March 1st 2009 Hatchet Day

It's been a strange month all told. It seems my last blog post inadvertently caused the outbreak of a serious case of chaos and mayhem when part of it got quoted on Sellaband (but more about that later).

Results from last month
I don't know if you remember I mentioned Liza Lee? Well it seems some of her believers persuaded her to return just to provide a contact point. You'll find her new profile here. I'm kind of in two minds about behaviour such as this - on the one hand I completely understand the desire for artists to want to stay in touch with people and grow their fanbase, on the other, it's already hard enough trying to filter through all the artists on the site without those who have basically given up on the idea of raising 50K being there as well. I still think that the money side needs putting separate from the networking/grow fanbase side, rather than all artists being lumped together as the current situation just makes the average person even less likely to spend money until they see a decent fanbase appear first - there are just too many "dead"/promotion/friendship etc. profiles. Enticing people to buy early parts has to be a priority unless you're expecting the artists to bring all the people themselves. (and in that case why bother with a community based website for raising money in the first place!)

On the story of thankyous, it probably comes as no surprise that I still haven't received a visit from the 2 new investments I highlighted last month. And of those, I'm going to highlight Fables Last Stand in here once again, because whilst their profile has been visited in the last few days, I see there's still no mention of the fact they're through to the regional finals (to be held March 15th) of a music competition for one of the biggest, most important and longest running TV networks in the UK.(wikipedia link for all my non-UK readers) So if you read back to what I wrote in my blog last month about them, maybe you'll begin to understand why I'm currently hearing the sound of a ball being dropped. But by whom? I'll let you decide that for yourselves.

This month's gainers and losers
I've taken a time out on the parts removals this month because I haven't given the wishlist a real good spring clean for a while, so I've been going through paying particular attention to artists under $100 in budget who have been on there a while to see when they were last seen and have removed quite a few. Having looked at some of the ones I've left, I'll probably be having another spring clean on the wishlist next month too. I've also removed The Shivery from my wishlist as they've done the old "clean out the profile" job, but I see there are still people with parts in them, so maybe it's time to reclaim your money folks.

New investments
I've added parts to 2 new artists this month.

Voodoo Johnson are actually a local act to me and well in keeping with my tastes for rock. They've been played on Bruce Dickinson's radio show for the BBC in the UK (yes THE Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden for those who were wondering) and with a gig later this month just round the corner I suspect it's more than about time I went to see what they're really like live. One thing's for sure, it'll be a lot cheaper than travelling all the way down to London like I usually have to.

It's probably also no surprise that I've bought a part in Matthew Ebel. I could have been within the first couple of believers to get in there, but instead I stuck him on my wishlist and am kind of regretting the fact given how much budget he's picked up since. Then again, maybe it's a good thing that the knifelady curse starts at over $2,500 rather than the under $100 level I normally seem to manage. I'm hoping to catch his webcast one of these nights, but if my timezones are correct I worked out his next one of 6pm Boston time 3rd March is the equivalent of midnight Sellaband server time (11pm UK time on 3rd March) so I'll need to check I'm not doing anything the following morning!

Watching
My watching section this month is focussing mainly on those who signed up in the past month. With a small cash injection from album sales, I've been looking for interesting new people to listen to and perhaps throw a part towards.

I can hardly pass this section by without mentioning Peelander-Z who arrived in a blaze of colour at the beginning of the month. I have to admit I'm not sure how well they'll do from the current believer base on here. In my own case, putting on a show is one thing but having the music is another and whilst I think EES manage to walk that tightrope, I don't think Peelander-Z do the same. For me, the result is that I'm looking at something which looks like it might be more at home on childrens daytime TV than anything a serious music fan would listen to. I've got no doubt the Japanese love them and if you're into cult music then maybe this is one for you, but I don't think you'll persuade me to buy a part.

