This Thursday we will change our slogan from “Your Music, Your Choice” to “You are the Record Company”. Artists and Believers will be in complete control of the whole music industry value chain. From selecting the talent to promoting and selling the music. From now on Artists and Believers will truly be in business together. And we will offer you a unique chance to earn some extra money as we move along. It’s your music, your choice, your money! Here's an explanation of the final piece of the SellaBand concept below. The SellaBand Store!
This Thursday there will be history in the making for SellaBand! After the online listening sessions all Believers with parts in Cubworld and/or Nemesea can open their own store on their profile page. This means there will be downloads available, partly free and partly for sale and you can start selling them! Also, you have the right to sell the available Limited Editions of the albums to music fans around the world. And in a few weeks time you will be able to sell the Regular CD as well. As you know, we have two basic sources of revenue: Music Sales and Advertising. One of the golden rules here on SellaBand is that we share these revenues equally between Artists, Believers and ourselves. This means that for every 3 dollars we make through advertising or music sales 1$ goes to the artist, 1$ to the Believers and 1$ to SellaBand. The conditions for the Limited Editions are a little different, but we will elaborate on that in a minute. First we want to add another important rule: if a sale (Download or Regular CD) is made directly through a Believer's profile, he/she will be allocated an extra 10% to his/her account. This percentage will be taken off the SellaBand-percentage. This way we give you the opportunity to earn more than your 1 : 5,000 per Part of the Believer's profit. The more active you become, the more you can earn. We give you this incentive, because you are helping us grow and are selling music on behalf of the Artist and we feel this should be rewarded.
LIMITED EDITION CD
To start with, the Limited Editions will be sold on a first in first out basis. This basically means that if you were the first to buy a part in Cubworld and you wish to sell your limited edition(s), then your copies will be the first to be sold. This way, early believers are rewarded for being the first to stick their necks out for the artist. The Limited Editions will be sold for $15,00 each, not including transaction costs and postage. Because you own the Part, $10,00 will be automatically allocated to you. Of the extra $5,00, another $1,00 will be put on your balance. Another $1,00 will go to the artist's account and there is $0,50 available as a commission for the Believer who makes the sale. This does not have to be the Believer who owns the Part, but can also be through another active Believer with Part(s) in this particular artist. The remaining $2,50 is for VAT, because after all, it is an official sale/purchase action that is being made.
REGULAR CD
A few weeks after the release of the Limited Edition Albums, SellaBand will also manufacture a so called Regular CD. This is a standard album in a jewel case, with no extra features, just the music. We will sell this album for $10,00 on our site, but will also announce a number of partnerships with companies who will sell this product for us, both online and offline. The profit of the standard album will also we split equally between The Artist, The Believers and SellaBand. This will amount to $2,00 for each party involved, so $6,00 profit in total. SellaBand's part of the profit includes administration, warehousing and stock risk. Also, $1,00 of the SellaBand share will go directly to the Believer as net-commission, in case the sale is made through him/her. The $2,00 for The Artist, as well as the $2,00 for The Believers are net profits and are fixed amounts. The remaining $4,00 includes manufacturing, copyright and VAT. The Artist can also order stock of the Regular CD, for $6,00 only. This includes the $2,00 for The Believers, plus the aforementioned $4,00 for manufacturing, copyright and VAT. In this case SellaBand will not take a cut from the profit, and The Artist can then sell the Regular CD on his/her own website and/or local record stores and decide how big his/her own margin will be.
FREE DOWNLOADS
From each SellaBand album we release, there will be three tracks available as FREE downloads. The Artists makes the decision which songs will be given away for free. These free downloads will serve as a great promotional tool for the Artists. You can invite all your friends to come to SellaBand and download this music for free. All they have to do is register as a Believer on SellaBand, and there are no further commitments of any kind. Additionally the amount of downloads will determine the market share of each artist. The more free music is downloaded from your artist, the more money you and the artist make.
PAID DOWNLOADS
The remaining songs (and this may vary per Artist, depending on how many songs they have recorded with us) will be sold through SellaBand. The downloads will be DRM-free at a bit rate of 256KB. That's high quality stuff, indeed. And they will only cost 50 dollar cents each. We want to cross the bridge to the future of the music industry. Music will always have value and the joy great music can give you can be priceless. But it should be accessible and affordable for everyone, and it MUST be value for money. With 50 cents per track, we think we have accomplished this. And still, on every paid Download there will be a net profit of 30 dollar cents. 10 Cents go to The Artist, 10 Cents to The Believers and 10 Cents to SellaBand, unless the purchase is made directly though one of the Believer's Shops, in which case 10% commission will be allocated and only 5 dollar cents go to SellaBand. And again we urge you to claim a part of our cut; become active and help us grow!
