One of the toughest things in band management is getting that first recording contract. Whether you are looking at independent record producers or a big name record producer, it’s just not easy. But now there is hope for the up-and-coming band who wants to produce an album: SellaBand, the website!
SellaBand has taken a unique concept and run with it: give bands a place to strut their stuff, and help them to raise money to make a recording by allowing users to buy in to the band – essentially invest in the band – all through their website at SellaBand.com.
Here’s how it works, in a nutshell:
Your band signs up at SellaBand, and starts looking for “believers”. These are people who are willing to invest the measly sum of $10.00 to demonstrate that they believe in your band. In return, they get a piece of your band – these pieces are called “parts”, and each band has 5,000 parts which can be sold to believers. Once all of the 5000 parts are sold (in other words the band has raised $50,000), SellaBand assigns the band an account manager and gets them into a studio, where they record an album. Believers get a limited edition copy of the first pressing of the CDs, and also get the opportunity to open a “store” at SellaBand and sell more of the band’s music – the believer gets a revenue share for all music downloaded through their store. Additionally, the downloads themselves carry advertising, and any revenue generated during downloads from the advertising is shared between Sellaband, the artist, and the believer. Finally, for every album sold through normal channels, $2.00 will be shared among all believers (of course, that’s $2.00 divided by 5000, so unless the band goes platinum, nobody is going to get rich off album royalties, but isn’t that the problem with the big recording houses in the first place? The artists never gets rich off the royalties – only the recording houses get rich off the albums. For an excellent explanation of just how this works, see our interview with a well-known recording artist.)
SellaBand seems like a viable alternative to what is otherwise the dog-eat-dog world of trying to get an album produced, and one that allows a band to avoid the hell that is a recording contract with a big house. SellaBand has so far helped 8 bands make it into the studio, with more up and coming. So check them out at SellaBand.com
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Oh, and if you’re still looking for a good band name, you can check out this band name generator, or this band name generator, or even this band name generator (no typing required on the last one!)
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
$2.00 split amongst the believers isn’t very much however $2.00 split amongst the band members is much better then you can get with most labels.
you might find these comments by janis ian on the recording industry enlightening.
“gunner”
http://janisian.com