Nemesea In Store

Alright, the news is a couple of months old, but today I actually saw a Sellaband CD on the shelves of a brick and mortar record store! You can buy a regular edition In Control by Nemesea at Velvet in Delft for a bit less than 10 euro. It must have been pure excitement (or the remainder of that virus) that made me do such a louse photo job. Anyway, now going for that first Second Person CD - one of whose sales I might actually benefit.... (VB)

Sellaband-Amazon deal hits Dutch major newspaper

The Volkskrant, one of the two Dutch major national newspapers, had a short snippet about the Amazon deal this morning. Alright, numbers are always difficult for a journalist (35k instead of 30k, 7 artists having albums out?) and as far as I know the deal was only with Amazon.co.uk and not the .com parent company (not really sure what the organization structure of Amazon is). But small articles like these appearing more regularly are the key to making Sellaband the household name it should be. At least they spelled the name right! (VB)
Edit 6/01/2008: The release date on Amazon of all three CDs (Nemesea, Second Person, Cubworld) in regular and limited editions is set to the 21st of January. You can view the CDs here.

A Song from the Attic (3)

This week another page in the diary got written... with a song! A Christmas song has appeared out of thin air - was it perhaps the ghost of Christmas past that held the pen? In these dark days close to Yule the past, present and future get easily intertwined. Although the signature at the bottom of the page is easily taken for that of a known songstress of our time one can never be sure!
I feel this may be the last entry in this diary in this form. Now that the lyrics are written only music needs to take shape. Perhaps this story will take a different turn, in a different time, in a different form....

“Noël, Noël,
Un seul voeux vers les cieux
Te retrouver, Noël

All the pretty places are calling me
I want more than their faces, want to dive deep
But there are guns in our suitcases
And I don’t know if I will make it through the day
You say that your season is one of joy
So I am counting the days to another Christmas Holiday
For I don’t have the strength to fight no more
And I need you to remind me of just what we’re fighting for
…Where are you Christmas?

Lying, in my bed
Fighting my thoughts, fighting your hymn
La-la-la-la-la-…
You say that your season is one of joy
So I am counting the days to another Christmas Holiday
‘Cause I don’t have the strength to fight no more
And I need you to remind me of just what we’re fighting for
…Where are you Christmas?

If I could, I would sail across the waters, a white flag in my hand
Longing to feel safe again, warm again, in your arms again
‘Cause I don’t have the strength to fight no more
And I need you to remind me of just what we’re fighting for
…Where are you Christmas? …Where are you Christmas?”

© A. Arsenault

A Song from the Attic (2)

A week or two ago I told you about the old diary I found at the attic - and now I'm getting back to it because it makes me believe I'm insane. When I picked it up again yesterday a new entry had appeared out of nowhere... someone's still writing in it! Is it a ghost of times long past? Only if 'recording software' once had a meaning different from what we know today... piecing together parts of the puzzle. Although I feel this ghost is benign it definitely has some unfinished business to attend to! Read with me:

So I did finally get to sleep after recording my little improvisational session in the middle of the night. Now, the morning after the birth of a song, I wake up wondering if what I have created is any good at all! This is when I get critical and judgemental; this is when the real work begins.

I open up my recording software to retrieve my last piece of creation and while looking at the piano track on the screen, I remember - oh yeah, this is 15 minutes long! Yikes!! That is way too long for a song, unless we’re talking about Led Zeppelin of course. So what I attempt to do is go through the recording and see what parts I want to keep and what parts can be canned in order to make something that somewhat resembles a modern song structure. This is where some self doubt, combined with the ego’s desires, tries to make it’s way in. Is this good enough? Can I really make a song worth listening to out of this? Will people like it?

I try to calm the voices in my head and get to work. I take the track and start cutting it up and changing the sequence of sections or repeating certain passages with a little copy and paste. This of course, is just to give an idea of what order the music will be in. The next part will be arranging the music and re-recording the whole thing plus adding layers if I decide to do so.

What about a text? Well, if I listen carefully to the soft notes that sometimes came out of my low volume voice in the recording, I can make out words and sometimes phrases: “All the pretty places are calling me. I want more than their faces; I want to dive deep”. Well, it’s not much, but it’s a start! There are a few more words that I can make out. Let’s see what else I can find here and then add some more to make a storyline. I feel a title coming on… yep. There is definitely a title in there. So the song shall be called,… (AA)

Wanted: Graphics Designers

Thinking of how music makes a great gift, I thought Sellaband may have a lot of gift giving potential for the upcoming holiday season. But currently there are only two options besides wrapping one of your superfluous Cubworld, Nemesea or Second Person Limited Editions: Ordering a CD from the store which to my knowledge does not know how to gift-wrap, or to get one or more gift parts.
Now I don't know about you, but somehow my heart fails to beat faster at the idea of giving out (or receiving) a festive present in the form of a code like "A562Bh72Y" and by e-mail too!
The least I would like to do is to take that code and put it in printed form on a good looking card. Besides communicating the spirit of Christmas, New Year and (not too obvious) Sellaband the design should of course also contain clear instructions on how to claim that gift and before which date that should be done. Ideally you could enter the gift part specific data on your computer, and print out the whole card yourself.
Assuming that SAB HQ is a bit tied up at the moment, and my own graphical skills are limited, is there perhaps someone to volunteer? Perhaps a few volunteers for different designs? When you're done post it on the web somewhere and pm me so I can put a link in this post for all to use. If you don't have any webspace to put it, pm me too and we'll work something out (VB)

