Bandcamp

[Will S]

I'm sure a number of us buy music through Bandcamp.  Having been bought up earlier this year, and now sold on again, it sounds like their future is in doubt, which will I'm sure affect not just us fans but also the many smaller musicians who sell through them.

"The fall of Bandcamp would be, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, catastrophic for independent music communities. It is the only equitable music streaming platform and marketplace with any prominence."

https://www.themarysue.com/bandcamps-future-is-uncertain-and-that-is-devastating-for-independent-music/

[davidmjs]

Aye, it's very concerning.  I've spent thousands on there...I have over 200 items on my collection and I know for a fact that for some musician friends it's the only method of selling their music in small numbers that allows them to make a little profit or at least not lose money.

It's the usual thing...In it's desire to slash costs and maximise profits, 'capital' finds a way of ruining everything good.

[Will S]

Yes, I have nearly 250 items in my collection. Just make sure you have them all safely downloaded and backed up!

[davidmjs]

Yes, I have nearly 250 items in my collection. Just make sure you have them all safely downloaded and backed up!

Oh I most assuredly do.  The one thing about Bandcamp I've always rather disliked is the app.  It's never worked properly for me so I always play the downloads.

[PaulT]

Yes, I have nearly 250 items in my collection. Just make sure you have them all safely downloaded and backed up!

Oh I most assuredly do.  The one thing about Bandcamp I've always rather disliked is the app.  It's never worked properly for me so I always play the downloads.

Same here...

The other thing I like about BC is the way one gets led down often strange byways to discoveries which would almost certainly remain undiscovered.  Earlier today - the Culture Dub Orchestra - W Midlands-based reggae/roots/world music outfit...

[Will S]

Yes, I've discovered a number of acts I probably never would have otherwise.

[quodlibet (Ian)]

Trouble in the Caterbury / Hatfields Bandcamp. Posts from FB

"MAJOR changes are coming to Richard Sinclair's BandCamp site.
Dave Stewart has demanded that anything he plays on be removed from the site within 7 days, or he will attempt to have Richard's entire BandCamp site taken down.  
Needless to say, we are VERY DISAPPOINTED. I offered Dave every consideration and offered several alternatives, but as he put it, "This is not negotiable; my mind's firmly made up, trying to persuade me otherwise will only make matters worse."
It'll take me a couple days to make these changes.  In the meantime, please consider joining Richard's Fan Club.  We cannot afford a copyright attorney (yet) but if anyone knows one, we'd like to talk to him or her.  I am awaiting word from BandCamp whether the ENTIRE site could be at risk over a small minority (63 out of 352) of albums under contention.  Stay tuned.  
Richard is preparing a response which we will post in due time, as soon as he can compose sentences of more than four letters."

DS response:

As I explained to Robert Carlberg, I *don't* want this Bandpage page taken down - I simply asked him to remove a large number of items that infringe my performer's rights. For the record, he created the page without my knowledge. Neither he nor Richard sought my consent to use my recorded performances; Mr. Carlberg made matters worse by stating falsely on a social media site that I had given my consent with no supporting evidence, and he never checked with me to confirm his erroneous statement. I'm not seeking a share of revenue or any kind of payment, I just want to maintain artistic control over the use of my performances."

[Will S]

I had a bit of an exchange with Joshua Burnell on Facebook recently, as he is moving to a Patron only model of selling his music.  I asked about still selling some through Bandcamp (which I understand to be a better model than Spotify etc for the artist), and he replied as follows:

"Bandcamp is well-meaning but unfortunately is kind of an ‘honesty box’ that ultimately doesn’t allow the numbers to add up either. It is better than streaming platforms, but doesn’t solve the problem and creates a few others.

Just looking at Glass Knight, 3697 people listened (let’s ignore the brutal skip info!) and out of all of them, only 203 purchased.
This means that the vast majority of people are getting it for free, which I wish I could afford to do, but when the album cost five-figures to make (all saved up over years of grafting in various jobs) it forces me either out of the game or to reconsider how I’m releasing in order to stay in the game.
If I was a multimillionaire, I’d make music and give it out for the sake of music, but right now, I need to find a way of keeping the whole thing going in a way that is viable to little-old-me!"

I was surprised (maybe I shouldn't have been?), and to be honest saddened by the discrepancy between those who listen and those who buy. I mean there will always be those who have a listen and then decide it isn't for them after all, but only 1 in 20 listeners going on to buy is a sad figure.

[Dan O.]

