A belated December 1st "Hatchet day"

Well the "new era" website on Sellaband which launched on 1st December completely and utterly messed things up, including my usual hatchet day (which proved impossible to do), so I've been attempting to perform it as I visit the site. I say attempting, because even now, treacle is moving at least 10 times faster than the Sellaband website loads in Internet Explorer. To be brutally honest I haven't seen page loading times this slow since the "good old days" of dialup - the only area that doesn't have a problem is the forum.

So here's what I've been able to piece together as (generally) the "hatchet day" that should have been posted on December 1st. And here's hoping for a fix on the speed problems before my next one, because there's nothing more annoying than forgetting you've got to load the site in a different browser to your default to get it to work in any reasonable fashion.

Results from last month
In terms of artists thanking me, I actually had a thankyou from one of the artists I believed in 2 months earlier who didn't thank me at the time. Guess some people do manage to check their profiles occasionally. I'm also still waiting for a month where everyone manages to thank me - I was missing one again this month, despite investing in so few artists.

Sasha Vella turned up about a week after I posted my last hatchet day blog and updated her profile. Kristianna does appear to have visited her profile around the time of the site change announcement, but she hasn't left any messages anywhere that I've heard about.

It seems there's been a number of changes as well as the Sellaband "new Era" as far as artists I've mentioned recently have been concerned. The Spellbox profile has now changed into a second album run for Mysti Mayhem. Cubworld becomes the second artist to try for the $100,000 budget. Sunsoma posted after my last blog to say they are still around but down to only 3 members at the moment, and it seems Sheet Metal are also feeling the pressure (but more about them later)

This month's gainers and losers
Apparently the message from Sellaband to all artists about the "new era" must have been enough to shock Devil's Food Cake into contacting them, because their profile was shut down without me having to do a thing about it.

The new feature of "last seen" date on Sellaband is proving to be quite interesting. None of the other 3 artists I had marked for parts removal have showed up to take a look at the new era, so it's goodbye to Air Raid Anthem, Lo Mass Republic and Percy Mejhagen. Interestingly, Air Raid Anthem haven't been seen on the site since their last post in April which said they were going to be more active.

In terms of gainers, Second Person's new profile was always going to be on the cards. Based on the change to my investment policy, I've only bought the one part in them at the moment but I am seriously considering going for at least a publishing level incentive (5 parts) as they are one of few artists I think actually have a potential to pull it off. Unfortunately the 100K budget is also putting me off doing so because of the halved revenues and the "break even" point on money from an artist for publishing revenue seems so unlikely anyway even for a 50K artist.

RedLizzard had been by my profile several times in the past couple of months leaving messages in a way that shows both persistence and patience. I like the music and I like their approach and I believe it's even more important in the "new era" for Sellaband believers to jump on board and buy just one part with artists like this whose music they like. It's easy to be a sheep and only buy a part in an artist if you see lots of others buying parts first, but it also seems very "old" music industry. If you're quite happy just to follow what others are listening to and not attempt to break the mould occasionally, where's the difference to listening to whatever the local radio network or label decides to put in front of you? No artist is going to get anywhere unless those who know Sellaband is legitimate (so you will get that album after 50K) are prepared to stand up and dive in occasionally. Hell don't you folks want a low-numbered CD anyway, particularly if they're going to be rarer?

Sonichouse are actually quite an interesting choice for me because they don't fit into a style of music I am particularly fond of. However, musically I do get a few curveballs in their genre who manage to grab me where similar artists can't (and for where I don't really have an explanation of why I like artist A but not artist B). It just so happens they've grabbed my interest and I'm looking forward to their promised new songs.

Leave were an artist I mentioned in my blog a few months ago. It seems that having released an album the band situation is undergoing a bit of a sabbatical, while the guy who obviously started the profile has basically picked up his guitar and gone on a world adventure. In the meantime, you can listen to rough drafts of songs that are being composed whilst he is on his trip, and even currently he is asking for comments as to how one particular song actually makes you feel. See their profile for more details.

Being the season of goodwill, I decided artists get a reprieve from the hatchet around Christmas, so I'm not actually listing any artists due for removal at the moment. And here's hoping I won't need to next time either, as Sellaband are supposed to be putting something to cope with "inactive" artists in place.

New Investments
I had a message in English on my page a couple of days after I posted my last "hatchet day" blog from MINGMEN, inviting me to come and listen to their music. When I got there the profile was pretty blank apart from the tunes, so having noted their country as Switzerland I took a wild guess and left a message on their page in French. Lo and behold they filled in the info section in French and from the level of language used in the French message I got back from them, I'm guessing the person running the profile is much happier communicating in French than English, which may actually make it difficult for them to get people in, despite the fact they sing in English! So do check them out - if you like Nemesea I predict you should like them too. They uploaded a new song about a week into December but I think you'll find the later tracks on the player more instantly catchy.

