New Compilation
SellaBand Presents... Refreshing Sounds Volume 1
We Need Your Help!
Late last year we announced the partnership with Heineken Netherlands, which would include the release of a number of compilation CD's. We are pleased that the first release in this new series will be released on June 1, 2008. It is called 'SellaBand Presents... Refreshing Sounds Volume 1' and it will contain tracks from the first 10 SellaBand albums that are released.
The purpose of this particular album will be to promote SellaBand Recorded Music. The album will be used as a promotional tool with the likes of Amazon.co.uk, The Orchard and other, soon to be announced partners. All the artists get to choose one of their recorded SellaBand tracks for inclusion on this album. Heineken Netherlands will be our partners to promote and market this project. Other, fortcoming editions of 'SellaBand Presents... Refreshing Sounds' will include artists on their way to 50k, but not this one.
Another SellaBand compilation, and a very special one this time. With no competition involved, so no heavy attack on credit cards or creating new Believer accounts... But we do want to challenge your creativity. We are asking the members of our community to create the cover artwork of this album. Again, the title is 'SellaBand Presents... Refreshing Sounds', and please let this title be your invitation to be as creative as possible. Entries can be sent to: info@sellaband, closing date is May 2, 2008. The winner will have his/her creation used as cover artwork, will be credited in the sleeve notes of course and will win 2 VIP tickets for SellaBration '08 (including travel and hotel). As a sidestep, details of SellaBration '08 will be announced shortly, for now let's concentrate on making a great compilation album that will serve as the perfect tool to promote both SellaBand and its artists.
ARTIST UPDATES
Julia Marcell
Miss Marcell’s masterpiece is almost upon us. Starting today, leading up to the projected album release in May, Julia and her team have come up with a very creative ‘teaser campaign. Here, the Polish Poetress writes about it...
Notes from the coffee break:
It's about time to start a buzz around the record that's been on my mom's player ever since I brought it home from the mixing. She's listening to it for two months now while you still haven't heard even a tiny bit - I know, it's unfair, but being an artist's mom also needs some bright sides to it, no? Anyway I feel the urge to share the album with you and with the world, but everything must be done the right way. So.
Teasers!
We're starting off with a little promotional campaign: 5 short videos - so called "album teasers" - announcing the upcoming record will be posted on the front page of Sellaband, starting from today - new one every Tuesday. The last, fifth one, however will be posted on the day of album's release. The exact release date will be revealed soon.
The videos will be simultaneously posted on Sellaband and youtube, so if you have a blog or few friends you think that may care, grab a link (embed, download, forward, share, whatever comes to mind) and spread the word!
Here's the first one on Youtube.
And, here it is on SellaBand's video page
Nemesea
...is IN CONTROL on Simone FM!!
Nemesea breaks record on Simone FM!
Nemesea's song In Control is now officially the most wanted track in the Gouden Vijf.
Listeners voted for In Control for a period of 23 days.
They've even overcome bands and artists like Guns 'n Roses, Genesis, Moby and Coldplay.
Thanks to Johan Jongerius from talentcast.nl Nemesea was voted into this list, at some point he even told the radio station that he would eat Manda's shoe if Nemesea would reach the highest position in the Gouden Vijf.
So.............. Johan Jongerius will have to eat Manda's shoe!
To be continued...
Quotes:
Manda: "We are very proud and we want to thank everybody who voted for us in the Gouden Vijf!"
Johan Jongerius: "Well, it was a bit stupid but hey…I do have a good taste for music!"
Bulletproof Messenger
A couple of weeks ago we received a message from Bulletproof Messenger who wrote to us that they wanted to escape the SellaBand graveyeard and return to the land of the living. In their own words they tell you what’s been going on of late...
