A teenage who makes music in his bedroom has soared to the top of an international download chart.

Crusoe Weston, 16, was gobsmacked when his acid jazz track, Soulful Swing, reached Number One on amazingtunes.com under the name Crusoe George.

The A level student, of Rugby Road, Brighton, registered 11 tracks on the website a year ago in an effort to reach a wider audience while bypassing the record labels.

He said he thought nothing more of it until website founder Paul Campbell contacted him two weeks ago, when the site went live, to say one of his tracks had shot to number four.

Then on Thursday, Soulful Swing became the number one most downloaded and listened to track on the site.

Crusoe said: "I was really happy and surprised when I heard.

"It was a bonus because I hadn't really thought about it for so long."

Crusoe, who plays the keyboard and trumpet, recorded the songs in his bedroom using musical equipment that other people had thrown out.

He said: "I've got a computer with music software and hardware, a sampling machine, a pair of decks, mixing desk and microphones.

"A lot of these things I found at the side of the road. I've compiled it all from random bits and bobs that people put out when they decided they didn't want it."

amazingtunes.com, which is being hailed as "iTunes unsigned", was set up in Newcastle to provide an outlet for musicians to raise their profile without losing substantial profits to the record companies.

The site features the music of more than 4,000 unknown artists around the world.

Users can listen to them in their entirety for free or pay to download them.

And 70 per cent of all download revenues go to the artists themselves, cutting out the record company profits.

It combines the downloading aspect of iTunes with the social networking of sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

Artists post profiles alongside their music, while fans can write reviews and create their own radio shows. The website features artists from all over the world.

Website founder Paul Campbell said Crusoe epitomised everything the site stood for. He said: "He's fresh, innovative and unique in many ways and I think that's exactly why amazing tunes has come into its own.

"The record industry hasn't really wanted to come out on a limb and give people who do things differently a voice.

"We're delighted for him and it's great he can ensure his music's heard by many thousands of people across the world."

Mr George, who has had musical success playing at Glastonbury this summer with Brighton samba band Carnival Collective, said he would be reluctant to sign up to a record label now.

He said: "I've not had any record company interest yet but, I really disagree with the big record company system of doing things so if I was offered a record deal I would have to think long and hard about it first."

  • To hear Crusoe George's Soulfull Swing click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.