Sellaband

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Sellaband

A Sellaband profile
URL	http://www.sellaband.com/
Slogan	You Are The Record Company
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Social network / Music
Registration	Required for buying parts, not required for listening
Available language(s)	English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Owner	Sellaband GmbH & Co. KG
Created by	Johan Vosmeijer, Pim Betist, Dagmar Heijmans
Launched	August 2006
Current status	online

Sellaband is a music website set up by Johan Vosmeijer (ex Sony/BMG), Pim Betist (ex Shell), and Dagmar Heijmans (ex Sony/BMG) in August 2006 to allow bands to raise the money to record a professional album.^{[citation needed]} Their offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it's a German company that started in Bocholt, Germany.^{[citation needed]}

On December 18, 2007 a partnership with the British site from Amazon.com was announced.^[1]

On April 8, 2008, they raised EU€3.5 million^[2] (US$5 million)^[3] in their Series A round led by Prime Technology Ventures.^[4]

1 Model
- 1.1 Believers
2 Events
3 US$50,000 artists
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Model

With the support of music industry professionals,^[5] any band that is able to sell 5,000 "parts" is then provided with their own producer, studio, and A&R to record and promote an album. Bands are required to set up a profile and upload some of their music to attract "Believers". Parts are then sold at US$10 each giving the band US$50,000 to record, mix, and manufacture their album.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Believers

Individuals interested in supporting Sellaband artists by buying "parts" in them must establish a Sellaband "Believer Account". They can then fund their account through various means of payment subject to a transaction fee. An individual is not considered a Believer and granted access to certain site functions until they actually buy their first "part". Believers can purchase any number of "parts" in a single artist or "parts" in multiple artists. Up and until the time all 5,000 parts are sold, the money collected from Believers in exchange for artist "parts" is held in an escrow account managed by a third party (Dieter Roesing, Rechtsanwälte und Notare, Bocholt), regulated under German Law,^[6] and cannot be accessed by Sellaband. Any interest accrued during this period is kept by Sellaband.^[7] During this time Believers may sell back any number of "parts" they have in an artist, which are re-deposited into the Believer's Sellaband account, and buy parts in other artists. They can also request a refund of any and all amounts they have in their deposit account subject to a US$1 transfer fee.^{[citation needed]} Once the US$50,000 is raised, the Believers' funds are committed to the artist and the Escrow Agent transfers the funds to Sellaband for the recording project.^{[citation needed]}

Believers then own one (of 5,000) limited-edition CD of the album produced, for each part they own. The Believer has the option to take physical possession of any number of Limited Edition CDs they own and do as they please with them. Any Limited Edition CDs not taken by the Believer will be sold through Sellaband. Sales of these CDs can occur through the open Sellaband Store, through the Believer's own Sellaband Shop, or through third party distributors. The amount received by the Believer from the sale of these CDs will vary according to the method sold.^{[citation needed]}

Believers will also receive a proportional share, based on the number of parts owned in a particular artist, of one-third of advertising revenue from the free download section of the site, song / album download revenue, and revenue from the sales of "regular edition" CDs.^[8]

[edit] Events

Since its inception, Sellaband has conducted 3 "official" concerts in Europe.

"New Years Party" (January 2007), the Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL^{[citation needed]}
"London Calling" (June 2007), Gibson Studios, London, UK^{[citation needed]}
"Sellabration - Birthday Party" (August 2007), the Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL^{[citation needed]}

Sellaband artists also participated in the "Concert At Sea" festival (June 2007) held in Brouwersdam, NL.^{[citation needed]} In addition, a number of concerts in Europe, Australia, and the United States have been organized through the collaboration of Sellaband artists and believers.^{[citation needed]}

2008 marks the first year that Sellaband affiliated events took place in the US. The first event, Sell-A-Jam USA “One Night In Boston”^[9] took place on January 25 at Boston's Paradise Lounge and featured Sellaband recording artist Lily Vasquez, with Sellaband listed artists Jon Robert and Delco, Jess King, and Wetwerks. The Sellaband Rio Grande Festival,^[10] was held in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico on February 22 and February 23.

[edit] US$50,000 artists

The first nine artists to reach the US$50,000 goal and release their Sellaband CD:^[11]

#	Date	Artist	Country
1	2006-11-02^[12]	Nemesea	Netherlands
2	2007-01-12^[13]	Cubworld	United States
3	2007-03-12^[14]	Second Person	United Kingdom
4	2007-03-18^[15]	Clémence	France
5	2007-05-21^[16]	Lily Vasquez (formerly known as Lily)	United States
6	2007-06-02^[17]	Maitreya	New Zealand
7	2007-06-28^[18]	Mandyleigh Storm^[19]	Australia
8	2007-10-05^[20]	Julia Marcell	Poland
9	2008-01-06^[21]	Solidtube	Austria

There are 12 artists who have reached the US$50,000 goal and are currently recording their Sellaband CD:^[22]

#	Date	Artist	Country
1	2007-09-11^[23]	Vegas Dragons	Australia
2	2007-10-27^[24]	Francis Rodino	United Kingdom
3	2007-11-05^[25]	T-ka	France
4	2007-12-21	BulletProof Messenger	United States^{[citation needed]}
5	2008-02-02	Thomas Boissy^[26]	France^{[citation needed]}
6	2008-02-18	Mysti Mayhem	United States^{[citation needed]}
7	2008-03-02	ConFused5	Austria^{[citation needed]}
8	2008-03-04	LUNIC (formerly known as Kaitee Page)	United Kingdom^{[citation needed]}
9	2008-03-19	Ellie Williams	United Kingdom^{[citation needed]}
10	2008-04-18	So What	Netherlands
11	2008-04-30	Daniel Ward-Murphy	United Kingdom
12	2008-05-01	Angie Arsenault	Canada
13	2008-06-07	LAdy hAidEe	United Kingdom