He was definitely one of my favourite artists on SellaBand, although I joined SellaBand too late to invest in his first album "Circles & Squares". Btw, he is still one of my favourite artists. Yesterday Francis Rodino has released his new EP, again funded by his truest fans.  I asked him a few questions - here are his answers ...

50K MUSIC: For all those, who haven't heard about you yet (in case there is someone at all), please tell us something about you. Where do you come from? What are your roots?
Francis: Roots lie in New York, but grew up also in Italy and the last years have been in London.

50K MUSIC: Quite a while ago your album „Circles and Squares“ was released. What happened since then?
Francis: Since then, I've been working with a new band lineup, playing less, but more larger scale shows in London, and of course, recording and releasing my new EP!

50K MUSIC: Your going to release your new EP on September 2. Are you satisfied with the result of your work? Please tell us something about the album production.
Francis: It was produced by George Shilling and indeed was a very different product to Cirlces & Squares. We had a tighter budget and timeline so we made sure we were well practiced and basically recorded the band as it was. It's a very different sound to C&S, but it's also about trying different recording techniques and processes to see what you end up with.

50K MUSIC: You financed this EP again with the help of your fans on Pledgemusic. Was it different to your fan funding project on SellaBand?
Francis: Not too different, although, I think the people who contributed to the EP fund were more hard-core fans. There is not misleading process of return on investment (like the SAB model was) so nobody can complain. For me there was a rhetorical question posed to my fans: do you want to hear any more music? And for some, the answer was "yes", so using Pledge was the way I could raise some funds for the project.

50K MUSIC: What are your plans to promote the EP?
Francis: We are doing a big live show to mark the CD release (London, October 16th) . Other than that I have no plans to promote the EP. I've released it to my fans and that's the way I'm going to make music for now.

50K MUSIC: How can we support you?
Francis: By coming to see us play at the launch show! Tickets here: (http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=399508)

50K MUSIC: Will we see you on stage soon … in the UK?
Francis: See above
… and in the rest of Europe?
Francis: I play when there's demand. If we had enough fans we could play anywhere!

50K MUSIC: And last question: Is there anything you'd like to tell your fans?
Francis: My fans have heard it already. If you've contributed to the CD recording, than I thank you from the heart. If you haven't, come see a show.

www.francisrodino.com

In about one hour the new radio show of TalentCast will be online. This edition again offers a selection of different kinds of music from all over the world: TC starts with a band from Mexico that has just toured Europe, then moved to Los Angeles, Australia... TC travels through different places and styles today.

You definitely should not miss interview with Inge from the Netherlands, who released her SellaBand-funded album just a few months ago. Inge will speak about her SellaBand journey, her music inspirations and reveal the secret how she had managed to make the album so fast.

So, make sure to tune in ... www.talentcast.nl

About two years ago I "met" Woody Russell on SellaBand. I was immediately overwhelmed when I listened to the music from his album "Salt" then. A few weeks ago I remembered him and did a little research. And it was the right moment - he just released his new album "Up Against It" on July 23rd. Read what we've talked about ...

50K MUSIC: For all those who don't know Woody Russell yet (in case there is anyone), please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Woody: I’ve been a musician since I was handed my first guitar at the age of 7 or so. I was born in Portland, Oregon but spent most of my childhood in Montana. I was a guitar-crazy music junkie and a ski-bum as a kid. There wasn’t much for musical opportunity in Montana, but I did get to spend my late teens around a great songwriter, Kostas, who went to Nashville and became a huge success. He had an amazing record collection. I learned quite a bit from him, watching from the sidelines, as it were. When I was 19 or 20 I moved to Seattle – the closest “big city” - to follow my own musical ambitions. I got in to that music scene right away, worked on the fringes of the grunge explosion, watched that come and go. I did my thing, played a lot of clubs and recorded a few albums – sort of anti-mainstream songwriter stuff (before that became popular again) - until I had an opportunity to move to Austin with my wife in 2001. I’ve played thousands of gigs, big and small. I just released a new album called “Up Against It” on my own CUTS Music Group label and it’s doing very well, which I’m naturally very pleased about.