So there you have it. The degree of your success now lies in your hands. If you manage to sell 10 albums for each part you own in a recording artist you will have managed to help an artist realize a dream, witnessed and influenced the creative process of recording a professional album and made some money in the process. All without the interference of the traditional music industry, thereby maintaining complete artistic freedom. Lady’s and gentlemen, you are the record company!
Here’s a breakdown of the prices and the corresponding commissions:
SAVE TRANSACTION COSTS
Purchasing products on the internet means there will be transaction costs involved. Transaction costs are built up by credit card companies as a fixed fee + a percentage of the purchase, in combination with a charge from the financial facilitator (usually a fixed %).
All prices for SellaBand products are excluding transaction costs. To lower your transaction costs considerably, SellaBand allows you to deposit money on your balance account in tranches of $10,00, as if you were buying Parts. You can then start buying product with the money on your account. This way you can lower the transaction costs because you pay for the fixed fee only once. For example: the transaction costs for purchasing a single download will be relatively high because of the fixed fee. Buying credit on your SellaBand account would save considerably on the transaction costs per download.
CHANGES
Those of you who have been following closely what we have been doing so far and where we were when we launched on August 15 will no doubt have noticed that we have made some changes. We don't want to dismiss them as minor changes but call them necessary instead. And want to be open about it. We've always said that, because SellaBand is brand new it will partly be a 'work in progress' As mentioned in a previous Tribune, reality is somewhat different than anticipated. Not better or worse, just different. It's safe to say that we've had thousands of conversations and e-mail exchanges with both Artists and Believers, and the launch of SellaBand: You Are The Record Company and the changes we have made are very much the result of all that. No doubt, the 'How It Works' section will undergo some rephrasing before the Store goes live on Thursday...
A Believer’s Tale…
He caught our eye when he was quoted as a Believer in the rather excellent piece The Guardian wrote about us a week ago. Then Ade Webb got in touch with us and asked if we could write a little story about his favorite band Travellers. Yes we will, in a few weeks time, but in the mean time Ade, why don’t write a bit about what you think a Believer can contribute to SellaBand…
By Ade Webb
One evening I stumbled onto SellaBand. The next, I returned purposefully. Then I started believing. Now it's like my email. I can't go a day without checking. I found the SellaBand community and the Sellaband community found me. Now I'm someone who likes a lot more music than he used to and I believe that the money I've put in will result in money coming out that will make it financially worthwhile... even though it has been hugely personally worthwhile already.
That's the short story.
The longer version starts me very quickly finding a band I love: a one man band, Travellers. Within three songs, Travellers' music resonated with all the strands of my musical taste that matter to me most: lounge, chill out, world, fusion. I listened to the tracks two or three times each and then I pressed the Believe button. Hey, it's just $10! Almost instantly, Rui Serra, the artist (genius!) behind Travellers emailed back and thanked me. An artist that thanked me?!? That felt good for starters. Two days later, despite the Portuguese post, I had two CDs to put into my stereo (they're still there) and wonder....How does this guy do this on his own? Without a studio? Why doesn't he have global deals, helicopters, boats? What could he do in a studio?
I think that's there is one question that unites all true believers on SellaBand: why isn't this band signed? And after that comes a shared desire that it should happen for them and an intention to do something about it.
Having spent my working life in PR, my relationship with Travellers got off to a strong start. I loved the music, he kept in regular contact, he was thankful for my belief and I had some ideas for how to get him some much-deserved coverage in the UK press. The British financial press love alternative investments - Ostriches, wine, llamas... but the music industry has been a closed shop for too long. A machine hamstrung by faceless A&R men. So when I met a journalist at a function and explained how I could not only invest and cut out the music industry monopoly but actively influence my investment, he wrote about it. A full page in a national newspaper. Now, I have a new mission to get people to share my enthusiasm for SAB and my love of Travellers. It's a win:win with a soundtrack.
Yes, my music portfolio on Sellaband has expanded a lot more than I intended. Yes, I'm looking forward to my first returns from Maitreya. Yes, I want Mandyleigh to make it. But most of all, I want Travellers to succeed and for me to have played a part. When I look at my bank balance, maybe I've believed more than I should... but, hey, when was the last time the stock market sent you a CD and a thank you email?
