SellaBration Sensation!
There was a front page headline on the Friday morning that summed it up quite nicely: "Shareholders meeting with a beer". In Het Financieel Dagblad, the Dutch equivalent of the Financial Times, the concept behind SellaBand was explained once more, but most of all, the bemusement at the unique atmosphere during SellaBration ’07 shone through in the article. And unique it was. From Francis Rodino busking for Believers outside Paradiso before the show, through to the final notes of Nemesea’s blinder of a performance, and everything in between. Highlights? Too many to mention. And because all we cherish our own personal memories, we won’t bore you with reviews of all the individual performances, but decided to tell the story with pictures. We did take the opportunity to ask some questions to all performing artists and this section is larded with their answers…
Nemesea (Manda):
Can you describe SellaBration '07 in one word?
“SABulous!!!”
Highlight of the night?
“The signing session. I got to meet so many people, so many Believers. It was an honor to meet them all and talk to them! Thank you all so much for coming!!! And of course I loved performing 'The way I feel' together with Cubworld. It was amazing! Thanks Cubby!”
What's next for SellaBand?
“Vegas Dragons and Bulletproof will make 50K soon, I think. After that...I really don't know! But it will be BIG! SellaBand is really good at surprises!”
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
“We will be rehearsing and we are busy making plans for the future. Just wait and see....keep checking our website and profile page!”
Second Person:
Can you describe SellaBration ’07 in one word?
“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”
Highlight of the night:
“The moment we stepped out onto that incredible stage in front of such a big audience! We had a great time up there and what made it even more amazing was seeing so many people singing along to our songs! What an amazing feeling and it's not something we're ever likely to forget. Finding out that we've been play-listed for MTV, as we arrived in Amsterdam, was a pretty good highlight too!”
What’s next for SellaBand?
“We're sure that SellaBand will carry on growing, reaching out to more people all over the world, putting on amazing concerts, becoming known for uniting musicians and fans, and helping to change the face of the music industry!”
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
“We're looking forward to doing lots of gigs over the next few months, and of course making the videos for 'Fire', 'Earth', 'Metal' and 'Water' with our team of animators and artists - we think they're going to be wonderful and can't wait to show everyone. PS. Can we sneak in a little extra message just to say thank you so much to everyone who was so welcoming to us. We loved meeting so many of you in the signing sessions and hearing what you thought of the new album. Hope to see you again soon!”
Cubworld:
Can you describe SellaBration '07 in one word?
“That’s easy: "SellaBration" :)”
Highlight of the night?
“Being able to share my album with Believers with not just any band but a band of my best friends. When we were 12 we never thought we would be playing a huge show in our 20s at the PARADISO!!! Not just a night highlight but a life one as well.”
What’s next for SellaBand?
“Making the wheels turn. Getting the music out to the world through radio, movies, TV...all these things to see if the SellaBand music wheel works. Using all our efforts and contacts to test the concept. I think this would be awesome. SellaBand is very connected even before SellaBand became SellaBand so having these pre-contacts looking this way with serious artists on board might help take SelllaBand to the next level. In the end though I have no idea what’s next for SellaBand :)”
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
“I will be working on a DVD of my songs played acoustically though. I am also thinking of things to add such as the trip with the band of friends i brought to Amsterdam, New songs, Lyrics, Tabs, Interviews, Shows...Any suggestions give me a hollar. Other than this just buskin for new post Believers. :)”
Maitreya:
Can you describe SellaBration '07 in one word?
"Fan-DANMANDILILICLEMAITRE
CUBSECONEMESEA-tastic!"
Highlight of the night?
"The opportunity to perform with the great Cubworld and meeting a real life Darth Koala!"
What's next for SellaBand?
"Vegas Dragons baby !!! oh… and how about world domination!!!"
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
"I am halfway through recording my SellaBand album and hope to have it finished and extremely stream-able no later than November."
Pictures provided by Whaley, Hans de mooij and Lily
Clémence:
Can you describe SellaBration '07 in one word?
“Sellabration O7 was for me an unforgettable moment, so full of emotions. In this mythical venue, in front of a public so enthusiastic, fantastic musicians, talented singers, all supported by our incredible Believers and the whole team of SellaBand I really thank. If I had to describe this big event in only one word, the only one that occurs to me is ‘magical’. "
Highlight of the night?
“One of the great moments of this evening was the unexpected arrival on stage of Maitreya but to be honest, there were so many big moments that I don't really remember which one was the greatest. This event was for me so intense that I haven't been able to contain my emotions yet.”
