SellABand changes revenue concept, now 50/50

Written on 20th November 2008                                                                                                              COMMENT
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Dutch music service SellABand has changed its concepts on thirteen points. On the site, any beginning band can upload their music to the website. People who like their tunes and foresee a successful future for them, can become a ‘believer’ by investing 10 dollars. As soon as the band counts 5000 believers – and thus gained 50.000 dollars – SellABand steps up and helps the talented folks to record an album with a studio and expert producer.

Believers used to get around €7,50 to €11 for every sold CD (which costs €15). That complicated system has now been changed into a much simpler concept: 50/50 during the first five years. This change and some other small ones have been made in order to prepare the service for something “big”.

The final announcement will be made on December 1st, and of course we’ll blog about it. The changes probably have something to do with the 3,5 million euros funding round in last April, led by Prime Technology Ventures. The investors wanted change, and it seems that they’ve got it now. They seemed to be focused on increasing the efficiency of the revenue model.

Other changes include the disappearance of advertisement and SellABand will charge 10 percent for recording costs. Though the service hasn’t seen a big breakthrough of one its artists yet, the site is probably profitable – as it receives interest over all the donations.

Juicy detail: the site is down while I’m typing this.

[Via Bright (Dutch only)]