The following is an interview with the first band to successfully crowdfund their album using SellaBand. It was done by Jeff Sykes at Assignment Zero.

We’ve covered Sellaband before at NewAssignment.Net, and now that anyone can contribute to our reporting over at Assignment Zero, we are starting to get a deeper understanding of just what it means to be a SellaBand. Best of all, the reporting is all Creative Commons, you could re-use this interview to write your own story.

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Dutch rockers Nemesea were the first group to make the $50,000 mark on SellaBand. Lead singer Manda is in the studio right now recording vocal tracks, but she was kind enough to forward our questions to bandmates Sonny and Martijn. Their responses are below.

If a Martian dropped in on your recording session, how would you explain how you go the money to afford your studio time?

Sonny: Well if he had a Wi-Fi connection I’d tell him to look on Sellaband.com!

Seriously though. I’d take some time and explain what it is all about.

On www.sellaband.com bands can upload their profile (a bio, up to three songs in MP3 format, blog, show dates, photo’s and a video) The thing is to attract so-called believers to your page who are willing to invest in your band.

To get your studio time you have to find 5000 people who are willing to invest $10 (that’s what one part costs and there are 5000 in total) or 2500 who want to invest $20. Pretty obvious. For those 10 bucks they get a limited edition CD when you reach 50K and they share in the advertising revenue on your page.

A so-called regular version of your CD will also be made available.

The net profit of these sales will be equally divided between you and your Believers.

Martijn: That’s a lot of fun for $10! Five thousand people might sound like a lot, but think of how many people out there have broadband connections. By the way, you get as much CD’s as parts you’ve bought.

What attracted you to SellaBand?

Sonny:First of all. Sellaband is an amazing concept. Once you’ve created your profile and uploaded your music, blog and video’s you’re directly in contact with everyone that’s connected to the Internet. And that’s a BIG audience!

Secondly, you get to work with very professional people to make your CD once you’ve reached the 50K mark. Let’s face it. You never get to work with those kind of people unless a major label with a huge budget signs you.

And there are no strings attached. As an artist you can leave Sellaband when you want (before 50K) and the believers get their money back.

Martijn: Also Nemesea is a band which is always looking to the future. Sellaband is a new concept and we think we can make a big step forward by joining it.

What was your initial reaction to the SellaBand concept?

Sonny: We thought: ‘Well…why not give this a shot.’

If it doesn’t work out, we can always pull out and get our music out there some other way.

But when the first people started to believe in Nemesea we decided to stay and go all the way to the $50.000 mark.

Martijn: Because of the low risk for the band as well as the believers it had to be a great concept. From the moment we’ve heard of it we said to each other, this must be something great.

Did your supporters come to you organically or was there some marketing effort on your part?

Sonny: We really worked very hard to get so many people to buy a part in Nemesea.

We’ve made profiles on Myspace, Youtube, Hyves (Dutch internet community)

Etc. etc. which we (still) update on a regular basis. And we did lots of interviews, contacting magazines to get people interested. Basically getting the word out there as much as possible.

And it helped that we already have a small fan base because we already made an album.

When did you realize that you were headed for the $50,000 mark?

Martijn: Well, at one point it started to go really fast. Somewhere around the 28K mark the number of believers was increasing rapidly and there were a few believers that were trying to outdo each other. Constantly buying more parts.

At that point we thought: This just might be it!

And the 50K was there in no time. We reached it within three months.

How has SellaBand made you a better musician/band?

Sonny: Well, because this is THE opportunity to make a really good CD with professional people and with a big budget, you have to give everything in terms of musicianship, organizing skills and really make it a band effort.

And you have to make sure you’re ready when it comes down to recording the tracks.

In what other ways have you used the web to interact with “the crowd”?

Sonny: Like I said earlier. We really used the big Internet communities to our advantage. Updating blogs, sometimes on a daily basis sending out newsletters, shooting promotional video’s, posting on forums etc. etc.

What’s the most important element of the SellaBand concept in terms of allowing you to make music?

Martijn: Well, on Sellaband you get complete freedom. No one is telling you what to do or how to do it. If you created some weird sounding songs and you think that there are 5000 people out there that will dig it, well, go for it!

Sonny: And when you reached the 50K you already have a big fan base and a professional recorded CD. Then you can still go after that label of your choice.

You’re music, you’re choice. Complete freedom.

Who is in your band?

Sonny: At the moment there are 5 people in Nemesea. Most of them studied at the conservatory. We’ve got Steven on drums. He’s quite new but he’s the best drummer we’ve had. He’s here to stay! We’ve got 2 guitar players.

Martijn and H.J. H.J. also does most of the songwriting for Nemesea.

Then we have Manda on vocals and me, Sonny on bass.

What’s behind the name of your band?

Martijn: The name Nemesea is derived from a memorial day in ancient Greek times, dedicated to the goddess Nemesis. In short, she was the goddess of revenge and justice.