Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

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Mattias
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Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Mattias »

As most of us around here, Bandcamp is awesome sauce.
I saw this nice post from their blog as well as an article fro a few days ago that is worth reading.

I posted this on my Facebook page as well.

From their blog:

Bandcamp, Downloads, Streaming, and the Inescapably Bright Future

In light of a recent report that Apple will soon abandon music downloads (later denied, but undoubtedly containing a certain amount of inevitability), we thought we’d take a moment to update you on the state of Bandcamp’s business and our plans for the future.

Bandcamp grew by 35% last year. Fans pay artists $4.3 million dollars every month using the site, and they buy about 25,000 records a day, which works out to about one every 4 seconds (you can see a real-time feed of those purchases on our desktop home page). Nearly 6 million fans have bought music through Bandcamp (half of whom are younger than 30), and hundreds of thousands of artists have sold music on Bandcamp. Digital album sales on Bandcamp grew 14% in 2015 while dropping 3% industry-wide, track sales grew 11% while dropping 13% industry-wide, vinyl was up 40%, cassettes 49%… even CD sales grew 10% (down 11% industry-wide). Most importantly of all, Bandcamp has been profitable (in the now-quaint revenues-exceed-expenses sense) since 2012.

Subscription-based music streaming,* on the other hand, has yet to prove itself to be a viable model, even after hundreds of millions of investment dollars raised and spent. For our part, we are committed to offering an alternative that we know works. As long as there are fans who care about the welfare of their favorite artists and want to help them keep making music, we will continue to provide that direct connection. And as long as there are fans who want to own, not rent, their music, that is a service we will continue to provide, and that is a model whose benefits we will continue to champion. We have been here since 2008 and we mean to be here in 2028. Thank you!

*Bandcamp is not a download store, and we very much embrace the convenience of streaming. When you buy music on Bandcamp, whether that’s in digital or physical form (30% of sales on Bandcamp are for vinyl and other merchandise), you not only get the pleasure of knowing you’re supporting the artist in a direct and transparent way, you also get instant, unlimited streaming of that music via our free apps for Android and iOS, as well as an optional, high-quality download. Your purchase is about direct support, ownership and access, whether that access takes the form of a stream, download, or both. So please consider joining us in never using “streaming” as shorthand for “subscription-based music.” The former is an inevitable technological shift, the latter is an unproven business model.


And also, this article:

http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/479844/bandc ... dustry.htm
Music Page: http://www.facebook.com/Mattias.Fridell.Music
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/fridell
Sample packs: http://mfsamples.bandcamp.com

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Lost to the Void »

Bandcamp fucking rock.
I stuns me that idiots still lack the courage to take their labels off of Shiteport and don't go with the most ethical service.
But it's all about those Shiteport charts bro!
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Alume »

I love bandcamp, I'm happy to share a few % of my "income" for their services. Its an excellent example of a symbioses in an otherwise parasiting industry.

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Mattias
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Mattias »

Exactly.
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Revaron
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Revaron »

I am definitely a happy bandcamp supporter. Purchases tend to cost me a lot less, and yet the artist gets a lot more. And I guess bandcamp are doing ok too. So everbody is happy - surely this can't be right? Actually, it's not right, the ripoff merchants at beatport, etc, are probably not happy in the slightest. But for the non-cunts out there, that's a win win win win scenario.

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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by sergiobR1 »

it is very important to have a platform that actually works.
we speak of art with flaming passion
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by The_G »

Love bandcamp, though I wish I had a better idea of how to use it effectively.

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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by chava »

Interesting that 30% of sales are vinyl/merch .. Reassuring for someone like me who would never buy a digital file.

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Lost to the Void »

You are not buying a digital file you are buying a piece of music made by a musician.
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Mono-xID »

Also it's easier to get in contact with the artist. Recently i bought a 10" of a London based singer/songwriter (kind of modern Johnny Thunders type of music) I just texted him the usual "really like your music, keep going bla bla".

Dude texted back two days later and we had a nice chat. Without a word he sent me the limited edition 10" (was sold out already) of his personal stock plus a handwritten "thank you" note with a gig date in Berlin this June, inviting me to the concert and having a pint.

Only on band camp lads, only on band camp.
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by ashley BORG »

Not bought any music in a year since I last played out. But I have to profess my love for BC.
Once I manage to locate my decks from beneath the mountain of kids stuff, I'll happily give my money the artist/labels on there rather than the other shops.

