Moon & Back Music

In the current music industry climate, artists can put more thought into how to release their material than into creating it. Bands give songs away for free as downloads, albums are released in newspapers, you can pay how much you want and so on. So why should the revolutionizing only begin when an artist has a finished product to distribute?

Sellaband

Sellaband is a service trying to change the way the music industry works from much earlier on in the whole process. It’s pretty simple. Artists who are looking for financial support for a ‘Musical Project’, be it an album, EP or tour, can upload their music to the website. Then the site’s users can browse the music available and become a fan of the artists. Up to there it seems pretty similar to MySpace however the twist is coming.

The service allows fans to buy ‘Part’ of a project, so to speak. Effectively, if you like an artist you can fund their project. ‘Parts’ go for $10 apiece and when an act reaches either $50,000 (or $100,ooo depending on their own ambition it seems) the artist can access this money to hire producers, studios, A&R and everything needed to realize their project.

At any point until the total has been reached a user can have their money returned to them if they wish. However, if an artist you have supported reaches their target and makes an album, you get a completely unique limited edition of it, as well as other incentives (downloads, merch etc.)

Sellaband has been active for three years so it isn’t exactly new. The service claims to have seen users invest over $3million so far, leading to 34 albums being released through it; it would be fair to say that none of these albums have achieved mainstream success.

Things could be about to change though with the announcement that Public Enemy, a band that has released over ten albums including probably the most acclaimed Hip-Hop album of all time, will use the service to fund and record their next album. The first established act to gamble with the service, it could go either way.

On the one hand a band such as Public Enemy could easily get a record deal or even fund their own album, so there’s a question over whether people will be willing to part with their money. On the other, the chance to receive a unique copy of an album will greatly appeal to diehard fans.

When it comes to the service in general, file-sharing has taught us nothing if not that many people prefer to pay nothing for music; no matter how much they may like it. If people are unwilling to pay a tenner for a CD they can have instantly in their hand or on their computer, will people really be willing to part with their money for a CD they may never receive?

The funding of the Public Enemy album will be a measure of how the service could be utilized by other mainstream acts, if the album is funded and released fairly quickly, surely others will wish to join the pioneering. If it fails to materialize however, it could prove to be both the peak and the trough of the website.

Tim Marklew