Tuesday 23 February 2010

Sellaband goes bankrupt

If there's one thing I hate, it's the regularity with which my alarm bells tend to be right. I told you in my February hatchet day post that I'd been rattled out of my comfort zone and it seems the calm has ended and the predicted storm has arrived in the form of Sellaband declaring bankruptcy. Not necessarily what I was thinking of at the time I wrote my original comments, but also a possibility that was in the back of my mind.

Obviously today's announcement affects this blog in a big way, however I'll be waiting for the dust to settle before making a full announcement. I do aim to post some time around the expected March "hatchet day" however with an initial set of thoughts based on how things develop between now and then. I suspect that will still be too soon for a full announcement though.

In the meantime, if you did stumble over this blog, or even came here deliberately looking for more information than can be found by the simple statement on the Sellaband homepage, you might like to know I've reopened a section of the forum I used to run before Sellaband had one of their own. So if you're looking for information, or even to reconnect with other Sellaband artists and believers you'll find them at sellaband.proboards.com. If you had an account there in the old days and didn't delete it, your old login details are still valid, otherwise you'll need to register in order to post (you won't if you just want to read).

Just remember I am unofficial and don't/have never worked for Sellaband, so I don't have an inside line to what exactly is going on - this is more an attempt to give what's left of the community a port in the storm and the opportunity to communicate what they know with each other until the (any?) future of the site becomes clear. So just remember to play nice over there, because you don't want my knives after you! ;-)

Monday 1 February 2010

February 2010 hatchet day

Welcome to the new hatchet day posts. Now my quest to do some serious sorting out of parts in artists is mostly done, it's time to get back to something resembling normal service. However, expect a very important announcement on that score later in this post.

Under the hatchet
As I've been dealing with my parts list in general in previous posts, the normal hatchet process has been ignored. Now I'm back in full force, meaning that the 3 month rule is back in effect. i.e. this time around, if I can't find evidence that an artist has been seen on Sellaband on or after 1st November 2009 then out comes my knife. In the case of artists on my following list it means they get removed and in the case of artists on my belief list it means that some or all of the parts get removed.

However there is now one big change from my previous behaviour of immediately putting any parts removed into another artist - this won't be happening unless the new artist is over 50% in budget. Instead the part(s) will remain on my balance until one of two things happens. Either an artist I'm interested in buying (more) parts in passes the 50% requirement, or sufficient time passes such that the money on my balance looks like it's increasing with no sign of a home coming along (in which case it will get removed from the Sellaband system).

So this month sees me drop down to one part in The Quahaugs and remove my part in TheLights as a result of no evidence they've been seen November or later. I've also had a big tidy out in my following list and have removed everyone who is still fundraising that doesn't meet that date requirement either.

Artists in danger of losing parts next month due to my inactivity rules are as follows:
The Quahaugs is obviously in danger of losing my last remaining part and dropping back to a following list alone. All other artists on my belief list except Leave have been seen in December (and the vast majority in January) and so are already safe. And as I've already said, I'll be leaving that part where it is until at least April based on information gained during my transition period.

As you can probably guess, there's now a change to my parts buying in general. Artists are currently moving so slowly on Sellaband at present that I've decided I won't be buying parts in new projects that I'm interested in for the forseeable future unless the artist a) reaches at least 50% in budget or b) gives me a very good reason that convinces me to jump in earlier (including but not limited to reasons such as their music really connects with me, or they obviously have a lot of existing fans arriving too). I'll be reviewing the situation regularly, but until/unless things improve with regard to new believers getting actively involved with the site, I'll now only be following, rather than buying early.

Following
Angie Arsenault is back as a custom artist with a promotion budget of $25,000. I have to admit I'm not a fan of projects such as this. In Angie's case you could say there was no choice in the matter as her album was produced under a different set of conditions for the site, but to separate out a promotion budget from the project it is associated with and expect to raise it separately is something I think is completely wrong in general. To my mind one of two situations should apply - either the budget being raised includes an allowance for promotion, or the artist uses the money they've "saved" by the fact they didn't have to stump up the recording costs themselves to put towards their promotion instead.