50K MUSIC: You started to raise funds for your album on SellaBand about two years ago, then you left SellaBand. Now you released your album in July this year. How did you finance it in the end?
Woody: Both SellaBand and Slice-the-Pie were experiments, professional curiosities if you will, and almost entirely negative experiences for me as an artist. Though not all of the feedback was negative on either site, it was immediately noticeable, particularly on Slice-the-Pie, that the systems were not based on what I would consider to be professional feedback. In the case of Slice-the-Pie, it was clearly based on some variation of a peer-to-peer voting system which truthfully amounted to a lot of competitive bashing from other artists.

I wasn’t necessarily trying to raise any money to record a new album, I couldn’t take either of those sites that seriously within the short time I was active on them. But, I did want to see how the systems worked. SellaBand was financially strong for the first week or two though it stalled quickly. Slice-the-Pie, however, was littered with seriously negative feedback from “haters”, amateurs and people who like to bash others from the comfort of their online anonymity. It’s embarrassing, really, the kind of thoughtless “reviews” others would post. It was, for me, hugely negative. Any voting system in place that puts an artist’s music in front of an audience of listeners who are not at all familiar with a particular genre (in my case- contemporary blues) which then means those listeners are completely unqualified to make any judgment about the quality of one’s work is, at its core, totally flawed. Most of what the internet offers musicians as far as “professional feedback”, on not only these sites but hundreds of other services and schemes, is a lot of opinion and noise coming from sources that don’t have any initiative to develop the processes any further than collecting a submission fee. The premise under which Slice-the-Pie operates is a joke, with supposed “peers” evaluating/reviewing your music in order to deem it worthy of investment through some sort of voting scheme. SellaBand was simply too much of a “game” based on earning status within the site itself. The recording “deal” offered by SAB, the contract itself, was not respectable. SellaBand was taking a huge percentage from funds earned by the artist and, as reported many times, was very ineffective in using the remaining money to generate any kind of positive momentum for the artists they “signed”. It then went bellyup for a time; I haven’t taken a look at it since then. Personally, I had too much to do outside of the “virtual” financial systems of SellaBand and Slice-the-Pie, much more important work engaging and motivating my existing fan base through live shows and my own site, to be playing the SellaBand promotions game. Slicethe- Pie was over for me within a few days – a ridiculous waste of time.

And it’s not only those sites that are faulty, there are many. Take for example Music X-Ray which has offered single song reviews for $150. Now, no matter how you look at that scheme, offered as a single song review from an A-list “industry professional”, it’s a rip-off. They offer other price points, of course, but the mere fact that those over hyped, over priced offers are listed should not be overlooked by aspiring musicians. Less savvy artists may not see that as an issue, but I see them as big red flags on certain websites. I think it represents something very corrupt about the new music business models, which are also struggling to survive, and I would warn any of my colleagues - until I was blue in the face- against paying $150 for a single song review. You’ve got online music business consultants charging extraordinarily expensive submission fees for feedback; it’s simply not smart business practice for any indie musician to engage financially with someone who has literally no idea who you are until you press the “buy now” button. Way too many scams exist to rip artists off, which is no different than how the traditional music business was thought to operate. Fact is, no new indie artist needs $50k to release an album. It can be done very effectively for one-fifth of that cost. CD sales are at an all time low – about to fall below the earliest reports on CD sales in the history of the product.

Live music, however, is still magic stuff that audiences cannot dismiss so easily as your internet presence. If you are a great musician who can work the stage, you will survive. It’s easy to look and sound great on the internet, but a live performance is something that takes a lot of hard work to nail. Artists fall way short in their live shows as compared to their slick online representation. You see it all the time. That’s what I love about the blues, it’s still about playing live, it’s still about musicianship and respect.

I believe the internet is a great equalizer for many independent musicians, but it is also a complete disaster in many respects. I am all for taking full advantage of the global promotional reach of the internet. The services and resources available for musicians are staggering in numbers, but the actual value of many of those services is negotiable. With respect to being a blues/soul musician, nothing can compete with getting out and playing the music live for your fans and potential fans. Internet radio, e-zines, blogs and such are valuable, but contests and other schemes can be really ineffective and expensive, particularly if you are an artist outside of the Pop genre. There are just too many distractions online for recording artists when the truly important job at hand is taking your music to people in a live setting. I don’t ignore, by any means, the value of my online presence, but I do try to refine my use of the available music sites to create a presence at appropriate sites that reflect my level of professionalism.