A Song from the Attic

When clearing out an old dusty attic recently I came across a diary that looked as if it's been lying there for ages. I started reading and it appeared to be from a musician, or composer, of times long past. After hours of reading I came to the last page, where the date read November 4th, but as with the earlier pages the year had been omitted. On closer scrutiny the ink on this page seems to be different from the other ones... almost fresh. As the content may be of interest to the Sellablog readership I copy this entry:

The Birth of a Song

With so much noise going on in my head at times, the daylight seems to pass by too quickly and the nights can be restless and long. Last night, I decided to try what many have suggested and get out of bed instead of trying to force some shut eye. So I did. I got up, at about 1AM, and went to sit at my piano.

Of course, one of the main reasons why I could not get to sleep was because of a melody in my head that would not leave me alone. Sitting across an impressive line-up of black and white keys, I decided to see if this melody could actually take me somewhere. When my fingers finally made contact with the notes, and a feeling of calm entered my mind, I then realized that I was to be taken somewhere. With my recording software on, I played the piano for over 15 minutes non-stop. Of course, that is quite a bit long for a song but I always try to leave limitations and judgement at the door when the creative process comes to visit me.

The music always comes first. Then, as I’m sliding into different piano chords, a melody escapes my vocal chords (ever so softly as I am doing my best not to wake the neighbours!) and sporadic words appear. At first, they don’t mean anything to me, but when I let them come, they somehow turn into phrases. The emotions of the music dictate the meaning of these lyrics and soon enough, I have a theme for a song.

So tonight, at around 1:30 in the morning, a song was born. Now, I go back to bed and feel I will sleep like a baby. AA

Reinvesting still has to happen...

Sellaband has before been accused of being a 'pyramid scheme', but in my opinion people making these accusations just don't understand the Sellaband model. A true pyramid scheme is built on money flowing from newer entrants to older ones, who are then the only ones making actual money and usually for no apparent reason or value add.
Sellaband differs on two key points here: First, actual value is created by artists who make music other people are willing to pay for - directly or indirectly. Secondly, money flows into Sellaband because of this added value and from sources who do not have to "buy in" to the whole "believer" scheme: Music buyers and advertisers.
This doesn't mean that Sellaband isn't built on a growth model - it is! Up to this point growth has come from two main sources: New believers, and existing believers willing to put more money in. So, if both the number of believers increase and each invests a monthly amount, you'd expect the total invested sum to increase double, right? All the more reason why the actual graph for the past 200 days (see above) is intriguing: Instead of the expected upward curve it is basically a straight line! One must conclude that either there aren't many new believers, they aren't investing much or current believers are holding back on increasing their share. The latter hypothesis is supported by anecdotal evidence of people saying "they hold back until the model has proven itself" or "are simply broke" (hopefully figuratively speaking!).
This points us to the third growth source of the total invested sum in Sellaband artists, which is the revenue of CD sales and advertisement income which is distributed over believers. While people are allowed to take that money out, it seems that the average believer is willing to reinvest as expressed on the Sellaband forum. Unfortunately, for many there isn't much to reinvest mainly because it takes quite some time, up to 6 months or more, between the moment an artist reaches 50k and actual CD sales starting. With only 3 full CDs currently released it may take a while before Sellaband profits from leverage of earlier investments. Until then, we'll probably be seeing the straight line a bit longer... (VB)

Interview with rising star Kaitee Page

Despite her September 12 profile start date, Kaitee Page has only been actively pursuing the Sellaband 50k recording budget since the 17th of October - yet she managed to secure over $2000 in those first 10 days. This also at a time that much attention went to no less than three artists over the famous 40k limit, walking or running their final stretch to the finish line. So what are we looking at here? Is it just the novelty of a girl with a violin (or viola, as I stood corrected) or is it more the long list of people from the industry she has already worked with? Nothing to do but ask herself!

How did you enjoy your first week on Sellaband?
It sort of felt like moving into a new neighborhood. I felt like the new kid on the block that had to learn the ways of the land, know what I mean? but it was fun sort of exploring the 'streets' and meeting my 'neighbors' and making new friends (laughs). I had to ask a lot of questions that first week because I was so curious about everything! I felt kind of shy because I didn't know how people would be on this site - whether they'd be really competitive or overtly honest about their musical opinions, etc. but I was pleasantly surprised at how truly supportive everyone is of one another! Everyone is so nice!

The first thing people seem to notice about you is your 'classical' acoustic instrumentation, and your profile picture emphasises that. You also play classical viola but your own music is pure rock. How do classical Kaitee and rock Kaitee get along?
The classical side of me definitely gives the rock side the skill to be able to play what I hear in my head. And the rock side gives the classical side the freedom to just go with it and let my hair down so to speak. Part of the 'rock' side of me is the risk taker - the side that just jumps into things. And having a classical background has made the spills I've taken over the years a little less painful.
Overall, I think when I write music and perform on stage, the rock side takes over the majority of it because that's the side that is ruled by emotion. The classical side definitely creeps in when I'm writing because I've been hearing classical progressions since I was 7 so I tend to lean toward that end of things.