It has been quite some time since we have been relegated to the "elephant graveyard" of 50k earners. However, we assure you, we are far from lifeless. So give us a few moments to update you, our believers, and potential fans, on the progress of our forthcoming sophomore album debut. The past few weeks have been full of writing, arguing, some more writing, and a lot more arguing (not to mention drinking and bbq) - typical band life. We have recently returned from a weeklong venture to Alabama to visit our helicopter flying guitarist, Voley, to create some new rock hits. Much to our excitement and hopefully to yours later, the trip yielded great success as we are on our way to getting this album to the level it needs to be. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. Over the past few weeks we have been in touch with a potential producer for our project, Ron Saint Germain, an 18 time Grammy nominated, 12 time Grammy wining producer who has produced and engineered countless acts, including: 311, Chili Peppers, Tool, U2, etc. needless to say he rocks hard.
Ron St. Germain
After a few friendly chats, an initial "get to know you meeting", and this weekend, a showcase performance and dinner, we are proud to announce our partnership for this album. Over the past week or 2 we have begun sending Saint demos of our preproduction songs which is defining the direction we plan to take with this album. This promises to be an amazing next few months working together and trying to produce the best album we possibly can, with a multi platinum producer. In addition, this album will be produced both by BPM as well as Ron Saint Germain. Another surprise for us as well as our listeners is that we plan to record many of the instrumental and vocal parts on analog reel to reel for a seriously punchy recording. This album proves to be a great challenge as well as a great opportunity for us and we are excited to get it in your hands. As far as a release date for the album we hope to be releasing somewhere around the winter of 2008 which should make a nice holiday present. For more frequent updates and for those of you who haven't heard us, keep checking our page for updates and maybe a snippet or 2 of a new track in the coming months. Until next time - BPM
Adam's Apples (1)
Kirsten
Playlist: Vanilla
Billy The Mountain
Playlist: Here Come The Sisters
Erica O’Young
Two strong R&B talents this week......first is a West Coast R&B hip hop influenced singer and one woman band with three seriously good tracks. Her vocal arrangements are smart and well executed and the groove of Stand Up is positively fierce.
Playlist: Stand Up
Feedback: adam@sellaband.com
Q + A: AIOIA
From time to time new artists arrive on SellaBand and get noticed straight away. Either via solid investments, musical excellence or sudden Forum participation. In the case of AIOIA it was a matter of all three things combined. Lyricist and spokesperson Alex Vicq introduces the band...
Who are AIOIA?
“The big question! Here we have to choose between writing a book or giving a ‘fast-food’ answer. AIOIA are a French band who sing in English. A kind of a space-opera rock, including a so-called exotic language that so-called Ummomen could have given to human beings since 1950 to nowadays in Europe, formerly in Spain. AIOIA is the result of a strange encounter between several artists, musicians, singers, writers and scientists in a pub, and the idea of making songs about the UMMO X-file came up after a lot of beers! And here we are! By the way, I must add that a permanent work between Stéphane Sarrazin, the composer, and I, the lyricist, was necessary to achieve the first part of this project: to produce a first album in which our common interest into ethnic and ecologic purposes could stick up from a fiction and multicultural music. Now, AIOIA is a poly-ethnic pop/progressive rock band with three singers, Nadj, C-leen and Steph, ready to perform on stage.”
What does the name stand for?
“Lexically AIOIA means "this is", and "UMMO UXA", the title for the first album, means "A Ummomen's show". This is a friendly eye blink which means: "Welcome to our peaceful visitors, in respect to their exotic culture". For political reasons, aliens are usually shown as dangerous people. This is inducing an insane way of mind. I'm not scared at all with people, if they do exist, who are able to make intergalactic travels. I think they should have a high level of development, intelligence and wisdom to cross the sky. In this cosmic story, We are the monkeys. In conclusion, to ‘Star Wars’, AIOIA opposes ‘Star Peace’. By the way, if Georges Lucas wants to make the movie, he's welcome. The trilogy is a kinda musical story-board.”
What made you join SellaBand?
