January 2010 hatchet day

Welcome to the first hatchet day of 2010 which also marks the third and final phase of my parts shuffling since the site went live. As you'll see, there's still a few cases where things are not 100% sorted even so, but the original aim of getting to a state I'm happy with under the new T&C I think has been pretty much achieved and I'll work through the remaining issues as and when things become relevant.

Results from last month
Finally the conclusion of the Paypal story, and yes the money has finally arrived in my Paypal account (including Christmas it's taken about twice as long as I was used to under the old system - might be interesting to compare without a holiday in the way). So you might think this is the end of the story. However, there's an interesting and relevant twist to my removal story, which I'll be revealing later in this blog. Meanwhile, you might want to note that the removal I've done now officially puts me back under $10,000 in Sellaband in total in terms of combining parts in artists with those floating round in my balance.

Parts changes
It's a long time ago now given the Christmas break, but the most interesting of the changes happened when Cubworld changed his plan and became only the second artist to see a parts increase from me since the new site went live. For those who are unaware, I didn't even buy a part in his first album although the opportunity was there. The case of the fence sitter who never quite managed to find enough in the music to buy a part applied. And to a large degree, the fence-sitting still applies. This time around he found enough to drag me into buying one part, and it probably would have stopped there, if it hadn't been for the timing of the plan change and the contents of his new plan.

Let me explain:

If you've been following my blog since the latest Sellaband site change, you'll know that I'm not altogether happy with it. Whilst I think it could have been a useful thing, the fact that Sellaband have basically washed their hands of having anything to do with what artists come up with, don't even seem to be interested in enforcing section 5.5 of their own fundraising terms and conditions and also have gone entirely backwards to the bad old days as far as the "housekeeping" to deal with inactive artists (or artists who have left Sellaband) is concerned, means I think we're back to the complete mess/farce we were looking at a year ago. To sort out the still interested, the clueless and the good-intentioned who merely need a bit of guidance from all the junk out there is even more of a nightmare than it was under the simple 1 part = 1 CD system we had before. As someone looking for artists to support, I consider it too much work unless the artist has a provable track record or can demonstrate a certain level of existing support in the first place. So once again, I found myself questioning what I'm still doing here. It was whilst I was contemplating this question and reminding myself of how and why I came to be here in the first place that Cubworld changed his plan.

I remember the airport baggage handler who used to sing songs for his wife and kids who signed up to the site, and who was so nervous the first time he performed at Paradiso, he almost forgot to plug in his guitar (and in fact looked like he'd have probably jumped a mile if someone had walked up and tapped him on the shoulder at that point). As I said in my review of the year post, to hand someone like that $50,000 when they basically have no experience of the music industry is like handing them a ten tonne ball and telling them that in order to achieve success they have to go run to the finish line over there (which is an infinite distance away). And whilst it's fair to say that finish line is still a long way away, the whole point is that unlike some others who have been handed a ten tonne ball, I've seen he's still trying to roll it, push it, kick it etc. inch by inch towards that destination. So having been talking to a number of artists now and watching what's been going on since the site changes, you could say I'm refining my rules and Cubworld has been the first of very few ever likely to benefit as a result.

As a "small believer who turned big" thinking (seemingly in error) that by supporting artists through on Sellaband it would give Sellaband something they could use to help promote themselves, many of my parts purchases have been as much for the benefit of Sellaband in the past as for the artists themselves. Now Sellaband have firmly removed themselves from that equation (if indeed they ever genuinely were in it) my focus for multi-part belief has moved towards those whose music I have a real liking for, or if I think someone has demonstrable proof that makes them worth supporting. And my standards on that one are very high, as I'm not expecting to receive all the money back (though it would be nice). Cubworld's plan is one I felt respects the original reason many believers (including myself) landed up buying parts, and he's demonstrated to me that unlike some others he is at least going to be trying to gig/sell CDs etc. I still believe there is a home for the CDs out there, given enough time and effort, hence my reasons for upgrading to 10 parts. i.e. I felt he was one of the few on here who was definitely worth support.

