Cubworld
“A bank account for my dreams”
Some of you may have missed it, but Jacob Kongaika, better known to our community as Cubworld, has become the second artist to raise the ‘full 50k’ on SellaBand. While we here at SellaBand HQ were drinking champagne to celebrate, Jake sat down behind his computer and decided to share his feelings and thoughts with all of us...
By Jacob Kongaika
“The whole SellaBand journey to this point has been amazing. When I first posted my MP3s I remember thinking the first day that this was genius. Like a bank account for my dreams and that I would keep saving my pennies until I reached 50K. So as I found Believers the day after I uploaded you can imagine my surprise. ‘People are actually helping me.’ Huge smiles from day one. I was thinking this would be a 5, 10, 20 year plan, so to see people dropping by giving me feedback and communicating with me I got even more excited to see this through. The days kept going by and it was so much fun to watch the numbers rise.
I do want to point out though that it was not all up hill. I have gained and lost parts along the way. I am not sour about "the rise and the fall" but "you got to chance it all if you want something". WISE WORD BEING SPOKE. I think all together I will say I have lost about 1000 or more along the way. I love the concept of financial freedom and it is just another thing that makes SellaBand the coolest thing since the I-POD. Another milestone in my SellaBand history was when I tried to get Believers to request my music on i-tunes. My simple homemade album being requested by Believers around the world. That was awesome and it got put up shortly after asking for help. That was awesome.
I almost forgot this but being on i-tunes was the highest musical goal I had set before I met Sellaband. Even though I would be put in the corner of the i-tune music store, I was just stoked to be in the same location as my musical icons. My next goal was to try and inspire my boys to one day take it further. I still have that goal but have had so much fun re-evaluating my goals. I never thought I would visit Europe so soon and for my music and Believers being the ticket makers that was a dream come true. I GOT TO SING IN AMSTERDAM!!!! That still blows me away. It was so cool being able to put Sellaband into a 3-D perspective.
Johan really is a real person and the dream maker Pim does exist :). Everything became even more real. We got home the Tuesday after the SellaBand concert and from Wednesday to Thursday we shot up 16K. That blew my mind! I am so excited to get things on the road. I have 6 months to put together an album and so many things are running through my head. I am still working at the airport and keeping it real.
I think about Amsterdam and talk to my friends about it like its going out of style :) I am so excited for the future. I plan on gigging a ton more and push hard to get more opportunities to further my passions for art and music. The harder I work and the more we all spread the good news of SellaBand the more we will all reap the benefits and be able to ‘save music.’ Everyone is free to create. I love it. Being an artist as well as a Musician I also plan on Making some t-shirts. I have a couple cards up my sleeves but will pull them out when the time is right. I have started to narrow down my list of songs. I have about 7 upbeat songs like Wise Words style and 14 Slower ones. I am trying to narrow them down to the ones I think would work out great.
The album will be a combination of songs heard (more polished though) and songs not heard. I want it to have the familiar Cubworld sound but still have some pleasant surprises. I will start looking for the right people to help put the pieces together so to find updates on that I will be writing up a blog on my SellaBand profile page. I will continue to post comments on my page and send group emails to let everyone in on the details. As soon as I can find the charger to my video camera I will also try and do some video diaries. So much to do and I love it because this is what I have always wanted to do. Thank you all again and Aloooooooooooha!!!
Jake”
I’m a Believer
He’s not only one of our youngest Believers, but also one of the most vocal and outspoken. If he doesn’t like you or one of your songs he will tell you flat out. Such is the nature of the charming Dutch and General V is no exception to that rule. But he does put his money where his mouth is, that counts too...
Who is General V?
“That’s me :) I am 15 years old and live in a town called Hilversum in the Netherlands. I'm still at school, I am in my third year at grammar school. Iam a vegetarian, so I don't eat meat and fish. I have chosen to call myself General V because my full name is Korrein Volders. And so I came by the V. The general comes from computer games I often play, Command & conquer games...”
How did you find out about SellaBand?
“I read about it on www.kidsweek.com, a website for Dutch school kids.”
Why do you think SellaBand is so much fun?
“Because you can make money with it and can get CD's And also because bands can make their dreams come true. That is something I really like.”
You are probably our youngest Believer: Do you have your own credit-card?
“No, do I have to?? I don't buy things on credit and in the Netherlands you can use other ways to pay for SellaBand than just a credit card.”