“We were on another website just like SellaBand, a French one, in the Fall of 2007, as a leader. We thought they were the creators of this amazing idea. A few weeks after our subscription to this site, we heard of Sellaband and their worldwide audience in English. So, we decided to leave and join Sellaband, to get a wider audience and find a worldwide tour manager. Perhaps I should not say this, but we did not join SellaBand mainly for ‘money’, even if sometimes we're making music in a kinda Pink Floyd style. I mean we're not seeking money for money, since we consider money as an ‘energy’ to go further freely. The main reason why we entered this worldwide environment is the shortness of life. We're active on SellaBand since the 11th of march and we already have met a lot of interesting people we could not have ever met without this huge virtual lounge. We've got very good real friends from the website we entered before SellaBand and I already know that this grateful phenomenon will be emphasized here. Thanks to SellaBand's creators and animators, many artists and Believers have the chance to live a wonderful "webside story". This is a new experience to share, into a multicultural melting pot, and there was no need of importing vanished or exotic cultures as we do; but so was our aim at the beginning of the AIOIA project.”
Isn't it very 'unwanted' to sing in English when you're French?
“Haha! Well, this is neither place nor time to discuss about the main potentially unifying language on Earth, but it's obvious that in MySpace, for instance, English is already the dominant tendency. Of course, there is a big fighting-willed idea in France about the leitmotiv "save the France", haha, we saw the result with the boat. To cut a long story short, singing in French in Europe is like singing in Breton in France. And as far as we're telling a science-fiction story, the main language for this is obviously English. Anyway, it is wrong to say that we don't sing in French. Nadj says "attention!" in French in "The Caves of Bayan Kara-Ula". On the other hand, we're not using English only, but also old Egyptian, Sanskrit, proto-Sumerian, Barbaric and, of course, "Ummoian".
What are your ambitions?
“To perform our ‘five senses surround’ AIOIA Alien show all over the world, turn the story into movies, to share with millions of people a most important message, as in the first track of our second album: "The Earth is dead". If we don't stop the waste, wild life will disappear in a silent run to a slow and definitive Armageddon. Albert Einstein said that mankind won’t survive to bees more than three years. How many bees are still alive in the USA? Very few. Our main message is: "if we wait any longer for getting the evidence that it is too late, it is already too late to have any chance to survive". This is the reason why we sing: "The Earth is dead and you're still alive, welcome to your nightmare". Ummomen, if they exist, would be deeply worried about the sake of mankind down there. They would certainly wonder why we are changing the oxygen-carboxyde balance in our atmosphere, and they certainly could not understand.”
What kind of album would you like to make with SellaBand?
“The double album that will complete the trilogy, after the first one which is already produced but not for sale till the triple package is ended and sold with a book, in English. This book is not a novel but a sum of short stories illustrating and illustrated by our music. So, we would like to make a concept object on SellaBand, including 3 records, a book and… might be a comic strip if we fit it into the budget.”
How much time do you spend online with us, and what special tactics do you have to reach 50k?
“Wow! At the beginning, I thought it could be a funny hobby, but right now, I have to confess that I have fun, but this is a real job which takes me about 10 hours a day, much longer than if I could write in French, of course. Then, about the special tactics, I don't know if it is really that special, but we give our first album in its mp3 version to every Believer, we create some events to keep the Believers informed about AIOIA, we're planning some other events, games and competitions, and most of all, we do what we're supposed to do in SellaBand, we communicate and try to expand our relationship both in quantity and in quality.”
Why should people Believe in AIOIA?
“If they enjoy the poly-ethnic progressive rock of AIOIA, if they love life, if they want to help spread the word worldwide that it is almost too late to save the Earth, if they can feel how important it is to adopt environment-friendly solutions, if they don't want to leave a wasted planet to their children, then they will not only wish to believe in AIOIA, they will do it! Music is both a holistic pleasure and a vibrating sense-carrier wave. Forget the dangerous microwaves of your mobile phone for a little while and listen to the exotic outlook of AIOIA’s music, you've got a message.”
Community Singing
Alter Ego Week
You may have read about a so called ‘Alter Ego Week’ on the Forum and artist’s profile pages. It is currently happening and we reached out to the ‘originator’ of the Alter Ego idea, Alex Joe Marczak, who claims this is the week for artists on SellaBand to be ‘different’.
