50K MUSIC: You’ve released your fan funded album “The Odd One Out” in June last year. What happened since then?
John: Since the release of The Odd One Out I’ve been very busy promoting the record. I’ve been travelling all across my own country (the Netherlands) but I’ve also visited other countries during a small Europe tour last October. Germany, Spain and England. I’ve done some awesome performances and managed in february to succeed my second Sellaband project for the recording of an EP.

50K MUSIC: Meanwhile you’ve started your third project on SellaBand – the Documentary Project. Please tell us something about it.
John: The upcoming half year a lot of exciting things are about to happen. I’m going to record the EP for which I gathered fundings with my second SAB project, I got a few great performances with my string quartet and I’m going to tour the USA! With the recording of the documentary I want to show what it’s like to be an independent artist. An artist who does everything by himself without the help of managers, booking agencies and record labels. I want to give an insight in what you’ll have to do to stay in the attention and to do everything by yourself.

50K MUSIC: Once you will have raised the 5,000 €, what will you use the budget for ?
John: The 5,000 € will mainly be used for camera equipment, editing costs and duplication costs of the documentary.

50K MUSIC: How can we support you raising your budget?
John: By spreading the word and investing of course This documentary can be interesting for everyone: artists, music fans and entrepeneurs. I think everybody can learn something from my way of handeling things. Whether it’s my business point of view or just the way I look towards live and it’s opportunities. Besides that it’s going to be an amazing journey which is (I think) worth to film and watch.

50K MUSIC: You have announced the release of your upcoming EP for June/July 2011 (your second SellaBand project). Please update us on that.
John: I had recorded the EP, but decided to throw everything away and start over again. It simply was not good enough. The songs did not have the “WOW” factor I want them to have. So I decided to write some more, re-arrange the songs and start all over with the recording. So for now the release of the EP is planned for February 2012.

50K MUSIC: What are your plans for promoting the EP once it’s released?
John: The same as I did with my other recordings. We will be releasing a new single and promote that one on the radio, perform as much as possible and spread the word!

50K MUSIC: Do we have the chance to see you on stages in Europe this summer?
John: This summer I won’t be performing that much. We only play at “Geuzenpop Festival” on the 6th of August in Enschede. We had a very busy year, and with the upcoming plans I decided to take it easy for a couple of months. In september everything will be starting off again with the string quartet performances, and in October I’ll be heading for the USA.

50K MUSIC: What further plans do you have for the next few months?
John: Record a new record, perform and tour the USA. Oh and record a documentary if there will be enough fundings

50K MUSIC: And last: One thing you want your fans and believers to know.
John: I’m so grateful for all the opportunities I get with all these fundings. The documentary is my way of showing you how your money is spent. So if you’d want to know what happens to an independent artist after having them funded: invest in my new project!

John C Fraser’s Documentary Project on SellaBand

Amycanbe - Photo by Bea de Giacomo

I’ve never thought MTV or VIVA could perceive excellent music even if they had it right under their nose. But hey, I’m surprised, Amycanbe is played on both channels with their video “Everywhere”

Congrats to this great success and hopefully it will also help them with their project on SellaBand.

Amycanbe are also featured in a book called “Blue Mountain” by Bea de Giacomo

Photo by Bea de Giacomo

Catself is busy working on her album. I talked to her last week to hear how album production is progressing. She tells us who will work with her on the album, about her support of Talentcast team and her further plans …

50K MUSIC: You have reached your target on SellaBand in February this year. Can you please tell us something about what happened since then?
Catself: Aaah… This is difficult to tell because quite a lot has happened. Lately, every day has been bringing something new, new facts and new ideas.

The first month after reaching my target, I concentrated on my shows in Helsinki. I had a number of them in the spring, and I wanted to play at least one very new song at each of them, so I practiced a lot. But all the time I was thinking about the album – both the songs and the practical things. I wanted to make the right decisions because I knew every decision I made would affect my album, and if I made a mistake, there would be no way to fix it.

