Welcome to my review of the year post. This is the time of year when you traditionally find out my favourite Sellaband artists and songs of the year as well as a whole load of other interesting things.
However as 2010 progressed it became ever clearer that I was going to have a big problem when it came to writing a review of the year, and indeed with the continuation of this blog in general. As a result there are a number of changes to the content of this post compared to previous years, but before I get further into that and the reasons behind it, you might want to start listening to the soundtrack that accompanies this blog post because you're in for a very, very long read. And rest assured I'll be giving you an explanation of what you're listening to later as well.
The demise and rebirth of Sellaband
The big story of the year and effectively also the deciding factor in what's happening with this blog has got to be the bankruptcy and subsequent revival of Sellaband itself. On the plus side, the revival of the site allowed me to reclaim nearly $1000 from artists who hadn't reached target, rather than staring at the potential of having to fight administration for the money, and also safeguarding me from the second set of changes to the T&C that will have affected others (the first being the set that went live when the site came back up).
On the minus side comes the reason I pulled that money in the first place, followed by the subsequent efforts of the new administration. The 2 week clause for removal of money from projects when the site first came back up was bad enough, but to have this later changed to a system whereby you can remove no money from the system that you deposit, even if the artist themselves decides to call it quits on Sellaband is more than enough in its own right to make it impossible to understand why any respectable artist would sign up to the site in the first place. Let alone why anyone would put money into the project of an artist they weren't already familiar with. It's hard to feel anything but sorry for artists who decided to retain the faith and stay with Sellaband immediately after the site came back up as a result - effectively trapped by the subsequent set of changes, they are now left to face the prospect of trying to convince enough people to join their projects in order to complete them before the deletion deadline in September comes round, or their existing believers who kept the faith with them will be unable to take their money back out of Sellaband. Ever.
But this locking in of money isn't the only issue the site is facing. As far as I understand it, the takeover was allowed on the understanding that the rights of existing believers would be upheld. So let's look at the things that believers are interested in, to find out what other problems the site has and what's been happening with them in the 10 months since the new administration came into power.
1. Outstanding CDs
A number of artists had raised budgets before the site was declared bankrupt, but their albums had not yet seen the light of day. Some of these albums have eventually come through, however we still have quite a number where fundraising was completed prior to the bankruptcy, and in some cases more than two years ago compared to our current date. Given the length of time involved and the fact there still seems no date when they are likely to be released, it makes me wonder just how interested Sellaband are in sorting out this most fundamental believer right - to actually get believers receiving what they have paid for. After all, let's not forget that the T&C under which those budgets were raised looked somewhat different to the current version. Whilst the current set basically states Sellaband have no responsibility towards believers if an artist fails to deliver, this clause wasn't present in much earlier versions of the T&C.
2. CDs for sale
There was already a lot of controversy over this, even before the bankruptcy, when believers were being asked to pay to have all remaining CDs sent home or basically hand them over for nothing for Sellaband to do with as they willed. Limited Edition CDs got removed from the Sellaband shop. After an outcry, Sellaband said they had found someone to take over the storage of the CDs for believers at no cost, and hence they could continue to be offered for sale. In June, the ability for believers to ask for CDs to be sent home was suspended, while this outcry was going on. However, a look at the situation today reveals that there is still no artist in the Sellaband shop with limited edition CDs for sale (in fact very few artists even offering a CD at all), and indeed a number of artists where LE CDs are still known to be available have no product at all for sale in the Sellaband shop. In addition, the ability to receive your LE CDs at home if you pay for the postage remains suspended with no idea if/when it will resume, hence this is one area which has clearly got worse under the new administration as far as believers are concerned.
3. Revenue payments
Revenue payments seemed to have finally settled down into a regular thing shortly before the site went bankrupt, however the same can't be said of the current situation. The latest official excuse is related to the fact Sellaband mysteriously decided to swap from dollars to Euros for budgets, hence effectively putting a price hike on all new signups and therefore making the site less attractive to potential believers as well. Whilst a couple of payments were made before this change to Euros (not to the schedule in the T&C, but it must be said this could at least be partly excused due to the takeover), no payments have been made since. The official reason is that the Euro system needs testing to make sure it's working correctly, yet with the system seeming to be fundamentally the same, it seems incredible that more than 4 months after what basically amounts to a mere currency conversion of existing numbers, they still seem incapable of crediting balances with revenue and have already had to be prompted at least once even to get the "waiting to be credited" figure updated.
4. Handle the idiots
Fan funding potentially has two different methods of working. Firstly, that you find enough people who are interested enough in you (and/or have formed a relationship with you) who are willing to trust you enough to give you money in advance. Secondly, that some kind of platform exists as an intermediary where people who don't know you, don't need to trust you but rather need to trust the platform enough to hand over money to it for you to use. Whilst the reality in many cases is probably a mix of these methods, in order for a platform such as Sellaband to fit with that second method, there are a number of things that it has to be capable of doing.
The two main things on this score are a) the existence of music experts to guide artists through the process and b) to be able to act as a consumer protection filter so that believers can have the trust that an artist they've never encountered before has at least some idea of what they're doing.
Many of those looking for fan funding haven't even been to a studio before, have no idea of the costs, no idea of how to set up a marketing plan etc. etc. This means that plans presented to believers need to look reasonable i.e. a plan which merely states something along the lines of "to become rich and famous" doesn't just hurt the credibility of the artist but also of the site itself. However there are also those who have some idea that basically need pointing in the right direction or just that little extra bit of help and advice to get them up to scratch. And it doesn't stop there. Basically the WHOLE process needs to be monitored, right up until the point that the CD and/or other incentives are delivered to ensure things are kept on track as much as possible and that the deadline in the T&C can be met. At the end of the day believers generally have absolutely no idea of the things an artist needs to know, or what they cost, or how long they take. Nor do they have any desire or need to know these things. All they want to know is that someone experienced with that knowledge is out there making sure they're not going to get ripped off and that if there is a deadline when things are meant to be delivered, that they actually DO get delivered or they get their money back, rather than being on an endless wait where you have no idea when the end is going to come.