Alex Joe Marczak
What is Alter Ego Week?
“Alter Ego Week is a chance for Artists have some fun together, to express a different side of their personality, and to remind Believers of who they have invested in. Each participating artist will have at least one track on their profile that is nothing like their normal Sellaband offering, and they will be there all week. There are no prizes, it's all about the music.”
How did the idea come about?
“Basically, I had the idea of putting a joke track on my page as an April 1st joke. Then I figured, if it's only on there for a day, how many people can I realistically tell in that time? Then I thought, what if loads of us do it? That’s when I came up with the idea for Alter Ego Week. It's not a joke any more, but it is a chance for Artists to be different, just for a while. I sent a few emails out to a few artists and the response was so positive I just kept going.”
Other artists that are participating
Who else is/are participating?
“At my last count there were 30 artists who wanted to take part. The easiest way to find them is to type "Alter Ego" in the search page. At the time of writing there are already 15 artists. I invited dozens of artists, so there may be more.”
Is there anything particular you want to accomplish with Alter Ego Week?
“There are a lot of exceptional songwriters in the lower pages of Sellaband, artists who have not broken the $5-6k mark yet. These guys and girls have no gimmicks, no special tricks, just good music. I wanted to bring these talents to the fore.
This week will give Believers to see a different side of some of their favourite artists, or a chance to reacquiant themselves with musicians they might have forgotten about. Each artist has chosen their particular track for their own reasons, but primarily it's about having fun, making new friends and being creative.”
Find all artists that participate in the Alter ego week here
Weekly Update
Chart Analysis
We have a brand new no. 1 this week! It’s been a stealth approach from our Canadian siren, Angie Arsenault, whose dulcet tones have charmed their way into the top spot, bringing So What’s two week residence to an end. The biggest climbers this week are the hot tip Sand box, whose $5K offensive is obviously paying off royally; they are up from #10 to #3. Highest new entry, at #8, is Argentina’s Gisel, who has raised a tidy $1K in budget this week. Another new entry is The Netherland’s Kirsten who makes her debut at #10. Interestingly, Kirsten’s name rings a bell round HQ as she was a one time SONY artist…consensus is she’ll be a fast developer! Another relative new comer in the charts this week hails from Germany. Jeanette Curta’s blend of soul, Latin and Jazz has assured her a flying start and a chart debut at #14. And let’s not overlook new entries from old friends this week: Black Jack, Spellbox, Radius and Morris at #16,#17, #18 and #20 respectively.
March earnings
It started with the ill-fated Weight-watchers banner which put the entire site on hold and frankly in March, we never recovered. Advertising in March was slow. There wasn’t a decrease in traffic, but the number of targeted campaigns was much less than
in previous months. Music sales on the other hand were up again. In the first three months of 2008 alone we have generated more revenue in music sales than in all months of 2007 combined. More albums will be released, more distribution and retail partners will be added so this is a very positive development. Our advertising policy on the other hand is currently under review and necessary changes and/or adjustments could be well under way.
Business Plan Update
What are our results, where are we going, what needs to be improved, etcetera. You might call it an update on the Business Plan we presented some six months ago. After we have shared our vision internally, it goes without saying that want to share it with you, our community, also. A special edition of the SellaBand Tribune in now planned for issue 80, due on April 29. It will contain everything you wanted to know and more, about the infamous Alphabet... Limited Edition Sales
We have received several questions about sales figure updates and why there aren’t any regular sales updates for both Limited Editions and Regular CD’s. The answer is very simple: our system was not designed to automatically generate and publish these figures. Why? Because it is not very common to share these results publicly. However, we understand and accept that if SellaBand is really trying to re-write the rules of the business so we shouldn’t walk away from the demands and needs of our community. In the make-over of the site we will try to incorporate things like sales-charts, download charts, etc. For now we will start with a monthly overview of the status of the Limited Editions that are still available. So far we have released Limited Editions of six albums. This is how many there are still available for each of them:
Nemesea : 2740
Cubworld : 3598
Second Person : 3471
Clemence : 3973
Lily Vasquez : 3785
Mandyleigh Storm : 3901
Office powerplay
Alix: Woody Russell - Count on Me
Boudewijn: Funky P - Smile Baby
Chris: Woody Russell - Count on Me
Dagmar: Woody Russell - Count on Me
Dolly: Nemo_DNA - Allusive
Johan: Wetwerks - The First Taste
Roy: Maitreya - Waitaha
Tirza: Jade Diary - What she wants
Tribune chatroom
Talk about this week's tribune in this weeks chatroom
Nearfield: 50K plan Re-visited...
