Establishing the network

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A carefully selected group will agree then share an initial version of: 

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• Purpose

• Values 

• A constitution 

• A governance plan

• A network / community development plan  

• Processes for funding proposal submission, review and approval 

• Processes for funding individuals and groups doing purpose relevant work

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Fund income 

Network owned products and services 

For example, the organisation will own the (soon to become Music X branded) Music Event Toolkit. It's a product that makes it easy to create and publish online music event promotion that looks great and sounds great. It also manages ticketing. The profits from ticket booking fees will go into central and local network funds. So, the more network members there are using the Music Event Toolkit, the more money there will be in the fund. Commitments have been made to switch to Music X Ticketing by venues and promoters currently selling through most known providers. The organisation's ambition is to get the majority of UK music events using the service, thereby generating £millions year on year for the fund. 

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​The organisation will also own a (soon to become Music X branded) live music discovery app. The aim of the app is to create a comprehensive, compelling and easy way to find live music happening nearby and to buy tickets. To give live music a platform that better competes with the likes of Netflix for people's leisure time. By increasing attendance and putting the profits from ticket booking fees back into the central and local funds, the app will increase music event and local economy spend whilst simultaneously increasing investment in the local music ecosystem. 

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Network members will be encouraged to submit proposals for the development and acquisition of products and services that it would make sense for the network to own.

Network funded products and services

The Central Fund will invest in ventures that can provide value to every local music ecosystem. For example, should music co-working, community and mentorship start-ups like The Rattle want to go nationwide the fund would consider investing and supporting roll out through Music X's local music networks. If a 5 star rated course on "Business fundamentals for musicians" puts in a proposal, the fund would consider investing and rolling it out to local music networks. Investment and support would come with agreements for financial returns to the fund. For more on the types of proposal the fund would look at see the Central fund proposals section. 

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Network approved products and services

 
The question asked here is "Which product and service providers will see increased financial return if local music ecosystems thrive?" 

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Examples include:

• Record labels 

• Drinks companies

• Music education

• Businesses that benefit from tourism

• Energy companies 

• Ticketing companies 

• Sound and lighting companies 

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The investment pitch to such businesses will centre around the following benefits: 

• They will be putting money into a fund that invests in growing their market 

• Brand association

• Increasing sales. They will be promoted to network members as "Approved” providers. Members would be incentivised to choose them knowing that doing so will mean more money going into the central fund and their local fund​​

 

Agreements will be reached that secure: ​​​

• Preferential product and service costs / benefits for network members  

• An agreed % of revenues from provision to network members going into the central fund and relevant local funds 

 

Sponsorship 
 

Yearly pre-covid spend on music sponsorship in the US alone was $1.54Bn The community will do deals with purpose aligned sponsors.
 

Investment 

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Any of the following who align with the purpose and are sold on the strategy and ROI:

• Music industry businesses

• Artists 

• Angels, VCs

 

Government

With evidence of efficacy established, we would look to have part of central government funding for music administered by the organisation. 
 

The honour pledge 

All network members make an honour pledge when they sign up. That if they are able to attribute part of their financial success to support from the community, then they make a donation / donations to the trust. 
 

Ethical capital markets 

Invest an agreed % of the fund in the capital markets. 

 

Fund spend 
 

Proposals 

The proposals section covers the types of projects that would be looking for funding. 

Local network funds 

Milestones would be set for local music networks that when reached would trigger funding from the central to their local music network fund. 

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Network operations 

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Governance, reviewing and approving proposals, oversight of funded / approved proposals, technology, network leader training and support, network member support, advisory, events and more.

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Shareholders 

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As detailed above, a carefully selected group will develop and share an initial UK Music Network operational framework. That framework will include an initial plan for how shareholding will work.

 

Current thinking is that at least 60% of central fund will be available for the network / community to decide what to do with. One assumption being that shareholding will be used to incentivise contribution / leadership from network members. 

 

The remainder will be owned by the core founding team and investors.

 

Shares will include conditions which once met return the shares to the community pool so they can be used to incentivise further contribution. Network member and founder shares will have expiry dates. Investor shares will expire once they have returned 10 times the investment sum. 

 

The UK Music Network will govern re-sale conditions. Thereby giving them controls over the shareholder constituency. 

 

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Data

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Gathering 

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Data share deals will be done with proposals that get approved / funded.

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Network members will be encouraged to share relevant data. 

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Network owned products / tools will generate data. For example, data generated by the network owned music event promotion and ticketing and live music discovery products will belong to the network. 

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These data sources combined will create a valuable community asset.

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Use

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The data will be used as makes sense by network members. 

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It can also be leveraged to create and support products and services. For example, it will be used to power local, regional and national dashboards that give insight into the state of music ecosystems. The dashboards will enable data-driven decision making and impact measurement for policies, strategies, products and services.

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