Music Is A Quest Of Life To Me

On November 23th 2009 Hind joined SellaBand to raise the budget of 40.000 € for an album production. Within only 11 days, which marked a new record on SellaBand, she reached her goal. On December 8th she rejoined for a second run to collect an amount of 30.000 € for promotion. For this issue of 50K MUSIC MAG I talked to her about her time on SellaBand and her future plans:

50K MM: Where are you from?
Hind: I’m Dutch born but my father was born in Morocco

50K MM: How would you describe yourself in three words?
Hind: Ha, ha, I need 5 words: Perfectionist, sweet, music, lover, independent

50K MM: Where are you coming from artistically, what are your influences?
Hind: I have many influences growing up from a mix marriage and living in a multicultural society as the Netherlands are. But furthermore on an artistic level I would love to discover in depth the “Cross-pop” style that I’m developing more and more and giving it my own recognizable sound.

50K MM: How would you describe your music?
Hind: As described in the last question. I’m developing “cross-pop” as a new musical style, and I’m working on creating my own recognizable sound together with my new producer(s).

50K MM: How did you find the way to Sellaband? How has SellaBand changed your life? What were your experiences on your (admittedly short) way to 40k €?
Hind: Through my boyfriend who contacted SellaBand to discuss possibilities with them. Being a professional artist I am able to generate media attention. That helped a lot in funding my album as well in supporting SellaBand as a brand. More people now have heard of SellaBand through my media actions. The speed was incredible and never expected by me or the people around me. It just boosted within 2 days to € 2900 and then at that same evening I had the chance to explain Sellaband on TV with over 1,5 million viewers and it rocketed all the way to € 11.500 within 2 hours. After that it never stopped..:) And within 11 days I reached the € 40.000 around 60.000 with the current exchange rate. So my experiences were like feeling awesome, happy, appreciated by my fans and more of those feelings.

50K MM: What kind of album can we expect? Who will be the producer? What are your plans for the album in detail?
Hind: Haha I can’t tell u yet, still all a secret. But I will reveal that the minute I have my creative financial deal signed with the producer I’m negotiating with right now.

50K MM: You immediately returned to SellaBand for a second run to fund the promotion budget for your upcoming album. What are your plans for promo?
Hind: Yes the plan was always to raise € 100.000 in total, split in 3 parts. 40K for the album recording, 30K for promotions and 30K for
video’s which I might split in 3 x 10K or so. Depending on how the singles will be accepted by my fans. The promotional plan includes traveling for support shows, TV performances, Radio performances local and national, interviews, putting singles and albums in the stores (which is really expensive coz of the right of return) and more like that

50K MM: And at last one important thing about you and your music everyone should know?
Hind: I’m 25 years old and I have already 8 years experience as a professional singer. Music is a quest of life to me. I strive to become a better singer everyday. I still follow lessons with Setske Mostaert, one of the best vocal coaches here in the Netherlands. All to improve finesses, and discover all of the possibilities that is still hidden in my voice. My music needs to have a healthy cross-pop sound with lots of soul and feel in it. Real music with real instruments and as less programming as possible. I love to build my quality level the coming years and to be known as Hind an artist who sings and composes real music that touches your heart and/or soul when you listen to it. That would be my ultimate goal for the coming years.

50K MM: And very last question: Do you think Crowd-(Fan-) funding is a viable and sustainable way to finance an album? Would you go this way again?
Hind: Hahaha… what do you think? I have been the fasted funded artist on SellaBand on an international level, with the highest amount so far $60.000 in 11 days. Of course I believe that this is a viable way to finance an album. Or else I would have accepted the record company deals that have been offered to me in 2009. It can be sustainable if the believers base would exponentially grew to around a million people. Because I believe that SellaBand needs way more believers to make this a sustainable way as an alternative to record companies for professional artists worldwide. The other thing is that an artist or band needs to take a lot of time to make this work within a short period of time. I have been promoting everyday with all kinds of media i.e: national radio, newspapers, local radio stations interviews, local and national TV, magazines, social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc, etc. One has to be very creative and willing to put all of the effort in it to succeed with SellaBand. Nobody else will do that for you, you have to do it yourself. And next is to keep in touch with all of your believers which is almost impossible with my agenda and yet I’m trying to keep them posted as much as possible through my blog in order to give them insight in what I’m doing on a musical level.

Hind Laroussi Tahiri was born on December 3rd 1984 in Gouda, Netherlands as a child of a Moroccan father and a Dutch mother. In 2002 she participated in the Dutch Soundmixshow and made it to the finals. Hind also took part in the Dutch Idols talent show in 2003, with a third place in the finals.

In 2003 she released her debut album „Around the World“, a pop and R&B album with Portoguese and Arabic influences, which was a great success. In 2004 she received an Edison award for her debut album. „Halfway Home“, her second album, came out in 2005.

Hind represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Serbia with the song “Your Heart Belongs to Me”.

www.hind.nl
www.sellaband.com/hind

Tags: Hind