How it works
01 Find Believers
All you need is 5,000 people who believe in you.
02 Record CD
We'll take you to the best producers and studios in town.
03 Make money
We give away your music for free. By doing so, you make money.
Sounds ludicrous, doesn't it? It probably is, but it is also how SellaBand plans to work.
SellaBand is an online music company from the Netherlands that does exactly what its name implies: it sells bands.
Artists promote their bands and in turn sell 5,000 shares at ten dollars each. Once the band attains their goal of $50,000 (it is put into an escrow account until then), the band is taken to a studio and a producer and has their music recorded. The music is then freely distributed on the internet. Buyers of shares receive special, limited edition CD recordings. The bands will also get CDs that they can sell on their own (at concerts, online, etc) and receive 50% of the profits.
Where's all the money come from? Advertising. All the ad revenue received for that band will be split equally between the band, SellaBand, and the buyers of shares.
A&R, operations, marketing/promotion and administration all rolled into one!
And that's how it works. Or how it's supposed to anyway.
Johann Vosmeijer, once an executive at Sony and now Sellaband's managing director, has addressed doubts and concerns about how this free service on one blog. He hopes that Sellaband will remain "as transparent as possible" about its practices and also remain a free service for its bands. However, I failed to find any more information on what exactly "advertising revenue" was, except for the fact it had to do with how much of your music was downloaded. Also, people downloading the music have to be unique members, aka non-shareholders, in order for profit to be generated. However, the company says that after 12 months, the band will receive all recording rights to their music and Sellaband will have no shares of the money made in future recordings in which they are not affiliated.
I don't if this is the definate answer to piracy on the internet. After all, this service is mostly for new, unestablished musicians. Those musicians who are well-known and more likely to have their music illegally downloaded will still be stuck in a muddle. Also, if these new artists become popular and move on to another record company, their music will probably not be as freely distributed. This may cause a backlash resulting in more piracy and less sales.
However, Sellaband may be on the right track. Maybe in the future, all bands will be communally owned and managed and promoted. It's highly doubtful, but not impossible. For now, the company seems to be harnessing the power of the consumer, instead of running away in fear.
And who knows, it just might work.
Sounds ludicrous, doesn't it? It probably is, but it is also how SellaBand plans to work.
SellaBand is an online music company from the Netherlands that does exactly what its name implies: it sells bands.
Artists promote their bands and in turn sell 5,000 shares at ten dollars each. Once the band attains their goal of $50,000 (it is put into an escrow account until then), the band is taken to a studio and a producer and has their music recorded. The music is then freely distributed on the internet. Buyers of shares receive special, limited edition CD recordings. The bands will also get CDs that they can sell on their own (at concerts, online, etc) and receive 50% of the profits.
Where's all the money come from? Advertising. All the ad revenue received for that band will be split equally between the band, SellaBand, and the buyers of shares.
A&R, operations, marketing/promotion and administration all rolled into one!
And that's how it works. Or how it's supposed to anyway.
Johann Vosmeijer, once an executive at Sony and now Sellaband's managing director, has addressed doubts and concerns about how this free service on one blog. He hopes that Sellaband will remain "as transparent as possible" about its practices and also remain a free service for its bands. However, I failed to find any more information on what exactly "advertising revenue" was, except for the fact it had to do with how much of your music was downloaded. Also, people downloading the music have to be unique members, aka non-shareholders, in order for profit to be generated. However, the company says that after 12 months, the band will receive all recording rights to their music and Sellaband will have no shares of the money made in future recordings in which they are not affiliated.
I don't if this is the definate answer to piracy on the internet. After all, this service is mostly for new, unestablished musicians. Those musicians who are well-known and more likely to have their music illegally downloaded will still be stuck in a muddle. Also, if these new artists become popular and move on to another record company, their music will probably not be as freely distributed. This may cause a backlash resulting in more piracy and less sales.
However, Sellaband may be on the right track. Maybe in the future, all bands will be communally owned and managed and promoted. It's highly doubtful, but not impossible. For now, the company seems to be harnessing the power of the consumer, instead of running away in fear.
And who knows, it just might work.
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