Unfortunately the "anything goes" plan attitude introduced by the previous Sellaband still exists with no such filtering. With a clause in the T&C stating that all the responsibilities fall on the artist's shoulders, not Sellaband, it becomes impossible for believers with no experience of the music industry to know which of these unknown artists they can really trust. And the "experts" page on Sellaband disappeared a while ago, meaning that one of the key reasons I signed up to the site rather than passing it by as an idea that didn't stand a hope of working seemingly doesn't exist. With no experts to handle the idiots and protect the naive consumer, there's little or no reason for people to trust a platform and hence the artists they've never heard of that are on it.
5 Terms and Conditions
As I already mentioned, immediately after the bankruptcy the site came back up with one major change to the T&C as far as believers were concerned. Previously believers could withdraw money from Sellaband at any time, however this had been reduced to two weeks after the money was originally deposited. Later this got removed completely meaning no money being deposited in the system could ever be removed. On the one hand, this appears to signal to me that the site is no longer considered to be a pre-purchase system (otherwise this restriction is clearly in violation of the EU distance selling regulations), but rather regarded as a financial investment product (at least as far as the Dutch Central Bank is concerned). In which case I have to wonder why the T&C don't include the standard messages about risk etc. that you would associate with such a thing. Such a stance is also clearly not suitable for consumers in the first place, yet it is selling a product to consumers we are talking about here, else why offer some of the kind of incentives such as CDs and DVDs and not merely a (probably large) cut of the revenue. When coupled with item 4, this also means investors would basically just look and laugh as the risks are too great given the seeming number of idiots around (based on the contents of the average plan). This stance therefore would mean Sellaband effectively now has no market.
On the other hand, to get back to the idea of a consumer based pre-purchase system, I have to wonder why Sellaband haven't changed the system to follow those of other fan-funding platforms who don't take the money up front but rather wait until the project has received enough interest before taking any money. Whilst I agree that this would mean a change in the way the Sellaband system operates and that will obviously take time, I find it hard to believe that the site was OK being re-started with a 2 week clause, but one day suddenly was told it couldn't refund any money. Rather, I would be inclined to believe that discussions about the issue had probably been going on for some time between the time the site was reincarnated and the point at which the removal of money was completely blocked. More than enough time for Sellaband to assess the situation (they had already seen the negative impact of the 2-week clause after all), and look for/start working on an alternative to deal with the fact that it was looking likely they wouldn't be allowed to refund money. Although existing money in the system would still have had to be dealt with, a system which didn't take money up front would clearly get around the problem the Dutch Central Bank seemingly have with the site. And presented to believers along the lines that although existing money in the system was going to be trapped, the fact the system was in the process of being changed for this reason would have still upset people but to a much lesser extent, as it would have been clear Sellaband were at least trying to make the best of the situation and protect consumers in future. It doesn't appear such a process has been started - indeed if it had been as soon as the problem became known, chances are the changeover would have been pretty much ready for implementation by now. The impression therefore left behind is that Sellaband are more interested in money grabbing, than resolving issues in a way that can help them retain at least some level of faith from their existing customers.
However, as well as this specific situation, there is also a more general situation with the T&C which remains outstanding. At the end of the day, if there are a set of terms and conditions, you have the choice to agree or disagree with these. But irrespective of which you choose to do, the important thing is whether or not they are enforced. With revenues not being paid according to the pattern laid out in the T&C and artists clearly over the deadline for delivery (some by a very long way, even when the current and most lenient set of T&C with regard to timescales is used), Sellaband comes across as untrustworthy and uncaring, and at the end of the day, a scam. Believers are basically being asked to deposit money in a system, understand that they are never able to remove it and have no guarantee that they will ever see whatever it is they deposited the money for in the first place because Sellaband doesn't seem interested in following the T&C that it has laid out. Ask yourself... would YOU become a believer knowing this?
So from a believer point of view, the evidence is damning. Whilst Franz does appear to be making some efforts to try and rekindle a community, the reality is that those efforts are destined to fail. Until Sellaband gets its head out of the sand, realises that the money it gets actually comes from believers and not artists and therefore sets its priorities to fixing the things that are bothering those believers (many of which I've just mentioned), what's left of the core of the old community is basically destined to act as a deterrent rather than a help. The goodwill has been used up - if Sellaband doesn't help believers, believers aren't going to help Sellaband. Which means the grumbling is just going to keep coming up over and over as a reminder to Sellaband and a warning to others who may be looking at the site as a result. No new community can form under those circumstances, and sadly I fear that by the time the penny actually drops the damage will be irreversible. Given the fact nearly a year has passed since the takeover and with no progress in a positive direction as far as believers are concerned, it may in fact already be too late.
I consider the situation so bad, that from my own point of view I won't be depositing any money in Sellaband for the forseeable future, nor buying any parts. It's also had a major side effect on my interaction with the site - in the past 12 months I've probably only listened to a handful of new artists on there, and I've pretty much stopped talking to artists on the site completely because I don't see the point in getting their hopes up when it's clear a large amount of work needs to be done to restore my own faith in the system. Whilst I'll still be hanging around the site, mostly on the forum, at the moment I can't see my interest going any deeper than that until/unless things start to change for the better as far as the paying customers i.e. believers are concerned.
