Online music store Popcuts to pay its customers

Staying ahead of each coming trend—an infuriating undertaking in the life of a music snob. To already know and have become tired of what the iceberg tips of mainstream media are just beginning to understand is so fruitless. And for those who simply enjoy musical exploration—or, say, actively seeking out "signs of life in music, film and culture"—the pursuit of avant-anything is still an obsessive and exhausting endeavor.

But from venture firm Y Combinator comes the possibility of financial recompense. Aug. 6 saw the launch of Combinator-funded Popcuts, a music store that gives credit to speculators who purchase a song that later becomes popular. Like Amie Street, which rewards early buyers with lower prices than those of subsequent bandwagon-joiners, the site creates financial incentive for prescient investors. Here, however, there is direct kickback, rather than just timely price increases.

Although innovative, the plan is not complicated: A band that signs up for Popcuts allots a certain ration of revenue for the fans who purchase its work. As more buyers come on board, those early adopters are rewarded quickly; later listeners will also be rewarded, but at a slower rate. Before sales, the site tells the customer how much credit they will be earning and how many new listeners must buy the song before the money comes knocking.

For now, the site deals with only unsigned artists, but CEO Kevin Lim says it will initiate relationships with record labels once it has refined its business model and moved out of the public beta stage of development.

Perhaps it's a good idea for Popcuts to give itself some trial-and-error time. Technology blog Techcrunch wonders if the store's default split (which gives 60% of revenue to artists and 30% to fans) will be enough to bring both sides to the market—if bands won't find themselves having to give up too much money to get enough sales.

Only a few days beyond its founding, the site's future is uncertain, but for the moment there's a bit of money to be had in the hunting-gathering ways of music lovers. So what are you still reading this for? Go! Listen! Earn!

Related links:
Popcuts.com
Popcuts Blog
YCombinator.com

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