Bottom-End, Writings and Reviews from Music Producer Pete Strobl

There is an interesting thread on the Sellaband forum which asks the question, “Has SAB become Sella-JOKE?” The author is an artist who has decided that the SAB model is not his cup of tea and as this comes on the heels of a few other “Elvis has left the building” partings, a few thoughts come to mind. First off, there are now over 8000 artists on the Sellaband roster, all aiming at the goal of acquiring a recording/manufacturing budget of $50,000.00. In herd terminology, that is a lot of Wildebeest.

I was at one time musical director of a casino show in Nevada. Casinos mean gambling, or in polite chamber of commerce terms, gaming. My percussionist had a habit of putting the minimum bet of two dollars on a hand of Blackjack everyday on his way to the luncheon buffet. If he lost, he walked. But if he won, he would let it ride on the next hand. He never lost more than two dollars and more often than not, he would have lunch on the casino’s money. He never expected to get rich, all he was after was a free lunch and Blackjack served his purpose.

Our pianist became fascinated with the idea that he could put a small sum of money on the table and, the conditions being favorable, the dealer would return his investment with a huge profit margin…and all in a matter of moments, at the turn of a card. Unfortunately he expected more than just the cost of lunch, much more. In a very short time his fiscal routine consisted of collecting his paycheck, paying out most of it to the stage hands who had financed him the previous week, running to the tables with his latest foolproof system and rounding out the night with a visit backstage to borrow against his next paycheck. Through it all he never lost confidence. Well, he did have outbursts raging against a system that singled him out for personal ruin, but he always played the underdog with an ace up his sleeve. He was always on the very brink of “owning this shithouse” as he put it.

Casinos are very democratic. Virtually anyone can walk in and put money on the table, get a free drink and play as long as the fun-factor and the funds hold out. Dealers cheerfully give instruction to newbies in the basics and there are those more experienced types who can leave emotion behind and win their lunch money and sometimes a bit more. In other words, casinos are there for anyone who wants to take a shot. But are they for everybody? In considering my pals in the examples above, Just because something is readily available doesn’t always make it the best course of action.

Sellaband, while it is there for anyone, is not for everyone. Any aspiring artist can establish a profile and test the waters. But as in any endeavor, the action is contingent upon what the player brings to the table. These assets are similar to those which labels once assessed in making signing decisions in the past. Does the artist have an existing fan base ready to support the artist by buying into his future? Does the artist create music that warrants the manufacture of 5000 CDs? And, in a bit of a twist on the concept of kissing the right asses, does the artist have an engaging online personality?

Of course, none of these things can be counted on to insure a successful run at raising a recording budget. An artist may have substantial support, be willing to pierce unmentionable body parts for promotional purposes and be an all around sweet person and well-loved by all. But if the music stinks he’ll just be a fun guy to have around. And conversely, in light of the quasi-personal contact now prevalent in the social networking world, an artist of immense musical talent and ability with the social skills of a cape buffalo will probably not do well.

Whenever party A wants to separate parties B,C,D etal from their money in exchange for a product, one fact remains constant. Party A had better have a product worth selling. It may be music, personality, an entertaining sales pitch or the possibility of return on investment. Whatever the combination, the exchange itself is rarely a matter of weighing a kilo of apples and paying at the door on the way out. The community of believers in Sellaband are not merely consumers. Considered as a single entity, they are in reality the new and many-celled A&R department and expect to be massaged a bit. Where at one time, a smart artist trying to get label attention might have researched where a label rep had lunch and sent over a bottle, An artist trying to generate interest among the 8000 plus bands on Sellaband might think it wise to treat his A&R reps or believers to an exclusive track, a few pictures or even a spectacle of entertaining self-mutilation.

The self-righteous artist may cry “Foul” at these tactics. Really? Bullshit! No label in the business of selling units will have any interest whatsoever in an artist, regardless of talent, without some assurance that they won’t be saddled with a warehouse full of unmarketable plastic. One can say “It’s all about the music” all they want, and even put the phrase to a catchy tune. But marketability is always and ever in the eyes of those called upon to provide the wherewithal whereby products are made available for the consumer. Pissing in the flower vase on the A&R desk is not a convincing selling point. All things being equal, sometimes being more interesting or just simply pleasant can prove marketability to a potential investor.

8000 artists! With the huge number of users on the internet every day it would seem that selling just 5000 CDs would be a walk in the park. And why not? Many aspiring artists are convinced that the whole world awaits their arrival on the international stage just as most gamblers are absolutely positive that financial security is just one card away. What’s the old saying? “Everybody wants to get to heaven but nobody wants to die.” The biggest difficulty in creating a persona that stands out from the crowd is that everyone has the same chance and it can be bloody hard work to be considered special if one has the good fortune to be considered at all.

Yes, it’s a big herd out there and a healthy herd has to be fast on its feet. A good thinning of the herd now and again is nature’s method of keeping it that way. It’s not always pleasant to watch, but not every Gnu gets to see the other side of the Serengeti.

Sellaband will be celebrating its second birthday in August with Sellabration ‘08, a concert at the famous Paradiso in Amsterdam featuring some of the top artists on the label. One of the more influential “Believers” has posted a forum thread asking the Sellaband community to answer the question, “What was and what will be?” With over 8000 artists now on the Sellaband roster representing tens of thousands of fans and supporters, the ratio of opinions to assholes is probably 1:1 and, being the owner of one with no shortage of the other I may as well offer my 2 cents as well.