What does an artist need to deserve your money?
“Well, they must make a good promotional campaign. To me that doesn't mean that they have to spam all profile pages. On the contrary, if they do that, I will never Believe in them. So, don’t spam me with ‘Believe! Believe! Believe! Believe!’ Or: ''Believe in me! Believe in me! When I'm rich and famous you will be thankful as I will give you VIP tickets to all my gigs and and we can ride in the back of limos drinking champagne and partying with supermodels!! '' That’s what Francis Rodino does.
But what I do like is the way Headphone for example talk to Believers. Here’s what they wrote to me:
’Well General, You seem pretty relaxed sitting in that chair of yours. Overviewing the SellaBand battlefield, waiting to make any other tactical moves? ;) Anyhow, thank you for your support Sir!’
That is what I mean! Start a real conversation with people and they will soon become Believers.
But the most important thing is: Make good music. If a band makes good music and already has many Believers, then more Believers will follow.”
Who is your absolute favorite artist on SellaBand?
“SIMEON!!!”
How can we get more 15 year old Believers to join SAB?
Ehhhh. I don't know, get a deal with MTV to promote SellaBand and get banners on well known sites where young people go.”
Is there anything you'd like to change/add to the website?
“I would like to have a let's say, sky box. A space where one person leaves comments about how many Parts he/she bought in the last week. And maybe a bit more of a business look, with diagrams, of how the band has grown in a certain period of time.”
Q + A
Clémence
So good and professional, that a lot of Believers actually thought she was already signed to a major label. Well, the good news is that she is not (yet). Only 18 years old, it took Clémence less than three weeks to get to the Top 20 of our search engine, proving that it is still possible to stand out quite quickly on SellaBand...
Tell us a little bit about yourself, please.
“I am 18 years old. I have always loved singing and I started professionally when I was 12. Music is my passion, but I also love to act and to dance. I love travelling and learning languages. I have always been fascinated by Asian cultures so I am currently studying Chinese.”
How did you find out about SellaBand and why did you join?
“A close friend of mine, Brice Davoli, with whom I’ve worked a lot, told me about the amazing artistic endeavour called SellaBand and invited me to join too. It’s great to share my music and my words... A big thank you to all of you out there, anywhere, who enjoy it and support my adventure.”
Some people think you are on a major label already. What's the story?
“No I have not signed with any label, yet. But I have been very lucky to record some songs with some well known French artists and that has been really successful. Then I recorded two solo singles, which have also been received very well by the public. I am now preparing my first album. You can already hear some songs from it on SellaBand.”
What inspires you to sing and make music?
“My inspiration has always been with me. I grew up in a musical environment. My father is a musician as well and so are more people in my family. Ever since I was a young child, I have been listening to Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Queen... Part of my love for music I owe to them... Also, I took piano lessons and singing lessons and started composing when I was very young, music was always in me. Recently I also started to learn and play guitar...”
How do you plan to raise the full 50k?
“I don’t have a specific plan to reach the $50,000. More than anything else I wanted to see if I could get some international recognition by joining all the great artists that were already active on SellaBand.”
What are your ambitions?
”Ït is my sole ambition to become a full fledge artist and to be recognised as such. I want to follow the example of some of my favourite artists, who sing, dance, act and compose, expressing themselves with so much talent and live for their passion.”
Are there any other SellaBands you particularly like?
“I really like the work of my friend Brice Davoli, but I like Cubworld as well, who just reached $50,000. Daniel Ward-Murphy, Awake, JapJap, Second Person... And many more. I can’t name them all, there’s actually a lot of artists that I really like.”
Why should people Believe in Clémence?
“Maybe simply because I also strongly Believe in what I do. The fact that some of the artists that I like very much have actually enjoyed singing with me is extremely encouraging and tells me that I am on my way...”
Weekly update
What happened?
When we decided to throw a New Year’s Party, we had no idea the aftermath would be so big. What happened? Well, the fact that Believers from all over the world flew to Amsterdam, as well as the quality of the performances on the night, gave SellaBand a big headline on the front page of one of the leading news papers, De Volkskrant. This led to several other articles in papers and magazines, radio features and even a big item on national TV. Hence the enormous increase of Dutch Bands and Believers in the last week. So, for us it is now all about staging showcases in London, Berlin, Paris, New York and Sydney and SellaBand will be off to the races in those territories as well...