The missing albums
I haven't tracked every album on Sellaband that is outstanding from before the bankruptcy, but here's what I've found out about the albums I'm personally still waiting for. Remember that under the current set of T&C albums should have been completed within 12 months of the date the target was reached, but in earlier versions of the T&C this was only 9 months (or in the case of the earliest set 6 months).
Natalia Safran
Target Reached: November 12th 2008
Status: Unknown. Hasn't been on Sellaband since the bankruptcy. A visit to her own website reveals the latest news about the album to date from 20th August 2010 containing the information "Mick and I are almost finished with our Sellaband album! It has been a long time coming and we cannot wait to let our songs into the air! They are being mixed and mastered and the end is very near...".
Impression: If any artist belongs in the sin bin, this has to be the one. With more than two years passed since the target was reached and no recent update on the artist's own website, never mind Sellaband, I can only describe this as one artist who clearly doesn't deserve to be fan funded. Indeed if you take into account when she actually signed up, it won't be long before we pass three years and start heading into a fourth as far as the full process is concerned. Artists, take note of this prime example of the way NOT to do things.
Radio Orange
Target Reached: June 15th 2009
Status: Finally reappeared on Sellaband in November after an absence of quite some time to announce that the studio work was done and only the album artwork remained to be completed, meaning they were expecting believers to be able to receive it by the end of the year.
Impression: Not a great one given that a year and a half has passed (when their T&C stated 9 months) and the long period of silence. Given the information presented, if the album itself doesn't appear by the end of January, my opinion is likely to drop even further.
Katie Thompson
Target Reached: July 21st 2009
Status: Last Sellaband post on December 9th 2010 states mastering is finished and album design work still needs to be done, also that website, merchandising and first single + video release are being prepared.
Impression: Although this is another album which appears well overdue, Katie has done much better than many of the other overdue artists at keeping her Sellaband believers informed of what is going on and why throughout the process and therefore has retained more of my trust than might otherwise be expected. But I am also hoping for a January release, otherwise it's likely my opinion will start to slip further here as well.
Lori Greco
Target Reached: August 17th 2009
Status: Unclear. There has been no update to her profile page this year although it was last visited towards the end of October. The last forum post from her back at the end of August contains the following information "I have stressed that the CD must be finished for a pre-Christmas release as we are hoping to give away the Christmas song for free in the hope of bringing new listeners to my CD." Clearly the CD release hasn't happened and her website appears to be a very long way out of date with no information about the current situation either. Facebook page seems to have the most recent information buried deep within it which basically states that the album will be available "some time in 2011 but I have no idea which month", suggesting there's probably been a change of producer. It would appear the Christmas song mentioned in the forum post did get made available for free download anyway.
Impression: The intermittent updates on Sellaband and hunting required elsewhere to try and find out what's going on mean I have a lower opinion here than I do of Katie. Given this album is now heading into its 17th month since the target was reached, and the last known information that opinion is also starting to drop rapidly.
Tim Bennett (formerly known as Civilised Tears)
Target Reached: November 5th 2009
Status: Shooting second music video to accompany album. Has previously stated in November that Sellaband were having issues with the manufacturing of his album, hence there would be a delay and were speaking to a new manufacturer as a result.
Impression: Has been excellent at keeping people informed regularly and has been clearly demonstrating work on the album supporting projects, hence I've not been too bothered about the delay so far. Hoping this is one that can be seen by the end of January given that all except the manufacture appears to be done.
BONNIE
Target Reached: November 5th 2009
Status: Whilst they themselves haven't been very present on Sellaband since reaching target, one of their believers has taken on the task of keeping other believers informed via forum posts. Last known at the beginning of December to be waiting for album artwork with all recording completed.
Impression: Positive at the moment as the delay appears small, particularly considering the Sellaband bankruptcy/takeover and there have been updates from them, at least indirectly.
Aly Cook
Target Reached: December 8th 2009
Status: Currently fundraising on IndieGoGo for a tour DVD to support the album release and has stated that she expects the album itself to be ready for release February/March 2011. In fact an e-mail arrived as I've been writing this blog, which now lists March 21st as a worldwide distribution date, although there is no mention of the date on which Sellaband believers can expect to receive the album.
Impression: Most definitely positive at the moment. Has kept believers informed and given there must have been a delay anyway due to Sellaband's bankruptcy, the information quoted is broadly in line with what my estimate on a 12 month release would have turned into as a result.
Cubworld
Target Reached: December 16th 2009
Status: Unclear. Not much information to go on here as last update from July seems to suggest the album was still in pre-production phase. Is known to be active on Twitter and stated back in November that Sellaband had been chasing him for an update. Also looks like Kompis has been trying to get hold of him for an article for 50kmusic, but this hasn't happened yet and the actual current album status therefore remains unknown, despite the fact a recent post suggests there will be more news on this soon.
Impression: I'm slightly disappointed, given this is his second run through Sellaband, as I'd been hoping he'd have learnt a lot from his first run and hence things would be a bit better this time around. Whilst the year is only just up and obviously the Sellaband bankruptcy will have caused some delay, although I'm not overly worried yet, I feel an update (as a minimum) is somewhat overdue.
A Christmas Carol
Before I get onto the music charts you're waiting for, it's time to talk about the direction this blog is heading in the next year. As you can probably guess from what I've already said, the focus on Sellaband itself will be much reduced at best, so I have a few stories to tell to explain the transition and new direction.
Ghost of Christmas past or How to Create a Community
In my last blog post, I promised you a moving story from Sellaband Christmas past, so let me tell you something that not many of you will know. And even those who know (or remember) something about this, almost certainly don't know the full story of what sparked it. Before I move on to the future, join me in a memory from the past. Let me take you back to Christmas 2006, my first Christmas on Sellaband.