What I did with my “In Session Project”, perhaps subconsciously responding to those negative experiences with SellaBand and StP, was to create my own fan based funding system for my new album. I knew didn’t want to just open up a donation process of gathering funds, that didn’t feel right. I was compelled to offer something tangible in return for my fan’s advanced investments. Though I won’t go in to the details, I will say that through pre-sales I was able to generate funds to support the recording. I offered my version of a behind the scenes look at my recording process for this new CD, “Up Against It”, in real time. The idea is not new, not necessarily mine, but my take on it was designed to deliver a variety of options based on varied price points, levels, of an individual pre-order package. It was a truly a one-to-one experience with a handful of dedicated fans that helped me achieve certain goals, both financially and artistically. It was a ton of extra work in addition to recording the new album, but I consider it to have been a very valuable artistic experience and one that I will improve upon for the next project. Every dime of each purchase was used to create the final products: the CD, merch and a new website. I also figured in a percentage of the pre-sales as a donation to the SIMS Foundation here in Austin (SIMS helps musicians struggling with mental health issues get the medical attention they need). So all around, the money was put to very good use… all of it. I think what my fans got in return was a uniquely personal experience with my music, something they may have never had an opportunity to be involved with before.

50K MUSIC: Would you agree when I say that your new album celebrates the Blues more than “Salt” did?
Woody: Oh yeah, “Salt” is not a blues album. It’s an album that sort of wraps up my singer-songwriter thing very directly. It has bluesy tracks on it, as all my records have, but it was not about addressing the blues directly. I released “Salt” at the Newport Folk Festival and it went on to be nominated for an IMA “Album of the Year” so it did very well for me. But, “Up Against It” is an album I’ve been wanting to record for a very long time. I grew up with blues being a primary influence on my music. “Up Against It” represents a beginning for me in that respect, my first completely realized effort to address the blues that I want to play, that I hear as a songwriter and guitarist. I was also angling to record some soul sounds, as a vocalist primarily. In writing and recording the new album I discovered a lot about my take on, my personal approach to, this music that I played all my life, albeit outside the framework of my earlier recordings. None of my previous albums address the blues fully. “Up Against It” is an album that I had to record for myself, I wasn’t going to create another singer-songwriter type of record.

Stay tuned for part 2 ...

www.woodyrussell.com

This band hailing from Yorkshire (UK) is definitely on the top of my playlist since I discovered them on SellaBand. The Tender Hooligans describe their SellaBand efforts as an experiment. But they are absolutely worth to keep an eye on. I asked them about their further plans - here are the answers:

50K MUSIC: It's about one year since Tender Hooligans disappeared from my radar I must admit. What happened since then?
T.H.: Well until before summer we were mainly writing and taking a break from all the constant giging we were doing. We went into the studio in March and got 3 tracks down which we're really pleased with. Now we're giging hard again, played the Moor Musci Festival last weekend which was awesome and playing some great events such as Leeds Festival Fringe, Little Heroes live event and supporting Exit Calm in September which we're really excited about.

50K MUSIC: You started to fund an album on SellaBand in 2009. What are your plans now regarding the album?
T.H.: We really just let that go by the way side and decided that wasn't the best way to go. It was more of an experiment really to see how far we could get with it.

50K MUSIC: What other plans can you unveil to us?
T.H.: Well we'll garry on giging hard for the next few months and then we plan on going to London to record a few more tracks and hopefully play a couple of gigs down there. Take the Tender Hooligans to the south and also hoping to get signed to a small label of some sort to elavate us to that next level.

50K MUSIC: You play a lot of gigs at the moment. How important is it for you to play live?
T.H.: Yeah it's what it's all about really, you can't beat the buzz of playing to a crowd who's enjoying your music, it makes it feel all the more worth while.

The Tender Hooligans on MySpace

If you regularly keep an eye on the activities of Friend Vote Indie TOP 100 you surely have noticed this band from Ravenna (Italy). They are number one for two weeks now with their song "Rose is a Rose". Please welcome  Amycanbe on 50K MUSIC. I talked to Mattia Mercuriali (bass/guitar) to find out who they are:

50K MUSIC: For all those who don't know Amycanbe yet, please tell us something about the band. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Mattia: We come from Italy ... on the northeast coast of the Adriatic Sea. We are 5 guys playing too many instruments!!! ... ... and, well .. our roots are so wide different ... everyone has his own taste ... so, about mine, I can tell I'm currently listening to a lot of Italian library music from  the 60's, Beach Boys, Primal Scream ... and so many others.