Ade Webb
Cubworld’s art revealed
Last week we spilled the beans on Nemesea’s artwork and tracklisting, this week we do the same for Cubworld. As previously announced, his 10-track SellaBand Album will be called: “Step Lightly: Create Out Loud”, and was produced by Kevin Patrick and Kiyanu Kim for BKN Productions. Cubworld designed all the artwork himself. The full tracklisting is:
1 Rocked Out
2 Amsterdam
3 For Love
4 Lights Fade
5 Wise Words
6 You Make Me Feel
7 Start Over
8 This Is Life
9 My World
10 Who I Am
We’re expecting the album to be delivered to our offices by the end of next week! The CD was mixed by Joe West, And, because there was some room left in the budget, we hired none other than Vlado Meller at Sony Music Studios in New York to master the album. Mind you, this is the same person who does all the mastering for bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers! As mentioned elsewhere in this Tribune, the album will be premiered online on Thursday June 21, as of 6.30 PM CET.
Q + A
Lorraine Jones
The beauty of SellaBand is that there are equal opportunities for everybody. And although it’s not easy to stand out quickly among over 4,000 ‘colleagues’ from over 80 different countries, we’re glad to see that some artists are showing the way. Like Lorraine Jones, for example. She’s different, doesn’t come from one of the ‘big nations’, but still managed to get to Page 3 in less than two months.
Who is Lorraine Jones?
This simple question actually turned out to be perhaps the most complex question I have had in years, because I often feel like 20 persons all rolled up into one. Being born in Africa and now living in Switzerland for almost 8 years, has enabled me to live many diverse lifestyles and experiences. From humble African village fireplace dinners to dining with some of the world’s elite personalities in New York. These experiences are also the reason why I often say that I am 100 years old. My life to date has blessed with so many great great blessings – if I ever write my memoirs many people will probably have difficulty believing it all. Heck, even I have difficulty believing it all myself. I am a traveler on a journey of self discovery, preparing to share a message with the world, possibly touch some hearts, inspire some lives along the way and maybe even change some lives through music.
After losing my mother to Pancreatic cancer at age 45, I realised that life is indeed short, so live your dream, daily.
Thanks to my mother I grew up with an immense appreciation of art in all its forms, paintings, sculptures, photography, poetry, dance, music and fashion. Even our Sunday School lessons from the Bible were filled with art in the various scriptures. Music has always held a special place in my world – my father is a musician. No genre of music was left un-played in our house. The range included all the great classical composers – Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, Vivaldi, to Bob Marley, Miles Davis, Peggy Lee, The Temptations, and Don Williams – although my father was himself an afro-jazz saxophonist he preferred a diversity of music, so different from his own style, that at times it seemed rather bizarre – even big brass army bands were part of the musical collection. My mother divorced him after some turbulent years together and made her own decision that whatever careers my sister and I were to choose – music was not to be a part of it. Strangely enough, and after carving our own lives as adults – my sister and I have both turned on to the musical path – the forbidden fruit – like the apple in the Garden of Eden remained the great temptation.
Who is Lorraine Jones? She is an artist.
You were born in South Africa?
Actually I was born in Zimbabwe, my mother is South African and my father is Congolese – this makes me a pure Southern African sun-child. Apparently I have a face of many African countries mellowed into one, I’ve been confused for Egyptian, Ethiopian, Kenyan, Tanzanian, Nigerian, Namibian and Malawian. In a sense I feel like a child of the African continent as a whole – one of my deepest wishes, is to give back to Africa, some of the blessings she has bestowed on me by helping in programs that help Africans to help themselves in independent constructive ways.
I really do believe that Africa’s richest resource is her very own people. Ambassadors like Bob Geldoff, Bono who influenced Bill Gates and other influential people have done a great deal to bring more awareness not just to Africa’s troubles ,but also to solutions and that’s every encouraging.
How did you end up in Switzerland?
Destiny. After a roller coaster 5 year relationship, I jumped on a plane to end a chapter in my life and commence a new life abroad, but I was not certain which country I would live in – I bought a one year valid World Traveler Ticket from British Airways. Fortunately I had family that was spread out in Europe, England and America, I planed to visit them all over the course of the next year. I placed a heartfelt request to the Universe to help me get over my fiancé, of the last 5 years, and send me the man of my dreams. In my minds eye, this man of my dreams was so faultless that I was convinced I might have to become a lesbian to meet the right partner.