You have played in bands for a number of years, but made an (I assume) conscious decision to go solo in 2006 and you registered at Sellaband under your own name. Yet your music is written for a rock band and you perform live with one. How should we see that?
Well, I left the band Porcelain in June 2006. I wasn't the lead singer of that band, just violinist/keyboard/back-up singer. I started fronting my own band, singing songs I wrote, in July 2006. I actually 'went solo' and started to go by my own name this past June 2007. As much as I truly truly wanted a real band, I realized that people come and go for various reasons and to keep having to get substitute band members every time someone couldn't do a gig, or commit to other opportunities like festivals and tours that came our way... well it just wasn't making sense anymore. No one seemed to be able to make that big of a commitment to one project, which is understandable when there's no money involved. So it's easier for me to just let whoever is available play gigs with me whenever they want, as long as they can play well (smiles).
I don't do many acoustic shows alone because for some reason, when I write songs I hear all the instruments in my head and, at least at this point in my life, the underlying emotion is usually very dramatic and epic. I can't convey that emotion as well by myself on keys, and I can't play violin and keyboard at the same time (laughs)! So I guess in short, the decision to go solo was more of a business decision, but the decision to play with a full band was an artistic decision, to serve the music and the songs.

You have moved to the UK from New York. What brought you to reverse the Englishman in New York's route?
I actually was living in LA for a while before I moved to London. Being born and raised in upstate New York, I realized that I function better in the cold! LA is just sun sun sun all the time every day. It was actually really irritating - to me (laughs). A lot of people really love LA so I shouldn't go off about it, but I just knew it was time for a change. I didn't want to go back to Albany, so I thought about Seattle, Austin and Boston... but London won! I came for a couple of visits out here first and made some contacts with musicians and also some industry people. It's been 10 months so far, with the occasional return to the states for touring mostly, and I'm trying to make it permanent! I love London!

You have profile pages on ReverbNation, Angelfire, MySpace, PureVolume, Garageband, Vox.com, to name but a few, and of course http://www.kaiteepage.com/. How do you manage your online presence and how does Sellaband fit into this list?
Right now I put the most time into Sellaband and MySpace. Sellaband because I'm so absolutely ready to record I can't stand it, and MySpace because it's the best way right now to get people to come out to shows. It's funny, I really do have a huge fanbase on MySpace, but I've had the toughest time getting them over to Sellaband so far. Granted, it's only been 2 weeks, or actually 10 days, but I'm sort of surprised that people aren't jumping on it. But yeah, I made an effort to sign up on every site I've ever heard of for that reason - not everyone uses every site, and not everyone is going out searching for me and my music (laughs). In these beginning stages, I think it's on the artist to go out and expose people to their music whatever way they can. Online is just easiest because I dont' have to get off my butt to do it (laughs)! But busking is a good way as well as playing lots of shows and touring, which I love.

Some websites mention your debut album is expected "this december"... How does Sellaband fit into that?
Oh yeah, I need to go erase that (sighs!). The songs of mine that are posted online right now are the ones that were supposed to be the album that was supposed to be due this december. Unfortunately the tracks turned out more as demo quality recordings than album quality and a lot of tracks were never completed by the engineer/mixer. So I need to find that site and correct it - which one was that? Yeah, I recorded those songs from October 2006 to February 2007 and it was a great learning experience, but I definitely didn't get the results I was
expecting, for various reasons. So there's no album coming any time soon, except from sellaband (smiles)!

Can we expect the songs that are on your profile to be on that Sellaband CD?
Yes. This album has been in the making for over a year and I definitely have a clear vision of what it is and what it means. It's actually a concept album dealing with depression, self-destruction, seduction, deception, suicide, insanity, perception... all the crazy mental states that can affect how we see and interpret the world around us. It's a very dark album inspired by some very dark times I went through, but it's also a story with hope intertwined throughout - so it won't be entirely depressing, don't worry! The 3 songs that are online right now (the uglylights, wake up, and crash) will definitely be on it, perhaps rearranged, re-worked, and with a new life to them, but they'll be there for sure.

What else is currently 'out there' of your music?
Well, I have no releases yet. Of the recordings done early this year I only received 6 songs, and then I recorded 2 more songs in september 2007 of which I still haven't received final mixes. So overall there are probably about 10 songs floating around of mine - all demo quality. I've written about 30 songs, I think? The other 20 were recorded on a cassette 4-track and they live here in my hard drive until further notice...

What is your first experience with Sellaband as a community, and are there any artist features on the website you'd like to have added?
Oh, I think this answer will be the same as the first question... everyone was really nice, etc. I was just thinking about this today actually - I'd love to have an Annual Artist-Support-Artist Day on Sellaband whereby artists who have the means buy 1 part in another artist on one day each year. I know some artists are already creating believer profiles and buying parts in lots of different other bands, but I think it'd be great if everyone supported each other in some small way! Maybe it could be on the anniversary day of the beginning of Sellaband (smiles). Other than that maybe a better way to announce gigs to each other. And maybe a feature that helps artists who live in the same city try to plan gigs together if they want.