Next we come to the part changes due to phase 3 of the process I've been going through since the site change.

Wetwerks are still showing no signs of getting any kind of plan online, despite their October post and the fact they have been visiting their profile, even though it seems they haven't been saying a lot. Hence I've added to the continuing parts leakage on their profile again by dropping all the way back down to one part.

I also can't currently see Vegas Dragons getting any plan sorted soon, so again have dropped back to one part.

I am still talking to Phil Tweed, but given some developing stories on Sellaband plus the fact it seems he's still at a bit of a loss what to do, I have a horrible feeling I'm going to be reducing parts here as well soon. Probably the most heart-wrenching decision I'm likely to be making on here due to how much I like his music, but something which is starting to look ever more inevitable, despite the fact I keep convincing myself to put the decision off.

Finally in the case of Blister, I'm holding station on 5 parts at the moment due to past incentives, but it seems they haven't been seen on the site yet this year, so I will be keeping a close eye on this one.

There are still other cases where I'm not completely happy, but I think most are likely to resolve themselves during the normal hatchet process, so as stated earlier, I'll be waiting for the remaining cases to become relevant.

As for new part purchases? Absolutely none have been made. I'm now adding artists to my following list pretty much exclusively. Until I've fully researched an artist it's unlikely I'll be buying any parts in new signups in future, and given the amount of time that takes it means it will already be obvious whether there is a fanbase willing to support them or not by the time I get through the process for those I'm most interested in. Thank Sellaband for not enforcing their own terms and conditions as the reason for this, as it seems my new approach is going to be the only halfway reliable way I'll be able to sort out the idiots as a result. i.e. I'm generally not going to buying parts in future unless artists get much closer to their budgets than they are at present - obviously the best way to overcome this is if I already know you.

I've got a plan
It looks like The Esoteric Gender (who I mentioned in a previous blog post) now have a much better set of incentives online. They're working themselves towards the top of the list of artists I'm interested in and most likely to buy parts in as a result.

The perils of copying others comes into play in the form of Tyla Gang. Originally with a budget of $100,000 it seems their budget has now been halved on that score after having words with Sellaband. And whilst their incentives section itself is now empty compared to what it had before, their plan reveals a set of incentives including a Public Enemy T-shirt for 10 parts. Hmm... did I miss something happening here? If you like classic rock, you'll be right at home listening to their music though.

Alex Highton is one of the newer custom artists on the site, though I am a little confused as to how he landed up as one. All the signs are that (to me at least) he looks closer to most of the "normal" artists signing up, rather than someone with the level of plan you'd expect of a custom artist. However, I am impressed with the way he's approached the forum and he is supposed to be getting a revised budget and incentives online soon, so could well be one to watch as a result.

The list of artists belonging to the "help I'm lost" section also continues to increase at an alarming rate.

Koma Umbu are "Getting Rich and famous"

Can we expect a HUGE influx of Brazilian fans starting any time soon? Jesse Hart's plan reads as follows "A tour for Jesse's fans in Brazil. His main base of fans are in Brazil, he just needs the support to get there and share his music with his biggest fans. Tour is already scheduled for March/April and Jesse will be in Brazil by Jan. 15 setting up gigs". I might be wrong of course, but somehow I think there's rather a lot of misplaced optimism on this fundraising plan.

Also joining the crowd who thinks they can raise a budget in no time whatsoever is Shicehouse who signed up on December 19th with the following plan "We desperately need an economical injection to produce our new video "Sex With The Easter Bunny", which we want to release as fast as possible (January/February 2010). The thing will be completely free to watch on YouTube and downloadable on our MySpyce site".

Gritty has the following plan for consideration along with a budget of $100K. "Use my existing fan base and street team to tour and reinvest into my future projects including film works". Am I really surprised he's currently raised $0?

Clemont offers inspiration in the form of "A dream is a wish your heart makes..". A really big shame about the plan tbh as there's some excellent music on this particular profile.