Let's face it. If you raise a budget for producing an album, there is no guarantee you will be able to raise the money for a separate promotion budget for that album to coincide with its release (which is what you need). It's basically a totally new project. And unless there is something to tempt those who put funds into the album creation itself to buy parts in the promotion budget as well, it basically feels like you're being asked to pay for the album twice when the promotion is done separately. And if your promotion budget only gets completed after the album, then it's of no use because most of the interest will have evaporated to follow something more current. Don't get me wrong, like many others I think there ought to be some promotion cost somewhere in the equation rather than just a product, particularly when revenue share is involved. I just happen to think that the way many people are trying to do this at present is the wrong one. Even Hind's promotion budget appears to be struggling (at least relative to the fundraising for the album itself), although it's unclear whether this is related to whether she has reached the majority of the interested already or not, or whether it is really the case that people just don't want to pay twice when there really isn't anything new or exciting on offer when you compare it with what was offered for the first project.

So in Angie's case the jury is currently out. Whilst there does appear to be a digital download of something different for your $10, we're back to the fact that it's a digital download of 5 tracks, which doesn't set me personally alive with enthusiasm. So I'll only be following for the time being - this one is currently going to be a very late decision I think.

Ivyrise have a rather interesting blog which basically centres around the theme that the band appears to be trying to drum up interest for their music by basically finding gigs of well known musicians and handing out their CDs to the people waiting in line. So far this effort of street promotion doesn't appear to have attracted much in the way of interested people to support them on Sellaband though. Maybe it's an idea to start sticking something about your Sellaband profile in the CD insert boys? Given they're looking for a 100K budget (ouch!) I have a feeling they're getting a bit overambitious, but the single track on their profile suggests they could be well worth it, if they can first drum up some interest from outside.

Alexis Blue have got a rather infectious chorus on the single profile song they have. Would love to hear some more from these guys as I think there's definitely some potential here.

Junkus Minor grabbed my interest, despite being somewhat atypical of what I normally listen to from Finland. Anyone for some country rock? Actually, having thought about it, they sound like they'd probably be right at home on Laulava Sydän (that's the name of a TV show in Finland for those who were wondering).

All The Fires also have my interest musically but only seem to be offering a download rather than a CD.

Musical stories
Remember I mentioned The Black Doves a few blog posts back and the fact they had left a blog on their page saying they were off to Kickstarter to fund an album and were already over the $1,000 mark? I've been keeping an eye on that project and it appears it failed to reach its $25,000 target - in fact raising only $1,250 by the time the deadline was up. Whilst this is still more than 10 times the amount of their funding on Sellaband at the point they announced they were leaving, it's still interesting to see that their success level in getting support over there isn't really any better either. I'll be interested to see if they come back here, given their profile still exists.

Another artist off to another site is Electric Eel Shock who decided not to come back to Sellaband for a second round, but rather to take their next project elsewhere. Ironically the place they've chosen is the place at the top of the list I was thinking of when I mentioned that I thought Sellaband was now at a disadvantage compared to some other funding sites out there because it had no set time limit for projects and it takes money up front. It will be interesting to see if they can raise their full budget on there, or how much of their success on Sellaband was due to hype.

Blister sent me a message saying they are looking at possibly reducing their budget significantly, but I haven't had any further information on if/when that is likely to take place.

Chris Jones sneaks very quietly out of Sellaband leaving a very interesting issue in his wake. You'll remember from a previous blog post that I was reluctant to buy a part because his budget was in Euros and we had no idea how the currency conversion was going to be handled. Well for those who missed the thread on the forum, with him leaving we just found out. Currency conversion rate does apply to the money you get back as well as the money you spend, as one believer got 52 cents less credited to their balance than the figure that had been removed from it when they bought their one part. So be warned. This confirmation that you're relying on the chance of the exchange rate as well as the chance of the artist reaching their budget makes artists whose budgets aren't in dollars even less attractive to me, although it does make me wonder if someone will start speculating on the exchange rate by buying and removing parts in euro artists to try and increase their balance.

