Interesting statement from The Magpie Arc today:
Just a heads up everyone, all of our CD’s and vinyl are now off Amazon so if anyone is looking and you see “items unavailable” it’s only unavailable from there, you can still buy our new album Gil Brenton and all our other albums on CD and vinyl from us directly at our webshop here….
https://themagpiearc.company.site/And on download from Bandcamp here…
https://themagpiearc.bandcamp.com/ Why?
It’s not some grand statement, just simply that for every CD we sell there at £12 they are now taking over 50% of that as their cut and the old “but you’ll be in a shop window in front of hundreds of millions of potential buyers and new fans” line is complete nonsense, much the same as that other thief Spotify.
Also, and this is the biggie, a hugely increasing number of rogues are buying there with the sole intention of “returning an item” to get a refund from the seller, which Amazon automatically comply with, and then tell the buyer to keep the item or give it away as it’s too much hassle for them to administer. And then said rogues are straight off to Music Magpie to exchange the free CD or album for cash.
It’s just another kick in the teeth for artists (and indeed sellers of all kinds) to deal with and we’re not going to let that happen to us any more.