Nipun the LORD would like "To earn some money by selling my songs". What more to say but welcome to the club?

And of course there are plenty more out there who joined up in December or earlier in January to join this brief selection, so I'll leave it up to you to see how many more of them you can find.

Following
Despite all the other things going off on Sellaband, I'd say the average music quality just keeps getting better and better, which makes it very difficult to pick out the real highlights for you. It's just a real shame that some of the best music seems to be coming these days with plans which are far from straightforward.

Airspace represent some of the best rock I've heard on here for quite a while, and if they'd signed up back when I was believing as soon as I found something I liked, they'd have landed up with me as their first believer. So a real shame that their plan has me going ouch and hence I'm only interested in following at present to see what happens. The 20K raised is supposed to be going to fund ONLY 2 singles and their associated videos. (5K per video and 5K for recording the single). So it's unclear exactly what is offered for the download (presumably the 2 singles - which for $10 looks a bit steep) plus the fact they appear to have completely missed the fact 10% of the project cost goes to Sellaband, meaning their numbers don't add up. Is the lack of business acumen seemingly displayed here the reason they were turned down for a grant I wonder?

Likewise Skelley's Dream is displaying some real quality music I'd have happily bought parts in in the past - this time soul, sometimes with hints of jazz or R&B depending on which of the large selection of uploaded tracks you listen to. But likewise the plan makes you wonder what exactly is going on. For starters most of it appears to have been copied directly from the "hints" on working out costs that you can find on the artist sign up form. Particularly confusing as a result is the section "1 CD to 500-700 Believers worldwide costs Between $1000 - $2000. The more we can reach, the more we raise for the instruments". On the one hand their profile has the "1 CD per believer" set to no and on the other, how more believers means there is more money left over for the instruments they want to buy with 25% of the revenue share is something I'm completely lost on. If you are offering a CD per believer and you have more believers it means your costs go up not down. Or do they mean money raised rather than revenue? So anyone who can translate their plan into English for me is more than welcome, because it seems my own grasp of the language doesn't stand a chance in working this one out myself. (and I was born and still live in England!)

Elsewhere Silver and Blue turned up early in December with some catchy tunes, one of which made my top 20 of the year. But if it isn't the plan, it seems it's the page attendance stopping me on artists instead most of the time. And they haven't been seen since the day they signed up. Also the fact they have no incentives means a 45K budget could well be difficult to reach.

If you want something a little out of the ordinary to listen to, then Voodoo Pharmacology is a very interesting find. No physical CD though, which is the next reason I get stopped on artists once the plan and the page attendance boxes get checked.

Here's one for all you lovers of the ladies out there that also has my interest. I'm half surprised Sommersby hasn't leapt onto Sound of Sirens yet and dragged them into the Dream Team, and as one of the few I've seen sign up since my last hatchet day blog who actually appear to have something halfway reasonable in the plan department as well as the music department, they have to have one of my strongest recommendations for you to check them out this time around.

And seemingly more proof that it's currently the ladies giving the better demonstration of having a clue comes in the form of the Jo Harman Project. The single track on the profile is actually made up of snippets glued together from her EP tracks. The biggest question comes in the form of how many fans she already has, given how new her band is, because I'd say the music itself suggests she is certainly one to watch.

There are quite a few more artists on my following list gained since the start of December, but given that this month is going to be shorter than usual due to the fact my hatchet day post gets delayed over Christmas/New Year, there is a chance I might mention a few more next month - it all depends how many more artists turn up and grab my attention.