I wanted to record my latest songs after the shows but I got very sick because of Finnish street dust (from the studded winter tyres that people drive on for half a year in Finland although the soft ones are better!). I had problems breathing, speaking, and recording was impossible. But I could plan and think. So, I thought a lot about the songs, and I still do, but the biggest thing was choosing the right people to work with. Last year I thought I would record in Morocco but I realised it would take too long. I didn’t want to risk a big delay. So I had to make other plans. Deciding who to talk to was a challenge. You know, I have always made music in a particular way – I have sometimes played live with different people but when I composed and recorded, I was always by myself, doing what I wanted in my own way and not talking to anyone. I wanted to find people who I could work with in a comfortable atmosphere and I wanted it to be an interesting project for them too, and I wanted them to enjoy it. I guess it might sound naïve and unprofessional to some people but for me it was very important. When I record my music alone, it is an adventure, discovery. I knew this couldn’t be missing from my project because it would then all go wrong. And apart from all these things, I had to think of the practical things too. I didn’t want to only work with people long distance, and sending files to each other, I actually wanted to be able to work together in the same room.

So… after a lot of thinking, but also some subconscious thought brewing, I thought I would talk to…

50K MUSIC: … don’t keep us in suspense …
Catself: …ah, but it’s so hard because I haven’t told almost anybody yet! OK. There is a band that I really like, a band that has existed for over 20 years, and, accidentally, they happen to be from the city where I grew up. Once I was listening to their CD and I realised that the combination of their sound and my music could create something very special. Once this thought came to me, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of that before. Everything suddenly clicked. I had to escape from Finland (from the dust) for some time anyway, so I travelled to Lublin, Poland and met the band: Saint Nicholas Orchestra.

Saint Nicholas Orchestra is a busy band – they are the best known folk band in Poland and tour a lot, in Poland and abroad. I was happy when they said they would think about it, and when they said that the most important thing was if it would be musically interesting for them, I had a good feeling about this. Last week they visited Helsinki because they had been invited to play a few shows here – one of them at a well-known Midsummer Bonfires event in Helsinki. In between the shows, they had a few days off so we had our first rehearsals. We even managed to arrange an extra show in Espoo, at Otaniemi Chapel, and we already played a couple of my songs together.

And it went great! It sounded exactly as I had imagined we would. At the end of that week, the band decided they were in. They will record part of the album with me – I don’t want to tell yet on how many songs – but quite many.

50K MUSIC: And who else will be involved into the album production?
Catself: Orchestra recommended a person they had worked with before, and I had already known his name because he had worked on some of their albums, and I had looked him up on the album sleeves because I was impressed with the sound. I don’t want to tell the name yet (sorry, secrets again!) – but I will soon. I will now tell you that he has worked on some beautiful albums, known also outside Poland.

50K MUSIC: You started another project on SellaBand only a few days after you had reached the target of the first one – The Catself Promotion Project. Please tell us what the 20,000 € will be used for.
Catself: If I manage to raise the full sum of 20 000 €, it will be used mainly for touring and some small part of it for other promotion. But touring mainly, especially now that I cooperate with Orkiestra. I would love to play some shows with them after the album’s release, and of course touring with a band costs much more than just by myself. So, I hope I will manage to raise the 20,000. If not, I will lower the target in time before the deadline (I do hope it will reach the SellaBand minimum) but I hope there is a chance for me to raise the whole sum, especially that I offer a completely new album in the incentives – downloads and physical copies… and my red guitar… I have some nice and carefully thought-out incentives and no matter how much I manage to raise, the believers will get them.

I want to advertise the Promotion Project more, and better, but I haven’t been able to do it more intensively so far with all the album-related work. Also, it will sound silly, but it would have been awkward to push it when so many artists on the site are still on their way to their first target with the deadlines getting closer. Of course I guess people don’t think in this way that “if that artist was not fundraising, I would buy parts in another one”, at least I don’t, but I both didn’t feel comfortable about it and felt it would be seen as wrong and greedy if it looked as if I was trying to immediately try to draw attention to myself, and still before my album was even made. So, I have been shy advertising it, but I think it is wrong and a bit stupid, because if I have a project open, I should be fair to myself and advertise it. I will need some funds for promotion immediately after the album is released, so I have to stop being shy. So: please have a look at my Promotion Project! I do have nice incentives! Let me know what you think about them. And yes, that second album is really already written, and I even have plans for the cover and the title!