50K MUSIC: What is the basic message of your songs?
Mattia: Considering every song has some "picture" in it ... they talk about a specific moment ... about a meeting most of the times ... so each one has its particular message or "flavour".

50K MUSIC: Congrats on being number one on Friend Vote Indie Charts. Do you think this will help to spread the word about your music?
Mattia: We DO hope this will help ... let's make some other spamming please!!!!!!!!!

50K MUSIC: You toured Italy and the UK so far. Did you notice any difference between the audiences in these countries?
Mattia: Yes, substantial differencies ... first of all ... in UK people usually listen to you ... that's not obvious when you play in Italy ... we miss some "listening-culture" ... it's a fact of manners I suppose ...

50K MUSIC: Will we see you on stages in the rest of Europe soon?
Mattia: We are definitely trying to! Crisis is EVERYWHERE.

50K MUSIC: You're currently working on a new album. Please tell us how you come along with the project and what we can expect from this album.
Mattia: If you have been listening to our first 2 issues ... you will be pleasantly surprised by this one ... it is far more dense  ... full.

50K MUSIC: What are your plans for album promotion?
Mattia: Mainly making people and press spreading the word, planning shows, making people comining to see us and stuff like that ... we cannot afford great budgets and almost nobody can I guess! ... so ... nowadays for a band like us all is mainly based on playing live, and using the web at the best of its potential, a good communication of course with a smart and social PR ... not by default I mean ....

50K MUSIC: What other plans do you have for the next few months?
Mattia: A gig in Tokyo ... and ... mmm ... a new van ... the peace in the world ...
ah ... ouch .. it is not the genie in a lamp question, is it?!?

50K MUSIC: How can people support you promoting your music?
Mattia: Please come and join us on our gigs ... spread the word ... and, almost all ... tell us what you like or not like ... we are curious people!

50K MUSIC: And last question: Please tell us one thing about you and your music everybody should know.
Mattia: You have to know ... that the new songs are great!!!!

Amycanbe  on MySpace

After a long summer break,  TalentCast is back with its radio show tomorrow at 5 p.m. CEST sharp. The new edition will start with a new DJ: Johan Jongerius, the TalentCast founder himself, will take over the presentation after MissY left the team two months ago.

A few SellaBand artists released their albums while TalentCast was on holiday. This Saturday (August 21) and in the following editions we will  interview some of these artists and play tracks from their new  releases. This week you will hear an interview with Tiffany Gow, whose  album "Deeply Drowning in Deception", produced by Peter Stevenson, has  already begun to arrive in believers' mailboxes. You will also hear some  new tracks of artists you have already heard in our programme, and some  new artists who have recently joined TalentCast and uploaded music to us.

Information on TalentCast:
TalentCast started off over three years ago (on August 12, 2007) with its weekly independent music radio programme. Originally they played only music of SellaBand artists. Since last autumn, they have also begun to include independent artists from MySpace.

Every independent artist who has a profile on SellaBand or MySpace can submit music to TalentCast to get airplay. You can read about how to submit music on TC's FAQ page.

Every week, listeners can vote for their favourite track on the playlist. You will find information on how to vote also on TC's FAQ page. The song that wins the weekly voting becomes the TalentCast Song of the Week and is played in the next edition of TalentCast and minimum 40 times on Ede FM. It is also featured on the main page of the TalentCast website for a week.

TalentCast is available as podcast on TC website, a number of podcasting websites and on iTunes. It is also broadcast twice a week on cable and FM radio Ede FM. Selected tracks of TalentCast artists are also played on Radio Enkhuizen in the weekly programme of Peter Timmerman.

to TalentCast radio show!

Just talked to Botond and got a short comment on BOA's gig at GP Scen final last Saturday:

"The GP Scen Final was a good experience, it was great being back on stage after a long summer holiday, although the performance took a few minutes really. Every band played the song they were in the contest with, so when I felt that the pre-nerves settled and we were up and in the music we had to stop, but I think all the other bands felt the same way."

