SellaBand on BBC
Click HERE to watch
Cubworld on FOX
Click HERE to Watch
Making Movies
We still need your HELP!
We are getting a good quantity of exciting videos from both Believers and Artists! Thank you for your support. A beautiful concept is emerging, we are lining up for this year’s Oscars! Believers are telling us in their own language: “I am a Believer, because…” Artists are telling us: “SellaBand has changed my life because...” Below you’ll find a short example of what we are looking for. Please keep loading up your video’s. The more Artists and Believers we can feature, the more powerful our message will come across!
Example of what we need!
New York Minutes
While Nemesea are about to hit the studio any day now, SellaBand’s other ‘recording artist’, Cubworld, has yet to decide where he will record and who he will be working with. To help him make the right decisions, SellaBand MD JohanV got on a plane to New York to introduce Jacob to a life in the fast line (no more Eagles/ Henley song references after this, we promise...)
Your reporter JohanV found a statue of his twin brother in the big apple...
By Johan V
Today (Tuesday), it is exactly one year ago that I first met Pim. Here was a young guy who had nothing to do with the music industry, yet he managed to grab my full attention with his concept, made me quit my job, and basically changed my life. Going to New York is nothing new to me, Sony Music’s headquarters is on Madison Avenue in Manhattan and I have been there on many occasions. Going to New York for SellaBand is different. Last Summer I called my former Sony friend Julie Borchard (Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for Sony in a previous life) and asked her to put me in touch with some of the people she knew, who could end up on our SellaBand Expert page. In the week before SellaBand went live, I spent three days in the city and spoke to so many people, that my throat went sour. I had no proof that our concept would work, just my firm belief that what we were about to do was going to rock the music world.
SIX months later, and things are different again. Because now we have the proof that yes, SellaBand actually works and that no, $50,000 is not too high a number to fund though crowdsourcing. With me today is Jacob Kongaika, better known as Cubworld, and we will visit some of the same people that I met back in August. Jake, by the way, has never been to New York before, and has invited his SellaBand friend Maitreya to join us.
Cubworld and Maitreya meeting each other on Union Square in downtown Manhattan
Needless to say that the two of them are very excited. Here are the highlights of our meetings so far:
Meeting ‘Bassy’ Bob Brockmann
One of the producers in the Expert section is Bob Brockmann, better known as Bassy Bob. He works out of his own studios in downtown Manhattan. Jake is thrilled to hear that Bob has nothing but praise for his music. However, Bob does feel that the Cubworld sound could use some more depth and another dimension. Sitting behind his recording console, Bob tells Jake about how he goes about when producing records. The two really seem to hit it off and at the end of the meeting, Bob invites Jake to ‘crash’ at his place when he decides to record his album in New York. We get a personal tour around the studio and bump into recording artist T.M. Stevens, a man with an impressive track-record, who is just finishing hs upcoming album at Bob’s studios. A funny thing happens, when Jake hands T.M. a copy of his demo-album, T.M. asks him to autograph it. Just in case Jake gets more famous than T.M. already is...
Jake and recording artist T.M. Stevens at Bassy Bob's Studio
Experts Brooklyn Noise Productions
We’re heading into Brooklyn, and end up in a spacey apartment, where producer’s manager Chris Lewis welcomes us. This is where producer/songwriter/musician David Kiyanu Kim lives. He is one half of a production duo called Brooklyn Noise Production. Their track record is impressive. Jake plays some of his demos and Kiyanu seems genuinely impressed. Pre-production, Chris Lewis tells us, is going to be crucial. Not only to pick the right songs, the right studio and get a good vibe going, but also to hire musicians who will be playing on the album. Because that’s what Jake wants: a better sound, but also a real bandfeel on some of the tracks. “And I want strings too”, he says. Kiyanu smiles, plays us some of his own material, loaded with strings and you can just feel how Jake and Kiyanu feed off each other. “We’re ready when you are”, Chris tells us. That’s now two great options that we have under our belt.