50K MUSIC: How about your work with the TalentCast team. Do still have time to support them?
Catself: Luckily TalentCast is going on a two-month summer break after next Saturday, otherwise it would be quite difficult. It does take rather a lot of work, especially for Johan, but I also spend some hours every week looking for info on artists so that the newest and most interesting news is included in the programme, or writing texts about the winner of the Song of the Week – two each week, one for TalentCast and one for SellaBand News. They are not copied from somewhere, they are all new original promo texts, and it takes some effort to write it twice each week about the same artist so that it is more or less interesting. Especially when the same artist or band wins a few times and I have to tell the same story in a different way again and again!

50K MUSIC: Do you have plans for gigging this summer … any festivals?
Catself: I was invited to a nice big festival but the sponsor was late with booking the tickets and backed out, which unfortunately messed up my summer plans and not only mine. These things happen. I was also invited to play in Italy in the summer but I couldn’t afford to fly with the instruments, and by car it would have been just as expensive – I wouldn’t like to sleep in the car while travelling by myself. Before I always did everything to get to the gigs, and I think it was the first time I had to say no, but I hope there will be another time. I had plans for more gigs in the Netherlands this summer but then things started speeding up and now I have to mainly concentrate on my album. So I will use almost all the summer for working on the album – there can never be too much time for it. But I do have one gig booked in the Netherlands: on Sunday August 14th in Hoogeveen, at Moonlightstudio! And who knows, maybe something will still come up close to that date.

50K MUSIC: At last: one thing you want your fans and believers to know.
Catself: Once again, I want to take the opportunity to thank all my Believers because without you, all this would not be happening. So – THANK YOU! I am working on my album full time, as well as I can and as wisely as I can. It is the biggest project in my life so far. I hope it will all go well and that you will like it.

And to all my other Fans – thank you for enjoying my music! And please follow me on my sites so that you know when my album is out! And in the meantime, there will be other things: updates, some live videos, a few shows. And don’t be shy to send me a message if you feel like it. It is really nice to hear from you. Meow!

—————

Follow Catself album updates on SellaBand
Help Catself promote her album
Join Catself on Facebook!
Catself website – welcome to say hi in the Guestbook!

50K MUSIC: Who are you, where do you come from, …? Please tell us something about Phil Lomac.
Phil: Musician Songwriter, currently in Chicago, grew up in Germany, starting playing music there, was there when the Berlin Wall opened up, stood on top of it, very inspirational since have been in many bands and played all over from the Hard Rock Cafes to the Chicken Wire clubs in South Georgia. You can get a little more info and hear music at http://www.phillomac.com

50K MUSIC: How did you discover SellaBand? What do you expect there?
Phil: I forget how I discovered it…was just looking for a place to raise money for a recording. I did something similar on a previous album. I had 50 friends and family invest small amounts that together equaled enough to do a complete recording and release. There are other things out there now too like kickstarter.com. A lot of littles can make a big idea happen.

50K MUSIC: How are you going to convince people to believe (and invest) in you?
Phil: I have been doing music for over 20 years, I have 3 kids now and I am still pursuing my passion. I am in it for the long haul. You don’t play because you want to make it, you play because you love it, I guess I can’t really ever let it go once it got in me.

50K MUSIC: It seems to be hard to raise funds on SellaBand at the moment. Do you have a plan B for funding your music?
Phil: Plan B will be to raise the money using a kickstarter model where we get lots of people to give a little to fund the CD in exchange for equity in the sales, and/or swag.

50K MUSIC: You’ve just started your project on SellaBand. Have you thought about the time after reaching the goal of 15k yet? What are your plans then?
Phil: Right now I am working in a new set of musicians. To get ready for recording we are playing around Chicago to tighten our sound and work out parts for new songs. Next show is August 1st at the Double Door downstairs in the Dirtroom lounge

50K MUSIC: And last question: How can we support you to speed up raising your budget?
Phil: Help get the word out…there are people who support independent music and are patrons of the arts…help us reach those people.

phillomac.com

Phil’s project on SellaBand

50K MUSIC: For all those who don’t know Unbuttoned Heart yet (in case there is anyone), please tell us something about you. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
David: We are 5 guys from south Germany, and live in a town called Ulm. Our roots are Rock´n Roll music.

