The alternative-rock band BulletProof Messenger had everything an up-and-coming group could want: a hot new sound and a loyal fan base in some of New York’s best venues. All it needed was the money to make its first recording.

The band members could have scrounged and struggled to save the money, as most do, but instead they decided to seek help from SellaBand. With that company’s Web platform, BulletProof Messenger raised $40,000 from more than 900 fans and in the process landed a June gig in London.

“Things have taken off extremely fast,” BulletProof’s electronics impresario, Matt Litwin, said. “We have supporters from Europe to Asia.”

The idea behind SellaBand is simple: Make the fans investors. Bands can raise up to $50,000 by selling 5,000 shares. Once it reaches that milestone, SellaBand pairs the band with a producer and sound studio to record an album. Investors — or “believers,” as the company calls them — get a cut in the album’s CD sales, special access to the band, and, of course, bragging rights.

Based in Europe, SellaBand is now setting up its first American outpost, in Manhattan. The company aims to court local bands and their most ardent fans, in a crusade to shake up the music industry.

“With hundreds of unsigned bands playing local bars and clubs, SellaBand can offer New York bands a rare chance to raise the money for a recording deal many could not otherwise afford,” the company’s managing director, Johan Vosmeijer, said.

The company has operations in Amsterdam and Germany, and already has had a local impact. When Hawaiian guitarist Jacob Kongaika, better known as Cubworld, raised his $50,000, he decided to go to New York instead of other cities to work with the pros at Brooklyn Noise Productions. New York hip-hop artist Miatreya, originally Jamie Greenslade from Christchurch, New Zealand, has just released his CD “Harlem Nights” thanks to the service. Lily Vasquez of Clifton, N.J., is now busy recording her Latin love ballads in a Bronx studio.

SellaBand was founded by Pim Betist, Dagmar Heijmans, and Mr. Vosmeijer three years ago. They believe the music industry is controlled by a handful of powerful gatekeepers who have set up too many barriers to new talent. “We give good bands a fighting chance to succeed,” Mr. Vosmeijer said.

Musicians are happy for the help, as the city is notoriously rough on new talent. Just ask Brooklyn music festival organizer Alex Battles. For years, he’s watched bands fight for performance time at bars and struggle to save money for their first recordings. Many never make it.

“Playing music in New York is often the opposite of lucrative,” Mr. Battles, who is frontman for the cowpunk band Whisky Rebellion, said.

Efforts are already under way to spread the word to fans. Earlier this month, Mr. Heijmans served as a guest lecturer at New York University, where he spoke to about 100 students and musicians about the service.

Fans seem to be responding. Aspiring writer and MFA student at the New School, Jack Cieslak, said there isn’t a single artist on the Billboard charts he would pay money to see. He looks forward, however, to hearing the new talent that sprouts up from Sella-Band.

“It’s the fans, the people, who should have a say about what new music gets produced,” Mr. Cieslak said. “Not a bunch of record execs who wouldn’t know an original idea if it ran up to them and strangled them with their designer ties.”

The service offers bands the opportunity not only to raise money, but to connect with audiences from around the world. Mr. Litwin said many of BulletProof Messenger’s supporters are fans from Europe, Asia, and Africa. “We never would have been able to reach these fans on our own,” he said.