Jake & Maitreya talking business with Kiyanu
Expert Dave Margolis
Back in the city, we meet with Dave Margolis. He is also a musician, a former engineer, and an A&R person, but is now specialising in producing records himself. He works for rockguru/producer Rick Rubin, amongs other people, but tells us he is genuinely touched and impressed by Jake’s voice. Dave also show us the importance of hiring the right musicians. “Even though you are a solo-artist, I think it’s important for your sound to put a real ‘band feel’ across on your record. Especially if you want to take these songs on the road, too”. On the road? Jake and Maitreya are all smiles. This is what they’ve been dreaming about all their lives. Making that really great album and then go on tour.
At the end of a long day, we return to our hotel, which is appropriately called ‘Dream Hotel’. Having said that, the good thing about all three producers is that they were all very vocal about ‘keeping it real’and trying to keep Jake’s sound on the record very close to who he actually is. “I’ve got a lot of thinking to do, big decisions to be made”, Jake says before he returns to his room. Tomorrow is another day, but for now it is really good to know that there are enough music professionals out there who care about the music of Cubworld and are eager to work with him. My feeling is that we will be able to move quickly. Who knows, come early Summer, we will not only have Nemesea’s music ln our downloadpoartal, but I’m pretty confident that Cubworld’s Believers will find a pleasant surprise in their mailboxes too...
Chart analysis
As mentioned in our weekly update the start of the 'SellaBand Presents...Part 2' competition fueled the SellaBand engine, more than 2,500 Parts ($25,000) sold in the last week! More than 400 of those Parts were won by Clémence, it looks like that this girl is really unstoppable. Will she overtake Second Person in the coming weeks?
No dramatic changes in the Top 10; only two new entries, Vegas Dragons and Lily, both securing a Top position in the Chart 2. Dutch band Glass Moon just missed the Top 10 with a new entry on #11.
There's been a lot going on on Chart 2 (The live chart for our competition), with Clémence reigning, and Second Person following at some distance. But the most excitement can be found between positions 6 and 14 with bands trading places almost every minute. The competition runs for another 3 weeks so the tracklisitng for the 'SellaBand Presents.. Part 2' CD isn't set at all.
Q + A
TRAIL
The Q + A this week is for Trail. Guitar, bass, drums, vocals. Great sound, cool hooks and meaningful lyrics. Sometimes that is all you need to be a great band. Dwelling on that great tradition of English pop music, Trail have had no problem attracting a healthy number of Believers since their arrival on SellaBand, only two months ago.
Tell us a bit more about Trail, please
”Well, we all come from slightly different musical backgrounds, luckily with one common root - Rock. When we got together the material we had was in several different flavours of it so we decided we'd draw a scale between the extremes of our influences. At one end was the all-out 80's Guns N’ Roses sound that still held a lot of appeal for us, at the other was the more modern and haunting vibe of some great UK bands like Doves, Coldplay and of course, Radiohead. We wanted to write stuff that fell somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic: atmospheric and meaningful but at the same time punchy and upbeat. Stuff we put on SellaBand isn't all intended for the album, it's more that we want to be as honest as possible with our Believers and let them see where we've come from so they can make their own judgments about where we might go from here. Right now our latest songs City, As Who You Are, I Want To Know and Worry Free (amongst others not yet demoed) best represent our direction. What else...? We're really enjoying being a fully functioning band and can’t wait to get our teeth into the next phases.”
Why did you join SellaBand?
”Daniel Ward Murphy contacted Alex's girlfriend who plays the violin to see if she wanted to audition. She then sent Alex a link to Daniel's SellaBand page asking what he thought. Alex thought it was an interesting concept and decided to sign the band up there and then. Our attachment to the site has grown day by day, culminating in all 4 of us buying Parts last week.”
You've experienced a pretty healthy rise on our artist ranking. No complaints so far?
”None whatsoever. The support we have had from our believers is fantastic. Bob Stevens and Brian (Vegas Dragons) were our first two believers and their enthusiasm and support gave us a perfect start. You really do have to market yourself to make progress on here so it’s lucky that after a few days of good responses we all became SellaBand addicts. Speaking of which check out imasellabandaddict.com, Walter M's creation. He’s another one of our encouraging Believers. We could take up the entire interview talking about all the fantastic Believers we have but they know who they are and we are constantly reminding them of that. They even got a Valentines Day present from us in the shape of 4 new acoustic songs. Now that's true love!!!”
Any special tactics to get to 50k?
