SellaBand.com

UPDATE: NEW MANAGEMENT. SEE NOTE AT BOTTOM.

Sellaband is a fan-sourced music funding system, enabling fans, friends and others to support their favorite artists. For example, I just forked over a fat wad of cash to Public Enemy for their next album. I’m one of thousands of investors who are pitching in as little as $25 to fund production, promotion and distribution in exchange for a 33% share of revenue.

Not every band shares the revenue, but you may (should) recall the latest paradigm re 1000 True Fans and understand that any decent band asking their core audience to pay $25 for an album and a t-shirt is really not a big deal. With Sellaband, bands ask fans to subsidize an album, and in exchange the fans get their money back from sales, and often they can get free CDs, t-shirts, concert tickets and more as thanks. But don’t listen to me, go check it out and see what you think.

One caveat: the transaction fees suck because all contributions go through credit cards or PayPal. Sellaband needs to enable ACH bank transfers, at least for large sums. Sellaband is making 10% of sales revenue from each project, and they appear to be jacking up the transaction costs from fans as well. While I understand they have to cover costs regardless of a project’s success, I’m not thrilled about this aspect of their model. Still, the concept kicks ass.

So join me in funding some of the best musical talent and righteous personalities by putting $25 in the pot for the next album from Public Enemy.

- Rob

PS: Also worth reading, how Amanda Fucking Palmer earns a living through her supportive base of die-hard fans.

UPDATE MARCH 18, 2010:

Sellaband has been undergoing massive change, and I can no longer encourage the use of the system. With any luck the new management will get a handle on things quickly, but I’m not thrilled with signing their new set of Terms until I see what the site has become and what artists remain. This is effectively what I wrote to their staff when asked by their form system why I would not agree to the new Terms:
“Sellaband is a higher risk than it was a few months ago, and the Terms should reflect that. The two week window to withdraw funds needs to be reset immediately so Believers can start fresh. I may still support a band, but I am not prepared to freeze my funds in this way at this time.
“Please return all funds and let’s begin anew. At this time I cannot access my Dashboard without agreeing to funds, so I do not know how much cash is being held, nor do I know how far away from the goal my primary project is. If funds are to be redirected to other projects, I also need to know the current state of the market. At this time I cannot access that information, and for all I know half of your artists have lift the system, leaving the most risky projects to compete for my funds.
“In short, this is not the same arrangement we users agreed to, and the operating environment has changed too much to agree to these new terms at this time. I do hope the system survives and thrives, but I cannot endorse it or commit funds until the dust settles and the market for projects can be reassessed.”

I still think this is a great concept, and I hope this particular project doesn’t go the way of others like it. I want it to succeed, but users need a way to start over and reassess, and right now there is no way for “Believers” to do that. In the meantime, if you would like to cancel your account, send an email to cancel@sellaband.com, or simply refuse to agree to the Terms when you log in, and they will begin the process.

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