50K MUSIC: You started to raise funds for your album on SellaBand in August 2010. What were your expectations then?
David: At the beginning we didn´t have much expectations, I´d say we saw new opportunities. For a young band without a record deal, it´s always hard to produce an album and even harder to share it with your fans. And that is what we saw in Sellaband, a way to do what we love. And that is: to make music and share it with our fans and friends”.

50K MUSIC: How did you spend the time on SellaBand?
David: We just kept on going our way, with the difference that we took our believers and followers to every place we where going. From small Pubs to big arena shows with the Scorpions or BonJovi. And it feels great sharing all the experiences we make with people that believe in us.

50K MUSIC: You have reached nearly 70% of your budget now. What are your plans once you will have reached your target? What will you use the budget of 21,000 € for?
David: Our Plan is to produce and promote a record that can compete with other international acts. The 21.000 will be used for the production of the record, the incentives for our believers, and of course all the promotion tools a record needs, from a video to a radiopromoter. For more details and incentives you can check out our plan on SAB.

50K MUSIC: It looks like you’re well-known in Germany yet, how about the rest of Europe?
David: I´d say we are working on becoming well known in Germany, and after that we´ll concentrate on Europe.

50K MUSIC: You’ve been opening for the Scorpions, Foreigner, Saga and some more bands of the last century last month. Aren’t you afraid to get lumped together with them and people could consider you to be a little bit antiquated?
David: We never asked or ask us this question when it comes to a live show. In our opinion, it always depends on what the artist makes out of an opening slot he plays. Besides that, we like all kinds of bands from “Journey” and “BonJovi” to “Queens of the Stone Age” so why not open for any band you enjoy listening to. The most important thing for us is to reach people and there is no better place than the stage.

50K MUSIC: There is a bunch of believers who strongly support you on SellaBand at the moment. How do you involve your fans into your funding project?
David: Our believers and fans are the most important thing for us. So, we always try to give them the feeling that they are with us, not matter if on tour or later in the studios. We want to show them, that they are doing the right thing when believing in us and that we are moving forward. Of course it´s a bit easier with people that can come and visit our shows. We hang out, drink a beer and chat with them afterwards. That of course is harder with believers for example from New Zealand, but that is the challenge, to show everyone that we are glad to have them, no matter where they live and who they are.

50K MUSIC: Are there any other ways you do involve your fans?
David: Yes, we have our Unbuttoned Heart Street Team. Fans can promote us in their city and we invite them to our shows or into our rehearsal room and the studio to listen to new songs.

50K MUSIC: What are your plans for the next few months?
David: Make us and our believers happy by recording a great album that shows our views and feelings and of course go out and play live shows to meet all of you!!

50K MUSIC: And last thing: Please tell us one thing about you and your music everybody should know.
David: It´s all about having a good time, come visit a show, meet us and join our SAB ride!!

www.unbuttonedheart.com

UBH on SellaBand

First are Bombay Bicycle Club “Dust On The Ground” … I like the voice of their singer (can anyone tell me his name?)

Second one … Gaslight Anthem “Drive” … I like their older songs most:

Next one … commercial one by The Civil Wars “Poison & Wine” … wonderful love song … btw, I’ve never watched one single episode of “Grey’s Anatomy”

And … they are my absolute favourite Pop band at the moment … BOA “Push” (Live at MetroOnstage in Stockholm)

Last but not least Okkervil River “Wake And Be Fine” … not necessarily ground-breaking, but great song …

AUAMUSIC has reached 2,000 funding fans and almost 3,700 groups. They focus on Spain so they have a regular updated gig-list in that country. Currently 20 bands have reached target.

I joined the little project Welelo. With EUR 1,600 it was the littlest project on the website. But even with that little budget I received a cd of good quality and a ROI of almost 30%.

One of the projects I like are the Crows. Great music for an international public. But also young Rhiannon Rose makes popular music with great hit-potential. And there is a lot more to discover on AUAMUSIC.COM.

