Sellaband Starts Blogging
Hi there,- I’m Johan from SellaBand. Back in February of this year, when a young man named Pim approached me with the concept of SellaBand, this whole idea just blew me away. It appealed to me as a music lover first and foremost and then, after the potential had sunk in well, I just wanted to be part of this movement, so when Pim asked me to start this new company with him and then wanted me to become MD of SellaBand, I just took my chances and quit my job at SONY/BMG. Cue six months later and www.sellaband.com was launched.
Another 4 months later and here we are, with over 1,000 registered bands, more than 5,000 registered Believers, over $200,000 already invested in our artists and one very talented band who have already raised th full $50,000 to record the album they had always wanted to record but simply did not know how to do it.
Looking forward to all your questions and feedbakc and will be more than happy to discuss!
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One thing which really interests me is in what artists do “believers” invest and why? What do they get out of it?
Well, basically people ‘Believe’in all kinds of artists. What we see is that some of the bands that join us bring in the first Believers themselves, mostly friends and relatives who are kind enough to show that first and welcome support. In general, we see that we are starting to build a community of open minded music lovers from all over the globe. They listen to all sorts of music and are willing to give artists that first break that can really help them further. What does help, is if artist shows his/her commitment by being active on SellaBand. How do you do that? Be kind enough to thank people who are putting their money in you, be active enough to change your songs from time to time, post comments on other artists’ pages and just give your Believers the feeling that you mean what you are doing and that joining SellaBand was a conscious decision.
What do Believers get out of it? Well, first of all it’s supposed to be a lot of fun to get in touch with musicians you like and want to help out. Secondly, if your artist of choice raises the full 50k you will receive one limited edition CD for every $10, that you have invested in them. After the album has been recorded, the music will be released on CD and you will share in the revenues and also the songs will be available as free downloads. You will get a percentage of the profit that SellaBand will make on advertising. As soon as the first album has been recorded and the first songs are available as downloads we will publish our income online, make it as transparent as possible, so you will know exactly where you stand and if your ten bucks has already resulted in some profit.
I imagine that a major benefit for the Believers is that they are supporting a model where what they think counts. So many music listeners are not interested in the major touring bands and want to hear something fresh new and original. Even if the particular band that they believe doesn’t tour in their area- if this model works more and more interesting artists should be over time. I wouldn’t be surprised if people were pledging their belief in the model more strongly then the individual artists or group that they directly support.
I wonder if you want to, in the future, sign artists to release music exclusively through sellaband.
I think your method would be an interesting way for a record company to reduce risks when releasing new albums, because they can check the artists popularity (on a worldwide scale) before they even send the artist into the studio and spend fortunes on (failed) promotion. Maybe the record companies could offer the first 5,000 believers of one of their established artists a special edition CD and sell the normal ones in stores etc.
I’d like to add that I’m a believer of http://www.sellaband.com/secondperson and would advise readers to do the same!
Hi Ben,
Tempting suggestion, very tempting indeed;-) And coming from the corporate world of the music industry myself, I can only admit that this thought has crossed our mind, of course. As a certain Mr. J. Bond once said: “Never say never”, but at this point it is not very likely that we will do this. But I have no doubt that there will be others who will mould our concept into a more traditional company, and then let’s see what happens. Artists are always welcome to come back for a second round of crowdfunding through SellaBand, but we will always leave that decision up to them entirely. Why? First of all, this concept of SellaBand as it stands now is like a full circle. You sign up, try to get where you want to be, then do what you are allowed to do and then leave again and be as free as a bird. In several media interview I did, I’ve likened SellaBand to a trampoline and we like that idea. We provide the trampoline, but it’s up to the artist to see how high they can jump. And jumping on a trampoline requires some serious practising, I can tell you.
And then there is the influence of a young man named Pim Betist. Whereas I, being the old industry fox that I am, might be inclined to to sign artists to SellaBand Records in the future, Pim (who is the creator of the concept) is very much against that, because he invented SellaBand to HELP artists, not to hold them against their will;-) And, one of the things that is really good and powerful about SellaBand is that if Pim, myself and our third partner Dagmar, do not fully agree on certain subjects, then we just don’t do it. In other words, if we are not all three behind something for 100% then forget about it. A long answer perhaps, but there you go…
Oh, by the way, Ben. Thank your for Believing in Second Person on SellaBand. A very talented trio indeed and I am happy to inform you that we have invited them to perform at SellaBand’s first ever Live Concert, to be held in Amsterdam on January 7, 2007. Nemesea, Cubworld and The Fakes, three more really good SellaBands will also be playing, so perhaps we can meet you there as well.
Johan
I have another more technical question: If I “believe” in somebody its basically an investment – it could be into a film project, book project or almost any other product/project you can think of – but how do you secure a return. Of course there is risk and the musician you invested in does not go anywhere, but how did you solve the problem legally? I assume there are financial regulations you must adhere to?
