Ingenious today announced that its two Music VCT funds have invested £1.1 million to back the second album of Blackbud, the highly acclaimed indie-rock band. This deal marks the sixth joint venture with record label Independiente. Previous investments with Independiente have included the backing of Travis's critically acclaimed fifth album ''The Boy with No Name'', which recently entered the charts at number four, and rock band Embrace's next studio album.
A trio hailing from the West Country, Blackbud have toured worldwide to much critical acclaim and established themselves as one of most exciting new bands in the UK. The band has been compared with artists such as Jeff Buckley, Radiohead and Led Zeppelin, and has attracted the interest of Michael Eavis (Glastonbury Festival), Steve Lamacq (Radio 1) and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) amongst others. 2004 saw capacity crowds at two breakthrough performances at Glastonbury where they won the Unsigned Bands Competition. Their debut album, ''From The Sky'', was released in July 2006 and has laid the foundations for the forthcoming second album.
Duncan Reid, Commercial Director of Ingenious, said:
"We have developed an important commercial relationship with Independiente which allows us to provide funding for a number of established artists and exciting new talent such as Blackbud.
This deal reinforces Ingenious's commitment to help develop the careers of upcoming musical talent through a number of joint ventures with leading record labels and so, across a portfolio of deals, provide returns to investors."
About Ingenious
Ingenious, which was founded in 1998 by Patrick McKenna, former Head of the Media and Entertainment Group at Deloitte and Touche and Chairman and CEO of the Really Useful Group, is a specialist media investment and advisory business with five principal operating subsidiaries; Investments, Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Ventures and Consulting. A Securities business will be launched later this year.
As the market leader in media investment and strategy, Ingenious provides the full range of services to companies in the media sector, from strategic and corporate finance advice to private equity funding, as well as providing innovative investment solutions for the private investor.
About Independiente
Independiente was created in 1997 by former Go! Discs' founder, Andy MacDonald. Distributed in the UK by leading independent Vital, and outside of the UK by a network of affiliates including SonyBMG, Independiente delivers creative artists with international potential to a global audience.
Independiente is a vibrant independent label which has succeeded in enriching the music industry by promoting a varied roster of artists including Embrace, Paul Weller, So Solid Crew, The Tears, Gomez and Travis.
About Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs)
Provided that shares in a VCT are held for at least five years, qualifying investors receive income tax relief at the rate of 30% on the amount subscribed for VCT shares up to a maximum of £200,000 in any one tax year. Dividends and gains on the disposal of Shares are currently exempt from tax in respect of investments not exceeding £200,000 in any one tax year.
Ingenious Media
Duncan Reid
Tel: 020 7319 4000
Fishburn Hedges
Andrew Reid
Tel: 0207 839 4321