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.

Pledge Music was set up by Benji Rogers, a London Based musician who has been recording and touring since 1999. He was joined by Malcolm Dunbar whos career spans over 20 years, with A&R Director positions held at three majors and two leading independents including Island, Warners/East West, Mother/Universal, V2 and Sanctuary. With career sales in excess of 40 million units, Malcolm has been responsible for the signing and development of hit artists such as Lloyd Cole and The Commotions, Julian Cope, Orange Juice, The Christians, Tanita Tikaram, Longpigs, Bjork, Idlewild, Liberty X, The Datsuns, Dolores O’Riordan, The Rakes, Estelle and many more.

If you have a serious plan that involves Fan Funding then you need to speak to these people.
www.pledgemusic.com

Artists post projects which announce the creation of a new artistic work. The project consists of “Project Experience” which is the documentation of the project and “Participant Offers” which are priced from low to high. “Paticipants” (fans) buy Participant Offers of various levels in order to finance the project and gain access to the “creative process” behind the scenes. Depending on the level of participation the fan receives anything from a signed finished CD at the end of the project to an invitation to the recording studio. Artistshare charges a set up fee from $595 and a subscrition from $12.95 per month.

Artistshare has been successful with many Jazz and Country artists and since 2004, ArtistShare fan-funded releases have received a total of 4 Grammy awards and 14 Grammy nominations.
www.artistshare.com

POSSE.COM
Here is an excellent idea for Fan involvement. Fans earn commission for selling concert tickets – a brilliant way to promote word of mouth and I will be using this for Electric Eel Shock for sure.
www.posse.com

MYFOOTBALLCLUB.COM
MyFootballClub.com launched in August 2007, to recruit at least 50,000 football enthusiasts from across the world to purchase an English association football club. On 23 January 2008, 95.89% of MyFC members had agreed to the purchase of a 75% share in Ebbsfleet United F.C., thereby authorising MyFC’s purchase of that club. With its purchase of a majority share of Ebbsfleet United, MyFootballClub became the first online community to fully run a professional sports club in history.
www.myfootballclub.com

Projects that are similar to MyFootballClub exist in both England and in at least 11 other countries. Biggleswade United inaugurated myBUFC in September 2007, which aims to put the management of that club in the hands of paid-up members. The People’s Club was launched in October 2007 and is a similar scheme looking to allow fans to acquire and run a lower-level English football club.

Projects outside the UK include:
Brazil: MTDF, or “Meu Time de Futebol,” was launched in January 2008
Denmark: Mitsuperligahold, which was launched in August 2007
France: Web F.C. allows its members, called “entraînautes,” to vote on strategic and tactical decisions relating to a lower-level French club in the Ligue de Basse-Normandie.
Germany: Deinfussballklub.de was launched in April 2008
Israel: Web2Sport currently operates Hapoel Kiryay Shalom
Italy: Squadramia, which was started in January 2008, is an online community that seeks 20,000 members to buy an Italian football club. In late 2008 the web comunity purchased Santarcangelo Calcio 1926
Japan: Fujieda MYFC is a team playing in the Japanese regional leagues funded by online subscribers.
Poland: KupimyKlub.pl is a Polish project, was launched in May 2008.
Romania: Clubulmeudefotbal started on 7 July 2007
Russia: MyFootballClub.ru started on 1oth Jan 2007
Spain: miclubdefutbol.com was launched in January 2008
United States: MySoccerClubUSA aims to start a club from scratch and SaveTheVictory.org, is attempting to purchase the now-defunct San Francisco-based USL club, California Victory.

A brief overview of Fan Funding in Films

INDIEGOGO.COM
With over 2300 projects funded IndieGoGo is the king of the Fan Funding sites for independent film makers. It is free to post projects and the project owner pays a 9% marketplace fee and 3% transaction fees on funds raised. The project owner retains all rights.
www.indiegogo.com

Individual Films
www.ageofstupid.net
www.mymilliondollarmovie.com

Here are some other film funding I am not sure if they are active
www.biracy.com
www.indiemaverick.net
www.filmriot.com
www.aswarmofangels.com

Also check out Kickstarter a really well presented generalist Funding site – currently invite only for US based projects but looks sure to grow and become an interesting player

Related
OPENINDIE.COM
A site for screening independent films that is interestingly being Fan Funded through Fan Funding site Kickstarter
www.openindie.com

SellaBand have been pioneers Fan Funding since launching the first open Fan Funding platform in 2006…
Teaming up with such a well known artist should have been a very interesting project
However it appears it was totally mishandled and ended up exposing the incompetence at SellaBand HQ. The site went bust shortly afterwards only to re-emerge again bought by new owners. Public Enemy have remained with SellaBand but dropped their target and still have not reached it.=

It is a shame that SellaBand’s failure has cast doubt over the viability of Fan Funding – however it was SellaBand that failed not the model which they were unable to implement.