Admittedly some of the other retailers have more sophisticated search engines. But I quite like the way BC functions. I hope they manage to keep it real, and don't go the way other great concepts such as Soundcloud went.

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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by crowsbelikecaw »

I knew I loved those guys/gals/people!

Once, I tried to burn down Pukeport, but they're still there and I was out one decent computer monitor and a full can of Aquanet. :?

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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by chava »

Lost to the Void wrote:You are not buying a digital file you are buying a piece of music made by a musician.
Yeah, but I still find it quite an empty experience compared to buying physical media. In fact I find it surprising that people still buy digital files, although it of course has its advantages compared to streaming.

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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Mattias »

Well if its music you like then its music you like. Simple
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Lost to the Void
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Lost to the Void »

chava wrote:
Lost to the Void wrote:You are not buying a digital file you are buying a piece of music made by a musician.
Yeah, but I still find it quite an empty experience compared to buying physical media. In fact I find it surprising that people still buy digital files, although it of course has its advantages compared to streaming.

I love music mate, have done all my life, I'll buy it however it comes, it's the music I am buying.
I don't use streaming services because the artist gets fucked beyond even the old music business model. It's the worst thing to happen to music in its history.

I understand that old people have a hard time understanding paying for a digital download, it's a generational thing, but it really doesn't bother me, I have a nice big back up drive all my audio goes on to, so it exists physically in a way.

I suppose it depends how much you care. Hopefully there are enough people like me to keep the whole show afloat, otherwise it all falls apart, because digital is how things will remain, we will never go back to a world of physical media.
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by crowsbelikecaw »

I love digital downloads. I sometimes miss the fancy packaging when it's a particularly well done release aesthetically, but I also know for how long. In fact, I'm the happiest I've ever been as a music buyer. Hard drive space is affordable, FLAC is great, and I have a hi-def portable player with decent headphones or earbuds, depending on the situation. Essentially, I have a whole personally curated world in my pocket.

Also hate streaming. Feels like a rental on someone else's world.
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by chava »

Lost to the Void wrote:
I understand that old people have a hard time understanding paying for a digital download, it's a generational thing, but it really doesn't bother me, I have a nice big back up drive all my audio goes on to, so it exists physically in a way.

I suppose it depends how much you care. Hopefully there are enough people like me to keep the whole show afloat, otherwise it all falls apart, because digital is how things will remain, we will never go back to a world of physical media.
What will fall apart? Music production?

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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by chava »

..but I understand the scepticism about streaming, it seems soulless, like something out of dystopian sci-fi of the 70s. Muzak, really. And the whole financial aspect and question of ownership are not helping either.

But still digital files.. I say time to reintroduce the CDR with some proper packaging.

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Lost to the Void »

chava wrote:
Lost to the Void wrote:
I understand that old people have a hard time understanding paying for a digital download, it's a generational thing, but it really doesn't bother me, I have a nice big back up drive all my audio goes on to, so it exists physically in a way.

I suppose it depends how much you care. Hopefully there are enough people like me to keep the whole show afloat, otherwise it all falls apart, because digital is how things will remain, we will never go back to a world of physical media.
What will fall apart? Music production?

A lot of artists simply won`t be able to produce music if someone doesn`t pay for it, it really is that simple.
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Re: Bandcamp. The saviour of serious music business.

Post by Wiu »

Lost to the Void wrote:
chava wrote:
Lost to the Void wrote:
I understand that old people have a hard time understanding paying for a digital download, it's a generational thing, but it really doesn't bother me, I have a nice big back up drive all my audio goes on to, so it exists physically in a way.

I suppose it depends how much you care. Hopefully there are enough people like me to keep the whole show afloat, otherwise it all falls apart, because digital is how things will remain, we will never go back to a world of physical media.
What will fall apart? Music production?

A lot of artists simply won`t be able to produce music if someone doesn`t pay for it, it really is that simple.
There will always be people that will do it just for the love of doing it and being creative. If what you say did turn out to be true, I imagine big name pop/bands would be most effected. And honestly, some of those cunts could do with fucking off anyway.
Thank you for the laughs, debate, new music found, production tips etc etc over the years. I wish Subsekt and everyone all the best for the future. Wiu.


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