A Dutch website launched in August 2006 is giving unknown musicians a new path to recording contracts by letting fans buy $10 stakes in their favorite acts. Sellaband.com was founded by Johan Vosmeijer, a former Sony marketing director for the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and Pim Betist, an ex-Shell manager, both of whom left corporate careers to build the Amsterdam-based platform.
Artists post music on the site, and fans who like what they hear can invest. Once a band accumulates $50,000 in contributions, Sellaband funds a studio album. Investors gain access to private chatrooms where they can weigh in on the creative process, and they share equally in CD sales revenue and site advertising income alongside the artist and Sellaband itself.
Within its first two months, the site attracted 300 artists and 2,000 investors from 70 countries. French rock group The Fakes raised $4,000 in just three weeks. Dutch gothic metal band Nemesea, having already secured nearly $13,000, was considered the most likely act to release the first Sellaband-backed album, expected in early 2007.
Industry observers offered cautious assessments. Herve Rony of the French record industry body SNEP called the investor-community model "very good" but questioned its long-term economic viability.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.