Peter Gabriel Goes it online and alone

Peter Gabriel The pioneer of digital music is to fund his next record.Former founding Genesis member and multi-instrumentalist Peter Gabriel has announced that he will release his next album in the US without the aid of a record company.First reported in The Times newspaper yesterday (January 21), Gabriel, an early pioneer of digital music distribution, has raised £2 million towards recording and 'shipping' his next as-yet-untitled album in a venture with investment boutique Ingenious Media.

Gabriel is expected to earn double the money that he would get through a conventional record deal. Commercial director Duncan Reid of Ingenious explains the business savvy of the deal, saying, "If you're paying a small distribution fee and covering your own marketing costs, you enjoy the lion's share of the proceeds of the album. Gabriel is expected to outsource CD production for worldwide release through Warner Bros. Records. The new album deal covers the North America territory, where Gabriel is currently out of contract. Ingenious have previously scored chart entries with independently released albums by Mick Hucknall's Simply Red.