March 26 (Bloomberg) -- It seemed a typical night at Dingwalls, a pub in north London's Camden neighborhood. Trendy fans in vintage clothes and skinny jeans rocked to the music and one patron surfed across a sea of upraised hands.

The difference: most of the audience was under 18 and alcohol free, enjoying an event they learned about on their favorite Internet community sites.

``They were more hyper than people I have seen off-their- face drunk,'' said GoldieLocks, a 21-year-old self-described ``electro grime rapper'' who jump-started her career with a Web page on MySpace. ``If you're cool with a younger market, you're pretty much going to sell pretty well.''

Homegrown British acts such as GoldieLocks are making their bid for fame by posting clips on Web sites such as News Corp.'s MySpace and Google Inc.'s YouTube. The portals don't just publicize concerts, they're attracting the attention of music executives looking for the next Coldplay or James Blunt.

Social networking sites are also being used by budding concert promoters. Underage Club, run by 15-year-old Sam Kilcoyne, attracted 500 fans to a sold-out concert at the Coronet theater in south London last month. Demand is so strong for Blaise Bellville's All Age Concerts that he's taking the concept on tour in the U.K. during next week's school vacations.

``If it wasn't for MySpace, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing,'' said Bellville, 22. ``Our audience would be unreachable and dispersed, and All Age Concerts wouldn't exist.''

Kilcoyne said he set up Underage Club because his friends were frustrated they couldn't see live music. ``A few of my friends could never get in,'' he said. ``It just benefits so many people.''

`Proper Crowd Surfing'

All Age Concerts' MySpace page has received more than 700 postings this year. ``Last night was JOKES!'' an attendee named Anna wrote. ``People were proper crowd surfing in the queue!''

GoldieLocks, whose real name is Sarah Akwisombe and lives in the London suburb of Croydon, posts videos and sells yellow and pink ``Neek Chic'' T-shirts on her site, for fans who think being a ``nerd and geek'' is cool. Browsers can read a blog about her joy at quitting her barista job at Starbucks to pursue music.

Web-generated publicity led to GoldieLocks signing a deal with ATC Management, a London-based group handling more established acts such as Faithless and The Rifles. She will release her first single this summer.

Hoodies and Chains

The Dingwalls concert she played at drew boys and girls in groups of as many as 15, with attire ranging from sequins and glitter to youngsters in hoodies, chains and low-riding jeans.

``Things like this are wicked,'' said Jolanda Schoon, 16, at the Dingwalls gig. ``It's nice to see new talent.''

Her mother, Julie Schoon, applies a different word to the concerts: safe.

``We probably need more of them,'' said Schoon, 51, an administrator at a public housing association. ``If they are properly managed and organized I would hope they would be safer, rather than hanging in street corners.''

These days, young people are just as likely to be glued to their computer screens, scanning networking sites and adding information to their personalized Web pages.

The number of visitors to YouTube, bought by Google for $1.65 billion in November, rose to 133.5 million in January from 9.5 million a year earlier, according to researcher ComScore Networks Inc. Visitors to MySpace, which New York-based News Corp. purchased in 2005, rose to 94.8 million from 38.9 million.

Sales Slump

Global music sales fell about 3 percent last year as a rise in downloads failed to make up for a drop in compact discs, John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive officer of the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, estimated in January.

``All signs would indicate that the future is in live music,'' Bellville said.

That's luring record companies to music Web sites and underage concerts.

Performers know that somewhere in the crowd of teenagers may lurk an artist and repertoire agent looking to sign the next big thing. That's how the Metros, a ``funky indie pop'' group of teenagers who headlined a recent London All Age event, captured a contract with 1965 Records.

``It's a haven for A&R to go and see groups,'' said Mat Schneck, manager of the Metros. The 1965 label is a joint venture between Columbia records and James Endeacott, who signed British rocker Pete Doherty and his first band, the Libertines.

At an All Age Concerts show earlier this month at the north London pub Nambucca, so many kids turned up that police were called in to control the crowd, manager Miles Petit said.

Bellville said the crowd proves that youth events have created and fed ``an exploding music scene amongst under-18's.''

The main reason is that it's now easier for kids to experience the music live, he said.

Lili, a 14-year-old who attended the Dingwalls gig, said she's happy to have a place she can get into without having to fake her age.

``You meet loads of people,'' she said. ``My mum thinks it's OK because everyone's our age.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Aisha Phoenix in London at aphoenix@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 25, 2007 19:22 EDT