And finally for the question a lot of us (well, me and other Dutchies) are dying to hear the answer to: When will you be playing in the Netherlands?
Hahaa!! I'm going to research the idea and if it's not too expensive I'm thinking about playing a show there in February or March because I have a friend who lives in The Hague! I still have to see if the Dutch venues will book me though? But that would be so fun!!!!! (VB)

Mojo Concerts Seeks Cooperation with Record Industry

Dutch (near monopolistic) concert organizer Mojo announced through the Dutch media this week that it will seek cooperation with record companies. According to Mojo they need the record companies to scout and support new artists - who can then of course have their gigs arranged by Mojo. Mojo sounds even willing to pay the record industry for their A&R work, thus sharing in the increase that live performances have in the total artist revenue. For a moment I thought this was a bad thing, keeping the dinosaurs alive - but then I remembered that We Are The Record Company! It must be that Sellaband staff are already talking to Mojo and soon cash will be flowing our way... or do we really expect SellaGig to take off soon? (VB)

Light's Out

I don't want to dramatize Light's departure from Sellaband this week, but it was a sad moment when her profile page actually disappeared. Her reasons for focusing her attention elsewhere are completely her own, but truth is that her Sellaband account only barely made it past $4000 in almost a year. One of the most original and hardworking artists on Sellaband, who has at this time financed and recorded two CDs by herself, would not get to 50k within 10 years at this rate. To me, this means that Sellaband is still far from the green pastures where musicians from any genre will find an audience to finance their CD, given they have enough quality. Light's music will not die, but it will not live through Sellaband either. The Long Tail of Sellaband is still quite a short one...

Don't ask what your country can do for you....

Now, in this never ending search after what Sellaband actually IS (a record company? a community? a way to meet friends who like your music?) I think Bulletproof Messenger (BPM) have just made an interesting move. In sight of the 50k finish line they have asked existing believers to hold off further investments.... unless as parts given to other people to increase the fan base. While this may not be entirely without benefit to the band, I think this is a great way of paying back some of the 1st place visibility to SAB. Kennedy would have been proud.... (if he were in any way interested in music, that is. Oh well). Below a quoted message from BPM to their believers. (VB)

Alright everyone, 1st off thanks for getting us this far... as we have said before, this is a strange strange request, but please.... hold your investments,... we are NOT saying we dont want to hit 50, but we want 1000 believers... we feel the point of SAB is to SPREAD the idea and concept to as many people as possible, and we hope that these last 10K will not be taken in huge chunks by small amounts of believers...

To say the least, from an investors standpoint and artists standpoint, you need fans to get your material to... imagine 200 more people at a show...with us being number 1 in line... we have the power to make this site better than it has been before... use us as an example and spread the word to get us 1000 believevers.... think about this an extra 200 fans (From 800-1000) could in the long run make it more profitable for everyone... imagine how many new people 200 new believers could reach... so please... as we said before... 1000 belivers BEFORE hitting 50K!!

thanks again for all your support!!!

What is Radiohead's new album worth?

Worth to you, that is. Just a day before Sellaband laid out their new plans Radiohead announced big time that anyone downloading their new album can set their own price. This was actually one of the models proposed in the forum discussions leading to the new Sellaband plan, but I am not unhappy that it's not in there. It's definitely a nice gesture and perhaps one of the models of the future, but it may help big time if you're one of worlds most famous bands to make people pay even voluntarily. I just don't think it would have been a great model for music that has to still find its audience... or is that just being conservative? Now, let me read the remainder of the SAB plans...

The worst pic ever...

Trusting that others would bring their pricey photo gear to Zwoel, the Amsterdam gig at famous standup comedian stage Toomler, this is just the best pic I made. Even between its fellow camera phones, mine just seems proud to underachieve big time! Nevertheless, I don't care. It was nice to have an introduction to BBConnected, a band with a nice stage presence, but I came for T-Ka who has managed to skip Amsterdam sofar in her long line of concerts. No regrets there - the two person band laid down a great rhythm to which T-Ka herself could layer her keyboard and vocals. Just great sights and sounds... next time, just not on a Sunday night please!

Bim's first gig!