If you're awake, you'll notice I've now added in a link to Twitter on the right hand side of the blog (below the About me section). Despite the fact I'm not really a fan of the thing due to the encouragement of use of URL shorteners, getting an account started properly on there has been well overdue. I'll be tweeting as soon as my blog goes live every month, so here's yet another way to follow me as well as possibly pick up on some of my own unusual interests. And if you're wondering why I consider URL shorteners a real evil, well I guess I shouldn't complain really, because they're likely to keep my husband gainfully employed removing malware from machines. So much for telling people to check out where a link is going to take them before they click on it (potentially exposing their computer to something nasty) when a URL shortener makes it impossible to know where you're going until you get there. Yes folks, I expect the likes of Twitter to be increasingly blamed for a surge in phishing and other attacks, purely due to the behaviour it encourages.

I'm keeping a watchful eye on Pim's new project Africa Unsigned. I haven't signed up myself, but I already see an awful lot of names I recognise buying parts on there, including some who have basically said they've washed their hands of the Sellaband site (a fact I find interesting in itself). The site itself is closer to the previous incarnation of the Sellaband website - just the parts cost is $1 with $10,000 budget required and there is no CD just a digital download of a minimum of 3 tracks. Additionally, it would appear there is a time limit for raising funds as well as the fact the artists appear to have (so far) been selected by a panel in order to get a spot on the site in the first place. Personally I'm not a fan of African music in general, but I wouldn't necessarily rule out finding something on there some day, so I might be taking a peek at it from time to time to see how things are going. I'm also not yet convinced it even has the potential to be viable given western music tastes - it will be interesting to see how much promotion goes into it for one.

I've got a plan
Welcome to this month's selection of the good, the bad and the just plain ugly in plans from artists recently signing up or changing what they have to offer.

This month most of my interest has been taken up with artists reducing budget. Lorraine Jones already appears to have changed hers despite the fact her plan states the sum is provisional. As a result I'll be waiting to see what happens before deciding whether or not to buy back into her - as I've said before inconsistent plans worry me.

Maitreya decides to radically reduce his budget in the hopes of getting a tour budget together before July when it's needed. I won't be joining in with this one because I don't like rap, but given how quiet the site has gone, I'm wondering whether he is going to find the 150 ticket buyers he's looking for through Sellaband. Getting actual dates up might actually help his cause.

John C Fraser also reduces budget again in the hopes of getting a CD funded by April and seems to be getting quite a bit of interest as a result, meaning he's now raised nearly 50% of his new budget. Will I increase my own parts? I'm not sure as yet, due at least in part to that announcement I'll be making later.

Is it me or does the "help I'm lost" section just keep getting crazier? Some real gems turned up in just the last fortnight, some of which are below.

Have we got an Africa Unsigned reject on our hands? Or someone who just can't read? Actually Vini Gawa can't even be the former unless my geography is off as well, but with a plan based round raising $10,000 with $1 parts he looks like he's not got the idea that Sellaband uses a $10 part price at all. Either that or he should actually be a custom artist and Sellaband have just forgotten to set his profile up correctly.

I needed an English translation last month and it looks like I need one again this month. Say hello to Beach Bum Ben whose plan reads "I will release one full song and two half songs (I don't feel totally safe releasing full songs onto the web). When I reach my goal I will record in Hawaii." Add to this the fact he's only offering a download (no CD) and is offering to share all songs via mp3 for 3 parts and.. well.. are you as confused as me?

I love the way artists are still using the site purely as a way to promote themselves rather than actually trying to fundraise on it (what the site's intended use is now) Vadim seems to be just one such example of this given his plan reads "my goal is to get promoted on this website and get the music labels and producers interested in me! I need You support! :)"

And finally, the usual selection of one-liners. Now again want to "Play everywhere!". Nichelle Colvin wants to be "the biggest artist ever" and Minoti would like "To make good music for everyone to enjoy."

The real Sellaband success story
I promised you this story in my last blog post. It all starts because I had spotted something which looked vaguely familiar some time before Christmas, but couldn't quite place where I'd seen it before. I kind of forgot about it, but when searching for something completely unrelated I came across the following PM I received way back on May 18th 2007. (spelling errors and all)

you obiously have great taste!
I can tell by the money you've invested so far on this.