BOA on SellaBand

Early in June this year Dutch singer/songwriter John C Fraser released his album "The Odd One Out". After his transformation from a musician to an entrepreneur he seems to get more successful every day.

The official video clip of his first single "Heartstopper" you can check out here:

More info on John C Fraser on: http://www.johncfraser.com

Also read his interview with 50K MUSIC.

In a little more than a month, 'Find the Sun', the debut single of The Jeffersons, will be released. This new duo is new in name only - Lisa Brokop and Paul Jefferson have been around the block and back. Their individual solo careers have seen them release a multitude of albums and they have both travelled the highways of North America, touring extensively. But never have their voices sounded so pure as they do together. When Lisa and Paul met and then eventually got married, a joint music career was not part of the plan. But as you will soon see - and hear - the combination of their talents is truly a match made in heaven.
Although you may already be a fan of either Lisa or Paul, you may not know a lot about The Jeffersons. How did they meet? What makes them tick? Last year, Lisa and Paul were featured in a series called 'Our Song' which aired on CMT Canada. If you didn't get a chance to see it, they will be releasing the show in three parts over the next three weeks, leading up to the release of 'Find the Sun'. They hope you'll take a moment to check out Part One

And remember to check back in the coming weeks for parts two and three.

Be sure to check back regularly with www.thejeffersonsmusic.com to find out how you can get a download of 'Find the Sun'. Upon release in mid-September they will make sure that everyone that wants an MP3, gets one.

(source: The Jeffersons newsletter)

Lunic have just finished work on their new single "Oh No Yoko!" and they can't wait to show it to their fans, as they stated on their news section. But if you want to get this single released, you have to help Lunic to raise at least 50% of their goal on Sellaband - Sellaband.com/Lunic. They're already at 30% and have to fund another 3,980 $ before the community will be able to listen to their single For a sneak preview of"Oh No Yoko!" visit their SellaBand profile.

In February this year Michael Bogatzki took over the job as the new SellaBand CEO. Since the New SellaBand has started he had to solve a number of problems. After his first 100 days it was time to ask him a few questions.

Q: A little bit more than 100 days ago you took over the job of SellaBand CEO. Do you regret this step with hindsight?
A: Not at all! It has been and still is a great challenge and I´m happy that we´ve managed the takeover and the first 100 days together with a vast majority of the Believers and Artists.

Q: What was the hardest challenge for you after the new start?
A: I would say that all the regulatory and legal issues have been most challenging, since this is something you can not completely influence. On the one hand you have to follow certain rules and requirements and on the other hand you are looking for a creative an positive way to realize a workable solution. Beside of this it wasn’t always easy to find the right priority because there are so many demands and interests we have to take care of.

Q: Are there any issues you wanted to tackle but haven't solved yet?
A: Yes, I would love to be faster with the progress of the front-end and usability. Everything else is in a good situation. Things could happen faster – as always, but right now I would say “we are on schedule!”

Q: A lot of (active) believers and a few artists have left SellaBand after the bankruptcy. How do you plan to bring the community back to SellaBand?
A: We have to offer new features – we need more marketing power, and support the artist as an consultancy, provide proper distribution partners, promotion activities... We will have some nice new features, TV shows and are expanding into foreign markets. This will give a lot of attraction for our former believers. We will setup satellites around the Sellaband Planet. Those satellites will create a 360 degree full service for Artist and should be very attractive for all our “old” believers.

Q: What are your plans for the next months regarding the website, promotion and SellaBand in general?
A: As said we are working on the TV appearance, we will have some more competitions like Rocken am Brocken or the Intro co-operation. There will be some nice changes to the website, functionality and appearance in general within the next 6 month, but of course we don´t want to spoil anything right now.

Thanks Michael for the interview.

BOA made it to the final of GP (Göteborgs Posten) Scen on Järntorget in Gothenburg on August 14th.  It´s a contest for bands from Västra Götaland, the region around Gothenburg. Every band takes part with one song only. The first 8 songs went through to the final based on the listeners voted on internet. There also was a jury that picks their 8 favourites. BOA will perform "Push", the song they entered the contest with and the jury will pick a winner.