But first a few things to set the scene. I'd joined the site back in October as a result of getting a vision in my head. In actual fact, my initial reaction was actually quite a negative one - whilst the initial idea seemed interesting, the idea that someone would spend money on an artist they'd never heard of before just seemed like a non-starter. That initial impression quickly changed though as I read through the information available on the site and a vision of not only why it could work but a broad outline of the actual path of how it would work formed, and in fact how it would eventually lead to the "new music industry" that so many have been talking about. Whilst I've learnt a few new pieces of information about that vision as a result of my interest in Sellaband, I still believe in what I "saw" that day. And whilst I've never revealed the full and complicated explanation of that vision, there are two things relevant to this story that I'll reveal now. The first is that the process can only start with a single platform of experts so that people can have trust in one (i.e. the platform), rather than needing to trust in many (i.e. each individual artist). According to the information on the site at the time, Sellaband already had this - those who have been on the site a while will remember the experts page.
The second thing is that once the first condition was met, a community of music lovers needed to form on that platform - whilst they would be most needed for a later stage of the process, they also form the core of the credibility required to help the idea take off. Sellaband didn't have this when I joined, but unlike other sites which have appeared since which seem pretty dead on the interaction front, there were (a few) obvious conversations happening on Sellaband artist profile pages. Clearly a community could be formed, but it just seemed like nobody was doing it, because at the end of the day all communities need an inspirational leader.
This is the person that not only stands up and says that the impossible can be done, but also makes people believe it to the extent that it actually happens, hence creating a positive cycle that encourages more people to believe in what was originally thought impossible. And the impossible quite literally becomes possible as a result. As a "new music" site, what has been presented to music fans is the idea that you can be a part of the creative process and get to see things that you won't see by merely buying an album, you can get to know the artists/have access to artists in a way you never have before. If all you have is people being polite to each other, in the same way you might nod, smile or say hello to a stranger in the street, then that presented promise is a lie. The inspirational leader on a site like Sellaband, is the one that's going to create the promised level of interaction and show its worth.
Those who know me, know that I don't like to be a public figure online, but the vision I had seen was just too strong to ignore, so I decided to see what I could do to start off the interaction, though I know it's something my own personality doesn't particularly suit. I wasn't really getting anywhere, and in fact had almost decided to give up and probably leave the site altogether, when some real help walked into the place.
I hadn't long written the piece about the things believers should be doing, which Sellaband wanted to publish in the Tribune, when Vegas Dragons joined the site. Brian Taylor had taken one look at the simple statement about my vision to be found on my profile page at that time and he believed in it. And he'd come into the site doing all of the very things I'd been thinking about when I'd written the Tribune article! Artists who were around had been leaving polite thankyou messages to people who believed in them and that was pretty much it at that point as far as communication went, so Brian was the first artist on Sellaband who really started talking to believers and getting to know them as people in a big way.
Believers loved it. Here was an artist that was actually talking to them. Here was the holy grail - the promised interaction, and someone who actually cared about them. You could almost see some of the other artists scratching their heads wondering why people were buying parts - I'm not a musician, but even I can tell you there were people with more talent, better songwriting skills, better recordings etc. out there at the same time and people were walking straight past pretty much all of them. Some other artists started to pick up on the idea that if they talked to believers they got more visitors to their page, and hence potentially more belief as a result, but what was urgently needed was a better way for people to interact than having to go to loads of different pages.
There had been some talk about Sellaband getting a forum, but Sellaband seemed to be saying it was going to take a while, whereas I knew I could set up a free forum in about an hour. It wouldn't necessarily be as good a solution as one integrated with the site, but for the stop-gap I had in mind, it was an incredibly efficient way of getting the job done. Even though I had in the back of my mind the old adage "if you build it, they will come", I'd only received two positive responses to the idea that I set up a forum until Sellaband had one of its own. Despite the doubts I had, Brian was the one who inspired me to go ahead with the idea anyway, and it quickly became a place that people would go to in order to talk to Brian as much as anything else, because it was much easier to carry out a conversation in a forum environment than on the profile pages of the time. Other artists and believers started working out people were actually gathering and talking there, and they started to get involved as a result. The place started to grow.
One of the things I'd set up on the forum to try and get people involved, was a list of potentially controversial topics. One of these was related to the idea of artists buying parts in their own profiles, something I feel to this day is something wrong on a number of levels. From my point of view, if you wanted to spend money on your own project, spending it on Sellaband made little sense even back then due to the money lost as administration fees, and the fact you'd be better off putting it in a bank if your project was going to take a while to reach target, because you'd earn interest on it there (and you wouldn't in Sellaband). Or perhaps even that you put that money towards gigging or promotion instead, so you could get more different (new) people on board to support you, increasing your fan base, which in turn would convince some of the fence-sitters. Also, if you did buy parts, at that time it meant you got a number of limited edition CDs and my argument on that score was that buying a large number of parts would mean you were going to land up selling these in preference to the CD sales that would actually make money for the believers that had taken the leap of faith to support you. You might make money, but they wouldn't see a penny and some of them might feel cheated as a result.
Brian's view on the subject was quite simply along the lines of "If I don't believe in myself, then how can I expect others to believe in me?", to which my counter has always been the fact that you don't have to spend money on parts to demonstrate that. So when Brian announced to me on Skype (we'd quickly got talking a lot to each other on there) that he was planning to spend his Christmas bonus on buying parts in his own project, I pretty much went ballistic at him to talk him out of the idea. You see, in his case I was even more against it. What not a lot of people knew, was the fact Vegas Dragons weren't actually gigging together as a band (hence couldn't get interest in from outside) largely because Brian was in debt. And not just debt but quite a few thousand dollars in debt. To me it was obvious, the money would be much better spent towards sorting the debt problems and/or getting Vegas Dragons doing all the things it ought to be doing. After we'd talked about it for a bit, Brian promised he wouldn't buy the parts after all, and we arranged to talk again a couple of days later after I'd travelled with my husband to the in-laws for Christmas.