Another artist I'm watching but am unlikely to buy a part in myself is Dancing Lotus, because as you should know by now, I don't like rap (and yes that includes Maitreya, sorry! - apologies for the in-joke based on a comment from Whaley). However if you listen to these guys you'll find they are miles away from your average rap/hip-hop artist. Chuck the rap in a bucket with some rock, some classical music and anything else that takes your fancy and shake vigorously and what pops out is actually an interesting infusion, and (at least) I think a very fresh sound. The profile has a bit of a "hey I'm sitting here just to promote an artist" feel about it though, so I'll be interested to see how things develop. At least they've worked out how to leave a message on their own page.

But getting onto artists I am more interested in, Five Sorrows is an interesting new arrival. I'd particularly recommend this artist for a listen if you're into Nine Inch Nails, or you like some of the heavier stuff from Vegas Dragons.

Caterpillars have more of a Coldplay feel to them. I haven't quite made my mind up on them musically, but will definitely watch to see what happens as they're one of the few new artists I've seen recently trying actively to contact believers.

The Stetz seem to have made it into the Sixpack already. If you've listened to them already and are undecided I'd recommend you go back and keep listening. I personally have found their tracks to be more "growers" than something that automatically makes you want to leap in and give a part.

If you like something that little bit more eclectic then Vanband is worth a listen. Watch out for their track "The Infant" because it has about 30 seconds of silence after the initial spoken introduction before the track itself starts, so it would be easy to think the player is broken - make sure you wait for at least a minute! All their tracks are quite long and tend to change as they progress, so what you first hear isn't necessarily what you end up with.

I'm watching Matt Roberson. I don't mind a bit of Christian rock occasionally, but I'm also interested to see if the Sellaband site has a new problem. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, check the date on his blog tab, then check his last seen date. Unfortunately I didn't look at that blog tab before 1st so it's impossible to say if he was just suffering from a case of premonition or whether something is genuinely wrong. I'll be watching to see if something like this pops up elsewhere.

Finally there are a couple of "long-termers" I'm particularly watching. Firstly, if you missed their announcement, Sheet Metal are back with a new bassist, but it may be a while before they get around to putting new material up as Dreb has exams coming up. Secondly Slim Void seem to have started the final push to 50K having overtaken Radius recently in budget. Whilst it's not quite a final race just yet, if their current speed continues, we might well have them as a recording artist before my next hatchet day blog, so if you were still undecided whether to buy a part, now might just be the time to make up your mind.

Video of the month
Video of the month is of the first Finnish band I ran across while actually on the hunt for Finnish rock bands. L-60 have released 2 albums to date and are in the process of mixing number 3. The track I'm giving you is called "Love me" which appears as a bonus track on their second album but is actually the first time they did a video. Unfortunately their website isn't yet up to date with the latest info, but you can find that over at their Myspace profile instead. From the first sample on the Myspace player it sounds like their new material is going to be a bit heavier than their releases to date.

I was lucky enough to get hold of their first album thanks to a German fan who was able to order it from the one remaining source available online when it threw a wobbly at the fact my IP address was from the UK and not Germany. Thankfully you'll find their second album available digitally and samples from every track on that album available on their website, so go ahead and discover what I think is a very underrated band.

Sixpack stories
Despite my worries about tAIT I landed up voting for them in the Sellaband Sixpack after a hard choice between them and another artist I've been watching called SPiN. Interestingly both these artists have been seen on their own profiles recently, but neither have made any particular noise around to let people know they exist. Likewise the following week Fables Last Stand was my choice - I've already said plenty about them though, so no use repeating myself! Since then I've been voting for Matthew Ebel and as it's been a short month there isn't a lot more to say.

Sellaband
OK folks, has everyone gone completely mad? Seriously I knew the perspectives of some were getting a bit skewed, but I wasn't expecting quite the reaction that turned up as a result of netvalar posting a piece of my last hatchet day blog on the forum. People are getting way too wound up at the moment, making it impossible for anyone to say anything - it's no surprise the community manager is hiding behind the plants in the Sellaband office and probably wondering what to do. Wake up and tell me you also saw what I'm about to post in this section, or realise the dangers caused because you missed it. Yes there are problems out there, but let's get some reality back into the picture.

