Last week some dutch "passionate music lovers" and (ex) record label executives started a new "fresh and exicting new resource for the music industry".

A scheme to get artists and/or fans to invest 50.000 Dollars in the production of a CD (5.000 copies).

This maybe a way to make money for the "fast growing network of industry professionals and studios" who are behind the scheme.

But one look at the Terms & Conditions http://www.sellaband.com/site/conditions_artist.html is enough, to warn every artist or fan ("believer") to sign up.


In my opinion this "business model" makes no sense, but look for yourself:

http://www.sellaband.com/site/how-it-works.html

I'm very interested in your opions. Thanks!

would I go near this? Er, don't think so.

there are many ways to break a hit but you need the hit to start with.
The method is all very well and can do fine if the product is brilliant but then there are many other ways to break it too.
For me the crucial missing ingredient is exposure.
When you get your hit heard by people it's a doddle to spread it.
But you need that killer kick start.

A "promotion company", contacted me, as I had a ten piece band, that they apparently liked. Their "terms and conditions" were a fee in advance from every band member to them before they started work.(

But there is an underlying sense to it. The 'Believer' thing is a bit wrong for sure, but the idea that people won't pay for music they've never heard, but will come to a site to get it for free is fairly sound. Then you just use the number of visits to up your rate for ad space sales.

I had a friend at one of the big unsigned sites that were around in the mid-late 90's - you remember the ones. You could listen to a couple of songs for free and then by a CD if you liked the music. They worked on the same principal. Sales income never figured in their business plan, they saw the site as a blank billboard and just used music to draw in visitors. A bit like those furniture shops that are really just finance houses, and use sofas as a way of getting you to sign up for a loan at a crippling interest rate.

It's a plan that stands up to a bit of scrutiny, I think (the music one, not the sofas ...) But whether sellaband is the way to do it is another matter. It doesn't seem to be that popular with bands - o at least they can't understand the principal. Have a trawl round some music maker forums and see the confusion it's causing.

Matt.