UPDATED 2010

The Funding Target Is Now Flexible

Artists can aim to raise anything from $10k to $100k, it means artists can test the water on a smaller budget, use the money wisely, have some success, find new fans and then return for a larger budget if they like.

Artists Can Set Their Own Incentives

Now artists can get creative with incentives and can respond to what fans actually want: studio tracks for remixes, badges, posters, stickers, guestlist etc. Want to contribute more how about a visit to the studio, or a custom track just for you, a private gig, or deluxe box set etc. It is all up to the Artist to give the fans what they want.

And if artists don’t deliver? Well they will struggle to build a fanbase or come back and fund again – A democratic process just as it ought to be.

“Artists will always own the master recordings and keep 100% of publishing rights.”

With this move SellaBand has opened up Fan Funding to the entire music industry = Fan Funding is no longer just for unsigned bands – Artists who are working with indies or majors can use SellaBand and Fan Funding. In fact these changes mean that Record Labels, Artist Managers, Producers, Media Companies can all use SellaBand to assist the artists they are working with.

Revenue Sharing Is Optional

It will be interesting to see how much of an effect this has on projects. Do fans really want o.01% of an album? Or is it being involved in the experience and supporting the artist that motivates them. I expect different believers want different things and Artists can now offer that now.

SellaBand was the first open Platform for Fan Funding and is now the most complete

The changes being implemented at SellaBand will mean that Fan Funded will become a sustainable way for all artists to work with their fans to develop and control their careers.

We watched many of EES contemporaries get picked up, especially when the Darkness blew up and A&R folk were signing any one with a guitar, big hair and a swagger. We saw most of them chewed up, spat out and split up… Then in 2006 EES unfortunately found themselves in a deal with a record label who were trying to screw the band – So out of necessity we went to the fanbase and raised $20,000 in return for guestlist for life. We called the 100 faithful who each gave 100 the EES Samurai and they helped us get out of the restrictive record deal.

In 2008 EES raised $50,000 through SellaBand – the new album SUGOI INDEED released in Oct 2009 has been licensed to Universal in Japan, a Sony distributed label in Germany and several other deals around the world. With a sustainable plan in our hands we were able to negotiate some really artist friendly deals that give the band the support they need.

EES remain in control of their career and play large festivals and gigs around the world – this is what they love doing. They wouldn’t be doing this without the support of their fans and Fan Funding.

UPDATE: In Jan 2010 EES launched a campaign with Pledge Music to fund some interesting fan releases to celebrate 10 years of touring the world.

www.electriceelshock.com

]]> http://www.fanfundedforum.com/2009/08/electric-eel-shock/feed/ 0 http://www.fanfundedforum.com/2009/08/other-fanfunded-sites/ http://www.fanfundedforum.com/2009/08/other-fanfunded-sites/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:00:43 +0000 iFan http://www.fanfundedforum.com/?p=126 As Fan Funded Music grows then more and more sites will launch to assist artists… We will be creating a list of start up sites here that we will be watching their development…

KICKSTARTER.COM
I really like this creative pledge based site that is extremely well executed. It is by no means limited to music and you can raise funds for any creative project. The financials are handled by Amazon and fees are payable. They charge 5% of the amount funded which seems unsustainable and may change when they eat up their investment. The main draw back with this site is that currently you need to have a USA bank account and address in order to start a project, I am told this is due to restrictions imposed by Amazon. They say that they hope this will be updated soon but they don’t know when.

This is what Kickstarter has got right:
“Kickstarter turns fundraising into a social game, where people have to work together within a time limit to reach a common goal. Already, we’re seeing that projects develop their own viral momentum… Once a project hits 25% of its goal, success is almost guaranteed. (94% of projects that hit that mark eventually hit their goal.)”
www.kickstarter.com

FEEDTHEMUSE.COM
Funding through donations.  Artists can design their own campaign and what the money is used for…i.e. recording, promotion, touringing…
www.feedthemuse.net

THEHECTORFUND.com
Hector set up this donation site
www.thehectorfund.com

MUSICSLU.COM
Here is a different and novel approach, artists solicit pledges for their music, when the target has been reached they make it free for all under a creative commons license. Nice Design and interesting integration with Facebook.
www.Musicslu.com