GP announced the finalists in its print issue last week. All the songs will be played once at Radio Mix Megapol, which is a national commercial radio. Most important is that the winner gets three days in the fantastic Svenska Grammofon Studion. A lot of great bands like The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Hives, Silverbullit (just to name a few) have recorded music there. Even Depeche Mode made a video in the studio. The winner also gets promotion of the song worth 30,000 SEK (about 3,000 EUR) by Skiva Promotion. Which is great.

BOA on SellaBand

As many times before Tim Bennett reports about the progress of Civilized Tear's album production: "Thank you for tuning in to the Civilized Tears update.

It's been a very busy last few weeks for Civilized Tears. Duncan (keyboards) and I have been having meetings with marketing consultants, radio pluggers and various music industry executives. We are finding out what the potential potholes are with the Album Launch and it's promotion. We've discovered that it's a bit more complex than we thought and we're on a steep but interesting 'learning curve'.

The on-line release for the album will be in September 2010, whilst the full Launch for the Album will be in January 2011. It seems a long way off but there is still a huge amount of work to be done and we need to have the best people in the key positions if we are to have any chance of success. It's such a competitive music landscape these days and we need to work very hard to bring a 'giant spotlight' to the CT name.

I suppose the best and most important news is that we are almost completely fully funded with the Music video budget. This is due to the incredible support and generosity of one of our private backers. The single will be 'Black Rain' and we have a wonderful director Kyle Walling from New York on board. He is currently constructing the story board for the video, which will filmed in Florida in August. This video will launch the CT single and hopefully our career.

We still have a couple of hundred of dollars to go to make our target so if you would like to invest in the video please go to: CT's video project on Kickstarter.

Thank you so much for following our progress."

It made me a little bit sad when I heard the news lately that The Nancy Wha have split up. You can imagine how happy I was when I noticed that they will continue to play their music as The Wha's.  I asked Henrik, singer and guitarist of the band, for a short statement what their plans are now, what happens with the announced Nancy Wha EP:
"Yes, we will continue as The Wha´s and we are all very happy about it. What happened to The Nancy Wha was that the drummer and the second guitarist, who hadn´t really been in the band for a long time, quit the band because they wanted to play another kind of music.

Well, we were surprised first but then we noticed that it was really a good thing and we felt reliefed cause now we could play the music we wanted to. We found a brilliant new drummer and decided to change the name to The Wha´s. It felt like a natural thing to do. Then we found a great guy who plays organs and we all felt that the band was completed.

The EP won´t be released in it´s current form, but the songs are likely to be released as The Wha´s and sound the way they were supposed to. We now concentrate on new songs, but we´ll keep our old ones as well."

Check out the music of The Wha's on MySpace.

The Tender Hooligans were guests on 96.7FM last Sunday and played live there. Listen to the podcast (TTH are after 2/3 of the podcast if you want to skip the radio programme). It's really worth it.

The Tender Hooligans on MySpace

Fleur Jack's band Pavlova and the Jandals toured NZ in April and bass player Sims got some footage along the way and has been compiling the "Tour Diaries" - they are all around 2mins long and are little snipets of their adventures on the road.

Here are the first three videos all with their own themes for you to enjoy.

And you can watch the homemade music video for Cafe A LA Morning:

Fleur has just set up a new page on Facebook so you can keep up to date with everything she's up to. Check it out!

Fleur on SellaBand.

Everyone who is familiar with the artists of Dream Team and Wolfman's Pack will sure know her already. Tula raises funds for two projects at the moment on AKA music and SellaBand with the strong support of her truest fans.

Read exclusive 50K MUSIC interview about where she comes from and where she wants to go:

50K M: For all those who don't know you yet (if there is anyone at all) please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Tula: I am a 28 years old self trained pianist (started at the age of 5), I compose, write and and sing. I was born in 1982 in Tel Aviv , Israel.

My dad is a former trombonist, son of a Lithuanian Symphonies and Opera Writer, stopped playing 40 years ago, since in his eyes music was only for the soul and when he stopped playing professionally he stopped playing. My Parents didn't accept my music and till now they still think I am just dreaming and will come to my senses eventually.

For a long time I tried to be someone else , I got a Molecular Biochemistry Degree to please my parents. I worked in labs like the "mad scientist" in day time, waiting for it to be night so I can make my music, take the mask off and be me.

I worked for years in the pharmaceutical industry , trying to combine my ultimate passion and a way of means.

