http://www.sellaband.com

Like Amie Street, SellABand has an innovative way for struggling new artists to get their music heard, and make some money as well. Artists sign up and upload some of their music. Users listen to it. If they like it, they pay $10. If a band reaches $50,000 in donations, SellABand helps them record an album with a studio and expert producer

It’s great in theory. At the time of our original post there wasn’t much data - 130 bands had signed up in the first couple of weeks, and had raised a few hundred dollars each.

But a few months later, wow. 2700 bands from all over the world have signed up, and four have already reached the $50,000 mark and have recorded albums (Nemesea, Cubworld, Second Person and Clemence, and more are on the way. Mandyleigh, one of our readers, is currently no. 4 on the top list and looks to be headed to the studio soon.

Listeners who donate to an artist get a free CD when the goal is reached - and are refunded their money if it isn’t. Artists get 1/3 of all advertising revenue from their profile, and 60% of proceeds from eventual album sales. They also get all rights back to their music a year after the album comes out

Amazon partners with Sellaband, the bank for music fans

Posted: 18 Dec 2007 09:09 AM CST

Amazon is partnering with music community startup SellaBand to offer aspiring young bands a leg up the slippery pole of fame and fortune. Under the deal, SellaBand will have a dedicated music store on Amazon as well as an affiliate sales deal and promotion to the 50 most active reviewers on The Vine, retail website’s reviewers’ programme. Revenues will be shared equally between the artists, Sellaband and the fans.

Germany-based Sellaband, which launched in August 2006, has 6,000 bands and offers a model of free legal distribution of new music by enabling a direct relationship between developing artists and their fans. The site enables fans (”believers”) to buy $10 shares in unsigned bands to fund the professional recording and distribution of an album – including A&R, marketing and publishing. In a phrase, it’s a more overtly music-focused MySpace.

But I bet you’re wondering what Sellaband does with all that cash while the band is waiting to get more fans? In fact, Sellaband is more like a bank, since it makes interest on the money invested in the site’s bands.

So how does it actually work? Fans can listen to tracks for free, but support bands by pledging money. Once the unsigned band has made $50,000 (or 5,000 fans pledging 10 bucks each) they get a professional CD cut. Artists get 1/3 of all advertising revenue from their profile, and 60% of proceeds from eventual album sales. They also get all rights back to their music a year after the album comes out. To date, 11 bands have reached the $50,000 threshold and three have released albums. Furthermore, the idea is that this crowd-sourcing takes away a lot of the risk associated with new music and offers a new way for bands to a) get the big record deal eventually or b) retain control of their future, via rights ownership. To me the smart thing would be to get an album out tour it, retain the rights then start your own download program after a year, a la Radiohead.

Partnering with Amazon gives Sellaband artists greater reach, and Amazon will be adding credits to a band’s account once they reach $30,000 and offering extra promotion for the band once they reach $35,000. SellaBand works with digital distributor The Orchard, one of the suppliers for the iTunes Store, and, under the new deal, through Amazon.

The people behind Sellaband are Pim Betist, Johan Vosmeijer and Dagmar Heijmans. Vosmeijer ran the labels Epic and Columbia for Sony Music in the Benelux region and recently launched Red Ink, a boutique label for SONY BMG. Heijmans is ex-EMI.

news update 8/20/07

Last week, SellaBand celebrated their first anniversary with a 'SellaBration' in Amsterdam's pop temple, Paradiso. Our description of the concept when they launched: aiming to empower independent artists, SellaBand has created a platform that enables fans to sponsor bands, and get a piece of the action in return. How it works: fans, dubbed Believers, find an artist they like on SellaBand.com. For USD 10, they can buy a share, or 'Part'. Once the band has sold 5,000 parts, SellaBand arranges a professional recording, including top studios, A&R managers and producers. Believers receive a limited edition cd of the recording.

So—what happened over the past year? Fans have invested over USD 1,000,000 in the bands they believe in. The first band to raise USD 50,000 was Nemesea, which did so in 83 days. Six other bands have also raised 50K. Three of them—Nemesea, Cubworld and Second Person—have produced and launched their first album, and the other four are hard at work in the recording studio. In total, 4,806 artists signed up to SellaBand.

As pointed out by SellaBand's Music Director, Dagmar Heijmans: "Twelve months ago we didn't know if it would work. Well, we've proven that. People are willing to pay USD 10 (or more) to be part of an artist's success." For the coming year, SellaBand aims to make it easier for anyone to operate like a record executive, by giving them the tools to scout talent, track the recording process and promote 'the heck out of the artist' once an album has been released. We'll keep an eye on them and will dutifully report back to you ;-)

Website: www.sellaband.com

Contact: info@sellaband.com