So enough of the background and onto the story. It's the evening I've just mentioned and I'm sitting in exactly the same room that I'm writing this post from now, waiting for Brian to call me on Skype. Naturally, I start looking at artist pages while I'm waiting and what has happened while I've been travelling quickly becomes clear. Nearly every page I go to with new parts has the same thing on it. Brian has written a Christmas message on his profile page and uploaded a photo of himself in a santa hat, and that is the new believer picture I see on a profile I visit along with the thankyou message from its artist who somehow couldn't believe what he'd done. Even though it is seen as a commonplace and natural thing these days, the idea of one artist believing in another because they liked their music was unheard of back then. And Brian hadn't believed in just one, he'd believed in fourteen. The yelling I'd given him over a day earlier had only had a partial effect. He believed in what he'd read on my profile page and Sellaband was now his life - artists and believers alike that he'd been talking to had quite literally become his friends - instead of using his Christmas bonus to start working towards sorting out those money problems I mentioned and start doing the things needed to make Vegas Dragons a success, he'd spent it on making a whole lot of other artists happy instead. A part of me wanted to shout at him even so, but how could I? How could anyone when they read the reactions of the artists who had received this surprise, particularly given the time of year? And after all, the deed was already done.
But that's not the end of it. Brian had been offering a copy of the first Vegas Dragons CD as an incentive to buy parts and a number of believers had given him their addresses in order to receive that CD as a result. Because he had those addresses, a number of believers got an unexpected Christmas and/or birthday surprise in the post that year, the contents of which I think was based largely on the relationship he'd built up with that believer to date, but Christmas cards and handwritten thankyou messages personal to each believer and mailed to them were among the list. My own was the red and yellow stuffed dragon which famously appears in the picture with the chessboard on my old forum when Brian foolishly made a bet with my husband by saying he could beat me in a game of chess by the end of the year. (If you don't know my husband, then he doesn't take a bet unless he reckons he has a better than average chance of winning, and he was pretty quick to take Brian up on this offer). To give you an idea of scale it arrived in a cubed box of approx 1m per side. Given we're talking from Australia to the UK, then trust me, you don't want to know the postage.
So if I had to pick the defining moment when the Sellaband community truly started, this incredible level of generosity towards both artists and believers alike, given the background it was coming from would have to be it. Brian cemented his place as the inspirational leader the community needed to form behind because of the way he was saying and doing a lot of the things I already knew from my vision, and 2007 was to pretty much turn me into the sidekick building on that start by helping him with a number of his madcap schemes (some of which ought to have got both of us thrown off the site, but which in fact provided some much needed amusement from the tedious wait between artists hitting 50K) that would further seal his place in Sellaband history.
That inspirational leader has been absent from Sellaband for a long time now with nobody stepping up to fill the gap. But it's also impossible for me to see how anyone could given the current state of the site.
So if you hear artists or believers from the old days talking wistfully about Brian Taylor, hopefully this has been a small insight into how the original Sellaband community formed around him and why this lovable idiot of an underdog still holds quite a high place in many people's hearts.
Ghost of Christmas present or My year with Matthew Ebel
Those of you who remember my review of the year post from this time last year know that I had been getting some bad vibes about Sellaband and had decided to remove a large chunk of money that had been sitting inactive on my balance for a while. This is the story about how some of that money landed up with Matthew Ebel, what my experience has been and what the result of that is. And if you are Matthew Ebel and reading this currently, who knows, maybe you'll find a few clues on that Twitter question of why people believe in you, and maybe I can blow the mind that can't be blown.
Matthew had originally signed up to Sellaband in February 2009, and although circumstances had changed on the site to the point I wasn't believing in artists until I saw some interest in their page, I had started digging almost immediately because it was obvious that this was one place I wanted to buy parts because I liked what I heard a lot. When I start looking for information on an artist I've never heard of before, it's usually a bit like trying to discover a Roman coin in the middle of a field using a metal detector. In Matthew's case the comparison would be an archaeological dig that turned up an entire city - it doesn't matter how many rocks you turn over, there's still something new underneath. To date, I've never had another artist unknown to me produce anywhere near the same level of reaction of "How on earth have I never heard of this artist before, when there's all this information out there just waiting to be found?". And to be honest I'm still turning up some interesting bits and pieces even now.
You can't exactly miss his subscription site and although it was easy to dismiss the idea of a subscription first time around, the two songs a month did sound interesting if expensive, given I'd just tripped over him. However, the song snippets from his monthly releases would tempt me back every so often and I'd also started to explore his back catalog and drop in very quietly on the odd UStream show he was doing. That takes us to about September 2009, by which time I'd begun to realise just how much I liked his music. I'd actually even begun to contemplate the idea of a subscription. After all, I'd been watching the two songs a month popping through for a while, even if they weren't always exactly on time (If you've heard "A Song For My Subscribers" you'll understand) And it wasn't just that - there were always things popping up on his blog and on Twitter. Compared to my experiences with Sellaband artists, this was a whole new world - things that get updated and things that happen (mostly) on time! And there's no team of people or manager here, just the one man. Could it be that I'd found something special here? - an artist clearly demonstrating their trustworthiness much more clearly than anything I'd seen before.
So I have all this going on in my head when Matthew announces the Entourage subscription level, and I watch the first four slots go just like that. But the fifth and final one remains... and remains some more... And I'd just decided to remove a chunk of money from Sellaband that had been sitting inactive on my profile a while.
