Vincent B_

NEW: Two (belated) posts about the London Sellagigs in February

London Sellagig photos to be found at http://www.vincentbuller.com/

Who am I?
Just a regular music fan who knows what he likes and would like to give his favorite artists an alternative to the regular music business.

Why Sellaband?
The last couple of years I found myself frequenting record stores less and less often. Whether that is because I find little of interest in music store CD racks or just plain lack of time to go on a good music hunt I don't know. What I DO know is that I decided to shun any CD 'protected' by ANY copyright protection scheme (often imposed without the artists explicit consent) some years ago. I find these an insult to people who pay for their music, while it hasn't the slightest effect on illegal copying. I'm sure my policy has saved my PC during the SONY Rootkit scandal.

I feel SAB has really given a well needed boost to my interest in (new) music! Besides providing a good way to scan many artists from the armchair, SAB also seems to balance the rights of the artist with the interests of the investor and middleman well.

How I go about SAB
As so many believers I started off as an enthousiast for the SAB concept, and suddenly found myself throwing money at SAB at such a rate that I felt I needed to rationalize things a little. The following 'rules' weren't designed, but I find in hindsight that they describe how I go about selecting artists in SAB:

- I'd hate to withdraw funds at any time, so my decisions are carefully made. This is not to say I will never withdraw any parts - from an artist I ask commitment to the SAB idea, and to attaining the 50K... prolonged silence on the profile page, no reaction to falling 'parts sold' numbers are not considered good signs... I also need to be fairly convinced that the artist's work on SAB and other sites is a fair representation of what might end up on the SAB CD.

- My time is unfortunately limited. I'd like to listen to every artist joining SAB, but I can't. I do hope others will, scan new entries whenever I can and will try to listen to artists above a few $100. Invites are welcome if they are tailored to me and my taste - which excludes reggae, hip hop, R&B and dance/trance (for investment anyway).

- My investment decision criteria are very obvious: Personal taste and belief that reaching 50k with the artist is an attainable goal. The balance between the two may vary, but I will not invest in an artist I would not listen to even if I think they might succeed commercially. On the other hand, one part may be invested if I enjoy listening to the artist but am not (yet) sure many others will. However, sometimes a one part investment simply means I ran out of parts! It seems there always are more interesting artists than I allow myself parts to invest...

- I will have to see how much advertising revenue will flow towards the believers. Until then 'investments' will have to pay for themselves by the limited edition CDs.... so any number over a couple to give to friends means I really have to believe I can sell these at one point or another...

Finally, I enjoy being able to help out even for a tiny bit. Although I called it  'investment' before this doesn't have to be a cash cow - it's not my pension plan ;-)  That said, I'm glad to be in business together! :-)
Vince

PS - the Wish List... It's the only way there is to bookmark an artist I'd like to revisit at some point. Should be read as an "interesting" list, and not a sure sign of future investment...