THE first Irish music BES fund, introduced in March by Irish Music Investment Managers, is not to proceed because of a lack of investors.

The fund had expected to raise £1 million and had set itself a minimum of £500,000 for the investment to go forward. A spokesman said that although a "substantial sum of money" had been raised, the minimum target had not been reached.

The decision not to proceed was taken yesterday. The directors of Irish Music Investment Managers Ltd include Mr Denis Desmond, Mr Brian Molloy and Ms Jean McKiernan.

It had been intended that the money would be spread around a number of Irish musical acts, so as to reduce the risk of the investment. However, the disappointing response to the scheme meant the risk would have to be spread more thinly.

"It was the view that the Irish music industry presents lots of potential for investment, and that view still holds," the spokesman said.