The tipping point was actually the release of the "High Orbit Holiday Special". Completed from scratch in just three months and I absolutely loved the result. The Entourage slot still didn't go and Sellaband were taking their sweet time over a payout anyway. Looking at the cost of the Entourage, I realised I'd believed more in artists whose music I liked less and where the supporting evidence was much, much weaker. So that's why I made myself a New Year's resolution as I was writing the review of the year post last year - if the Entourage slot was still available when Sellaband got its act together and sent the money I'd requested, I'd take that last Entourage slot. Furthermore, on the strength of the evidence of trustworthiness I'd seen and the amount I liked his music, I'd make that public promise to renew that I made in my blog last January.
You also have to remember that at this point I had never, ever spoken or communicated with Matthew Ebel in any way. This decision was made purely on the evidence I'd seen with my own eyes online and from what others were saying. To this day, I have absolutely no idea what he thinks of me or something quite that incredible - after all, it's not every day that a complete stranger pops up seemingly from nowhere and does the equivalent of saying "I love your music - here have $500". In any sane world that just doesn't happen - when it does happen it's usually a gradual process that takes time.
As you know, the slot didn't go before the money arrived so I took it up. Things continued OK for the first couple of months and then Matthew's basement studio flooded, making it impossible for him to create even one song that month, never mind two. Under the circumstances, I'm pretty sure that most people would have quite happily said forget it (me included) - several hundred gallons of water kind of grabs your attention, particularly when it's captured on video still pouring into the place. In fact I think the water pumping was still happening, when he gave a masterclass in customer service and damage limitation that some people could learn an awful lot from. He offered to send a copy of the live DVD he was working on for free instead to make it up to people for the fact he couldn't do the two songs that month. At a time many people would have been worrying about the water, Matthew was already thinking about his fans.
But that offer did lead to the single time in the past year that I've found myself wondering whether I had made a mistake or not. You see the one thing he didn't make clear at the time was the fact the DVD itself would be quite a while coming. A few months passed, and when he announced he was sending the annual goody bags and it still hadn't shown, my guess was that it ought to be coming with them, but it didn't. In actual fact he was still working on the editing. The DVD did show about 6 months after the flooding which kept my trust intact, but the length of time not being obvious from the start was enough to give it a little rattle, despite the fact I'd not really been expecting the offer in the first place, the regulars weren't making any complaint and my past experience that if Matthew Ebel says he will do something, then you can guarantee that he will do his best to make it happen.
In July he announced he wanted to do a new "proper" album, rather than just releasing the album collections (Songs from the Vault) of the two songs a month he'd been doing up until that point. But this would mean no more 2 songs a month, and he was also going to stop his weekly Ustream shows. Instead of two songs a month, he'd be giving you updates , rough drafts , sketches etc. every month as well as the project itself when completed. Because The lives of Dexter Peterson actually started life as a story Matthew had written, and the plan was to turn this into a graphic novel and write some music to go along with it. As a subscriber, you'd therefore receive a copy of the book, a copy of the graphic novel, the CD and also an audiobook/radio dramatisation/podcast of the story on its completion.
I have extremely mixed feelings about the whole thing. On the one hand, I tend to agree that there felt something missing from a lot of the songs he'd been turning out as part of the two songs a month, but to my mind the problem lies more with the way he seemed to be going about creating songs, rather than the idea itself. Rather than having a vault of half finished ideas/rough drafts maturing, it seems he's been creating songs much in the same way he wrote my custom song - literally pick an idea and have a finished song two weeks later. And I think that forcing of the creative process is why so many of them feel like they're missing that little extra something. I also think the two songs a month idea is an easier step up for someone who has been buying finished CDs but wants to support an artist more, rather than the idea of an album in a year's time - it's a bigger leap of faith and trust that the artist is going to deliver. The Ustream shows change was also a bit of a blow, (though I can see his reasons for it) - the fact it was sitting there on a regular date/time did at least mean you could plan dragging someone in to see what they thought, even if that wasn't the kind of thing likely to happen very often.
On the other hand, I'm extremely excited at the prospect I see here. Having been on Sellaband for so long, I've seen a lot of different artists from signup to completion of project. I've seen what they do and don't do. And I've also funded artists on platforms other than Sellaband.
So hang on a moment and let me stop and repeat a couple of things slowly, so you get the point.
A Sellaband artist
Signs up with a new project and raises funds
(typically) You get a CD at the end of it
The artist may or may not keep you informed throughout the process
The process from original signup to receipt takes between 2 - 5 years
Matthew Ebel
Starts work on a new project whilst collecting subscription money every month
You will get a book, a CD, a graphic novel and an audiobook/radio dramatisation at the end of it
You get updates, and access to background information/drafts etc. every month
The process from original idea (just a first draft of the book available) to receipt takes 12 months.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out there has to be something wrong in this picture somewhere, because the amount of work relative to the timescales stated shows an incredible gulf between the two. Even if you want to play the "full time musician vs. holds down a day job" card. But where exactly is it? Let's look at the evidence.
The Sellaband side is taken from actual data, whereas Matthew is just his plan. The overdue artists I've mentioned above are a pretty good indication of not just the average, but rather the vast majority, as signup dates and target reached dates as a minimum are readily available for all artists if you want to try and work out a few yourself to compare. Yes, there have been some exceptions, but it has usually been the case they are looking for completion funds, rather than needing to do the whole songwriting and recording process from scratch. The obvious conclusion to jump to, given the number of Sellaband artists where we know the time taken, is that Matthew Ebel is being incredibly overambitious and is going to miss by a mile.