Then a year ago, I met the love of my life, my dutch fiancée, in the Netherlands, and one month after he came to live with me in Israel. We went through a lot of struggles to be together, but we believed and still do. We currently live in Antwerp, Belgium. I left Everything behind for my love and for music. I couldn't have done it any other way.

50K M: How would you describe your music and your style?
Tula: I make Gothic Symphonic Metal music. This is a genre that combines Heavy Guitars and drums parts from the metal music with the beauty of Gothic dark notes of my piano and Symphonic orchestrations.

I was influenced by artists like : Evanescence, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Epica, Kamelot. Anouk is one of my favourite artists and a lot of people compare me with her, which is a huge compliment.

50K M: You are member of Dream Team. How has this influenced you? How do you think this will help to get more believers and fans?
Tula: Joining the Dream Team really changed my life. I met Sommersby (Phil) on SAB and he invited me to join the team. The team is a very warm, supportive group of independent talented artists from all across the globe. It was very exciting to meet people who are artists like me and are pursuing their dream in a very unique way. Supporting and helping anyway they can, truly amazing.

I recently met Phil, Inge M, Cecile More, and Lindy at Inge's House in the Netherlands. I can say that was a great experience. We shared thoughts about music, listened to music, and enjoyed a great company, while Phil made us laugh all through the evening.

I think that the Dream Team is an amazing platform, it gives exposure due to Phil's Great support and devotion:
We have our own Facebook Group Page and it's already starting to draw a lot of attention from believers and fans. We have a newsletter which is updated every week with news and events. I feel there is a Team of people behind me, pushing me towards my dream coming true. It's the best feeling in the world.

I am also part of "The Pack", which is a group of independent artists from all around the world. I want to personally thank WolfMan, the founder of the pack, for his support of us artists. He made an amazing website for the pack: http://www.wolfmandesigns.com/wolfpack/blog/ with a newsletter, a blog and social networking exposure. He is a true Believer, gives endless support, and an amazingly supporting soul. I can say that I feel like he gave me the family who believes in my music, the one I never had.

I think that joining these two fabulous groups of artists has donated a lot to the exposure of my music.

With the help of the Dream Team and The pack I won Indie top 10 Radio Noise Corporation Belgium competition which landed me a 3 months hearing in the playlist of the radio.

Another great thing is meeting artists and making connections via Facebook communication agencies that helped me with promoting my fan page on Facebook, the live stream TV shows of other artists as Aly Cook has helped a lot with exposing my "Hey You" Video.

50K M: You're raising money even for two projects at the moment – for a single on AKA music and for an album on SellaBand. This means a lot of work for you I think. What are your plans in detail?
Tula: On AKA I am raising funds for a single album (15k). I mostly turn to the French audience, since AKA is more French and concentrate on exposure on French Stores and online sites. In the end of the fund raising I will release an Psychosomatic EP which is almost completely recorded to the French media.

I started on SAB, and I would like to say that recording a full length album is my ultimate goal. I am raising 50K on SAB to not only fund the my album "My Music My Drug" , but to also work on the "Psychosomatic" show. I give a physical CD to every Believer and a very generous incentive plan for my believers. I have a couple merchandise surprises up my sleeve for my believers, I think they deserve it all. I also give 50% of my revenues to believers, since the album is their like it's my own.

My Detailes Plan is to raise 50,000$ which will be used to:
Record my album "My Music, My Drug" with producer and music legend , Oliver Philipps (Everon). He is the German producer in charge of the new upcoming metal star "DELAIN" and "SERENITY". He worked with musicians form "Within Temptation". Like him, I am loyal, he was the one who made my demos, who believed me when I didn't have a dime, and he made My Music My Drug for me. We would start working as soon as we reach the Funding Target.

The amount will also cover costs for the Psychosomatic show, that will run through Europe, focusing on the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany. This new concept of a show, never seen before, combining my Molecular Biochemistry abilities (yeah I am a scientist) with making music. At the end of the Psychosomatic show my believers will receive a special recipe from my Music Laboratory, a new surprise each time (New Singles, T shirts, Backstage passages and more to go). Some of you may also Play with me on my Secret Formula Piano.

I am donating 10% of my rights revenues and income to charity for animals, since I am a hard believer of giving. I also have 2 dogs I adopted from a shelter, and they mean the world to me, you should see how much love an animal can give, it's incredible. My plan is to invest in each of you, cause you are precious to me for believing in me.