(© Jurjen 2011)

Last time I wrote for 50K MAG, I wrote about how making an album seems to take forever and can drive you totally mad while you wait for it to take shape. I suppose in some aspects, I’m still far from finished but this time, the album is starting to sound like an album and all but the vocals are recorded.

I’m sitting at ‘Sloth’ studios at the moment and my Stepdad Andy Tait is loading up the next track to record vocals on. We started the project at one of New Zealand’s top studios ‘The Lab’, with their top engineer Oliver Harmer and the band tracked live for three days at the end of April.

In between recording the music and recording the vocals, I’ve been on my third tour of Melbourne, Australia with my other band ‘The Twitch’ and we had our best shows there yet. I think going back to places you’ve played is really important to create a decent following, even if the first couple of times you go, you don’t have packed out shows. Being our third time to Melbourne, the shows were really pumping and we took some footage from the shows and have made a little tour video which is up on our Facebook page.

While there we did television performances and radio interviews and we’re really starting to come out from the underground over there. Hopefully we can get back there before the year is out. As well as going to Melbourne, The Twitch have released a brand new video for our song ‘Greenlight’ which looks really professional and we’re currently working on servicing that to television stations all around the country.

In promotional news, I’ve just made myself my first ever website which is really exciting. You can have a wee -perve at: www.fleurjack.com

And I’ve designed and purchased some business cards to hand out at shows to promote the my album, the new website as well my fundraising campaign on AKA Music for album number two.

After releasing the album, I’m going to Canada to play the International Pop Overthrow Festival in Vancouver. My plan is to buy a van and drive through America’s playing as many shows as I can fit into two months.

I think the biggest market for country music is the USA and I am super keen to get over there and see what kind of reaction I get with my new band. To help me with all the flights and travel costs, I’ve setup yet another fundraising campaign on Indiegogo.com where I’m pre-selling my album for $20 USD which will go directly to my touring fund. You can help me out here.

So to wrap up, last time I spoke of madness but this time around, I’m feeling like there’s not much more work left to do on the recording process and it’s time to start thinking about the photo shoot for the album cover, the booklet and album artwork, then it’s time for music videos, touring for promotion and getting all the press releases ready to send out to the media.

Good things take time!
xx

Till next time (and hopefully the album will be done by then) love Fleur
xx

I Am Not The Night was produced by Tristan Ivemy (The Holloways, Frank Turner) and features musicians Alvaro Lopez (also Second Person), Gus Robertson (Razorlight), Max Baillie, Mark Rose and Kate Fedschreiber.

Launch gig will be next Monday at The Troubadour, doors 7.30 pm, Support: Evi Vine and Alexia Coley.

Maybe you’d like to have look at some Second Person videos. I love this most:

Photo by Annick Wolfers/© Julia Johnson

]]> http://www.50kmusic.com/wordpress/2011/05/julias-debut/feed/ 0 http://www.50kmusic.com/wordpress/2011/05/a-tour-round-the-baltic-sea/ http://www.50kmusic.com/wordpress/2011/05/a-tour-round-the-baltic-sea/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 20:04:42 +0000 Kompis http://www.50kmusic.com/wordpress/?p=1845 They are among my favourites for a while already. Dutch Folk-Pop band The Black Atlantic is touring Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Poland and Germany. Check the schedule:
17.05.2011 – DK – Copenhagen @ KB18 Kødboderne,
18.05.2011 – SE – Gothenburg @ Teater UNO,
19.05.2011 – SE – Stockholm @ Debaser,
20.05.2011 – FI – Turku @ Dynamo,
22.05.2011 – FI – Helsinki @ Bar Loose,
24.05.2011 – LV – Riga @ NABAKLAB,
25.05.2011 – LV – Vilnius @ Pub Artistai,
26.05.2011 – PL – Warsaw @ Powiekszenie,
27.05.2011 – PL – Poznan @ Meskalina,
28.05.2011 – DE – Dresden @ Groovestation

Maybe you’ve already downloaded their debut album “Reverence For Fallen Trees” for free on their website.