Perhaps... Remember I'm no musician - I haven't the foggiest how long something ought to take as a result. I have to admit I will be surprised if he does meet the 12 months and hence the Autumn release he has planned. But when you consider the fact he'd been hitting the two songs a month on time nearly all the time with the previous incarnation of his subscription model, the monthly updates/insights on the current project are happening, plus the fact his Christmas album (the High Orbit Holiday Special) was completed from scratch in just three months and quite a few of his fans seem to think it's possibly the best piece of work he's done to date, I'm not so sure the problem is on his end. Sure, I think there's a pretty high chance he'll miss the deadline, purely because of how ambitious the project is, but compared to what's been seen on the likes of Sellaband, it will be nowhere near what you might expect for the length of delay in comparison. Rather the danger here is that there may just be a large wake-up call on the way for both fan-funding sites and artists alike. Four times the project in a half to a fifth of the time from one man compared to an industry of experts would not only set a new standard, it also ought to leave rather a lot of red faces behind it if the finished result is any good. And I think there's a real chance he can pull this off.
I made a very public promise in my blog when I originally signed up - that I would be renewing when it came around, and that promise has been kept after Matthew sorted a small problem I had with renewing out. So based on what I've seen and told you, I'm also prepared to make another promise publicly now.
As far as I'm concerned there is just one thing that Matthew Ebel needs to do before this time next year. I'm not going to tell anyone (not even him) what it is at this point, because it's something that needs to happen without any pressure or prompting. But if you've been paying attention to this blog post and/or you're smart it should be pretty obvious what it is. If Matthew does successfully manage that one task I have in mind, then he will have done enough to guarantee himself an Entourage member not only for the next year (2012) but for life. The only reason that would stop me would be a financial one. In the current economic climate, there are no guarantees, so at this point I can only hope, rather than make a definite guarantee I'll be able to live up to my end of that deal this time next year, even if he manages to complete his. But whatever happens financially, that's a big statement of trust to be making.
I've been on Sellaband more than 4 years, and I've seen and/or had a lot of contact with a lot of artists and what they've done in that time. And I still have that vision gnawing at the back of my brain. Yet in less than two years, someone I've still never met, never talked to and in actual fact have only exchanged a few e-mails and tweets with, has managed to impress me that he is further ahead of the learning curve on this score than any other artist or fan-funding site that I've seen to date. Things are not perfect, nor is his subscription model "the" answer, but in a large number of ways, he's got the idea. Irrespective of whether you are a fan, an artist or into the fan-funding side he is teaching lessons on a daily basis that you ought to be learning if you want to see a "new music industry". Some of which I don't think he's even aware of. Add to this the amount I like his music and that's why Matthew Ebel is just a single step away from claiming my full trust and support in such a short time.
Any bets as to when he'll make that last step? You can be sure I'll be letting you know when it happens.
Ghost of Christmas future or Where this blog is heading
Once I realised that things didn't seem to be improving with regard to the Sellaband situation it became clear that I was going to have a real problem. I started this blog to help people track what artists were up to on Sellaband e.g. any interesting new arrivals, artists who had reported they were leaving the site etc. etc. but with it being unknown when (or even if) I will buy a part in an artist on Sellaband again, I don't have the interest level required to continue to do this. Even looking at artist profiles on Sellaband in the first place seems kind of pointless when you know you're not going to be spending any money on the site. And with no money trapped in the site, there's no "hatchet day" moving of parts left to do either. Although I've somehow limped through this year in the hopes the situation would improve, the fact has to be faced that it hasn't and there is therefore absolutely no reason for this blog to continue as it's not doing what I set out to do with it, nor is there any indication of when/whether we'll reach a situation where it can once again.
I could have chosen to follow in the footsteps of a number of others and fade away from Sellaband into the background. But in many ways that would be a lot less easy than the last time I considered about doing so 4 years ago because of the things I've seen happen and how they've reinforced what I saw in that vision I keep mentioning. In short, the vision won't leave me alone, and crawling all the way back into the consumer pile doesn't seem like an option as a result.
At the same time, some of the things I've seen have also shown me that some of what Sellaband described as fences and things that I originally thought were boulders are actually entire great mountain ranges standing in the way of a new music industry. And if anyone thinks a couple of sticks of dynamite is going to blow that to smithereens...well.. they've got another think coming.
There are some fundamental shifts that need to happen if an entire industry is to arise, rather than a set of isolated artists making something work for them even if they don't entirely understand why. But it seems that both artists and industry professionals alike have forgotten what it's like out here on the consumer side of the fence, and without that understanding those shifts can't happen. Like I said in 1000 true friends - everything works both ways. That's a key rule that both sides need to understand the implications of.
So that's why I'm inviting you to join me as I look for new music. Rather than "Hatchet day", let me invite you to "Meanderings of a music lover" instead. Think of it a bit like I've been doing with Sellaband, only expanded. Not only who I find, but where and how I find. Come with me as I do something I've talked about before, but never shown you - get a better insight into the "ghosting" I've talked about in the past as I show you what I dig up from where, including artists I already know who almost certainly won't have been aware I've been looking. And there will still be the occasional special as well to get some more of the bits and pieces in my head out into the world.
As a matter of fact it'll actually be my second post under the new format which will properly introduce you to "Meanderings of a music lover" and its rather unique rating system, as the one I'll be posting after a short break is going to be another "special" about the value of music. From the point of view of your hardcore fans all the way down to a consumer, find out who finds value in what and why, and maybe even discover one of the things that many fans would love but tend to keep secret as a result.
The charts
The situation at Sellaband may have driven me away from listening to and discovering artists on the site, but it doesn't mean that I've stopped looking for new music completely. What's actually happened is that I've reverted back to what I was doing before I stumbled over Sellaband and whilst that means a slower process and a much smaller volume of artists, the breather has been rather welcome given the amount I've been doing looking into artists the past 4 years.
As a result, instead of my top favourite artists and songs on Sellaband, what you get this year are two different charts. One containing my favourite songs of the year from artists I'm fairly familiar with and/or am actively following and the other from artists where I've either encountered them for the first time in the last 12 months, or have only started to take an interest in them over that period. As a result, some of the songs I've chosen are actually more than 12 months old.
