Bandcamp is a primarily digital music marketplace predominately utilized by independent musicians trying to sell their music directly to their fan base. So, why am I writing about a place where people can buy music? Everybody reading this knows how the Internet works, right? You don't need me to guide you through the process of inputting your PayPal information into a website so you can buy an album. Well, I'm writing about Bandcamp because I think it's an amazing way to buy and sell music and I am enamored and extremely impressed by the success the website has had.
Bandcamp makes money by taking a percentage of an artist's sales, just like any other marketplace would, but Bandcamp only take 15% of digital sales (artists who have sold more than $5000 worth of digital music in the past 12 months only pay 10%) and 10% on the sale on merch. Those percentages can't be beat; ITunes and Amazon take around 30% of digital sales from artists (Via Digital Trends). This extra revenue is huge.
Artists pocketing a greater percentage of the profit is impressive in itself but what makes Bandcamp even more impressive is that the website has altered the way fans buy music. Bandcamp has made fans feel a greater connection to the music they are listening to, making fans spend more money (sometimes even when they don't need to) and making fans buy full albums.
Many artists on Bandcamp use a Pay What You Want philosophy. This system seems to work for many artists, as it doesn't alienate potential fans, but the artists still make money from generous fans. This system rewards artists who have created loyal fan bases. Bandcamp advertises that "On name-your-price albums, fans pay an average of 50% more than the minimum." Artists can set a minimum amount they are willing to take for the album (which many times is nothing) and then fans have the option to pay more than that. I know that I personally have given money to artists who weren't asking for any, in exchange for their album. That's outstanding for artists because it allows them to create solid fan bases, who want to PAY FOR MUSIC, something that seems to be lost in the digital age.
Additionally, Bandcamp boasts that "Albums outsell tracks 5 to 1 on Bandcamp (in the rest of the music buying world, tracks outsell albums 16 to 1)." This is an extremely impressive feat, and it shows that Bandcamp has somehow changed the way fans look at music. When artists make albums, they make them as albums, with an overall feel and a lot of hard work put into each track to make the tracks flow into each other and work cohesively; sure it's nice that you really like that one Weezer (No, they don't use Bandcamp) song, but wouldn't it be awesome if you actually listened to the entire album and discovered that you liked the entire album? I feel like other digital marketplaces are discouraging the exploration of full albums because of how easy they make it to download the one "hit". Bandcamp advertises full albums over individual songs, and this benefits the artists using their service by allowing all their hard work to be fully showcased.
Yet, what is this site worth if its collection of music is lacking? Well, that's simply not the case; many outstanding and successful (No, success is NOT the measure of whether your music is good or not, although it can be a sign, but I'm pointing "success" out to show that Bandcamp is by no means a small site) independent musicians use Bandcamp to sell their music. In fact, many artists only sell their music using Bandcamp, and I have discovered many artists on Bandcamp that I wouldn't have known about without Bandcamp, of those Shakey Graves and Balto come to mind.
Both Shakey Graves and Balto are folk/alt-coutnry acts. Shakey Graves gives off a singer-songwriter vibe with a truly unique and interesting sound, which makes for good listenin'. Balto's album "October Road" is inspired by their lead singer Daniel Sheron's solo trip trip to Siberia. Both these artists are definitely worth checking out.
Aside from these incredible artists there are many other artists on Bandcamp with a great sound, including Spose, Cloudkicker, Mac Lethal, Modern Diet, Essence, and many many others.
Until next time, keep exploring (and don't forget to utilize Bandcamp).
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