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NRK RADIO P2 - May 15th, 2007
Interview by Guro Lørseth
Oslo band Far From Tellus are rehearsing for the next gig in an attic downtown. They have no record deal, but have nevertheless been in the studio and recorded an album.
Magnus: "There's a little double A-sided single coming from us, which is totally voluntary work and paid from our own pockets."
To finance your own recording like Far From Tellus have done, has become a big trend amongst the many underground bands around the globe, but that the fans can sponsor the band over the Internet is something new. The website sellaband.com is behind what looks like a democratic and idealistic concept. (This refers to "Sell A Band"; a concept where the audience pays a band they believe in $50,000 for a recording/promotion deal.)
Cynicism is not something new in the record industry, and the guys in Far From Tellus don't seem to be convinced that it is pure idealism behind a concept like "Sell A Band", where the owners decide which studio the bands will record in, thus deciding who are receiving the money the fans have collected.
Christian: "It simply means that it's the bands that know people with the most money that gets anywhere in that system."
Tommy: "It sounds like somebody is going to grab a lot of money from this."
Christian: "It does. You imagine some sort of small pyramid scheme."
Tommy: "If you had actually received those $50,000 as a cheque, and you could have used any studio in the world with no restrictions, it would have been something else, but I question this, really."
Tommy Thørn and Christian Næss share their sceptisism towards record companies with masses of musicians. Total creative freedom is the goal, but the uncertainty is big, and the band have to collect all the money from their own pockets. So why do a band like Far From Tellus choose to go their own ways to release their music?
Internet has opened new promotion channels for underground bands. Sites like MySpace and YouTube make it possible to reach the entire world with the music, without having to compromise with promotion bureaus, thus giving small bands the chance to conquer the world all by themselves.
Christian: "The fantastic thing about the Internet is that the whole Do It Yourself culture has not only been given a much more accessible face, but the whole underground has got a much bigger diversity, and it's much easier to find people to collaborate with. To go through a big bureau or a big company is just totally out of the question. Quite simply, you don't have to care about the big record companies. They can do whatever they like. They are going to vanish, and we are going to dance on their graves."
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