The missing links
Here you can find a link to the Volkskrant piece.
This is where you can watch SellaBand’s Pim Betist on national TV
Here is another Dutch Newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, that wrote about SellaBand.
Next Sunday, January 21, you can watch Cubworld perform on Dutch national TV again, in a show called Vrije Geluiden. The show airs on Nederland 1 at 10.30AM. We will let you know as soon as the show is available on line as well.
More links
Our friends at Toazted.nl have uploaded interview-pieces with Cubworld, Nemesea, The Fakes and Second Person. These were taken in the afternoon of the Paradiso show. (click on the names to watch)
Second Person have uploaded Part 1 of their Amsterdam Video Diary. It’s a 9 minute gem which gives you a really good impression of the band, as well as their activities in Amsterdam.
Wetwerks
Another interesting link, but not related to the Amsterdam show at all, comes from our American friends Wetwerks. These heavy boys not only make great music, they are very forward-thinking SellaBand marketeers as well. They have created their own commercial. Check out their SellaBand advertisement here, and please visit their profile page if solid, well-produced hard music is your thing.
Chart analysis
An extremely healthy week, with some 4,000 Parts ($40,000) sold. It'll come as no surprise that most of the money went to Cubworld, who was around $35,000 in budget when he took the stage at Paradiso, but acquired his final 15k in less than 5 days! In general we can say that we welcome the 'usual suspects' in our weekly Top 20. Second Person (the new #1 on the overall charts) gained a couple of thousand dollars and so did Vegas Dragons, who almost doubled their Parts since last week. Nice to see the ladies do well, once again, with T-Ka, Clémence and Mandyleigh all in the Top 10. Biggest gainers this week are Norway's Slim Void and a final mention should go to Dutch rockers Awake, who were a new entry at #15 last week and are now at #10, provig that new kids on the block can and will be noticed on SellaBand. Click here for this week's Top 20.
Nemesea/A&R
So what’s happening with Nemesea? Well, who better to ask than our resident A&R man Adam Sieff, currently preparing the album with the first ever band to raise 50k on SellaBand.
By Adam Sieff:
“Artists and Believers often ask me what an A&R person actually does. Although the term today usually describes someone responsible for discovering new talent, an “Artist and Repertoire Man” was originally a recording manager who helped artists make the best possible recordings from the strongest songs available to them. That sums up my a major part of my role as an A&R expert for Sellaband. Our goal is to help artists record what they want just the way they want (it’s their music and their choice as you know by now…) and my role is to advise and assist and show them the possibilities available. But never to make demands – we are not a record company after all!
I’ve been working with Nemesea since they hit the magic $50,000 mark. Over the past two months we have met with top producers, mixers, songwriters and programmers in London and The Netherlands, as well as discussing and reviewing the material that guitarist HJ and his co-writer Bauke van der Laaken are preparing. The reason for all this preparation is to make sure that everything is in place before the recording process starts, so that the band can make the best possible CD with the budget available for both themselves and their Believers. The process should not be rushed (as I said, we are not a record company!) and I appreciate some Believers may be getting a little itchy. But please be patient, Nemesea are working hard to make your faith in them completely justified and to use this opportunity to reach as many new fans as possible.”
Thunder from down under
SellaBand is on it’s way to become a global phenomenon, or so we think. Bands from over 60 different countries have already joined our program. One look at page one of our current search engine shows a remarkably big number of representatives from Australia and New Zealand. Is this just a coincidence, or is there an explanation for this very strong thunder from down under? We asked our 4 Australasian top acts to give us their take on this achievement.
Kane Sole, was the first artist from down under to join SellaBand. Currently residing in South Korea (where he teaches English), he says: “Isn't it great! It's so wonderful to have the SellaBand community embrace what we have to offer. 
New Zealand's music is really blossoming and you guys have given us such an unbelievably helpful tool to promote ourselves and gain support. There's plenty more fantastic Australasian artists right here too... Believers looking for a place to start here on SellaBand, go and check the NZ and Australian acts.”
Although he has move to the big apple, Maitreya is still a kiwi at heart. “If you add the totals of the NZers and the totals of the Aussies I'm sure you will find that the NZers come out on top!!! Hahaha, this is commonly the natural outcome of NZ and Australian sporting and artisitc rivaly... not that we are rivals here on SellaBand!! Of course not, never that!!! hahaha. 