50K M: You have raised 1,200 € on AKA music and 1,690 $ on SellaBand so far. Wouldn't it be more effective to concentrate on one project?
Tula: I think the two platforms are approaching different exposures, one more to the French Audience (AKA) and the other is a more global platform (SAB). I also have different targets, one is for an existing EP to make a more appropriate exposure and the other, which is my mane goal is to record a full length album.

I think having both platforms only promotes my music, my fans and believers can join both my projects, and that brings a different crowed to every platform.

It's not about effectiveness, for me, it's about getting the music to the listener's ear, that's why I am also using Reverbnation, Facebook, Myspace and other platforms.

50K M: How can we support you raising your budgets?
Tula: You can always help with exposure to Believers and Fans, become a believer yourself is always great and supportive. I think the idea of the 50K music squad is very cool and I would love to be part of it. I think the key to supporting an artist is exposing his music to the crowed, so thank you for doing that for me .

50K M: It's still a long way to go on both platforms, but have you already thought about your plans for promoting your single/album?
Tula: Sure, my Gemini personality always makes me vision ahead, so here are my plans:
The remaining fund after recording the album would be to
- hire a professional promoter specializing in the METAL/ROCK field to advertise and promote the album and the Psychosomatic show via social networking (Facebook fan group currently 650 people, Myspace 90,000 hits), book interviews on TV and written music magazines. He would also use to daily update my official website with special surprises (backstage passages to believers and purchasers of the album, through a special internet code)
-The promoter will also contact Festivals organizers such as Park pop, Pink pop and other big musical Events and shows to get the psychosomatic show in.
- Contact a Publishing company to start spreading the news about my music to get the album in stores across Holland, Belgium, Germany and France.
- Produce promotional merchandise (Tula logo shirts, which I already made the design for) and pay for design work, as well as covering manufacturing of specially packaged limited edition copies of the album and a run of standard packaged copies of the album to distribute to my believers first and to the market later as special limited edition items.
- I have already started working with my producer Oliver Philipps (Delain, Serenity, Imperia, Ancient Rites, Everon), which puts me on the map immediately in the eyes of the media regarding interviews about the album.
- I want to have a special appearance artist on my album, (his identity is still a secret), the artist will donate his musical talent to help me promote my music.

I think this is just the beginning. I have a lot more ideas ... stay tuned...

50K M: And at last: one thing you always wanted to tell your believers, fans and investors.
Tula: Oh, I am so glad you asked that, since they are the reason for all this. I want you to know that inside that rough angry Metal Singer, lies a little girl, who only needs a hug.

You give it to me each day, and I just want to say Thank you , from the bottom of my heart.
This one is dedicated to you:
You're my music , You're my drug.
You're my saviour , you're my hug
You are everything I'm not, and all I really am
You're the power of my thoughts, you make pleasure out of pain.
(Tula, My Music My Drug)

Tula on SellaBand

The Shout Out Louds, a band I have not on my radar usually, brought out an album lately I can not stop listen to. "Work" is by far one of the best albums I have ever bought. I discovered the Shout Out Louds during my holidays in Austria when FM4 featured them just before their gig in Wien.

Although the first songs of the album sound a little bit Phoenix-like and maybe 1999 is an allusion to Phoenix' 1901 the Shout Out Louds find their very own style. And while "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" gets a little bit boring after third or fourth song you can listen to the whole "Work" again and again. With every song you feel like driving through the Swedish hills on a Midsummer evening.

The guys from Sweden have just finished their US/Canada tour and are on the way to Europe's festival stages now. They're going to play gigs in Germany, Sweden and UK over the next months.

The Shout Out Louds are:
ADAM OLENIUS - VOCALS, GUITARS
TED MALMROS - BASS
ERIC EDMAN - DRUMS
BEBBAN STENBORG - KEYBOARD, VOCALS
CARL VON ARBIN - GUITARS

www.shoutoutlouds.com

Until 10 a.m. tomorrow you shouldn't miss to listen to John C Fraser's new album. Check it out here.

John raised the money to produce this album partly on SellaBand. He talked to 50K MUSIC lately after he reached his budget and is back on SellaBand to raise money for a special live DVD.