Crowdfunding: exciting tool for start-ups

THIS year, at the SXSW (South by Southwest) film, interactive and music festival in Austin, Texas, legendary rocker Neil Young spoke to a few hundred people, where he introduced the crowd to a new music player, Pono.

Pono, described by another legendary rocker Trent Reznor as looking "like a Toblerone", is a digital music player that will offer a variety of digital formats, not just MP3s.

In Mr Young's view, the sound quality of a typical MP3 is poor. Other formats offer a superior music experience.

Unfortunately, almost all players only play MP3. Hence, Pono, and the Pono Music store, offer musicians and listeners a way to create, download and play advanced music files.

What is interesting is how Mr Young decided to finance this startup. He launched…