investigate these new artists before making a more informed purchase in store.

The application process has also gone through some changes and the Network will now undergo administration via the unsigned reps in local stores as well as through the website www.fopp.co.uk/unsigned. The local store will accept applications / process returned stock and administrate payments direct with the bands representative.

Ryan Latham, Fopp’s Head of Marketing says: “Customers are increasingly looking for new ways to discover the most exciting new music, and there are many online portals available. The FUN (Fopp Unsigned Network) initiative supports bands in the most simple of ways by enabling them to sell products in our stores. Fopp’s aim, as ever, is to support unsigned talent whilst giving our customers the chance to be the first to discover some of the great new music out there."