Fresh off the success of their new album "Without You I'm Nothing," Placebo take their awe-inspiring stage show to New York's Irving Plaza for a live webcast, just possibly with a Certain Surprise Guest.

Fresh off the success of their new album "Without You I'm Nothing," Placebo take their awe-inspiring stage show to New York's Irving Plaza for a live webcast, just possibly with a Certain Surprise Guest.

Pssst! Wanna buy a rock star? Or at least, invest in their catalogue to share in their royalties? If financier DAVID PULLMAN has his way, most of the public will have that opportunity in time, as he explained, in part, at a panel called 'Bowie Bonds and Beyond' at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas on Friday (March 19).

Pullman engineered a bond sale for DAVID BOWIE in 1997 that netted the artist $55 million. Since then he's completed similar deals for '60s songwriting teams such as Holland-Dozier-Holland (who wrote most of the hits in the Motown catalogue) and Ashford & Simpson.

While the financial details are complicated, the concept is relatively simple: the artist sells bonds to investors who agree to pay a fixed rate (say, 7-8% per year over 15 years), for which the revenue is generated by either publishing fees, record sales, or both. So far, Pullman has played it relatively safe, brokering deals with artists or songwriters whose catalogues have proven themselves over time, to better minimise the risk for conservative investors.

Why have those artists agreed to the deal? Pullman said he sees a pattern with all three: "As songwriters, they've always had the genius to pick up on new ideas quickly, so they're more receptive to new ideas in the business world as well."

Unfortunately, the average person can't invest in Bowie right now - his original deal was a private one, said Pullman, that was sold mostly to insurance companies (although Pullman claims he's had over 1000 requests since from large investment firms and individual investors who are interested in buying more).

But doesn't this raise serious questions in the age-old struggle of art vs. commerce? For instance, wouldn't Bowie now feel more obligated to his investors to maximise the revenue of his catalogue, and thus say yes to more corporate advertisers who request the use of his songs? Will we now hear 'Changes' in a Kodak commercial? 'China Girl' advertising a Far East airline? 'Golden Years' as the theme for the AARP?

Pullman explained that Bowie agreed to the deal so he could raise the money to buy out the rights to his songs from his former manager. This means he now controls 100% of his copyrights; so, being both an artist and a businessman, he understands the need for steady revenue, yet he's as conscious as ever about the risk of over-exposing his songs. Thus, it's ultimately his choice, not that of a publishing company, record label, or former manager.

Pullman also advocates similar deals for newer artists - recommending, in one example, that the Dave Matthews Band would be far better off issuing bonds when their current label contract is up for renegotiation. By doing so, it would give them more capital to control their own destiny, and thus lessen the need for the up-front advances so prevalent in the music business.

Meanwhile, Pullman is working on new bond deals with such artists as Crosby, Stills & Nash, Patti Smith, Joan Jett, Rod Stewart, Tupac Shakur's estate, Kim Carnes, and Pat Benatar.

Ultimately, by this line of reasoning, artists could eventually control all their own publishing rights and their recorded masters, and thus the tricky commercial decisions will be in the hands of those, like Bowie, who created them. And that, reasons Pullman, benefits everyone.

"Hello boys and girls, erm... I'm David Bowie and... I'm talking to you for Comic Relief. Tonight I thought I'd do something a little bit different so I'm gonna play a new composition for you, erm... that I think you may enjoy. It's called 'Requiem For A Laughing Gnome'. It's for recorder and erm... it has some choreography that was... erm... I picked up from an Navaho Indian erm... that I met last week in the Croydon chapter. It's in four movements, probably I should begin with the first one. Thank you."

On the JO WHILEY show this week, the producer of Comic Relief when asked which big names were appearing in this year appeal he mentioned David Bowie. A UK newspaper TV listing also lists David as a guest on the charity show.

Today Friday, 12th March (BBC1 & BBC2 7pm-1am) is COMIC RELIEF DAY hints and rumours abound of DAVID BOWIE appearing in the charity event being interviewed by ALAN PARTRIDGE (9.00pm BBC2) played by the brilliant STEVE COOGAN.

Red Nose Day from the BBC

(Ed. Update: confirmed in this weeks NME).