Social Investment

You know a concept has hit the big time when it gets applied to the global music industry.

Now, microfinance - the technique that has been reducing poverty amongst women from Bangladesh to Bolivia - is available to struggling musicians around the world.

Through the power of social networking and a recent surge in the popularity of peer-to-peer lending, Calabash Music, a popular music download site internationally and the world's first "fair trade music" site, has launched a new initiative "Tune Your World" in which fans can "microfinance" the start up costs and recording activities of their favorite new and emerging artists' around the world.