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SellaBand is Dead – Long Live SellaBand

February 25, 2010 By: bobslayer Category: Opinion

Last year I worked for SellaBand  - Firstly as Tour Director for the cancelled Arena Fest. Then I worked on the strategy for the new model – this was an extremely frustrating period – I could see a very clear direction that SellaBand should follow. Unfortunately SellaBand had very little vision and last years re-launch was a compromise that did not support any artists. I left SellaBand but kept quiet about my thoughts.
SellaBand had a great idea that was badly executed. They should have been helping artists that had proved that they can help themsleves. Artists that had toured, made music and importantly built up fans. It should not be supporting bedroom dreamers whos only ambition was to be an instant star!
HERE ARE A FEW FACTS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO SELLABAND’S DEMISE:
- UNDERSTANDING – They had no understanding of how artists actually operate – I was the only SellaBand employee that had ever worked directly with independent artists. You have to experience what it is like as an unsigned band who is doing 200 gigs per year to understand what is really required.
- COSTS – They were unable or unwilling to cut costs. In mid 2009 they were burning 100k per month. They got this down to 50k towards the end of the year but it was too little too late. if they had have slashed outgoings to 20k then they could have kept going for another 12 months.
- BLIND FAITH – They blindly put all their faith in Public Enemy bringing in lots of new artists without ensuring that Public Enemy would succeed. I was in Johans office when PE management told him that they had no intention of promoting the SellaBand project to PE fans. This was weeks after it launched. This was news to Johan who had failed to find out what their plans were before launching the funding project.
- NOT LEARNING FROM MISTAKES – They continued to sign up artists with unrealistic campaigns, and no plan to promote it.
The list could have been a lot longer! There are many other facts that you would not believe! I wonder if when Johan tells his story he will talk about how much he was conned out of over ArenaFest?!
SELLABAND v1 Failed – not Fan Funding
I wish all the best to SellaBand v2
SellaBand is dead, long live SellaBand

Last year I worked for SellaBand  - Firstly as Tour Director for the cancelled Arena Fest. Then I worked on the strategy for the new model – this was an extremely frustrating period – I could see a very clear direction that SellaBand should follow. Unfortunately SellaBand had very little vision and last years re-launch was a compromise that did not support any artists. I left SellaBand shortly afterwardss.

SellaBand had a great idea that was badly executed. They should have been helping artists that had proved that they can help themsleves. Artists that had toured, made music and importantly built up fans. It should not be supporting bedroom dreamers whos only ambition was to be an instant star!

HERE ARE A FEW FACTS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO SELLABAND’S DEMISE:

  • UNDERSTANDING – They had no understanding of how artists actually operate – I was the only SellaBand employee that had ever worked directly with independent artists. You have to experience what it is like as an unsigned band who is doing 200 gigs per year to understand what is really required.
  • COSTS – They were unable or unwilling to cut costs. In mid 2009 they were burning 100k per month. They got this down to 50k towards the end of the year but it was too little too late. If they had have slashed outgoings to 20k then they could have kept going for another 12 months.
  • BLIND FAITH – They blindly put all their faith in Public Enemy bringing in lots of new artists without ensuring that Public Enemy would succeed. I was in Johans office when PE management told him that they had no intention of promoting the SellaBand project to PE fans. This was weeks after it launched. This was news to Johan who had failed to find out what their plans were before launching the funding project.
  • NOT LEARNING FROM MISTAKES – They continued to sign up artists with unrealistic campaigns, and no plans to promote it.

The list could have been a lot longer! There are many other facts that you would not believe!

SELLABAND v1 Failed – but this does not mean Fan Funding has failed…

I wish all the best to SellaBand v2… However having met the people at PledgeMusic.com, I can tell you that they have much more of an idea what is required… I would suggest that if you are a serious band with a plan that includes some form of Fan Funding then you chat to them now.

1 Comments to “SellaBand is Dead – Long Live SellaBand”


  1. Gary Storm says:
    25 February 2010 at 2:53 am

    Very interesting Bob. I knew they were a bit useless on alot of fronts (keeping their word being one of them and communication being another of their many flaws). I was a SAB fanboi for the first couple of years but saw their ineptness during the pre-production of Mandyleigh Storm’s album (I did the majority of the artwork), where they didn’t know anything much about getting artwork ready…. I had to do rough templates myself until they could sort it out…. and this is the 7th album in so it’s not like they hadn’t already helped with artwork dimensions etc before.

    The launch was a mess…. they rushed it out without everything being in place as they wanted to launch a few at the same time. I would have launched them seperately, as the impact was diluted.

    Their communication with Mandyleigh was awful. Dismissive, ignorant and sometimes insulting.

    Dagmar is still with V2 apparently, which I personally don’t think is a good thing.

    Would love to hear more about your experiences.

    1


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