As well as the usual one song per artist restriction, in order to be included in one of these lists, the song in question must be available to listen to in its entirety online for free and without the need for any login or special software. As a result, where possible I've used Songza to gather these together and the link to the "soundtrack" I gave you at the top of this post is the link to that playlist of songs. Note that they will play in random order rather than the order I'm listing in my charts. Where Songza doesn't appear to have a copy of the song, I've provided a link on the song itself which will take you out to somewhere legal where it can be found (generally the artist's own page or the likes of Myspace or Facebook). The links on artists go to their own websites if you want to check anyone out further.
And for those who don't want to scroll all the way back to the top, here's the playlist link again!
Interestingly, although I follow both signed and unsigned artists and am including both, I believe you'll find the signed are most definitely the minority in the following categories.
Best Songs from artists I know
1. Poets of the Fall - Given and Denied
2. We Love the Underground - Let No Hand Hold Us Down
3. Radius - Prisoner of Your Love
4. Francis Rodino - Other Side
5. Julia Johnson - Lullaby
The top selection comes from an artist who is still independent and unsigned despite being one of the top acts in Finland, and is also still my tip for the best unknown (as far as the rest of the world is concerned) artist currently out there. The track in question is from their 4th album, Twilight Theater and is actually the one which contains the album title within its lyrics. As the album title suggests, there's more of a cinematic experience going on in the album as a whole than just some straighforward rock and the track I've chosen "Given and Denied" is representative as a result.
I've kept following Brad since he left Sellaband, and he's added 2 more tracks to one of his solo projects "We Love the Underground" since then. Whilst he did let me know about the first one, chances are he doesn't realise I spotted the second as well which in fact has grabbed me as the best of the six so far and comes in at number 2 on the artists I know about list because of this.
The remaining three are artists I know from Sellaband. In the case of Radius, I didn't think they'd come up with anything for a while which would beat "Next to Me" but lo and behold the first single from their Sellaband album managed to do just that. The song from Francis is one of the ones from the EP he funded this year at Pledge. And in the case of Julia Johnson, I have Daniel Ward-Murphy to thank for reminding me about her solo album through his blog. For those unaware, Dan always lists the music he's been listening to at the end of whatever he has to say to his own fans, and whilst his own choice of song was completely different to the one I've chosen, it did serve as the prompt which left me with half an eye on her site this year.
Best Songs from New Discoveries
1. Into The Night - Catastrophe
2. Morgan Page - Fight For You
3. Dommin - Dark Holiday
4. The Corner Laughers - For the sake of the cat
5. Vertical Horizon - Save me from Myself
6. Hazle Weatherfield - Nightstand Light
7. La Roux - Bulletproof
8. Modern Science - Wrong Things Said the Right Way
9. Sofia Talvik - Stop
10. The Swimmers - Hundred Hearts
11. Zoe Keating - The Path
12. Yonder Mountain String Band - Complicated
13. Fabrizio Paterlini - Pensiero Notturno
14. Mark Kano - Walking on Broadway
Here's just a few of the stories behind some of the artists making up this list. If you follow my blog over the next 12 months, you'll get to see more of what leads to a list like this as it actually happens.
I originally found Into the Night on thesixtyone when they uploaded 3 tracks from their first album, however it was just at the point I'd started to find out more about them when thesixtyone launched its disastrous site redesign that pretty much cut off all communication between people on the site. As a result it stopped me in my tracks at a key point in the discovery process and it's taken a while for me to get around to consider continuing where I left off by picking up elsewhere. The launch of Songza, the fact it contains both their EP and album and the fact I like what I hear on both is what has restarted my interest. As they're currently working on their second album, it's likely they'll be one of those I'll be following a little more closely in 2011 to find out if my interest is likely to take on a more permanent form. The track I've chosen is from their EP and has what I would describe as expected production quality as a result, and although it is somewhat different to their much heavier style, it's for this very fact that it stands out.
I know a number of my readers are into the female voice, and if you're one of those then Sofia Talvik should be right up your street. Another discovery via thesixtyone, but it's taken some time for her music to start growing on me. Interestingly she's currently attempting to fund "L" - the first of four EPs this year - via Pledge, so if you like what you hear, then that's well worth checking out too.
The story behind Zoe Keating is a classic example of how initial discovery can happen in a slightly unexpected way, as well as the importance of repeat/reminder in creating the tipping point which makes someone take that first step and check you out for the first time. Her name initially came up because she is one of the people Matthew Ebel tweets at occasionally and it's quite obvious from her twitter name that she plays cello. Now whilst I wouldn't describe myself as a fan of classical music, it is something I will listen to, but even as a music lover just that small amount of information isn't enough to get me chasing off to find out if it's something I'd like. Matthew Ebel himself created the tipping point, because in one of his video updates to subscribers he's listening to Pandora, you can catch the odd bit of what he's listening to in the background and he actually tells you that he's listening to Zoe Keating. And whilst I was listening to what Matthew had to say (honest!), enough of the background filtered in to prompt me to wander off to her website later. So if you like instrumental music, and cello in particular, you might find this artist even more interesting than I do.
Likewise Fabrizio Paterlini fits into the classical category as well - in this case with pure instrumental piano. And another discovery from my time at thesixtyone pre site change. Very laid back and relaxing, you'll find it makes for some perfect background music.
And finally
That's all for this time. Thanks for sticking with me all the way through this post which is long even by my standards, and thanks for sticking with me during my journey through Sellaband holding a large knife. Here's hoping you'll want to stay with me in 2011 as I discover artists and let a few ideas of my own out into the world. Happy New Year!