The crazy things you do when you're on Sellaband.... would I have otherwise travelled two-and-a-half hours forth and two-and-a-half hours back to see Bim do their first 6-or-7-song performance on a small open air festival in Chesham? No! Of course not! Most likely because I would have never even heard of Bim...
So, I thought that being in London for a work conference would make it easy to hop over to Chesham, a short distance on the map. Not so! Busses getting stuck in rush hour and bad underground connections made me fearful of missing Bim's 16:30 performance, and when I got to realize that part of the tube journey was to be on a replacement bus service due to engineering works I was sure to miss it. It was only because I was already on that bus not knowing how long it would take that I decided to *not* get out and head back.
When I finally found Francis Yard, the location of the Drawing Room Gallery/cafe which organized the festival, it was about 18:00 so when I saw Bim on stage lugging instruments I knew I had just missed them!...
Wait a minute... it does take them an awful lot of time to get those instruments off stage... and why are they tuning and sitting down? It took a while before I believed my luck, and as it turned out they had been waiting for their own personal 'fanclub' (including Katy Davis from Gobblynne animation, who made the Second Person animation videos) to arrive on the same bus service I was on.
So, about the gig: it was good to have seen it! While delaying the performance had obviously not helped to quiet the inevitable nerves of a first gig, Bim proved they really don't need the two covers they were playing. I'm pretty sure the only reason they did play those covers is the time and effort it takes to ready all their material for live performance. Bim's own songs really stand being performed live on stage, and I believe they are accessible enough to not need famous filler songs to keep the audience's attention. It was interesting to see how the cello player they brought with them added to the material, and that the songs do not depend on the electronics that were used on their home studio recordings. Speaking of electronics... the PA system used was rather basic, proving that Rebecca's and Tim's voices are truly good even without layers of filtering and reverb. Not to say there weren't the occasional uncertain notes, but I'm very sure that was also because it just is hard to sing harmonies with just one voice per vocal group - especially when you're not used to using amplification or singing outside. More live performances will surely make Bim a live treat just as much as their recorded songs are on your own CD or mp3 player. So when they do play that concert hall in perhaps two years' time, I can say "I've seen their first gig!".

As a final note: being late did make me miss the stage acts of two other Sellaband artists, Cris Tanzi and Rachaelrachael, who made this a partial Sellaband happening (VB)

Revolution

With all the discussions about the future essentials of Sellaband on the forums I couldn't help but think of some four guys' own revolution about 35 years ago. A revolution of a different kind, but some of their lyrics' lines do strike a chord with me. All rights respected!

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money
for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
Ah

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
all right, all right, all right
all right, all right, all right

(The Beatles, lyrics, and Banksy, grafitty)

A hundred times thousand

Perhaps it is because Vegas Dragons preferred to walk and not run across the finish line, but them reaching 50k a week or so ago did not induce parts fatigue as it used to do before. Instead, investment in current runners for eternal fame Bulletproof Messenger and Julia Marcell kept on steadily increasing. Now for a different statistic, however. This is the week in which 100 (one hundred) artists were at or above $1000 - not counting the 8 already at their target. To me this number indicates a virtual threshold and indicator if an artist can really attract a crowd. Arbitrary, yes, but a good sign nevertheless. Sellaband attracts good music.

Sellabration Congratulation video

In the weeks before the Sellabration 2007 concert in Paradiso believers and artists sent in their congratulation video's. They would have been shown on the projection screen at the concert had it not been for some technical problems. Today a compilation has finally been posted on youtube!

Sellabration 2007

A blog isn't exactly the easiest medium for a photo compilation, but since I've got this hammer Sellabration 2007 looks like the proverbial nail so here goes - my impression of Sellabration 2007!

Francis Rodino and (downsized) band are warming up the crowd at the Leidseplein with an acoustic set while some volunteers are handing out flyers to make sure people know these are not just bums looking for some change - but will settle for no less than $50000!

According to Lucia Iman's bass player Pete we should all become like Jehova's Witnesses preaching the Sellaband gospel from year 2 on (see? we even got our own calendar!). Despite my slightly different take on this (it takes the average Jehova's Witness about 30 years for one conversion so I think harassment on Sundaymorning is not the way to go to convert people into believers) it seems as if Johan is taking up a role as TV preacher... thanks to the stained glass windows of the old church that Paradiso was. Touch the screen, err, red button and Believe!

Daniel Ward-Murphy, a stayer at the Sellaband pages, kicked off the evening with a stunning live set. I've heard his songs many times on the site thinking they were among many good songs by good artists but I never pressed the red button. This set supported by a cellist, violinist and female vocalist however, turned me into a believer at once. Here is one artist to be reckoned with - self confident on stage and as ready to play a 2000 person venue as a 200 one. The songs I knew from the site got a different quality on stage and I'm not ashamed to say that despite him being around for quite some time now DWM was my 'new' discovery this evening.

Mandyleigh was the first of -as they were announced- three singing ladies who all came from far, so they had to share their guest musicians. That is, except for Casper and Maaike (from Caya) who gave Mandyleigh special support on acoustic guitar and vocals. A very nice collaboration!

The stage turned into a Colombian dance floor with Lily's performance of some of her Latin/Pop fusion which, combined with the remark in the Tribune that with effort she had reduced her shortlist of songs for the CD to 20 (to be further reduced to 12), promises a lot for the forthcoming CD. Wish I had bought more parts when I still could!

Clemence used her time on stage to give us a preview of what some of her songs on her CD would sound when sung in English, and I must say it doesn't work for me. I'm sure that releasing a bilingual CD opens up a larger market, but to me Clemence's appeal was specifically formed by her French style of music and performance that should be complemented by French lyrics. Nevertheless the audience was clearly impressed and I'd love to have a slight peek into the future what the CD sales will do. These can only be good!

Cubworld was the first artist on stage with a Sellaband CD out, and with his third performance in front of a crowd of believers (the second in Paradiso!) did a great and professional set.