I spent the gift part I won on Bonnie. I've kind of been on the fence with them a long time. Maybe they just caught me on a good day, maybe they've just not had the right songs up on previous visits, but this time around I did kind of start to wonder why I hadn't actually bought a part before.

I also increased my belief in Skitzo Calypso and got a nice shiny album through the mail as a result.

Watching
With the change to the limited edition CDs my focus is starting to shift back towards listening to artists newly signing up, or artists I'm noticing around. I've also been watching to see how artists are reacting to the changes.

One artist I didn't mention in my November blog but who I had already started to notice around even before the prompt from Ray is Catself. It's quite refreshing to see someone from Finland actually going out and kicking down a few doors with their passion, rather than lingering in the (often koskenkorva induced) reticence that often seems to characterise the Finnish nature. Maybe it's the Polish blood kicking in, or maybe us females just get used to finding ourselves kicking at doors. Her lyrics are unusual for something sung in English, (and that's worth a trip to listen in itself) but not so unusual for what you might find sung in native language from Eastern Europe. Sadly I haven't found anything to grab my interest enough to buy a part in what she's posted so far.

Another artist whose music I can't really get into because I'm not a fan of rap, but who is one of a number I'm seeing struggling away on the site is M Harris. If you're getting a bit fed up with the "folky" music that a lot of the more prominent believers seem to have been latching onto recently, then maybe this is someone you should take a look at. And even if (like me) you're not a fan of rap, then I'd still recommend you take a listen to "The Waiting Game", which shows there's more diversity lurking here than you might think. To be honest, maybe that's even part of the problem as far as the "Sellaband target audience" seems to be concerned, because if I thought there'd be no rap and more music like "The Waiting Game" I would have quite happily bought a part by now.

Having listened to the bands mentioned by Bob Slayer as signing up to Sellaband, I have to admit I put El Guapo Stuntteam on my wishlist but haven't been particularly impressed by Samurai Fury. And obviously there's no link to the first of these because they've already left the building!

Getting back onto the story of artists I've been watching to see how they are reacting to the changes, it seems that Elise Azevedo isn't happy with the updated terms and conditions for artists, and having only just got back onto Sellaband, decided to leave again and sent out a bulletin asking believers to remove parts. Her profile is still there though, unlike Chapter 9, who have left the building.

More worrying though are artists who seem to have lost faith in Sellaband but who can't seem to wrench themselves away from the place because of some of the people they've come into contact with here. And in many cases these are people who have been working for a long time to spread the Sellaband name without any help from Sellaband themselves. I can't help but feel their pain. Two of the most noticeable ones for me have been Black Jack and Sheet Metal. A lot can happen in 12 months and to show a public loss of faith while there's a chance of a load of new believers in (think Arenafest) can only hurt their chances of picking up some of those believers.

In the case of Black Jack, their initial blog post asking people to reduce to just one part seems to have mellowed into a case where they don't seem to have given up hope entirely, but are now aiming for 5000 believers instead. In many ways I think their decision was premature. With the fact they were on more than 14K in budget before the changes were announced and therefore within the top artists on the site, I think they would have been better taking the same kind of 12 month option that I am - give it the 12 months to reach the 50K under the interim rules and then go the route they've already announced if they didn't make it. There wouldn't have been anything stopping them announcing this intention either as I've seen other artists taking the "I have 12 months to make it, but if I don't and you take your parts out then I won't blame you" approach. I suspect they've lost more parts than they might have done had they gone this route.

The Sheet Metal case is in many ways more serious. Whether directly or indirectly, their failure to make serious progress forward seems to have had some effect on some of the band members. Shortly after a wonderful Halloween gig, 2 of the band members decided to call it a day. It's been a particularly sad moment for me, as I'm the one who originally dug them up from the Sellaband "mud", having never even heard of them before and got them showing other believers round the site that they were actually out there and interested. I've always been convinced they will sell, and there seems at least some evidence my hunch is correct, due to the fact the album they put up on Amie Street has been doing rather well there and has outstripped most of the 50K artist albums there in terms of sales. I don't know what 2009 is going to bring, but I'd really hate to see them call it a day.

There are several recent artists that have caught my attention. The first of these is Detached. They signed up around the same time as the "new era" site went live so I don't know if that has anything to do with the lack of profile, but if you like ska and/or you remember Upstanding Youth who were on the site for a while, then their music should appeal to you. "7 Years Ago" has a long lead into the vocals, so hang around and wait for it.

Ahmond has also caught my interest, but they're featured in the Sixpack so hopefully you'll have stopped by and checked them yourself already.

