Clickmusic starts agency hunt as ad spend rises to £3m

Clickmusic, the Internet search engine for music fans, will start trawling for agencies this autumn for its above-the-line and online accounts, which are expected to be worth a total of at least &£3m.

The portal is backed by Virgin chairman Richard Branson, ex-Creation boss Alan McGee, Sir Bob Geldof, PR guru Matthew Freud and Richer Sounds founder Julian Richer, who ploughed a combined &£5m investment into Clickmusic at the end of last year.

Clickmusic marketing manager Lisa Wood says the company is embarking on a new phase of business development. This will include the upweighting of its advertising, which is usually created in house.

Wood says: “In September we will look for off- and online agencies to expand the brand with an increased ad spend.”

This week, ex-Ginger Media Group chief executive David Campbell and former Universal UK Group managing director Marc Merot joined the company as non-executive directors.

Clickmusic was launched in October by ex-Virgin Entertainment group chairman Robert Devereux. It guides users to the websites most appropriate to their search, trawling through millions of music sites.