Second Person could not fulfill on the promise of playing the new album The Elements in its entirety - however, the Alphabet Song and (which other song?) that replaced two of the five elements were by no means fillers. The video with the song Wood that I hadn't had time to see before certainly showed a darker side of the band's music, and made one very curious for the other four video's.
[Shameless advertising: Buy your copy of The Elements HERE!]

After the grand finale by Nemesea, providing for the welcome rock in the programme, an end came to this eclectic evening showing the true diversity of Sellaband. Next time however, I wouldn't mind to see fewer bands each a bit longer on stage - podium changes did take quite some time, and I believe that some of the artists were only warming up when they had to make room for the next one. This night in any case ended with the deservedly self congratulating team, and for me with a number of bad train connections - but I got home, at least. Stories are being created and told about wild afterparties, but look elsewhere for those! See you all next time! (VB)

Back from rehab

Everything is different at Sellaband. With SAB it's not the artists but the believers who need to go into rehab once in a while to fight off their severe addiction! For me this meant being cut off from the Sellaband website for a three week cold turkey treatment. I was able to check e-mail once in a while, but being able to read only the headlines of the Tribune resuming after the summer break really tested my perseverance and will to not run into the nearest internet cafe (fortunately not many were present in the Italian Alps). I did get some satisfaction of reading by e-mail that my pre-announcement of breaking the 1M US$ barrier was proven right (see picture from Sellabration 2007 slideshow), but most of all: I had a great Sellabandless time. Now I can check back all those mails and forum posts, but only after visiting Sellabration 2007 - the truest test of my now hopefully contained addiction! (VB)

The magic quarter

It is not a magic coin that I'm talking about in the title, as it could have been in these HP times, but about the percentage of Sellabands that have risen above $0 in parts. Many believers, the Sellaband team included, have wondered what type of person or band would enlist on a site like Sellaband and not be prepared to shell out $10 out of their own pocket, or even their parents', grandparents' or friends'.
My bigger amazement however, is about the fixed statistical nature of this group of artists... since I started recording these numbers on the 21st of April their percentage of the total number of artists has been almost exactly 75%. You might think this changes over time, but no: even of the artists that sign up today, only a quarter will ever get going on the road to 50k.
The statistics: The bandwidth of artists with at least $10 on their account is between 24.95% and 26.05% of the total. One percent at this moment is about 46 artists, so this whole variation is only about as much as the number of artists that sign up in three days... Such numbers never fail to amaze me... (VB)

Underrated: Angie Arsenault

Around the time of the London Calling concert a believer-who-will-not-be-named (just kidding!) listed a number of artists on his site that he thought were underrated. "What's up with this!!??" I thought, as each and every single one of these artists were already on the first three pages of the Artist roster. How can you call artists with thousands of dollars behind their name 'underrated'? This sounds more like investment advice, but Sellaband has no differentiated share price, so one moment to start believing is as good as the other...
Now here's my definition of underrated: An artist who despite clear artistic talent and market potential does not seem to get past $1000 or a 100 parts. Perhaps their music is a bit out of the mainstream, perhaps they don't have pretty pictures up and perhaps they don't show their face on the Sellaband website enough (because they're working hard on their music!?). Perhaps it's just that we need more believers to keep all good artists in the picture.
My perfect example of this kind of artist is Angie Arsenault, a songwriter/singer/piano player from Canada. In the first weeks of her joining Sellaband in April she rose quickly to a couple of hundred dollars, and then she got stuck. I won't guess as to the reasons why, but nothing changed in the quality of her material and the strong way she performs it. She works hard on her music, and puts a new video of a song up on YouTube in her Shattered Windows series every couple of weeks (see photo, videos found through her website). Her full first EP is even downloadable for free, in exchange for your e-mail address!
Wherever Angie is in the roster now, she deserves to be among the page 1 and 2 artists! This artist needs to be noticed! (VB)

Sellabrating the first million!

I'm sure that many Sellabandees, myself included, are already planning to celebrate the first anniversary of Sellaband at the concert in Paradiso the 16th of August. We all wish that by then we can also celebrate the 8th or 9th artist to make the 50k, but many won't realize that by that time we may also be celebrating the first million US$ invested! This calculation is based on some rough statistics: the average growth is about $4000 a day and starting from around $900000 today that will be 25 days from now. Of course, summer holidays can spoil the fun, as the actual daily increase ranges from a high $6000-$8000 right before an artist hits their target to only about $600 (right before Mandyleigh started her final leg of the journey). Given that the Paradiso celebration party is still 42 days away though, I'd give the million a 90% chance by then. And that's based on no calculations whatsoever! I only feel sorry for the Sellaband team, because since the first money has already been spent on making some fine CDs they can't pile it all up at their offices as in the photo! (VB)
Edit 13/07/2007: My estimates in this post were rather conservative. The way things are going now, the first 1M should be reached before the end of July!

