Love music? Try Bandcamp!

As the COVID-19 pandemic reaches its first anniversary, the music community is still hurting. Workarounds like live streamed concerts and online merch still cannot replace live shows. The ecosystem of music venues and all of their employed parties have collapsed. Although the coronavirus has essentially destroyed the main source of revenue for musicians and music industry workers by stripping us of gatherings, it has also revealed some of the preexisting problems facing every industry (universal healthcare, anyone?). 

One way fans can easily help is by offering musicians some financial support. It’s no secret that money has bled from the industry with the advent of digital files and, ultimately, with streaming. Luckily, there is a platform that, unlike Spotify, encourages real financial support and, unlike Apple Music, benefits musicians more directly.

Bandcamp has been gaining steam for some time, promising more direct input and payoff for artists, labels, and listeners. Although it can be used to stream music, purchasing music is encouraged much more than through Apple’s platform, where streaming and purchasing are completely unrelated. You can try music and purchase it on the same page. This smart, simple connection is allowing a generation that has grown up with the streaming industry to pump money back into music, and to have more intimate relationships with their favorite artists.

Since their start in 2007, Bandcamp has earned its reputation as a home to all indie and otherwise niche genres, which now range from old Venezuelan reissues to the burgeoning vocaloid movement. Indie darlings like Japanese Breakfast and TV Girl have brought in more users with their increasing success. Older acts such as Sonic Youth, Stereolab, and Björk have joined Bandcamp to get in on the action, offering physical copies of rarities as well as their studio catalogue. All records, CDs, or cassettes come with a high quality digital copy that you can download, eliminating my old defense for not buying records. 

Through Bandcamp, I have been able to track my favorite indie artists’ releases and expand my collection. I had never been very big on vinyl, but Vagabon’s Infinite Worlds (2017) just came in the mail today. It now sits comfortably between other Bandcamp purchases: Ukrainian post-punks Molchat Doma’s Этажи (2018), pronounced “etazhi,” and lo-fi legends Cleaners from Venus’ Midnight Cleaners (1982).

Since artists can set their prices and you can give as much as you please, you can give a bit more, especially on Bandcamp Fridays, the first Friday of each month. On these special days, Bandcamp does not get any of the money, but rather directs all proceeds to the musicians. Not only is this arguably the most generous act in the music industry during the pandemic, it has encouraged more successful artists to give more, and to collaborate on special benefit projects. 

One of my greatest purchases was the two-volume Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy project, that brought together unreleased songs, live performances, and covers from artists from all over the spectrum to raise money for Voting Rights Lab. A 1989 R.E.M. live performance sits next to The National’s Matt Berninger’s brilliant cover of The Cure’s “In Between Days.” Elsewhere, Little Dragon, clipping., David Byrne and more contribute to the odds and ends of this collection that are so rewarding for longtime fans. For devoted fans, Bandcamp promises more intimate, sometimes limited time treats.

In this new decade, Bandcamp is a must for any independent artist attempting to support themselves with their work. During the coronavirus pandemic, ticketed live streams have been available on the platform, and the Oakland-based company seems to have much more in store, treating listeners and labels while centering around the artist. If only we could always depend on such good natured music lovers to save the day!

Article by Stanley Quiros

Design by Jessie Yang