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bandcamp.com
This is the joke that is often told among indie musicians, DIY bands, and those who love hunting for obscure music. Bandcamp is not just a joke to them; they know it as a valuable tool that has helped contribute to the DIY music scene in America. For anyone who spends more than a few minutes walking around a college campus, it's likely that they will see at least one young person with an album or five on Bandcamp.
Since its humble beginnings in 2004, Bandcamp has emerged as one of the most popular music streaming and downloading platforms on the internet. It is a great resource for independent musicians who want to sell their music and make some money, as well as a platform for artists to distribute their music to a larger audience. Additionally, it's an amazing way to discover new music and connect with other music fans. So why not give it a try? You might be surprised at how much fun you can have, and how easy it is to get started.
I will be examining Bandcamp with a critical eye, here to determine whether or not it is worth using as a platform for discovering new tunes. I will be examining if it is effective for discovering new music and if it is just for obscure artists to post their garage band basement sludge EPs. What differentiates Bandcamp from other similar platforms? Let's find out.
How it Started
In 2008, Ethan Diamond and a team of programmers created Bandcamp. The company started to grow in 2010 when artists like Amanda Palmer eschewed their record labels and took promo-responsibilities into their own hands. Indie game developers quickly followed suit and hosted their games soundtracks on the platform. Quickly, the DIY zeitgeist of this era found expression in Bandcamp's model, and it quickly gained popularity throughout the music scene.
Since its inception, Bandcamp has been a popular platform for small-scale musicians to host, promote, and sell their albums and merch online. While it doesn't generate quite the same excitement it did during its salad days, it has a strong following and likely will continue to do so for some time.
How it Works
However, Bandcamp is different. It has a business model that is built on fairness and support for artists. For one, music streaming royalties are very small on Bandcamp. Second, the platform gives more exposure to lesser-known artists than the music industry does on its own. Finally, Bandcamp rewards artists for their hard work and keeps them fairly compensated for their efforts.
Today, more than ever, income inequality means that musicians and other creatives bear the brunt of economic injustice more harshly than most professions. This is why Bandcamp?s model has won them such a loyal following among those in DIY and low-level music scenes.
Some have called it an "online record store," but I don't know of any that give you the option to only pay if you feel like it. This is Bandcamp's greatest strength, as an artist: You have the option of offering your music as donation-based content (pay what you want) or paid-access only. While this freedom may seem inconsequential, it affords artists a level of control that they've been denied for time immemorial.
Bandcamp firmly believes that music is an essential part of culture, and as a result, they insist on compensating artists fairly and openly. If this belief was not there, then Bandcamp's mission would be meaningless. This is why Bandcamp operates under a model where the artist is always put first.
Here's how it works: when an artist posts their album or merchandise on their Bandcamp page, Bandcamp makes money only if the artist makes money. There are no hosting fees or membership fees. Bandcamp takes 15% of whatever money the artist makes on sales (or only 10% if an artist makes $5000+).
So, if Tommy Longtooth sells his album for $10 on Bandcamp, he'll receive $8.50 - Bandcamp's cut (which includes the fees they pay credit merchants for payment processing, as well as their own cut) - and Jenny Frogtongue will only receive a cut if somebody pays her x amount of money for her album.
So, in order for Bandcamp to make money, artists must make money. This is a strong incentive for Bandcamp to help their artists succeed. If you are a struggling musician, this may be the first time you've ever heard of a large company doing such a thing. If you are a music fan, you will be happy to know that you are dealing with a platform that takes care of its musicians. It is a relief knowing that the money you pay for an album goes directly to the creator.
Bandcamp's allure lies in the fact that it hosts so much unknown talent. Sure, there are tens of thousands of uber-talented musicians out there with personal websites or Facebook pages, but how could you accidentally stumble upon those? Near impossible. With Bandcamp, you can browse through unknown bands, letting chance guide you along. Maybe four out of every five bands you listen to sound like the large intestine of an elephant. Don't let that dissuade you, though; keep searching and you're bound to find gold.
Design of the Website
Do you want to head to the website's main landing page and see a pretty standard showcase banner featuring curated playlists, listening guides, and best-of lists? Beneath this you will see a randomly generated "Selling Now?" list where tracks that have just been purchased are displayed and updated in real-time. Scroll down and you will find Bandcamp Daily's section which as the name implies is updated daily. Here you will see album-of-the-day picks, op-ed articles, curated lists, and staff picks.
As I am writing this, I am streaming Bandcamp Daily's current pick for the album of the day. This one is called Batuco, the debut album by the Mexico City-based group, Son Rompe Pera. They are described as "a modern distillation of Mexican, Peruvian, and Colombian folk." 5 minutes in and I have found a new treasure.
I believe that Bandcamp's continuity between profiles helps fans navigate the platform more easily. Each artist's page is sleek, streamlined, and free from clutter, which makes it easy to find what you're looking for when you discover a new artist.
Prime Video?s Weaknesses
The catch with Bandcamp's equitable platform is that it attracts masses of musicians. This creates an infinitude of content, and Bandcamp hasn't done the best job managing this. One would hope that the Discover function would make it easy to browse through the catalog and find new bands, but in reality, the algorithm seems pretty weak. It works in a similar way to Pandora did in its heyday, in which it will recommend songs it thinks is similar to what you just listened to, but it often falls short of my standards.
It seems that this can largely be blamed on Bandcamp's focus on their artists, rather than their fans. A slight rebalancing might be necessary in order for Bandcamp to capture the loyalty of music-discoverers everywhere. If Bandcamp could pay their artists the same rate they do now, while also creating a top-notch Discover system, it would be greatly appreciated.
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