The Sellaband Contract

Brian -the Dragon- Taylor has used the recently opened Sellaband forum to post a question that becomes relevant now that the first artists are almost releasing their first Sellaband album: what to do afterwards as an artist? Re-enlist for the second album or look elsewhere? The good thing is: As with their attempt to reach their recording target for the first time, an artist doesn't have to choose! The term "exclusive contract" is not found on Sellaband. I find it therefore quite funny that the "Music Managers Forum Nederland (MMFnl)" criticizes the Sellaband contract as unfair to the artist according to this article (in Dutch). Does the MMFnl believe they should protect the artist in general against unfair practices of the industry? Perhaps they should read the contract that Francis Rodino was offered early June (read this entry on the unofficial forum or go directly to the posted contract). I can't help but think that the traditional music industry is finally taking notice of Sellaband and is starting the inevitable FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) campaign!

Clemence

Second Person

Maitreya ft. Clemence

Maitreya ft. Francis Rodino

Maitreya ft. Jake (Cubworld)

Bulletproof Messenger

Lucia Iman

Breakfast at Fiori's

Sellablog is in London! After a lazy morning (I don't like Mondays) I went to get breakfast at Fiori's (no, not Tiffany's). Good espresso here, and ill humoured waitresses.... feel like in Italy! Haven't spotted other obvious Sellabandees at the hotel or surroundings, but I've heard some Dutch spoken.... your reporter remains anonymous sofar!

Sellaband Limited Edition CD Shop

And there it was, on my Sellaband homepage, a drop down list to select how many Second Person CD's I'd actually like to be sent home once they were finished... What? Don't I get them all sent home? Oh, that too is an option.

They caught me by surprise, the Sellaband team, but that's part of the fun in being in this unique experiment. Nothing they do, however, is without consequence. I won't speak about 'small' things like "where does the postage go" or "whose CD will be sold first" because that will sort itself out as the team has a record of being transparent and open to comments. No, I believe there are slightly bigger consequences of opening up shop with the limited edition CDs.

For one, up until now I'd figured that people who had still CDs to spare after harrassing all their friends into buying one would turn to eBay and sell the remainder to the highest bidder. "Limited Edition" would actually mean "not for sale in shops", and the sale price would soon be determined by rarity and demand and could be $15, $18 or perhaps $20. In time, a healthy second hand market would put an incentive on believing in artists that could gather a cult following willing to pay a premium over $15 per CD. Also, Sellaband CDs for sale on auction sites outside of Sellaband.com may be free promotion for the whole concept. All this is not lost, of course, but by setting the sale price at $15 an upper limit is set to any auction price, at least until the shop runs dry.

Secondly, Sellaband started off promoting (though not enforcing) "5000 believers per artist" or every believer one part per artist. Soon we saw people investing 100 parts, 250 parts and up to 500 parts in one artist. Because having 5000 fans may be considered better in the long run than having 10 with deep pockets, some people (including myself) say this should not be encouraged. Until now there has been a rather natural brake on the number of large investors, as they'd all have to find a way to sell their CDs. I've always imagined these people to be record shop owners, or at least have the spare time for selling each CD separately. The Sellaband Limited Edition CD Shop has negated this need for DIY in return for just a 10% profit margin. A margin that equals a small $5 if you own 5 CDs, but which is totally acceptable when leveraged by 100 CDs or more. Intentional or not, the shop means a significant change from the 1-part-per-investor policy that Sellaband started off with and opens Sellaband to more professional (albeit risky) investments.

The shop is here, and is probably here to stay, because it's a smart scheme. Not because of the truly sympathetic gesture of giving the artist another $1, but because (we can safely assume) the sales will end up on your SAB account which makes that it's easier re-invested than claimed!

More music on Joost

I've been promoting Joost here before, but two things make me revisit the TV-over-internet technology again: An increase in the number of music channels, and a move to unlimited invites by current beta testers! You'd still need an invite though, so I'm inviting all Sellaband members to send me an invite request though the Sellaband private msg system. Mention your full name and e-mail address and I'll send you an invite. Of course, if you're not on Sellaband join there first! Note you'd need a modern PC and broadband internet connection to avoid disappointment.

Sellaband 'R' Us

Phew! Another Sellaband competition is over, so we can all breathe again. All? In the current celebration mood we may easily forget that we've taken some casualties. Francis Rodino, an artist I very much admire for his music and drive, has said that he would stop to "Buy, steal, bribe, beg, bother, scheme, surge" for believers or investment. It was diverting from the music itself he said, and he's now off to record a full band album which is -I'm afraid- not appearing on the Sellaband label. Just before the end of the competition Mysti Mayhem got really bugged by believers who withdrew parts for the single reason to help another artist up one part in the competition. She too has said to put less effort in Sellaband, and only time will tell what that means. Finally, I've been told (privately) that another artist is focusing their attention elsewhere as Sellaband is too much about competition and commerce.

Because of the above I can't find this competition a success, regardless the fine lineup of artists that will play in London. We've had a month in which investments were directed to only a couple of bands, and only by the tens, not thousands of dollars. Even the winner of this competition has gained at most a couple of thousand dollars, which does not compare to the $17000 gain of Second Person in a single weekend during the last competition - not to mention two bands reaching their goal because of it. I can see that increasing the believer base may benefit all, but I doubt many of the believers who just joined will become very active (prove me wrong!). From what I hear, many current believers were attracted through the media, and this source hasn't dried up yet.

