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Crowdfunding has been building momentum, as witnessed by a number of ventures we featured over the last year. One of the most successful examples of crowdfunding we’ve covered is Sellaband which, in short, lets fan buy shares in a band to sponsor the band’s first studio recording. The company recently gained a British competitor that more or less covers the same ground: Slicethepie. While any artist can upload tracks to Sellaband, artists on Slicethepie are put through a scouting process, in which music fans write anonymous reviews and earn money for their efforts. The highest-rated artists go forward to a Showcase (usually genre-based), with fans voting and pledging to give their favourite artist at least GBP 15 . After two weeks in the Showcase, bands with enough support—at least GBP 15,000—go on to record albums. Recordings are sold and distributed through Tunecore, a digital music distribution service. Slicethepie receives a GBP 2 royalty on each album sold, artists keep all copyright and publishing rights, and fans get a return based on sales over a 2-year period. What’s more, fans and musically inclined investors can trade contracts for the proceeds from album sales on the trading section of the site. Slicethepie was just nominated for Best Innovation in the BT Digital Music Awards. We’ve seen crowdfunding applied to music, movies, soccer, a remote island community and a cultural hub. What will the model be applied to next? We’ll keep you updated. Spotted by: Julian Clayton