About The Black Atlantic:

They started as a project of van der Velde in his off time from his philosophy studies. Gradually the project turned more serious after Geert recorded his first song – a Valentine’s gift to his then girlfriend, now wife and mother of his baby girl – in February of 2006. After posting the song on Myspace van der Velde received some label interest and wrote and recorded ‘Send This Home’ in the early Fall of 2006 with the help of various contributing friends. He eventually abandoned his studies to focus full-time on the band. Live The Black Atlantic made its first appearance, in one of many incarnations, at Eurosonic 2007. Since then the band has maintained a steady diet of touring with a revolving line-up around van der Velde (and for the past 2 years Janssen).

In Europe the band has toured with Saturday Looks Good to Me (usa), Windmill (uk) and Woven Hand (us). The band also opened up most shows for Midlake in the Netherlands and shared the stage with The Tallest Man on Earth in the U.K. In addition to their European shows, the band has toured the US a total of seven times. Most notably they played Filter’s Culture Collide Festival in Los Angeles, CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, NXNE in Toronto, and SXSW 2010 in Austin, one of the world’s largest music festivals. The Black Atlantic has been invited back to play SXSW in 2011 as an official artist. The band is currently slowly working on a follow up to “Reverence…” but spends most of its time on the road touring.

www.theblackatlantic.com

About Alex:

Scouse Alex Highton moved to London in the early nineties to go to college and do a degree in performing arts. This is a surprise when you meet him. None so modest and self-deprecating. This is no actor. Honesty should be his middle name. Heartbreaking songs or simple life observations with lush orchestration played with such a refreshing honesty. You can’t say Al is trying to be anything. He’s just Al.

It’s since beginning simply to just write what he sees that he has produced some amazing work. Woodditton Wives Club mark one was a collection of songs recorded on one mic in his garage, after losing his job and becoming a full time stay at home dad in rural Cambridgeshire after ten years in London.

Somehow one day Ashton Kutcher tweeted about Al and the following day saw a gazillion listens to his myspace. Since hitting the ground again he’s raised the cash for a proper recording of the aforementioned Woodditton Wives Club (via Sellaband) and also a trip to the USA for his first shows in New York, Austin Texas, and Los Angeles.

In a nutshell its like this: Liverpool boy moves to Cambridge via University in London. Writes and records songs chronicling his move from the city to the country, with wife and two girls. Gets attention of Hollywood superstar Ashton Kutcher, among others. Think Harry Nillson, Paul McCartney, Big Star, Graham Nash.

Alex at
MySpace
Facebook
Soundcloud

For further information contact Howard Monk at The Local: howard(at)localism.org.uk

Johan is struggling with the Finnish Ä and Y sounds while making the programme. So you already know that one Finnish band is featured in the new TalentCast programme … There is also music from Poland, the Netherlands, Britain, Germany… and not only. Don’t miss the current show and have a listen on Talentcast.nl

First I’d like to introduce PickTheBand.com to you, a so called fan run label. Sponsored by a big headphone manufacturer it’s only open for fans from USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia … so, no chance for European fans to join. I’ll keep an eye on them and will report if there are any changes on the site.

Another quite unusual label is born: DayJobRecords.com is THE record label for musicians with dayjobs. Maybe it’s successful in this niche, maybe enough hobby musicians …

Detroit based label Beehive Records is about to see the light of day and wants to succeed with a pay-what-you-want approach.

Hisham Dahud gives us 6 Critical Insights Into Music Business Success on Hypebot.

Fan funding (or rather direct-to-fan) platform Pledgemusic started a record label and signed The Damnwells a while ago. Hypebot talked to Alex Dezen (Damnwells) and Pledgemusic co-founder Benji Rogers.

J. Sider, founder and CEO of Rootmusic, introduces Bandpage on Rethink Music and seems to criticise the way Facebook deals with musicians.

Finally some advice for time management for musicians by Michael Brandvold on Music Think Tank.

First a great video from Amycanbe …

I love this video … spread the word!

Get a taste of Mount Fabric playing “Sarah and the Multiverse” live …

Btw, their new EP “Secretly an Astronaut” is out now and you can download it on Hairy Wolves Bandcamp Site for 2 pounds … check it out!