There are three parties involved in Sellaband: the artists, the believers and the Sellaband crew, and like a Siamese triplet we're bound to move in the same direction whatever each one thinks. Perhaps the Sellaband crew thinks more about the bottom line, as they most likely have investors who need results, and let's not forget it's their livelyhood too (someone already calculated that by the $600k currently invested the crew certainly won't get rich - yet). In the end however, the crew, artists and believers alike need a quick ascent of many talented artists to their goal, and it's the tactics of how to get there we're discussing, not the goal. Tactics which should make everyone happy, since after all - Sellaband 'R' us!

Added May 4th: Sellaband's Johan V sharing his thoughts on the competition on the message board

What makes a true believer?

According to the people behind Sellaband that would be having much time on your hands and being able to solve wordgames.... well, I don't have much of one and am not good at the other so I'm out. If it hadn't been for a group mail from Second Person that I got, it would have taken me at least another day or so to find out that the London tickets were being given away. To the first ones to find a 9 character word from a bunch of letters. Great.

Don't get me wrong - I do know most of the questions from the top of my head by now, but I wasn't around by the time of the Paradiso concert so I didn't know all. Does that make me less of a true believer? Then again, I could easily find the answer to that question in Tribune 15, or was it 16? Equally so with the other answers I did not know by heart. Is someone who is good at finding stuff a true believer? I honestly got stuck mixing letters to a meaningful word. Am I now less of a believer?

I would say willingness to take two or three days off from work, digging up the airfare and other expenses would prove something about having the determination to make the concert a hit and Sellaband a success. Perhaps not about being a true believer... for that you'd at least have to know what artists are performing. Or are we asked to believe in Sellaband regardless of who's on stage?

Taxes and Sellaband

Death and taxes are the two things we can be sure about... but can we if we are talking taxes and Sellaband? Earlier this month Dutch taxpayers had to file their income tax statements, and a thought occured to me: I'm not a big investor on Sellaband, and although the amount will grow monthly it will long be measured in hundreds not thousands of dollars. But what about those that do invest larger amounts, presumably with the intent to make some money out of it as well as support the artists in question? Governmental financial institutions (let's not call them tax collectors just yet) are aware of the Internet and are already investigating the virtual economies of Second Life. Sellaband is not nearly as virtual, so how long before the tax agencies come knocking on our door?

I'm not a tax expert, but it took me only seconds to dismiss the idea of deducting Sellaband parts as gifts. Although some parts for artists that don't seem to ever get above $100 may look like charity, the money will in that case never reach the artist and Sellaband itself is a commercial entity. No, the way I see it the difference would be if one would see the parts as a downpayment for a delayed delivery for goods (CDs) or as an investment or ordinary bank account. For Dutch tax law the second interpretation would mean roughly a 1.8% annual tax on all parts from the moment of investment on, while in the first case only the revenue from CD sales and advertising would count as income tax. Which is the better option depends on many variables, but since I'm not an expert: Does anybody more knowing have any thoughts on the matter?

Sellablog takes off!

The site Sellaband, where musicians can promote themselves and fans (called believers) can buy stakes in the artists' cd-recording enterprise, offers a way for fans to blog. It's functionality however pales in comparison to a true blogging site like blogger, and I wanted an easier and better way to record my life-as-a-believer or as CEO of my nano record company. Some people have created their own Sellaband related websites, as WalterM did with his I'm A Sellaband Addict site, but I simply wouldn't have the time for a full site. I also think Walter is doing a great job, and that nobody needs fragmented or competing fansites. So, as an experiment I present: My Sellablog. I only have a very rough idea about what I'd like to put up here, so let's just see what will end up getting posted! I will leave commenting on and see whether this will add to discusion forums elsewhere. For now, out with the champagne!

London Calling

This post originates from before the launch of Sellablog and was posted earlier on my believer page on Sellaband itself

This London Calling competition is very frustrating! Many of the artists I'd like to perform there I'm already supporting! On the other hand, while I can invite people to have a look at SAB I can't force them to believe in the artists I like... I'll see what I can do, but I guess there won't be an exciting finale like we had in the SAB-CD2 competition.... So: If you read this please check the artists I support and start believing in them if you didn't already! They are worth your vote and money! :-)

No SAB artists yet on Joost

This post originates from before the launch of Sellablog and was posted earlier on my believer page on Sellaband itself

There is some content on the Fabchannel channel in Joost now - unfortunately none of the SAB artists, and perhaps worse: only teasers to draw people to the fabchannel website. This could be due to rights issues that still need to be straightened out, and surely the Fabchannel owners will be careful to avoid alienating their viewers by jumping onto an experimental platform. I'm keeping my hopes up this will change in due time...

Fabchannel on Joost!

This post originates from before the launch of Sellablog and was posted earlier on my believer page on Sellaband itself

Some of you may have heard of Joost, the Television-over-IP enterprise funded by Skype entrepreneurs Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström. Pre-beta testers can now select, but not yet view, the Fabchannel 'channel'. This means that if this channel makes the next beta release viewers can enjoy the Paradiso concerts of Sellaband artists Cubworld, Second Person, Nemesea and The Fakes in Joost! See My Photos tab.