Q&A with Music Fan Sommersby

After all the hard work I have seen from this music fan or should I say music savant. I had to get a few words and it has been a while since you readers got to read a Q&A.

Sommersby could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what drew you to Sellaband.com?

I’m married with three grown up sons and I was drawn to Sellaband quite by accident really. I was travelling home from work one day and heard reference to Sellaband in a ‘web site of the day’ feature. A few days later I remembered about it and searched it out. Not having any musical ability myself it seemed like this was something I could get actively involved in.

I see that you operate a music emporium through EBay, Would you say this is an option for Indie artists to sell more if any cds?

I think this depends on how well the Sellaband artists are marketed. I would’t see eBay as a place to sell new Sellaband music without some established marketing practices. I remember one night last year when ‘Phantom of the Opera’ was on TV – we sold six copies of the Film Soundtrack on eBay in the hour after the film finished! If only it was always that easy!

From what I could find you have been mentioned 6 times in the Tribune, Sellaband.com's weekly newsletter, Can you tell us how you feel about this bit of fame?

Is it really six times! Wow. I see these mentions in the Tribune as being reflective of the community. I’ve only been asked to produce articles for the Tribune to support competitions. It never crosses my mind about it being fame. I can’t remember Believers having much of a stake in the Tribune before so if I was asked how I feel – well I’d have to say I think it’s a positive for the silent majority.

How do you come up with all the great contests you run in the Sellaband.com forums?

I think I’ve been lucky with the Competitions. In November the Competition thread had over 12000 hits and I’m convinced that was bringing new believers to the forum and introducing some of them to new artists. The early formats were simple and then of course the Christmas Competition came along so there has been variety and something in it for both believers and artists. Where do they come from? – well observations as much as anything and maybe I have an eye for seeing the basis for a Competition! It is an Olympic Year remember so who knows, you might see the ‘Sellaband Olympics’ in the summer!

Can you tell us how it felt to have a great company such as Sellaband.com match the prize money in your holiday music contest?

I kept in close contact with Sellaband right from the time the Competition was launched and I made it clear to them that I hoped Sellaband would embrace the Competition in whatever ways they could. I think the gesture to provide the Christmas Jukebox and then to match the prize money was brilliant and it made sure we could reward all entrants. This was consistent with previous competitions where we only have winners and don’t consider any entry as a loser.

You state on myspace that it is good at your age to find so much common ground with people of other generations, in what ways have you found common ground? Or is it just the music?

A lot of it is down to the music but because of the music I’ve already made lots of new friends both believers and artists all over the world. Most recently I took my wife to Salzburg for Roll over Austria and it’s hard to describe the warmth that was afforded us there. It’s that kind of buzz that generates enthusiasm in me to look at other projects and give some thought to further competitions. Somebody asked me at Salzburg “are we getting to old for this”. We agreed “Definitely not”. Salzburg just wet the appetite for more.

As this Q&A appears to be Sellaband.com specific I have 2 special questions.

Name 3 artists from SAB that you feel are the tops musically?

Wow. How do I avoid upsetting anybody here? Like many others I was very impressed with Solidtube but looking at my current investments I would have to say musically Angie Arsenault ticks all the boxes for me. I marvel sometimes at the range of Gisel de Marco’s voice and having seen ConFused5 live my admiration for them is immense. All these three have different qualities, different styles but star quality. If you had asked me for ten I could have given you ten

After the holiday video contest which artist or believer do you think does the best video?

The overall quality of the videos was really excellent. It was particularly pleasing to see that the videos came from all five continents. Ok so who did the best? One stood out to me because it required the band to get out and about and set themselves up for having fun poked at them but its message fully complimented the song and that was SUNSOMA and ‘Mad World’. This video was only finished approx 48 hours before voting closed but I know from the guys that they enjoyed making it and found that the whole experience had brought them closer together as a band. Can I just mention believer Sellacat in closing – that video was delightful.