Band gets 'deal' on Dragons Den

[kedo]

Who saw Dragon's Den last night on the beeb? (if you missed it, it's on for a week on BBC iPlayer). This band 'Hamfatter' went on, sang for 1 minute, couldn't play any tracks live off their future album (the one they were looking for a deal on), blah blah blah'd about marketing, distribution, downloads, projected sales etc.. and walked away with a cool 75,000 quid deal!

So, what will the sticker read on the album .. 'Produced by', 'Featuring..' 'Mercury Prize Nominee'.. No.. 'As seen on BBC's Dragon's Den"!

Is this a good thing or BAD?

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by kedo

Is this a good thing or BAD?

I think only time will tell. The music industry is changing so fast, nothing really surprises me anymore with regards to how people find funding. Who knows, maybe Peter Jones will be seen as a genius for "signing" them and he'll get a good return on investment.

Their numbers were a little funny though - £7k for a music video... ouch, that's not gonna go very far. I suppose the lo-fi approach is attainable, though.

Oh well. At worst, maybe Jones' accountant told him he needed to spend £75k or otherwise give it to the taxman...

[waxxy]

i saw them perform this afternoon on bbc news 24 and i was laughing my head off..it seemed very staged and set up too me in my opinion ..for a band too go on dragons den play a song then get 70,000 seems dodgy too me i think it was some kind of marketing ploy too get intrest in the show more so than the band..the bbc knew that it would give there lagging show street cred and for the next few days every news paper and mtv show will be hyping up this band ..who i feel havent got a good enough song too back up the 70,000 investment.

fair enough ive only heard 2 or 3 songs but you can hear talent and spot talent within a few seconds of hearing a song or meeting a band and i think this win will be a big anchour around there necks
i do hope they succed but i feel theyll get lost in all the dragons den hype and wont have good enough matterial too escape the hype.

also ive heard much better same types off band struggling very hard too get a break and having doors slammed in there faces..its a really good idea people can post there own music on here and i hope one day someone off here gets signed so we can all congratualte them on succeding on there talent not hype..by the way look at all the hyped up bands off the past that never lived up too there own hype..sig sig sputnik anyone?

[ndk]

I saw Dragons Den last night and was going to post about it but I've just been so busy today. I actually went to school with Jamie (the guy with the piercing) and was really impressed with the way he handled the grilling.

I say good luck to them! It's a better route than all that x-factor rubbish as the deal seems to be more in favour of the band rather than lining the pockets of the corporate machine that is Simon Cowell.

Whatever you think of it, they were seen by millions on a top BBC program last night, discussed at length on the Chris Moyles show with Peter Jones, featured on BBC Breakfast, GMTV and News 24, discussed on this forum and no doubt numerous other websites and TV/radio shows. Basically, in 24 hours millions of extra people would have seen and heard Hamfatter. Have you ever had that sort of exposure? So it cant be that bad!

I think this was a good move and wish them the best of luck!

Their site is www.hamfatter.net

[conor_j]

Originally Posted by waxxy

i saw them perform this afternoon on bbc news 24 and i was laughing my head off..it seemed very staged and set up too me in my opinion ..for a band too go on dragons den play a song then get 70,000 seems dodgy too me i think it was some kind of marketing ploy too get intrest in the show more so than the band..the bbc knew that it would give there lagging show street cred and for the next few days every news paper and mtv show will be hyping up this band ..who i feel havent got a good enough song too back up the 70,000 investment.

Interesting theory waxxy, and I find myself agreeing with you on it. I was well aware of Dragons den but this episode was the first I watched, I was shocked to see them get their investment tbh......fair play to them though

[Meander]

Have to say that although they are probably happy with their deal, if I remember rightly Peter Jones was talking about more of a 360 deal, with merchandise and touring profits included. Also, aren't the likes of Peter Jones gonna be even harder to deal with that any major label? He is after all only interested in the bottom line without even the pretense that the music means anything. We may see a Hamfatter remix of Wannabe soon, or maybe Peter will suggest the band have better haircuts, more like those nice boys from McFly!

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by Meander

Also, aren't the likes of Peter Jones gonna be even harder to deal with that any major label? He is after all only interested in the bottom line without even the pretense that the music means anything.

And how is that different from a major label again??

[Meander]

Its not

Don't get me wrong, I don't knock the lads for trying. TBH, nobody knows whats gonna happen in the music industry at all, so you have to give them kudos for trying something different. Good luck to them.

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by Meander

Its not

Don't get me wrong, I don't knock the lads for trying. TBH, nobody knows whats gonna happen in the music industry at all, so you have to give them kudos for trying something different. Good luck to them.

Exactly, and Peter Jones isn't dumb, he knows that DD has a big audience and that a lot of people would get instant exposure to the band on a terrestrial television program, which a lot of bands would kill for!

Hey, we're talking about it here, so clearly their plan for world domination is well underway.

[Meander]

This is true, but for me they would have been better off going on there WITH their stuff ready to play (WTF happened there???) got an offer of a deal and then told Peter Jones to GTF.

But I'm just a git.

[terminal3]

Originally Posted by Meander

This is true, but for me they would have been better off going on there WITH their stuff ready to play (WTF happened there???) got an offer of a deal and then told Peter Jones to GTF.

But I'm just a git.

I agree, not having their new material ready was a big fat schoolboy error! Apparently that didn't matter though.

[Meander]

Man, you are quick, by the time I go back to the front page you've answered!

Maybe, we've all been duped and he they were already signed to JonesRecs all along?? Spooky.