”Yes, but they are so special; we don't even know what they are yet! We are always trying to come up with new ways to reward existing Believers and entice new ones. The main focus will always be to improve the existing songs and bring new ones through. We put up something new every Tuesday and will continue to do that. Ultimately the songs will have to do the talking. We like to make our live shows count too. For a rock act we feel it’s at least as important as the studio work we do. We mention sellaband.com at every live set now. Speaking of which (shameless plug time here...) We had our biggest gig so far at the weekend at the Clapham Grand in London. And if people missed that they can catch us on 30th March at the King’s Head (with Francis Rodino, also on SellaBand) in Fulham. We're also excited about a couple of gigs we are planning in the Netherlands, home to many of our Believers.”
What are Trail's ambitions?
”Create a couple of ground breaking rock albums which will be remembered for years to come, do a live album at Wembley Stadium, an MTV unplugged session, a blues influenced album and then probably retire to the Bahamas.”
Is SellaBand potentially an ideal concept for an indie band?
”Absolutely. It gives emerging bands exposure on a global scale, the chance to get constructive feedback on their songs and experience with interacting with their fans. Throw in the chance to record a professional album with a top producer and you have a perfect concept.”
Why should people Believe in Trail?
”Because we think we are ready. We have more than 10 songs with our own sound and style which have a broad appeal. The songs that we put on here are not professionally produced, we do it all ourselves and in the right hands we think they can be improved to a releasable standard. Our ambition which we outlined above is genuine and we think that this is a great platform to start from.”
Weekly Update
Chart2
We think it’s safe to say that the first week of Chart2 has been really successful. Over 2,500 Parts were sold ($25,000) and already, to get into the Top 10 is quite an achievement. In other words, we’ve had a great week at SellaBand and with three more weeks to go it looks like our ‘SellaBand Presents... Part2’ competition is going to create some more excitement. Think of it as the first ever series of official compilation CD’s, compiled by the buying public, i.e. you. For more detail, see last week’s Tribune, here.
Tired of being unfashionable?
Well with the launch of the SellaBand T-shirt shop you can do something about it. From now on it's pretty easy to be the coolest kid on the block, and you don't even have to leave the house (and the SellaBand website); just click here (for Europe) or here (for rest of the world), choose one of the cool designs, pick your color and your size and press order. Within a couple of days your T-shirt will be delivered to your door. Put it on and impress your family, friends and colleagues. We have 8 different designs in the shop and more will be added soon. Besides new SellaBand designs we'll add designs of your favorite SellaBand artists too.
For the shop we've found a perfect partner in Spreadshirt. This company is the world leader in individual branded merchandise. They have two printing facilites (one in Germany and one in the USA), thanks to that we can save you a lot of postage costs. US citizens order at the US facility and Europeans order in Germany. Citizens from other places in the world can order at the nearest facility to get the lowest postage costs, for most this will be the US shop. The two facilities work with different brands of T-shirts so there are some differences in price and look. In Europeour shirts are of the Hanes brand in the US we use American Apparel shirts.
I’m A Believer
There are so many truly great Believers on SellaBand and we’d like to get to know them all. But, there is room for only one person in the Tribune every week, so we randomly invite men and women from all continents to present themselves in the ‘I’m a Believer’ section. This week we go to the Australian countryside and talk to Hazel, who tells us why she is a Believer...
Who are you?
”My name is Hazel Meade, I'm 24 years old, and I'm from Victoria in Australia. I work as an animal technician (another way to say not quite a vet nurse:) and have for the last five years or so. The town where I live is quite small, around 5,000 people, and is very peaceful and beautiful, but mostly surrounded by orchards and grazing land so there's not a heck of a lot to do!”
How did you find out about SellaBand and why did you sign up as a Believer?
”I saw SellaBand mentioned in one of the weekend papers in a small article outlining the concept, and I thought it sounded like a very innovative idea, but it was actually a few weeks before I had a look. As soon as I did I thought yep, I'd like to be a part of that! And decided the best approach was just to get in there and listen to the first Artist that caught my eye. Not knowing at all what to expect, I was blown away by the quality of the songs and became a believer then and there. Needless to say I haven't looked back:)...”
How much time do you spend on SellaBand?
*Laughs* “I have a very slow connection! Probably too long if I'm honest, but its like being in an old bookshop when you know you can't look at everything but you get this nagging suspicion there's something special on the next shelf...”