Sometimes, as time moves on, plans change and improve. Such is the case with Nearfield’s 50K intentions. Alexx first presented his plan more than six months ago, but has now found the time to make a few adjustments, get the first confirmations and write a nice, 10 point summary. Just how we like it...
- It is settled that The Nears will release a double album. CD 1 will feature 11 original songs and will be produced exclusively by Maitreya. CD 2 will feature all Black Board tracks remixed for the dance floor.
- These 11 songs will be reworked and re-mastered by a different SAB artist known for their remixing/production skills. We have managed to save $2200 from our budget and will reward each of these artists with 20 parts each as a compensation for their collaboration! (Although the collaborating artists were already listed, a definitive one will be presented further ahead as some of them may not be active anymore.)
- Mysti Mayhem and Elise from Light are also confirmed to feature Nearfield's CD. Marie from Blister, Ricardo Munõz and Diogo Caramujo are yet to be confirmed but definitely wanted! Sylvie C, Silvia Mateus, Paula Sá, Rita Lobo and Carla Moreno are the resident Nearfield's voices.
- The album will be titled Near U and will be an ode to symmetry and aesthetics! You will notice that!
- As for the artwork we believe that most of you will be expecting divergence and diverse it will be! Johan has agreed with the Nears proposal in search for new ideas and have said yes to it as far as we would keep it within the budget limits dedicated for this area! No problems whatsoever on that! We are not exposing our ideas here for 2 simple reasons: 1, we want to surprise you; 2, we may change some aspects on the cover layout as it depends on the time we are to releasing our CD. We don't want our image to look dated, inappropriate and out of fashion.
- During recording we will set a live daily information broadcast to be viewed for all who wish to get full acquaintance of the ongoing working sessions! We will check with SAB the chances of creating an applet on our page to get this thing working!
- The recording sessions will take place on an isolated studio located in the heart of Alentejo, 130km away from Lisbon and will get us in total immersion! Any believer who wishes to come and visit to closely watch how things are done is welcome! We won't have much space for everyone at the same time so only 4/6 believers will be allowed to assist our work a time! This is something new to Sellaband but I guess it will help to promote this concept!
- As for promotion we will have the Manifesto, our bar, as the main key feature for this purpose! Both Nearfield and all other artists who wish to perform there from next autumn are welcome! The bar will also set up a CD shop to sell all LE and regular CDs believers, Sellaband and artists wish to put there for sale, on and off gigs!
- Promotion is never enough so instead of selling the CD's we will get for self-investment on our project, we will freely distribute them all to a selection of bars around Portugal and internationally! We will also save a bunch for the press and for a promotional scheme that we will have to consult SAB first because it will be in the benefit of all 50K bands and in a large scale!
- It looks like we haven't needed all 10 points to expose our program so we will save this last one for counselling and to tell you that we intend to start working on our CD 2 weeks after we get to the 50K (…yes, we will need that time to recover from the dream came true and set both our feet on earth again!)
Please fell free to use any of the above ideas if you intend to make it in favour of Sellaband growth and recognition!
Thanks so much everyone for having the patience to wait and stand with the Nears!
Adam's Apples (2)
Angel
Playlist: Tu y Yo
Glenn Patrik
Some funky blues you’ll certainly want to use from this Kansas City stalwart who sings with soul and makes a Telecaster’s twine really whine.
Playlist: (Goodbye) That’s All
Feedback adam@sellaband.com