6 months later whilst travelling with my sister in Europe that man did in fact appear, his name was Sarlo and he was everything I dreamed of – except he did not look like a Greek-god, but he could cook, wash up the dishes, clean the house, spoil me with flowers, take me on romantic excursions, candlelight picnic dinners, Gondola rides in Venice, dance in the Piazza square in Rome, massage my feet, he was a spiritual man, he didn’t drink, smoke or do drugs – and best of all – he was blessed with experience of having loved and lost. It took 12 years of him being divorced, and living alone to turn into the man of my dreams -we’ve been married for 7 years.
What are your ambitions?
Essentially I would like to be a part of making a difference on this planet. We don’t realise it but we are destroying it faster than we are preserving it – and not just the planet is in distress – humanities values are becoming more and more questionable.
What better medium to convey that message than through music, a universal “language”, and the most powerful architect of change.
It would be great to be amongst the top 20 SellaBand acts – to reach 50 000k – that’s my personal wish – lets see if the rest if the SellaBand public thinks that’s a great idea too!
How did you find out about SellaBand and what were your expectations?
A talented photographer and friend of mine, Mario Rothenbuehler sent me an e-mail telling me to check out this innovative website, he had read about it in a press release.
I thought it was such a revolutionary concept and also loved the fact that it was an online multimedia idea, on the internet, not only does it reflect the future direction of change in the music industry but it harness’s the internet possibilities of radio, broadcasting, news media and marketing all in one.
With regard to my expectations - I have been surprised to discover that I am currently Switzerland’s top performer on SellaBand. Switzerland is filled with so much incredible talent, in all directions of rock, pop, rap and even funk and of course classical music, I really do hope to see more bands out here representing Switzerland soon. Our band is made up entirely of dedicated Swiss Musicians – who do nothing but music, they play in 4 or different bands, just to make ends meet, as well as teach music either privately or at music schools. Without them – I have to say I would not have come this far, because of their efforts, I am here representing Switzerland.
In addition my expectations to date have been challenged by how much work one still has to do to be a success on SellaBand – my first thought was – great!! This is the ultimate package – opinions direct from the public, the industry and fellow musicians and also a way to get a fan-base organised in a clear precise way. That is if they are not intimidated by the SellaBand Spanish inquisition believer questions – (lol) unfortunately I’ve had quite a few people – including English speaking people express their dismay at how the current registration system is not user-friendly enough. Which could be one of the major setbacks, some European artists are having as their fans, might possibly be intimidated by English.
How do you plan to reach the 50k?
I’ve already been busy spreading the word, on Myspace, and through e-mails and sms’s. I even have a SellaBand flyer that I never leave home without. If I meet people on the bus, on the train, in cafes or restaurants and we get chatting past “hello, how are you “– they get a Sellaband flyer.
In addition I’m planning some spontaneous gigs this autumn around Switzerland as well as concerts with other Sellaband artists who have expressed an interest to do something together from neighbouring countries France, Austria, Italy and of course Switzerland. Together we are going to put Sellaband on the map for sure.
In about 8 weeks I will release a cd single with 4 or 5 mastered tracks to post out to Believers.
I’m also looking forward to composing some new tracks for an even fresher input, with Pieps and Matt Byers. Above all, I am hoping that the Sellaband audience are going to Believe in me and help this dream come true.
Are there any other Sellabands you particularly like?
Oh Yes Yes Yes – I’ve even opened a believer account and have started my own wish list
Francisco Rodino, Vegas Dragons and Trail are my current favourites, followed by Daniel Ward Murphy and Lucia Iman. Clemence is absolutely magical, but I joined after she had reached her 50K and Maitreya is going to be New Zealand’s second best export. I also like very much Solidtube and some very talented artists whose portfolios and music direction speak for themselves, so its just a matter of time before they start get more attention Delco, Mua’Dib and the Awakening, Dewi and Gisel De Marco.
Why should people Believe in Lorraine Jones?
Although it’s a totally different line of music, I can connect to how Mozart must have felt sometimes, for even when you sleep you can dream of an entire concert of song… and awake to discover it was all a figment of your imagination and still has to be composed in this reality
Believe in me because, something about my music which is a part of my personality and a reflection of my character touches your very soul.
I was asked last year, why would I choose to be involved in one of the most challenging careers on this planet, my answer was simple “I have no choice” I would spend weeks with melodies and lyrics floating in my head trying to work out whose song is that?? Only to realise that it was my own song, practically from out of the blue.
