I just came across a cool site called Microfundo that applies the methods of microfinance to the music industry.  Their mission is to support the entrepreneurial activities of independent musicians from developing countries around the world – championing undiscovered musicians who would otherwise not have the means to develop their music careers.  Basically Microfundo is a Kiva for music.  Anybody can go to their website and browse through their various campaigns to choose a musician to lend money to.  Here’s how it works:

Choose a Musician’s Campaign, Lend, Get Repaid
1. Music Fans like you browse Campaigns of Musicians and choose an artist to lend to. When you lend, using Paypal or your credit card, Microfundo collects the funds and then passes them along to the artist once they’ve reached their goal.
2. Over time the artist is able to repay the loan via sales of digital downloads of their music that is distributed through Microfundo’s media partners at Natonal Geographic and Mondomix.
3. When you get your money back you can re-lend to another artist Campaign or choose to purchase their artists’ new releases or you can simply keep your money.

I think this is a great concept, especially for those that are musicall inclined.  Microfundo targets a niche group of lenders, so I’m not sure how scalable it will be, but ultimately I think it has a lot of potential.