Tribe of Eden is one for all you classic rock music lovers but unfortunately they haven't been seen round the site since the day they signed up. Anyone want to guess if JohanV is regretting his decision to beat Ed to the punch for first part at this point?

The Day Of is also another artist I'm quite interested in and they are showing signs of life, so I shall be tracking them through January.

Finally, the most amusing artist story I've run across recently has to be Coldplayers. This artist from Brazil is a Coldplay covers band who wants to make.... (you guessed it!) an album of Coldplay covers. I left a message with them asking if they realised that they couldn't use the money on Sellaband to make an album of covers and got the reply back that they hadn't realised and the profile would therefore be deleted. So of course, in true Sellaband fashion, the profile is still there.

Sixpack Stories
I don't have an awful lot in the way of Sixpack stories this time around. But then for me, the most interesting thing since last time has been watching the voting. The secret to getting voted artist of the week seems to generally come down to a few factors. a) How many "active and well known" Sellabanders you have in your belief list. b) How long you've been on the site and c) how you're perceived by believers. In weeks where there's been an artist who has been round the site for a while and got a resonable budget, any "newcomers" don't seem to stand a chance. I have a feeling the total number of votes is lower in weeks where all six artists are low in budget and/or haven't been around the site long, but without any actual voting numbers being posted it's impossible to confirm this.

In terms of my own voting over the past few weeks, we'd got as far as Morris becoming artist of the week at the end of my last hatchet day post. I went for Slim Void that week, but the following week was to prove a real wrench. I would have loved to have gone for Outrance that week because I think he's highly underrated on here, however he was up against my favourite Sellaband artist, so Skitzo Calypso were to get my vote for the next 2 weeks. Civilised Tears were my choice the week after with Kontrust the week after that, proving that I too tend to vote for artists I've been following on Sellaband for a while rather than the newcomers.

Then something which may come as a shock. The week that Kontrust were artist of the week, all the artists up for selection were new. I didn't vote at all that week! Not because the artists were new, but rather because I wasn't interested enough in any of their music. Following Sellaband's decision to drop 4 "big names" in to fight it out the folllowing week, I bet there were some who had an even harder time than me in picking someone to vote for. Kane Sole was the one who got my vote in the end, and again kept it the following week.

Sellaband
The "new era" on Sellaband has lead me to make a few changes which will inevitably also affect how this blog appears in future.

Firstly, I cancelled my "12 days of Christmas" for this year. I seriously don't like taking parts out of artists once I've put them in, and to buy another part in artists I already believe in, that I could well have to take out at a later date because of the incentive boundaries would hardly be fair. With the speed of the website adding to my woes, I decided there was little point me trying to come up with some alternative for this Christmas, because it would just take too long to do. IMO a real pity.

Secondly, the addition of the "last updated" date and the fact I won't be buying more than one part in artists in future except under rare circumstances, theoretically means I will have less part removals going on. Particularly if Sellaband actually put a system in place to filter/remove the inactive artists. Don't forget my deadline for the 5 gift parts to them for meeting this "inactive artist" challenge is on 7th January (even though their own date was set as 1st Jan), so you'll be able to find out in my next blog if they've succeeded or failed in this. So whilst there will still be a "hatchet day" blog, you'll find more of an emphasis on artists I'm listening to, rather than where parts have been gained or lost. I think you'll find all becoming clearer about what I mean by this on 1st February.

I really can't make my mind up about the new era at the moment. There's things about it that I like or I think have potential, but there are also a number of things I'm really not happy with. Arenafest has the potential to be good for the site, but it feels rather like a big "if" at the moment. I'm ignoring arguments over how the artists are being chosen because I think there's a bigger issue. Had the idea of using stadiums in that way already been a case of tried and tested, and SAB were just taking over the opening slots I wouldn't really be worried, but the fact this seems to be completely new and it is hard to find information about it if you don't already know where to look doesn't exactly inspire confidence that it's going to work. I'll be interested in what some of our US believers are seeing "on the ground", so to speak, as the dates get closer.

One other thing the "new era" seems to have brought is the fact that HQ seem to have really stepped away from the community - even more than before. I'll have more to say about this in my Jan 8th post, because it's something that's directly affecting some of the things I'm trying to do, it will take rather a while to explain and I'm not liking it one bit.

So that's about all for this issue. The January "hatchet day" is actually being posted on 8th January, and a combination of being so close to the season of goodwill and the fact we're just starting a new year, means you'll get a special episode before normal service is resumed on 1st February. So expect a kind of "review of 2008" containing charts of my favourite artists and songs of 2008 and a few interesting stories I've been saving up for just such an occasion. In the meantime, I hope you've had a good holiday and I'll wish yu all a happy New Year.