What’s next for SellaBand?
“I hope that SellaBand will be able to propose to Believers and to people who have not joined yet, gigs everywhere in the world, in order to make the promotion of the winning artists, but also of the concept itself, in order to catch the media’s attention.”
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
“In the next few weeks, I will finally have the huge pleasure to record the English voices of my songs, in Paris with Haydn. I am dying to do it, more than ever supported by the so comforting warmth of SellaBand, all the Believers and the public and I really intend to give them the best of me! Once again, I am really happy and proud to be a part of this wonderful “family”, that has already brought so happiness and so wonderful surprises to both artists and Believers, and all of this thanks to this brilliant concept that is SellaBand.”
Lily:
Can you describe SellaBration '07 in one word?
“Exciting!”
Highlight of the night?
“Meeting my Believers!”
What's next for SellaBand?
“Much more media attention followed by millions of CDs and Parts sold, and many more concerts.”
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
“I expect to release my CD end of 2007 and I'm hoping to sell them all :)”
Mandyleigh:
Can you describe SellaBration ’07 in one word?
“Amazing!”
Highlight of the night?
“Highlight for me was to sing to the many faces of my believer friends I know now and the ones I was yet to meet. Without them I wouldn`t have been standing up there in the Paradiso. Thank-you and love you all!!
What’s next for SellaBand?
“Onwards and Upwards we all go and I`m sure there are lots of surprises planned. :)”
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
“Meetings with producers in The Netherlands and London, decisions, recording and releasing an album we can all be proud of. :) Can`t wait, all of this is extremely exciting to me and my family. Thank-you to everyone who was there at the Paradiso. Thank-you to all my special people. Love you all.”
Daniel Ward-Murphy
Can you describe SellaBration '07 in one word?
“No I can’t! It was an awesome night, fantastic to play that beautiful venue and great to meet more Artists and Believers. I think all the acts put on one hell of a show for those who travelled to see it and one year on I think everyone connected with SellaBand should be proud.”
Highlight of the night?
“Personally, it was great for me to be able to play in front of a SellaBand crowd with my band - but as an audience member I would say my highlights were Cubworld’s whole set and Julia Johnson’s (Second Person) vocal performance.”
What's next for SellaBand?
“Hopefully another successful year! The core SellaBand believers are awesome and I take my hat off to them for the support they provide - but I think the next stage is more of these people becoming evangelists and bringing more people to the site. If SellaBand could become really big in another key country that would be brilliant…”
What can we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
“Well, I am playing London Rising on September 7th and I am also about to announce something soon that should hopefully deliver some live recordings of unrecorded tracks as well as a few other things - so look out for that announcement soon! If the Believers do put me in the studio then I want to record them a great album – so I am constantly thinking about which tracks to record, how to do it and writing new material. I have the start of a new song in my head that I am really excited about… - please let me record it! On top of all that, I would love to collaborate on a few recording projects if the right offers come along…”
There were over 1,200 people at SellaBration, including over 700 Believers.
A little over 50 journalists were there, including MTV, BBC Radio, Springwise, Dutch Radio 1, RTL TV and several major daily newspapers. People traveled from all over the globe to spend time with us in Amsterdam. In fact, we have been able to ‘trace’ at least 22 different nationalities. And that is just the Believers side of things. We were extremely pleased to welcome so many artists, from Lorraine Jones to Sunsoma and from Jonatan Serrano to Luna Assassins’ Josephine! Thank you all for making this a truly unforgettable birthday party, this one will stay with us forever, that’s for sure!
Soon all performances will be available on www.fabchannel.com. There are currently editing the individual performances and if all goes well, the show(s) will be available as of this Thursday, with perhaps one or two exceptions of artists who have yet to give the final approval of the edits.
Finally, on the subject of our next gig and whether there will be a New Year’s Party, we hope to make some exciting announcements in the next month (see ch…ch…ch…changes in the Weekly update section).
Weekly Update
Ch…Ch…Ch…Changes…
As we hope you can imagine, a lot of our time, energy and attention in the last couple of weeks has gone into the preparation and execution of SellaBration ’07. We all had a blast, that’s for sure, but from now on it is ‘business as usual’ again. Having said that, we are very much aware that SellaBand is going through a phase of transition.