Christian
Hi Christian,
Well, basically it is very simple: there is no risk because technically you don’t lose money. If the artist decides to leave prior to reaching $50,000, or never gets to that amount, you can always withdraw your investment and get your money back. If he/she/they record an album with SellaBand then you get a CD for every 10 bucks you have paid. It is stated clearly in our Terms & Conditions (free for everybody to watch and check) that you pay 10$ as a kind of down-payment for a CD but if the CD never comes you are permitted to get your money back. Once the CD has been recorded, you can actually share in the profits on SellaBand via advertising and CD-sales. It’s early days still, but once the first CD(‘s) has been recorded and the downloads are in operation we will publish a calculator where all Believers with Parts in recorded music on SellaBand can check their earnings. It’s open, it’s transparent and again, I think it is very simple.
btw: did you ever think about using a Creative Commons license? It works well for Magnatunes.com
They upsell music licensed under a non-commercial license via an automated license (negotation scheme) to commercial users. Its easy, quick and reliable (convenient)
Have a look at:
http://magnatune.com/info/licensing
Yes, we have looked at Creative Commons, but after lengthy internal discussions have decided to tread more familiar waters (at least more familiar to me), by forming our own publishing company and registering all our music with Sabam in Belgium, a traditional collecting rights society, but with a very forward thinking mentality as far as new initiatives, unsigned artists and online rights registration is concerned. At least, that’s how we feel after several meetings with them;-)
HI Johan
I’m playing devils advocate here for a minute (bearing in mind I really like Sellaband, and most initiatives that ‘crowdsource’ or democratise the process): but Sellaband feels very restrictive at the moment. Its all about crowdfunding but thats it. Believers gets potential share of profits, feelgood factor that they have invested in a band they like, and the CD etc, but it doesn’t open up any other part of the process other than in this crowdfunding sense.
Is that correct? Or do Believers get a chance to input (perhaps by remixing), or become part of the crew (whether touring or production) if they want to?
I’m asking this because personally I’m interested in extending the participative nature of creative production (crowdsourcing as well as crowdfunding) in http://www.aswarmofangels.com/ . But I’m thinking perhaps there’s more opportunity to do it in a film process rather than a music one?
Hi Matt,
I guess you are right to a degree. Funding the recording is the main role (‘the lead’ to stick to movie-terms) of the Believer and yes, it does seem like there are more ways for people to be involved in filmmaking than in music. Having said that, our Believers have another very important role, namely giving moral support. What we have noticed is that artists (at least on SellaBand they do) love to inter-act with their fans, love to get input and sometimes even feel truly inspired by the feedbakc they’re getting. Most artists are grateful when people even take the time to listen, but the interaction goes further. What we see is that artists try out new songs, get feedback from their Believers and then either remove them, change them, or become very proud of them. One other thing we see more and more, is SellaBand-artists working together (real collaborations on new or existing songs), and we also see Believers step in to create artwork or even brand new websites for the artists they love. But I guess, in general, the creative input of the Believer will stop there, because if they’ve had the talent to sing or play, they would’ve signed up as artists in the first place;-)
One final thing: we are very fortunate that we have people on our website who are both artist and Believer, and we do have people who are music-professionals, like producers, engineers etc. and I think it’s only a matter of time before we will start seeing the first collaborations here.
My name is Brian Taylor. I am a singer/songwriter who creates music in an Australian band called “Vegas Dragons”. Before I have my say I should let you know that I am a proud member of the Sellaband community and that our band is currently striving hard towards the $50 k total. Please feel free to check us out at: http://www.sellaband.com/vegas_dragons
I am writing this mainly for the people who have come across Sellaband for the first time and are not sure what to make of it. I have always been passionate about listening to music and creating it. However I also have a background in business and have studied Commercial Law, Accounting and Marketing and completed these studies with very high grades.
I consider myself to be quite cynical of new ideas until I research them properly. This was how I originally felt about Sellaband before I read more. I am striving to make a living in the music industry – one of the hardest professions to make a decent living in.
This is an industry where your hard work is often overlooked due to the massive number of very talented bands competing for attention. This is an industry where the artist is a slave to the massive music corporations that put chains on their artists for life. When you do spend many thousands of dollars of your own money creating the product (your music and CDs) you have to fight hard just to promote it and get it heard. You have to deal with people ripping your music off for free on the internet, with venues who underpay you (or who try not to pay you at all) and with major radio stations that refuse to play music of artists that have not sold a million CDs.
(It would have been much easier for me to become a lawyer or an accountant, I can tell you!)
I have spent over $55,000 creating “the product” (the music) and take it very seriously. I love my music but I know more than anyone that this is a business and I want to get a return on my investment. After thorough research of Sellaband I became a great believer in the concept.
Here are some of the positives of Sellaband for you to consider:
* As an artist you own your masters. At the end of 12 months you keep the rights of YOUR music.