What does an artist need to have to get your support?
I don't even know what it is that I like sometimes, I just know if it’s there! Originality is definitely a key quality though, you can tell when it comes from them. Its like a cover band doing a song exactly as the sheet music says, its still great but the original artist knows it and can give it the nuances that aren't written on the paper, and it makes all the difference. If it doesn't have heart it can't come to life... And have confidence. I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be to present new material to the mercy of the crowds, but if you believe in yourself then so will someone else!
If push came to shove, who would be your absolute favourite SellaBand artist?
”Firstly, all the artists I believe in deserve to be on my list! And they are all incredible and VERY deserving of a mention, but if you want top of the list... From the dark melody of 'I want to know', to the bittersweet 'For your love', and the beautiful 'City', Trail has got to be my top pick. Incredible lyrics and melodies with no two songs sounding remotely the same, you really must do yourself a favour- put on some good headphones and listen to this amazing band.”
Being Australian, can you explain why most of our Aussie bands are so fanatical?
”I think the music scene in Australia is oddly a lot easier to conquer for overseas bands than for local ones. Its like the film industry in that sense- in order to be acknowledged at home you first have to make it big overseas, as if the acceptance of the more established charts validates you as a true artist in Oz. Perhaps that's why? Or else we're just very dedicated when we do something;)”
Is there anything you'd like to change/add to the website?
”There's been a lot of great changes lately, and I'd not thought of any of them! So no, not really:)...”
Adam's Apples
Adam back in 1972
Another week, another newly arrived batch of artists to sort through so you don’t have to. The tracks that have been floating my boat include the cool retro of “Bottle Letter” from Neil Howard, the rough and ready “Waves” from Alpha Alpha (so good they named them twice), the beautiful trans-European electronica atmospherics of “Winter Rose” from Sevana, the ugly as fuck but kick ass metalists Damn Bones’ crushing “Doing Hard Time”, the spooky southern hemisphere “Ghost World” from The Calculus Affair and the excellent “Cyanide” from energized trio Stairs To Nowhere featuring some inspired bass playing.
Applesauce awards go to terminal noodler Fuzzy - “You Left Without Saying Goodbye” - sorry Fuzzy, but we all did. The precocious 12 year old Marnix is a very talented musician and singer but the material is poor and there’s an air of desperation about it all. Then there’s the subtly named Ben Dover (with his writing partner Phil McCavity no doubt) and special mention to Brothers Bentley for their no frills info page opener “If you believe we will give you free stuff.” Straight outta charm school!
Mellow Yellow
But to kick off this week’s shiny red apples let’s quite rightly call it Mellow Yellow – young Dutch funk rockers who sound great on “Not A Toy” which is the strongest of their three tracks here. The video clip “Every Day” shows they can really play live, but there may be a few questions in a vocal department that needs developing. Unfortunately their info is in Dutch so I can’t tell you anything else about the band except for the fact that they are all girls and around 18 years old, but take a listen and I’m sure you’ll agree that with a little experience and a Sellaband Expert on board to produce there’s real potential here. I like - a lot!
www.sellaband.com/mellowyellow
I also really like The Beacon Hum although have no idea what a humming beacon (or even humming bacon) sounds like. I’m not sure that Dude (Mr Hum himself) does either, but this Portuguese multi instrumentalist has certainly caught my attention with “I Can’t Keep Running Away From You”. Unfortunately it’s the only track here so we have no way of knowing if this was a one off or if Dude is the real deal. My guess is there’s more good stuff to come, so “keep ‘em peeled” as Shaw Taylor (who he?) used to say.
www.sellaband.com/thebeaconhum/
Sundial project
Sundial Project are an excellent hard rock band who hail from Southern California. They claim to have spent only $120 per song recording the three excellent tracks here - sounds to me like they must have spent at least $130! “Blame” is the obvious standout but I really like “Drained” which features some terrific drumming. I notice on their home website contact page they write “Myspace will eventually die. Join our email list and become a permanent friend”. Do they know something we don’t? Anyway, they’re not any prettier than Damn Bones but still win the coveted granite apple award for rock band of the week.
www.sellaband.com/sundialproject/
If you have any feedback or just want to say hi, the coffee’s always on at adam@sellaband.com
So ’till next week Bands ‘n’ Believers……Adam Out!