I have even tried to suppress the call of “music” by working in other professions, as an English Teacher, A Personal Assistant, Business Administration Consultant - I followed my Mothers advise and the voice of reason, but this time- I am going to follow the voice of my heart.
SellaBand Store open this Thursday!
Online listening party!
It’s official. This Thursday we will launch our SellaBand Store (see elsewhere in this Tribune) and we want to make this a special occasion for all parties involved. We will not simply open the store and get on with business as usual, but want to make this a day to remember. And we want the Believers of Nemesea and Cubworld to know that these two artists are very appreciative of all your support. So we came up with the idea of an Online Listening Party where we will officially premiere the albums of Cubworld and Nemesea.
At 5 PM (CET) we will start with a full playback of Nemesea’s album ‘In Control’. This session will be exclusive for Nemesea Believers as we think they are entitled to hear the music first, before anybody else. Next up, at 6:00 PM, all Cubworld Believers can exclusively listen to ‘Step Lightly: Create Out Loud’, Jake’s album.Then, at 7:00 PM we will play the whole Nemesea album again, but this time everybody can join in and listen to record, Artists and Believers alike.
At 8:00 PM sharp, the whole world is invited to enjoy Cubworld’s album. By the way, there will be a chat room during all sessions and both Cubworld and Nemesea will be present to answer your questions and (hopefully) take in all the compliments
Here’s the itinerary in full:
Thursday June 21, 2007:
5:00 PM:Nemesea Believers Listening Session
6:00 PM:Cubworld Believers Listening Session
7:00 PM:Nemesea Access For All Listening Session
8:00 PM:Cubworld Access For All Listening Session
9:00 PM: Push F5 button for official launch of the SellaBand Store.
Weekly Update
Chart Analysis
The total sum of new Parts sold wasn’t as big as in previous weeks; perhaps we’ve become a bit spoiled, but it was ‘only’ a $20,000 week…Over 10% of that money went to Mandyleigh, who manages to keep her #1 position on the Weekly Chart. She’s now heading towards 70% in budget which is regarded by many as the ‘tipping point’ on your way to 50K. Bulletproof Messenger are back at #2 and now also over $20,000 in budget, will they become the next US band to finish their budget? Trail only drop one spot and are still going strong at #4. This week’s Q + A Star Lorraine Jones rises to #3 on the Weekly Chart, proving she’s on a winning streak. The same goes for Radius, who have been campaigning very hard for a slot at Concert At Sea and have become biggest gainer of the week (20 – 11) along the way. Vegas Dragons (#5) and Tiffany Gow (#9) have done well in the wake of their Australian gig. We welcome Austria’s Confused 5 (#13) and Tony Young (#18) from the UK and the Special Mention of the week goes to Portugal’s Travellers who have been in the Charts for weeks now and move nicely to #10 this time.
Forum (The continuing story)
The Official Forum is live and we knew we'd be up for some criticism. But, apart from the long delay and a few glitches here and there (most of them have been fixed and some adjustments will be made in the near future), this is basically what we had in mind. This is not a Forum for the sake of having a regular Forum, but because we see it as a useful, pretty basic addition to grow our community and have people speak their mind. But it's a smiley-free zone (sorry 'bout that, Logical One...) and there will be no special categories for frequent posters and no extra stars if you've created your trillionth topic. Everybody is equal here, nobody is more important than anybody else and we will not hand out special rewards.
There are three categories to post topics in and although we think they are pretty self explanatory, all the 'I Have A New Song', or 'We Are A Cool Prog Band From China' will be moved into the Hype This section. And as much as we love to talk about football (that's soccer for our overseas friends), it is not related to SellaBand, so please post it in Off Topic.
And that's about it. Respectful behaviour is a plus and if you have serious complaints, please send an e-mail to: info@sellaband.com.
Concert At Sea
The voting on www.revu.nl for the final slot for a performance on Concert At Sea has officially stopped. However, because the counting of the votes is not in our hands, we cannot not announce the winner in this week's Tribune. We will open a thread on the Forum, hopefully tomorrow, with the final result. The winner will also be announced via Nieuwe Revu and the official CAS website. Also, the 25 lucky winners of a free pair of tickets for Concert At Sea will be notified via e-mail, before the end of this week.
