Hey starving artists, are you looking for a better way to promote your music?
Bandcamp is a quickly-growing platform for musicians to share their creations and maybe even get some profit back along the way. It’s also a fantastic place for listeners to discover new music that’s relevant to their interests.
Founded in 2007, this free-to-join site allows independent artists a space to create a fully customizable microsite within which to put their music out to the world. Its main feature is the ability to stream music that people can also purchase and download. The microsite gives you the ability to change the text, background and marquee to fit your band’s style, and you can also upload custom art to represent each release or album.
Santa Rosa band Brown Bags is one of many who use this service. “It’s given us a basic template to work with in order to, essentially, market our band,” Brown Bags bassist James Ryall said. “We get to put our music in a place where anyone can hear it and/or download it, we can throw up a few pictures to demonstrate our visual aesthetic, and we’re given the ability to sell our merchandise directly.”
This part is crucial. The bands can set their own asking price for their music, or even let others download it for free if they so choose. “We set the price of the merchandise…[and] the shipping, their payment goes directly into our account via PayPal, we are notified of their purchase and their address and we then ship it out to its destination,” Ryall said. Some artists even let potential buyers name their own price. Cutting out the middleman means more cash goes directly to the artist.
Bandcamp does take a cut of all purchases, however. They take 15% of digital sales, and 10% of merchandise sales. Still, this site gives many groups an opportunity to market themselves that they might not have otherwise.”[It’s] not quite as ideal as I initially thought, but still worth the price of admission,” Ryall said.
Bandcamp does not require any external program to run, unlike iTunes. You can use the Bandcamp app to listen to music you have already purchased, but that is not the only method. Once you buy an album, the files are yours. And even the file type is up to you. “It allows us to upload our music in multiple audio formats,” Ryall said. “I can’t think of another music-centered website that has that kind of feature.”
These formats range from standard lower-quality files like MP3 V0 to the ‘Audiophiles and Nerds’ category, including crisper formats like FLAC or Ogg Vorbis. Many people are satisfied with MP3s and the relatively small file sizes that accompany them, but for those who really crave recording-studio level sound, these options are a huge boon.
Along with owning digital versions of the music you purchase, there is another incentive to become a buyer. Once a purchase is made, the buyer’s icon and name will appear on the band’s page, listing them as a supporter. While it is a fun way to show your loyalty, this can also serve a functional purpose.
Once you buy music, it is added to your ‘collection’, a list that others can browse to see what you’ve bought in the past. This is an especially good way to find potential gems. In a world where so many download music without paying back to the band, it is rare to see those who actually pay money for tunes. If someone bought it, there’s a good chance that it’s pretty great.
Perhaps the most important feature of Bandcamp for artists is the search factor. “If you Google a name like ‘Brown Bags,’ you will never ever find any information about our band ever,” Ryall said. “ However, savvy indie-music enthusiasts know that if you just throw the word ‘bandcamp’ after the band’s name in a search, chances are you’re going to find the band you’re looking for.”
In addition to the large database of bands on the site, there is also a tagging feature. This allows bands to list various keywords that they feel describe their music, or even locations. This means that users can search via keyword to find new music, and even bands from a specific area.
All in all, there have been many attempts at music sites and businesses over the years, but there were many failures. “Myspace went too crazy with their advertising years ago, and their layouts have always been a pain in the ass, so we didn’t even consider them,” Ryall said. “Facebook has a nice format, but it’s built in such a way that it’s only really useful if you tie it to your Bandcamp account. Soundcloud is nice, but Bandcamp allows you to group your songs in such a cool way.”
In conclusion: For smaller independent artists, it seems like a great option. “It’s like having your own little website dedicated to your band’s discography,” Ryall said.