But seriously, I think it awesome that we are represented so strongly, both our countries are relatively young but have seemed to be on the cutting edge of technogy more often than not in recent history. This is another example of young creative people taking advantage of that technology to get their art out to the people. One other thing I'd like to add is that where I'm from Hawaii is most definitely included in the peoples of the South Pacific (Thunder From Down Under) and Jake (Cubworld) is in that respect part of this phenomenon. Bottom line is it's awesome to see and I hope we see more and more artists from the South Pacific getting involved in SellaBand and succeeding!”
The mighty Vegas Dragons, represented by the ever active Brian Tailor, have their own opinion on the success of the Australasian contingent. 
Those who follow Brian’s moves will not be surprised that his reaction takes about an hour to read;-) But here’s the most important point he makes: “It is an honour to be associated with my friends from Australia and NZ on SellaBand - both on page one and close by (Tiffany Gow, GD Allan, Phil Tweed, Kristi J, WildRose, Nathan Eshman and Jessie Coutts/Beach are other ‘Down Under artists’ I Believe in). Australia and New Zealand have always had a close bond. I often write ‘ANZACs forever’ when I write to Maitreya. A.N.Z.A.C stands for Australian New Zealand Army Core - and it has to do with the mutual respect our close countries have for each other. We have been fighting side by side in wars for over a hundred years and we have a great bond. ANZAC day is one of the sacred days on the New Zealand and Australian calendar. That bond is strongly carried on within SellaBand. I personally am a proud Believer in all the ‘Down Under’ artists in the top 10 and know they all have much to offer Sellaband and the world. Maitreya is a superstar already - the world just doesn't know it yet, Kane Sole is just a sensational talent with so much class and skill and Mandyleigh is a superb singer, wonderful human being and a very funny lady. Their success will mean a greater world wide success for SellaBand.”
Mandyleigh, also gaining quickly in budget, kindly points out that she was actually born in England. But, having said that, “maybe it’s the isolation that makes musicians from Australia and New Zealand more determined to be `out there` and `heard`. We all know that America and Europe are the power-houses of the music industry. Personally I feel that it is just a coincidence that there are 4 artists from Down Under in the Top 10, but I am very happy to be amongst those 4. At the end of the day, its the Believers who have put us there, and they are from all over the world, especially the Netherlands... and its only the Believers that can keep us there and keep moving us up. Maybe you should ask the Believers why they like the music from Down Under so much?”
Great suggestion. So, Believers, what do you think? What makes our Aussies and Kiwi’s so special? Write to us at info@sellaband.com and your answers will be in an upcoming edition of the Tribune.
A song inspired by...
In this regular feature we invite SellaBand artists to tell us about how one of their special songs came about. What inspired them to write it? Turns out there are so many special stories behind the music on SellaBand. Take Snelle Jongens for example (Fast Boys), they sing in Dutch but this song has a universal theme...
“The song is called 'Reïncarnatie', which is Dutch for 'reincarnation'. This song was written in no time, after having read a newspaper article about a tragedy which has occurred in our country. It read about a little 3-year-old girl, who was killed by her mother. This girl has led a short life suffering from ill-treatment, under-nourishment, neglect and aggression coming from her mother and this mother's boyfriend. Eventually she died of suffocation. We were so moved by this - some of us have little kids - that we wrote this song, of which the lyrics are directed to the spirit of this little girl. For all non Dutch speaking Believers, here is a translation of the lyrics:
If you're sleepy, you should be able to sleep in calmness.
If you're having bad dreams, you should be set at ease by a stroke on the cheek.
If you wake up, you should feel welcome at home.
You should be taken care of, be able to play and learn the things you need
You know, all these things are ordinary
But these things, you could not even dream of
You received everything the other way round
And I don't know anyone who knows why
You should be able to dance freely on your songs at home
And if your mamma watches you, her face shows a smile from cheek to cheek
You know, all these things are ordinary
But these things, you could not even dream of (it's not your fault)
You received everything the other way round (it's not your fault)
And I don't know anyone who knows why
You were humiliated and banned (it's not your fault)
Beaten, tied up, put away (it's not your fault)
No food for you, your mouth plugged (it's not your fault)
No child can bear this, so you stopped
I hope you will get a chance to experience what a true smile feels like
I do hope, little girl, that you will be reborn with courage to live life
Listen to 'Reïncarnatie' here.
www.sellaband.com/snellejongens