Two brothers from Edgbaston have rocked the music world by launching the first unsigned band into the Top 40.

Ditto Music – run by Lee Parsons, 24, and brother Matt, 26 – made chart history when Blag, Steal and Borrow by pop-punk band Koopa reached no 31.

The pair managed to exploit a change in chart rules at the start of the year allowing digital single sales to count towards a chart position, even if there is no CD.

Lee Parsons said: "Koopa had built up a big fan base on MySpace and there were 4,000 people ready to buy.

"To get into the charts they had to launch on official websites – where the number of downloads are counted. But these don't allow music from unsigned bands. So we let Koopa use our label to launch their single and they made it to no 31."

This rule, combined with Ditto's services, allows bands who build up a number of fans through websites to reach chart stardom without being signed.

Ditto asks for a one-off fee from artists to distribute and promote their music through websites and shops – the company has built up good relationships with download websites such as wippit.com and TuneTribe.com. Once launched, the artist keeps 100 per cent of the money made from their single sales.

Originally dismissed by the music industry, the service provided by Ditto now poses a threat to the domination of the charts by major record labels.

Lee said: "Over the last two years the music industry has been evolving rapidly and the major record labels are still catching up.

"When we started they weren't concerned. The magazine Music Week dismissed us and now they're writing a big feature on us!"

Ditto was founded after Lee's own experience of the industry. On leaving school, his hip hop band Newtown was signed to a major record label, but was dropped when their first single only reached no 80 in the charts.

At the same time, Matt was working for a label and had noticed the growing desire for bands with a large online following to break into the mainstream.

Now the company is poised to move into a new office at The Custard Factory in Digbeth and has been inundated with requests from unsigned bands.

The pair have already used their record label to launch a single by Big Brother 2006 winner Pete Bennett and helped to kick off the career of Glaswegian indie duo Firebrand Boy.

They also helped to launch the band Stars in DC who, after failing to find a label, went on to sell around 2,000 copies of their single.

Now Ditto have deals in place to release singles for an unnamed EastEnders star and Birmingham club night Miss Moneypenny's.

Since Koopa's single shot into the charts, the band have been in talks with a number of record labels.

Gary Raymond, the band's manager, planned the launch of Koopa's single and had approached Ditto to release the song through their label. He said: "We'd like to thank Ditto for all their guidance, help and support every step of the way.

"They gave us the opportunity to share in chart history. Now we've got major labels knocking at the door and it's only up from here."