This article is more than 1 year old

Oz songstress: Record label 2.0 abandoned me

Sellaband didn't sell my band

Crowdsourcing DIY music company Sellaband filed for bankruptcy on Monday, and we have some interesting insider perspective.

From Oz, reader Gary writes with the tale of Mandyleigh Storm. Mandyleigh became the seventh artist on Sellaband in 2007. She used some of the $50,000 raised to record with veteran producer and engineer Mick Glossop, Van Morrison's producer. What happened next left her hugely unimpressed.

"Little did I know at that time that Sellaband would be practically non-existent in promotion, truth, communication and support," she writes. "I think they are very good at confusion, ignorance, sarcasm and (in one particular case) abuse."

Most surprisingly, Sellaband seemed most reluctant to do what the company promised - they didn't market or promote the album. And far from bringing in music business expertise, the artist was left to figure out how to do basics such as sleeve design.

Her conclusion is that "if you don't have a proper promotion budget or strategy, your music is stillborn". And get binding contracts.

She's decided to release the album herself, for free, from her website. There's more on Sellaband there. ®

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