On the one hand we are analyzing the current state we are in and what went good or bad in year one, but at the same time we are readying ourselves for the future. The next steps we take will be crucial and any changes and amendments we may want to implement can have major impact. Therefore we have decided not to announce any details of what lies ahead until we are fully ready for the plans to be revealed and executed and for the necessary changes and adjustments to be discussed with you all publicly. The concept still needs some tweaking here and there, the website needs to be improved further (especially on the download and store sections), and the terms and conditions need to be adjusted. Because we want to do all of this perfect to a t and only once, we estimate it will take at least another 4 weeks before we can start making the moves. All will be announced in the Tribune in due time. We have some big and yes, revolutionary, plans indeed and while we can’t wait to share them with you, we force ourselves to hold our breath until we are fully equipped and ready to roll!
The SellaBand Team
Chart Analysis
This week was a bit slower than usual, although we have seen quite a healthy number of new ‘modest’ Believers come on board in the aftermath of SellaBration ’07. Former Pop Idol Jonatan Cerrada Moreno takes over the #1 spot on the Weekly Chart. Let’s see if he wants to be featured in an upcoming Q + A in the Tribune so he may benefit some more… Jivin’ Jon Roberts manages to keep the momentum going and is now already on page 2 of our Artist Search Engine. Vegimite Vegas Dragons (#3) are now getting excitingly close to the start of the Final Countdown and Magical Miss Marcell (#5) is over halfway in budget. This week’s Highest New Entry is reserved for Dazzling Daniel Ward Murphy at #7, hot on the heels of his SellaBration ’07 performance. And let’s not forget Furious Francis, who kicked off the preceedings at Leidseplein on Thursday. Buskin’ for Believers pushed him to #4 on the Weekly Chart! Mighty Mysti Mayhem is the Biggest Gainer (19 – 11) and the Special mention of the week goes to the Mysterious Mr. Morris, who has been on the charts for quite some time now and has now landed a top 10 position. Well done, soon you could be rivaling Slim Void for #1 Scandinavian artist on SellaBand…
SellaBand & the Media
Recent media coverage, particularly about our first anniversary, is almost too much to mention. Countless media published our press releases and wrote reports about both SellaBration ’07 and our 1,000,000$ achievement. Here’s a number of links to recently published items about SellaBand:
Website update
From our Creative Director, Pim Betist:
This week we’ve tried to work on making you feel more at home on SellaBand. We’ve cleaned up your overview page with clear icons. One of the icons reads Promo Tools. Here you will find all the tools you can use to promote your artists. We will be adding more banners, widgets and functionalities as we go along. Banners are geared to finding Believers outside of SellaBand, but you might also want to find Believers on SellaBand. To help you with this we’ve basically built a virtual spotlight on your profile page. You can choose an artist you would like to promote on your overview, write a story about the artist next to the picture and click save to make it public. You can change your spot light artist whenever you want. We will store the stories you’ve written about the artists for you. This way you can bring artists back in the spotlight without rewriting the story. Last but not least we have made it possible for you to choose a background that suits your page. Just go to My Settings, find the drop down and choose your style. Make yourself at home. You are the Record Company!
The Week That Was
Have a look at the SellaBration pictures and you’ll know what kind of week it was…
FlabberM Poll
The Second Flabber M Competition has just closed. The clear winner of this competition is Jonatan Cerrada Moreno. He wins a major feature on popular music site Flabber M, as well as 25 Gift Parts on his way to 50K!
Adam’s Apples
Back by dope demand: all the best new arrivals on SellaBand in one handy view. Handpicked by none other than the man himself, Adam ‘Strat strutter’ Sieff!
This quartet from Cardiff (the Detroit of Wales) play their rootsy country tinged rock ‘n’ roll with a nod to Wilco and early Neil Young. They’ve had plenty of on the road experience (and experiences) and it shows in heartfelt songs performed with real passion. A band to believe in.
Playlist: Money & Faith.
Ireland regularly punches above its weight when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll bands and Waterford based The Arrangements are no exception. Soaring vocals and urgent guitars full of killer hooks - it’s all meat with no filler here. Totally worth it.
Playlist: It’s Alright.
A Swedish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a wonderful voice. Along with cellist and co-arranger Marie Fransson she performs ethereal music that’s full of mystery and passion. A slowburner that just might surprise you.
Playlist: Take My Eyes Out.
Better safe than sorry - in case the world is invaded by Martians our man in Italy is making sure the right questions get asked. Go straight to the video which is a lot more fun than reruns of War Of The Worlds.
Playlist: If The Martians Land Can We Do Interviews?
Feedback to adam@sellaband.com