There's been a lot of talk about the Arenafest competition. In many ways I have to agree that Sellaband/Arenaworks should just have decided who they wanted to play from the off, but equally I can see the logic behind asking people to vote on artists in case there is someone with a whole heap of fans out there willing to back them. I know how hard it is from a believer perspective to get an idea of what an artist is really like, particularly when you're not even in the same country and therefore have very little chance of finding out what they're really like live and whether they really have 2 fans or 200. Despite the fact it seems to have largely been removed from the Sellaband site, believer is actually a very accurate term, because you're often putting your faith in the fact that what you hear/see online is pretty much as good as things are going to be in practice. Cutting through the hype and finding reality is a nigh-on impossible task and it's not just something believers have to do in a case like Arenafest - people like Sellaband HQ actually have to do it too.

So whilst people have been busily throwing stones at HQ about "fake profiles" and the voting therefore, how many of you actually noticed that one of the artists in the competition put out a bulletin which contained some very interesting information? Apparently the artist in question had been contacted by Sellaband and told they would be thrown out of the voting if the "multiple profile voting" that was going on continued. Obviously the miscreant(s) weren't the artist in question or there would have been no need for them to post the bulletin asking whoever it was to please stop what they were doing. I feel sorry for the artist in question, as I know they're one of the "working bands" who spend more time playing live than they do on Sellaband to start with, but I'm also glad something like this has happened because it's proof that Sellaband HQ are taking an interest, despite what others might think.

In many ways it's a real shame we can't see the actual numbers of people voting, but I'm inclined to think some of the wierd-looking voting has a lot to do with the fact that a) there are very few active believers so the "true believer" voting is spread rather thin and b) some of those in a) probably aren't even bothering to vote in the first place because they've made up their minds there's no point. i.e. I think it might actually be rather easy to get well up the voting table on relatively few votes.

Sellaband needs real believers in order to grow - I think anyone who has been around for any length of time recognises that statement is as true today as it was a couple of years ago. You only need to look at the total number of votes on the poll in the forum to decide what option on CDs people wanted to see just how small the number of real people taking a proper interest actually is. Whilst it's important to remember there are real concerns out there, it's also important not to actively scare people off. Believers can help to grow the site, but you can't do it by friends and family alone. You've got to cross the breach and start influencing strangers positively, rather than always sending out negative messages. Don't lie, but keep it real. Don't forget, even if Sellaband manages to attract people to take an interest, what those people actually see will influence their decision of whether to take any further part in the site. Believers can chase potential new believers away far easily than Sellaband itself ever can, irrespective of whether they mean to or not. Keep it in perspective people, if you actually want to see Sellaband succeed!

The community doesn't have the hang of working together yet to attract and/or keep people that become interested in the site. One person can start an initiative, but if they're the only one that takes part, there's no way it can succeed. I haven't worked out whether it's just the case of ideas that aren't appealing enough or whether the global nature means that people feel they're just spread too thin and the apathy sets in. Maybe the latest idea I have can change that, but I know that it's only going to work if people are prepared to give it a shot. I believe I've got something which can result in both active bands and new, interested, real believers. The way I think Sellaband should be. The first step is for me to create a poll on the forum to which I believe I know what the answer should be. The second is to propose the idea (assuming the expected answer comes back) and pray that the apathy doesn't take hold of the people I need for it to work. One thing's for sure, it won't succeed unless others actually take part. So watch the forum if I've got you intrigued, because I'm hoping for a first genuine shot at what I have in mind before my next hatchet day post.

That's all for this month. Here's hoping for some positive outcomes on some of the ongoing sagas before next month's post.