Sellaband has appeared on a music scene in massive disarray. The business is now experiencing the period of chaos described by Clay Shirky as the natural result of technological revolution in his book, “Here Comes Everybody.” Not only is it premature to think of Sellaband as a cure for the ills that brought about the need for a solution, it is simplistic thinking to assume that one system can instantly step into the soiled shoes of another which has stomped a path of greed to the brink of its own demise. Regardless of what artists and fans hope that Sellaband will accomplish, only time and the efforts of the few who are willing to actually do something substantive can hold any real answers.

In the two short years of Sellaband’s existence the web-based record label has excelled in some areas while disappointing some of the community in others. Developing a means of funding previously unknown artists has been Sellaband’s best achievement. And one of the by-products of this crowd-sourcing model has been the formation of a community where once there was none. With the world growing smaller everyday this virtual community is morphing into a real community with all the characteristics of the real people who choose this platform to support artistic independence. Real friendships have developed along with real disagreements and the resultant real progress.

Sellaband came into existence with the goal of selling parts in order to fund recording budgets without putting artists at risk of the debt represented by traditional recording contracts. But as each artist reaches the 50K mark the community continues to recreate itself and with each generation of artists and fans embracing the concept new innovations and creativity manifest themselves on a strictly voluntary basis. Believers have built websites, provided financial guidance and expertise, and have stepped in to help artists further their cause in a multitude of ways. This unforeseen social development coming at a ninety degree angle to the primary mission of Sellaband could prove to be the most meaningful of the many revolutionary “causes within a cause.”

The area in which Sellaband seems to have disappointed many in the community is that of promotion and marketing. This is also a premature and possibly unfair criticism. As most of Sellaband’s operating budget comes from interest earned from funds deposited from the sale of parts, it is unlikely that promotion of Sellaband albums could be accomplished at a magnitude sufficient to compete at a level comparable to the still extant major labels. I think that my copy of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was somewhere in the 45th million sold. I held out until I felt that I must be missing something extremely revolutionary and finally jumped on the band wagon to buy a copy. Yes, it is a great album…I guess. But did it sell Zillions because it was good? Or because everyone eventually caved in to the promotional onslaught? The promotion of “Thriller” cost serious money and as the returns grew, ever more money was spent to insure that the profits would grow until sales snowballed to unforeseen proportions.

And what if Beatles manager Brian Epstein’s family didn’t own a record store? What if Epstein had not bought the 1500 copies of “Love Me Do” required to put the song on the Merseybeat charts? Would we have had an “English Invasion” in pop music? Would Peter Asher, half of the mop-top duo Peter and Gordon who reached the charts with Paul McCartney’s “World Without Love”, have reached the notoriety to become the producer of hit albums by Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor? To borrow a concept from Mark Twain’s “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” how many thousands of meritorious artistic endeavors have gone unrecognized? How many artists work in obscurity only because there is not a massive promotional budget? Selling a million albums requires putting that album in the faces of millions of prospective buyers. Even though we want to think that viral marketing reaches those numbers, real promotion at that level still costs serious money…the kind of money that Sellaband has yet to have at its disposal.

As in any social structure, there will be those who fill the role of “public” and support their favorites while pointing out what should and could be done better, and there are a small percentage who take whatever tools found at hand and act in a decisive manner. One is not qualitatively better than the other, both are necessary. After all, whenever I drive by a road construction site and see 5 or 6 guys in orange shirts leaning on their shovels I know that they are doing their best to give proper guidance to the poor bastard who is down in the hole getting dirty.

There are literally thousands of artists who have posted profiles to the Sellaband website and are now waiting to watch the money of complete strangers pile up around their digital work stations. And there are others who, after reaching their recording budget, have given their best efforts and are wondering what to do with their product. But what some see as Sellaband’s failure to effectively promote, others see as opportunity to use whatever does exist to their benefit. Gisel de Marco, who has virtually no support from her home country of Argentina, has been able to reach fans wordwide through the web and on a more personal level by performing live in the heart of Sellaband’s fanbase of Europe. And although the internet was the vehicle, it was a believer in England who took it upon himself to make possible Gisel’s meteoric rise up the Sellaband charts. Then there is Markus from ConFused5. This band plugs away in the tiny media market of Austria, population 8.5 million. If 10% of the country bought their album it wouldn’t make a global ripple. But Markus uses a combination of brains, technology and bulldog determination to make something happen for his band everyday. The media coverage garnered by Sellaband as a result of Markus’ efforts is of inestimable value. Mysti Mayhem does a webcast concert to touch fans around the world, and Brian Taylor of the Vegas Dragons flew from Australia to Amsterdam to personally number and sign 5000 limited edition cds for his fans. These are only a sampling of the creative solutions that didn’t exist pre-Sellaband. With little money available for product/artist promotion, those who want it bad enough simply invent some way of making something happen.

Will Sellaband weather the chaos? Will the shovel leaners support the diggers until the road is finished? At two years and counting it is impossible to predict how music marketing will adapt to the changing landscape. But there is a distinct buzz of activity in previously undiscovered areas of marketing creativity, and good intentions won’t go unrewarded. It is premature to expect these rewards to be reflected in dollar signs, but for many Sellabanders the effortss are already paying off in the form of friendships and new working relationships that could not have come about previous to Sellaband’s birth just two short years ago.

At least that’s my opinion.