Next is Aly Cook’s “Spend It” from her debut album “Brand New Day” …

Do also join Kiwi Sofa every Saturday …

And last but not least a nice little piece from new Cornershop album (feat. BubbleyKaur) …

50K MUSIC: For all those who don’t know you yet, please tell us something about Sandbox Theory. Where do you come from, what are your roots?
Steve: Sandbox Theory is an idea that came from Steve Maher who was fascinated by the way that technology has taken over our lives and changed us – now ruling us forever. Steve got together with Jay and Ollie to write a Concept Album that would encompass all of the subject in musical form.

50K MUSIC: In 2008 you joined SellaBand and it worked quite well for you. Why did you leave SellaBand in 2009?
Steve: Well at the time we had worked very hard and climbed well up into the “Page One” top ten, and then out of nowhere the “Chaos Year” took out over half of the hard earned funds that we had made in a sort of ‘Wall Street Crash’ – each week we were watching as out believer were panicking and taking their money out. Three of our strongest supporters stayed with us and we decided that if Sellaband was going to go bust we should get together with them and produce a smaller project. We did – it was a great CD – and I have no regrets at all – If we had not done that it would have been all over within another month for us. We didn’t actually leave Sellaband – we just took a break and privately funded the album.

50K MUSIC: And why did you come back lately?
Steve: As I said we never left – Just had to take the break and make the smaller album. We always intended to come back once/if Sellaband survived.

50K MUSIC: What happened in the meantime? Why did you change your name into Sandbox Theory?
Steve: The name change was because we found out that there was girl pop band in the UK called Sandbox who had released CD’s under that name – The name is integral to out whole project so… after much thought we modified the name to Sandbox Theory.

50K MUSIC: Have you noticed any changes on SellaBand when you came back?
Steve: Yes – It is now very hard to raise funds as the new Management have messed with the ingredients too much. So the believers need to come back again.

50K MUSIC: You are looking for intelligent investors now? Which attributes or talents should an intelligent investor have from your point of you?
Steve: The whole issue of ROI is really a nonsense… how can an artist or band with no real infrastructure say that they will police and service an ROI for lots of one part believers. Firstly they just do not have the organisation, second the returns are so small that it is not worth the trouble for band or believer.

Sandbox Theory are just trying to get our music out there – we give plan to back to the believers something better than a few cents every now and then – we want to give them kick arse value for money. Thats why this time around we are personally financing the recording part ($ 18,000) and only asking for funds to pay for packaging and promotional stuff – its all coming back to you guys.

50K MUSIC: You brought a more outspoken style to SellaBand. Do you think it is needed there?
Steve: YES – There are just way to many sucky sucky artist blowing smoke up everyone arses and we are sick of seeing it LOL

50K MUSIC: What are your plans now on SellaBand?
Steve: KEEPING IT REALLY SIMPLE – Revenue Share is a waste of time! Most artist (including us) just don’t have the infrastructure to account for this PLUS we believe that the profit for the believer is not worth the trouble!

Maybe to some this is an unpalatable fact – But it is true!

So lets do this thing – We have all the new material – We have already self-funded the Recording Studio – We are prepared to put ALL THE REMAINING FUNDING into a product delivered to you and within six months – No False Promises!

Our incentive aims and objectives are simple and achievable, and will allow us to make another world class album, and album which you can be a part of, as were Paul McMaster, Shane Seymour, and Veblen who stepped up during the ‘Chaos Year” and helped us to create our first album.

The next step for us is to go into the studio and finalise the Sandbox Theory Concept – To do this we have decided to make a 5.1 surround sound DVD containing 16 tracks (including remixes of the original album) – Plus 16 Mp3 tracks for your ipods – Plus Videos of the songs.

