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