The Week That Was
Well, it was the week that we launched the official Forum. One would think we had enough time to test the damn thing, but in the live environment lots of things went wrong. Most of if was fixed 24 hours later and with one or two exceptions, we think it’s safe to say that the majority of the community understand how to interpret the Forum; it’s an extra tool on SellaBand, not our bread ‘n butter… It was also the week of the Australian Supergig, as Luna Assassins, Tiffany Gow, Vegas Dragons and Phil Tweed joined forces and showed the rest of the world how the Australian mentality actually works: Action speaks louder than words, in their case and we can’t wait to see the footage. Speaking of which: US rockers Wetwerks added an impressive live-video to their page and Maitreya launched a super cool new website, with a little (or perhaps more than a little) help from his biggest Believer Logical One: www.oneloveandlight.com, where you can follow his recording process.
A webcast could be a nice feature on that new site, just like Second Person did this week with the technical aide of the Media on Demand people. Great to see them at work with our friend Tony Platt and even better to be able to listen to the songs they’ve been working on. The week ended with our rocking friends from Bulletproof Messenger rounding the 20K mark, which means that since our launch in August exactly 10 artists have managed to raise $20,000 or more through crowdsourcing on SellaBand!
The Other Side Of… Mysti Mayhem
In which we try to give ‘our’ artists a platform to show you there is more to them than just the music. Which is definitely the case with Mysti Mayhem. On top of that, we were touched by one of her latest blogs, which she wrote after she went to Portugal and London, places she wouldn’t have visited (yet) without her SellaBand experience…
What is your full name?
Misty Dawn Naholnik (Chippewa Ojibwe Pembina American Indian/Polish decent)
Date & place of birth?
Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA 6:08am EST May 14, 1984
Where do you live?
Cincinnati, OH USA, Third Rock from the Sun, Milky Way
Do you have a job?
Yes, I am a professional musician. I make a living from selling my records, DVD's, songs, and live performances.
What are your hobbies?
Jeez la pete... I don't think I have any. I guess, Wine Tasting... is that considered a hobby?
Favorite food?
Chocolate... and Pizza... I could eat pizza forever, especially Pizza from Portugal.
Holiday destination?
Holiday? I have no time for Holidays. Luckily, my music takes me wherever my heart desires, so my next stop is going to be somewhere outside of the USA.
All time favorite artist?
Ani Difranco. She was the first prominent woman to hit my ear drums as a young girl. Her music inspires me to do what I do today.
All time favorite book?
I really hate reading... I think it is a punishment... but there is one book that managed to touch me, and it was The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) written by Don Miguel Ruiz.
All time favorite movie?
My taste in movies changes over the years, but more recently I saw a film that made me cry, and one of which filled me with empathy and desire. O Piano, written and directed by Jane Champion.
Best friend?
My best friend will always be my guitar. My guitar is there for me during any and every emotion I bare. My guitar holds no judgement over me, and is there to listen and express with me all of the colors of my days.
Love of your life?
Music is my one true love. I will follow it to the ends of the earth until my last staggered breath.
Do you have anything to declare?
3 bags of Portuguese Delta Coffee, and a bottle of Douro Red Wine.
Mysti’s thoughts…
6-7-07 "I Am A Poem Disguised As A Girl"
I sit down and wait for my flight after the best few days of my life. If it´s raining while your plane is in the air, it´s because I cry because I care.
Thank you for changing my life, and thank you for opening a door in my mind. Thank you for making me see, that this whole time you accepted me for me.
See, when I was 14 I was ready to meet God, so I cut my wrists, and I watched the blood. But somehow I awoke in a hospital bed with IV´s and doctors studying my head. See, depression hits everyone at different times, mine happen to hit me before I had a chance to live life. By age 18 my years disappeared, Government Drugs made me dumb, college ed never reared.
What is this feeling? I ask myself. Why am I sad to leave you, and content when you´re around? What is this feeling that seems more foreign than me? Could it be happiness inside of me? I have been in the game so long that I´m jaded, depressed, and often alone. But for the first time in my life I felt good to be awake, I felt happy to be alive...
I felt like I felt like never before. Your music, smiles, and strength are healing my soul. Not only did you show me the me that you see, but you showed me the me I deserve to be. Before I arrived my heart felt like stone, my music was dry, and in crowds I was alone. And now that I am gone you put heart to my song, you are poems disguised as people and its been far too long.
I am a better person after meeting you all. Not once did you demand I compromise my soul. I once was a child not wanted in this world. Now I am a poem disguised as a girl. Sometimes there aren´t words to describe the emotion. I am honored and greatful, with you always is my devotion.