Sellaband
Welcome to paint drying. Unless your name is Hind, or you're lucky to have a certain believer on board who is rapidly heading for $100,000 in the Sellaband system (yep that's correct, 5 zeros!). Very few artists other than those covered by the conditions I just stated are making steady progress forwards (if you are one of the exceptions, you can be sure you're doing a great job) - it's mostly a case of a few parts up and/or down. As a result I've been looking at what I should do about the money I have floating on my balance - it seems there are not enough artists turning up with a decent plan and/or support to tempt me in early these days, and with parts being sold sparsely in general, a big whack of parts from me isn't likely to have any noticeable extra effect of attracting believers into an artist I think is really worth supporting. I'm also not a fan of passive middlemen in general, so leaving large chunks of money lurking round doing nothing for long periods of time isn't an option either. As a result, I decided it's time I actually took some of the money I have back out of the Sellaband system. Hence the Paypal payout in December (and watch this space, because unless things improve in the next couple of weeks, it's likely I'll be having another one soon)

And so to the twist I mentioned earlier that you've been waiting for. I'm going to tell you where the bulk of the money I removed in December has gone and why.

You've heard me mention Matthew Ebel a few times already. So hopefully you're starting to get the idea that I like his music. Seriously, can someone tell me how I never fell over him and listened to his music before he hit Sellaband, because once you know he exists he seems to be basically everywhere (although usually buried rather than obvious). Blog posts, industry articles about him and how he is approaching a "modern" music industry - the more I look the more I keep finding even now. You may not realise, but I basically keep two lists of people in my head when it comes to Sellaband - those whose music I like a lot and those who have shown proof they are worth supporting (irrespective of whether I personally like their music or not). For someone to appear on one of those lists is hard enough, but to appear on both is insanely difficult. Let me tell you now that Matthew is towards the top of the list on both.

So the setup for the situation is the fact I not only have someone whose music I like, and they've also given me enough evidence they are worth supporting. Sellaband themselves have turned into a passive middleman, few parts are being sold unless an artist is new or getting the "big believer" push and I'm staring at money on my balance doing nothing as a result. Even a "push" from me isn't likely to make Matthew hit his target any time soon, so I figure it's more logical to remove some of that money and take a subscription now when it can actually show my support and do him some good. I know the money goes direct to him, and I also know his site has been running more than a year - would people still be renewing subscriptions if they weren't happy? i.e. this is just one piece of undenyable proof that I know I'm looking at someone who can deliver.

But between the time I arrived at this conclusion and the time I actually managed to get a payout to work, my plan of taking a subscription changed.

Matthew announced he was creating a new subscription option called the "Entourage" back in October that was only available for 5 people to take up (and also somewhat more expensive than his existing options). As might be expected with a seemingly rabid fanbase (albeit quite a small one) the first 4 went as soon as they became available, but the 5th seemingly got stuck. It sat there and sat there and sat there, and despite the odd mention that only 4 slots were taken on his weekly show, still nobody bit. When you consider I've spent more parts on Sellaband before in artists whose music I like less and I had more than enough money sitting round on my Sellaband balance, I think you can guess what's coming next. Yes folks, instead of taking one of his more general subscriptions as originally intended, I've followed the old Sellaband adage of putting my money where my mouth is and snapped up that last Entourage spot using money reclaimed from the Sellaband system. And trust me, assuming I'm still walking this earth and have the money, I'll guarantee you now that it'll be renewed next year too. So it all goes to show - why bother with a middleman in the first place unless there's a very good reason to do so? So unless Sellaband suddenly decide they have something to offer after all, I suspect this may not be the last time I decide there's more benefit to be had on both sides by taking my support to the artist instead. A hint of the way my Sellaband involvement is likely heading in future? Only time will tell.

And before you ask, I still have my 15 parts in his profile in the (vain?) hope that people (including Sellaband themselves) are going to wake up and realise the potentials they're missing here. If you've been following me, you'll know I might mention that something looks interesting or good, but I won't generally start raving publicly about an artist. So trust me when I say that I'm raving here about an artist genuinely worth supporting - it's a statement I can't repeat enough.

And Finally
Hopefully by the time the 1st February blog post rolls round, I'll be able to reveal what I think is the real Sellaband success story as I'm currently waiting for the last few pieces to fall into place on that score. Keep your hopes up for this one, because I'm pretty sure this story is going to teach a few people something interesting they weren't aware of before. The February hatchet day also marks the first time I'll be running a proper hatchet day checking for inactive artists since the site changes, so things could be very interesting on that score too.