If we could get one or two of your shares, we'd obviously be enternally grateful! We'll make it to $50,000 i'm sure!

http://www.sellaband.com/twelve34 - if anything, let me know what you think!

You're probably having a very good laugh at this point, or indeed even wondering what this message has to do with anything. I don't know if any other believers received an identical message at that same time from this very clueless sounding artist, or just their own tailormade version. What I can tell you though is that the artist joined the ranks of the ignored/unfunded as far as believers were concerned (as you can probably guess) and I'm guessing the profile itself got deleted due to inactivity back when Sellaband actually had a clearout. I do know the artist in question apparently got some interest from an indie label and subsequently released an album.

But you'll still be wondering what even this has to do with anything unless you've been sharp enough to spot the same thing I did. So let me enlighten you. You see, the sender of that message has remained on Sellaband and obviously learnt quite a bit just by quietly watching it in the intervening years. How do I know this? Because their current project has just successfully raised a budget on Sellaband at a time when parts aren't selling particularly well. So say hello to Eric from Epyllion next time you see him, because I regard this conversion from completely clueless to creating the strategy to successfully raise a budget (and in a relatively short time after signing up the new project too) as the real Sellaband success story out there. Let's see if they manage to confirm that further by releasing their album in March or April as well. And who knows, maybe in another 3 years we might be looking at a real contender for the "outside success story" I suspect many of you were hoping this would be. Given the change I've seen demonstrated here, I'd say don't rule out that possibility just yet.

So for all you clueless artists out there, there is a big lesson to be learnt here. Wake up, get some advice and use it and get serious and who knows, you too could actually successfully raise some money on Sellaband.

Oh and if you were wondering what it was I originally spotted, have a look in the biography section of Epyllion's profile. I thought there was an artist name in there that looked familiar, and if you cross-reference it with the PM I quoted above, you'll find the confirmation of that thought.

Sellaband
And so to that announcement I promised you earlier. As you might have guessed from previous blog posts and the changes I've mentioned with regard to parts buying earlier in this thread, I've decided to officially scale back my activities on Sellaband. The final straw on that score came this past month as a result of the Nearfield thread on the forum. I'd already been unsettled by Mandyleigh's blog at the start of the month, and as I've mentioned so many times you're probably sick to death of it by now, I'm not happy with the fact Sellaband don't even appear to be enforcing their own T&C and doing even the most basic of reality checks on artist plans. Answering questions on the support site (using the "feedback" link) appears to have virtually stopped, and for there to be complete silence from both an artist and Sellaband itself on the subject raised by the Nearfield thread has made me start to wonder if there's something going off in the background. Maybe even something with legal implications. And as I'm writing this blog, Mandyleigh starts a thread on the forum with the followup to the link I just gave you. It's unclear what the true situation behind this one is, but it seems it already serves to reinforce what I've already been saying re: artist education, advice etc - if you want to create a "new music industry" you first have to be able to educate in all aspects of the existing one or someone is going to walk straight into a problem through inexperience. As I said on the forum, you don't give a five year old the car keys and expect him to drive himself to school.

So maybe I'm just shooting at shadows, but it's almost like an air of "the calm before the storm" is developing. And if there is a storm developing out there about something, the signs are it's going to make previous storms about Sellaband look like a light drizzle. It's too quiet out there at the moment in more ways than one, and that's rattled me outside my comfort zone.

But what does this mean both for me and this blog? Well for starters, I'm going to withdraw pretty much all the money remaining on my Sellaband balance from the site. I REALLY don't like what I'm seeing (or in some cases not seeing) at present, so the loose money is coming out. I will however be continuing the blog (and hatchet day) and I will be continuing to look for music on the site, although I won't be buying any more parts unless it's over 50% in budget and moving significantly forwards. I'll be updating my "about me" in the next few days to reflect that. Call me the eternal optimist, or even call me crazy, but I still have hopes Sellaband will get their act together and realise what it is that has made them different to other sites out there in the past, and learn how to use that to their advantage.

So at this point I can only hope there aren't too many legacy problems around, and the site will still be around for this blog post next month. So hopefully I'll see you then and we'll see what's happened in the meantime.