This is unheard of in the music industry – unless you are Ray Charles! The music (record) companies are not darlings – they put up their money but it is not out of the kindness of their heart. This is a loan and they expect you to pay back every cent that they have invested in you. They expect a return. They do not spend time nurturing the artist these days. They will dump you coldly and without notice and suck you dry- and they keep your music for life. With Sellaband they do their very best to promote you for free, the Managing Director of Sellaband has taken the time to advise me personally on my music and will allow me to own the music I slave to create.
* Your music is heard world wide!
Thanks to Sellaband our music is heard in every part of the world. We have investors in Australia, The UK, The Netherlands, Spain, Germanyand Latvia that we have never met. I am here in Sydney, Australia but our music travels the world and is attracting attention and vital investment from all corners of the world. As I write this someone in a part of the world I have never visited is listening to Vegas Dragons and considering investing their hard earned dollars, pounds, yen etc etc in our future. That is amazing!
* The potential is astounding.
Can you imagine that when our band visits The Netherlands we will already have a fanbase created that will come and see us play? With our new fan’s help from all over the world we will be able to sell out venues that were simply impossible without Sellaband.
* World wide contacts.
A&R music executives, producers and music industry experts from all around the world are watching the artists closely, especially the artists in the top 20 (where our band is currently placed) The exposure is unbelievable. One of our investors is a very respected A&R expert from the UK! Thank you Mr Adam Sieff!
* It is free to join.
As an artist you can join Sellaband for free. All it costs you is your time. You network and you find believers. If you can find 5,000 of them – you record your music. Wow!
I could go on and on… (and I have – sorry) but I think that this concept is wonderful and Vegas Dragons are devoting all efforts to reaching that goal.
As a musician I am impressed. However as a man with a head for business, I am even more impressed. I think that Sellaband will be massive 18 months from now. I believe the promotion and free publicity a band will receive just by reaching the $50,000 will be worth ANOTHER $50,000 in itself.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Brian Taylor
Vegas Dragons
Spellbox is very impressed with the sellaband model. We’ve been through the traditional music biz routes and have only for the powers that be wanting another “Faith Hill” or “britney” clone. Sellaband has already gained us new fans in global markets. We believe in sellaband because it does let the listener decide what is great music and what is not. Thanks for the wonderful support, Sellaband!
I read about Sellaband on a blog, and thought it was too good to be true, so researched it thoroughly before signing on as an artist.
It is a fantastic concept as it brings music back into the realm of the listener…. where the listener/investor/believer has the control as to what artist gets recorded professionally, and released upon the world. The model brings musicians and listeners together, where both are in business.
The returns are potentially huge as well. Apart from getting a limited edition cd for each share (of 5000 shares), the real meat is the revenue from cd’s sold around the world, and advertising revenue from Sellaband when they feature some free downloads from the album. All profits are shared equally between Sellaband, the investors, and the artists.
Compare that with the traditional music business model (Johan would have all the knowledge on this), where I believe an artist is lucky to get $2 per cd sold, and the master are owned by the record company. Not only that, profit from ‘best of’ cd`s are only for the record company… the artist gets nothing. So it’s a much fairer opportunity for the artist to create music, and the only opportunity I know of so far where anyone can invest in an artist and their music. Many artists on Sellaband have offered incentives to the first believers, of signed demo cd`s etc. Even then investors can choose to move or refund their money. It’s not used until the $50k is reached.
Sellaband goes beyond the music though. I’ve only been an artist on Sellaband a month, and have already got some great personal connections with investors, and other artists. One day I`ll perform in each of their back-yards, just for them and their friends. Getting an artist to the goal is a team effort, and requires hard work from both artist, Sellaband, and investors.
With Johan’s background and contacts, the last piece in the puzzle is complete…. the marketing and distribution. So Sellaband has all the cards, and it’s only just begun. It’s going to be huge in 2007, when Nemesea’s album is released (they reached $50k in three months) and the word continues to be spread. So get your investments in the artists you believe in, while you can.
You can see my profile at http://www.sellaband.com/mandyleigh/
[...] Just two months ago Johan from Sellaband wrote on this blog. Back then Sellaband was already a success, but now the first two artists have received 50k US from supporters of their music. What was only possible in theory a couple of years ago (remember the Street Performer Protocol) turns out to work. Distributed investment by thousands of people in products they love before they actually make any money. Johan wrote today: Over $100,000 was invested on SellaBand in the month of January alone, we are now over 1,800 bands and on the 12th of January, American artist Cubworld became the second artist to raise the ful 50k on SellaBand. He will hopefully start recording his record in April/May. The same goes for Dutch band Nemesea, who have lined up their production team. It included legendairy producer Tony Platt (AC/DC, Iron Maiden), dance guru Ronald Molendijk and mixing engineer Ronald Prent (Rammstein, Kane, Lacuna Coil, Grönemeyer). The current number one in our budget ranking is a UK outfit called Second Person. They are currently over $20,000 in budget. [...]
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