THE PLAN
Here is our simplified plan:
*** Special Promo – the next thirteen new believers buying one part get the ltd ed DVD ***
1 part = Download of ALL tracks from new project
2 parts= DVD
For 10 parts or more invested you get:
1 x Personally signed LTD Ed “new” 5.1 surround DVD (Album 2)
1 x Personally signed (Latest Recording) Sandbox Theory (Album 1)
1 x Sandbox Theory T-Shirt
1 x Sandbox Theory Guitar Pick
1 x Sandbox Theory Sticker
Backstage Website passes to: Remixes, New Material, Videos, Demos and Exclusive offers on the Website
*** PLUS YOUR NAME LISTED ON THE ALBUM ***

50K MUSIC: How can we support you?
Steve: Spread the word everywhere you can – get us to our target (We are %58 already)

50K MUSIC: And what are your plans in the “real world”?
Steve: CD Baby for Ltd Single downloads – CD Baby Album Download – DVD Made available on our web site
PLUS – some really cool merchandise deals
T-Shirts – Caps – Badges – Plectrums – Stickers.

Everything starts in the sandbox …

50K MUSIC: You just came back from your US trip. You travelled New York, Austin and Los Angeles. Please tell us some details … first about New York …
Alex: Yeah. Just back from the most amazing trip across the US. New York was everything you would imagine it to be. Every street corner makes you feel like you’re in a film. I was lucky to be staying with friends who looked after me and showed me a good time. I played three gigs in four days and for the most part they went really well.

50K MUSIC: … and what about Austin? You have joined SXSW there, haven’t you?
Alex: The main reason I made trip was that an invitation to play at SXSW. Initially it looked like I wouldn’t be able to go, due to the costs of getting there, etc but some very generous fans part funded it. They thought it was it, an offer like that doesn’t come up everyday, and looking back they were right. I met lots of good industry people, made some friends, brought people onboard in general. Two thousand bands played the convention so its hard to stick out but my manager knows what he’s doing and my showcase was a big success.

50K MUSIC: … and your third destination was L.A. Did you meet Ashton Kutcher there? Please give us all the details.
Alex: In a word. No. I only played one gig in LA, at the famous Hotel Cafe, and he couldn’t make that night. Which was a pity. I nearly got arrested trying to get to touch the Hollywood sign. You’re not allowed up there but no one was about, so I climbed up the hill. I ended up running away from a cop who said he was going to arrest me. I’m still officially on the run.

50K MUSIC: How do you think this trip has influenced you?
Alex: It made me realise how hard you have to work to get anywhere in this business. I missed home, my kids, my wife, and that was hard but writing songs is all I’m good at. So I’ve got to make it work. I made some really good contacts too.

50K MUSIC: Did you get some new ideas for new songs maybe?
Alex: Yeah. I think so. stuff seems to come to me out of the ether so I expect my experience will manifest itself somehow.

50K MUSIC: What about your upcoming album? When can we expect it to be released?
Alex: The plan at the moment is a single release on May 21st. Another in the summer and the album to be released properly in October. We’re talking to folk at the moment about how we do this. Whether to release it ourselves or not. There are pros and cons either way.

50K MUSIC: What other plans do you have for the next few months?
Alex: Lots of gigs & make a video or two.

50K MUSIC: And last one: anything you want the world to know?
Alex: If you’re in LA go to the In & Out burger. It’s the best, by a mile just don’t go for the “Animal” option – that’s very important.

Alex on Facebook
Alex Highton Fans

Photos by Howard Monk

Issue #16 of 50K MUSIC MAG is out after a long period of silence.

Enjoy reading about Alex Highton, The Subways, Cornershop and a lot more. Also I have included the two interviews with fan-funding platform founders Benji Rogers (Pledgemusic) and Peter Sorgenfrei (Crowdbands).

Read it on Scribd.

Download it (pdf 18 MB)

Artists:
Gruff Rhys … Drownedinsound.com did a fine interview with him.

BOA … were featured in several music magazines and blogs: French YIN Magazine, Dutch Hunting Ensemble, … hopefully more in the future.

Music Think Thank … gives some advice if you’re running an e-mail list.

Music Business:

The DIY Musician evaluates the launch of Youtube Live

Catherine Hol talks about the digital chances for musicians on Music Think Tank.

Founders Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss talk about their motivation to start Soundcloud

This article by William Gruger was discussed very controversially on Hypebot.

Cooperation project of Berklee College of Music and MIDEM  … Rethink Music in Boston April 25th – 27th

Fun:

Check out the Yodel Rap