For those who aren't aware, the major difference between Spotify and Bandcamp is that Spotify is a listen only streaming service, and Bandcamp is more like an online record store. You can listen to albums on Bandcamp, but a maximum of 3 times - after the 3rd time, you'll be asked if you wish to buy the item you've been listening to. It's one of the fairest music hosting platforms out there at the moment as the majority of revenue goes to the artist - I can see Joshua Burnell's point, but that's down to the individual listeners concerned, surely, rather than the platform itself ?

As both a user and punter, I find Bandcamp's worst point is that only other musicians seem to know about it and use it - attracting the music buying punter to purchase anything from the site has proved tricky. People would rather stream their music from that "nice" Daniel Ek.

[davidmjs]

Trouble in the Caterbury / Hatfields Bandcamp. Posts from FB

"MAJOR changes are coming to Richard Sinclair's BandCamp site.
Dave Stewart has demanded that anything he plays on be removed from the site within 7 days, or he will attempt to have Richard's entire BandCamp site taken down.  
Needless to say, we are VERY DISAPPOINTED. I offered Dave every consideration and offered several alternatives, but as he put it, "This is not negotiable; my mind's firmly made up, trying to persuade me otherwise will only make matters worse."
It'll take me a couple days to make these changes.  In the meantime, please consider joining Richard's Fan Club.  We cannot afford a copyright attorney (yet) but if anyone knows one, we'd like to talk to him or her.  I am awaiting word from BandCamp whether the ENTIRE site could be at risk over a small minority (63 out of 352) of albums under contention.  Stay tuned.  
Richard is preparing a response which we will post in due time, as soon as he can compose sentences of more than four letters."

DS response:

As I explained to Robert Carlberg, I *don't* want this Bandpage page taken down - I simply asked him to remove a large number of items that infringe my performer's rights. For the record, he created the page without my knowledge. Neither he nor Richard sought my consent to use my recorded performances; Mr. Carlberg made matters worse by stating falsely on a social media site that I had given my consent with no supporting evidence, and he never checked with me to confirm his erroneous statement. I'm not seeking a share of revenue or any kind of payment, I just want to maintain artistic control over the use of my performances."

I'm definitely with DS on this one.  No debate really.

[davidmjs]

For those who aren't aware, the major difference between Spotify and Bandcamp is that Spotify is a listen only streaming service, and Bandcamp is more like an online record store. You can listen to albums on Bandcamp, but a maximum of 3 times - after the 3rd time, you'll be asked if you wish to buy the item you've been listening to. It's one of the fairest music hosting platforms out there at the moment as the majority of revenue goes to the artist - I can see Joshua Burnell's point, but that's down to the individual listeners concerned, surely, rather than the platform itself ?

As both a user and punter, I find Bandcamp's worst point is that only other musicians seem to know about it and use it - attracting the music buying punter to purchase anything from the site has proved tricky. People would rather stream their music from that "nice" Daniel Ek.

I love Bandcamp.  But the app is excremental.

[RobertD]

I have no problem with navigating the app, and love that generally its recommendations are really on point for me (algorithim based though they may be). Another plus is when buying vinyl, typically the digital copy gets loaded to the app, saving me the trouble of downloading via a link card included with many new vinyls these days.  I think some artists are actually thriving on Bandcamp. Dan will know all about Jackie Venson's model...which is essentially all fed into Bandcamp via her social media.

[Harbottle (Martin)]

Trouble in the Caterbury / Hatfields Bandcamp. Posts from FB

"MAJOR changes are coming to Richard Sinclair's BandCamp site.
Dave Stewart has demanded that anything he plays on be removed from the site within 7 days, or he will attempt to have Richard's entire BandCamp site taken down.  
Needless to say, we are VERY DISAPPOINTED. I offered Dave every consideration and offered several alternatives, but as he put it, "This is not negotiable; my mind's firmly made up, trying to persuade me otherwise will only make matters worse."
It'll take me a couple days to make these changes.  In the meantime, please consider joining Richard's Fan Club.  We cannot afford a copyright attorney (yet) but if anyone knows one, we'd like to talk to him or her.  I am awaiting word from BandCamp whether the ENTIRE site could be at risk over a small minority (63 out of 352) of albums under contention.  Stay tuned.  
Richard is preparing a response which we will post in due time, as soon as he can compose sentences of more than four letters."

DS response:

As I explained to Robert Carlberg, I *don't* want this Bandpage page taken down - I simply asked him to remove a large number of items that infringe my performer's rights. For the record, he created the page without my knowledge. Neither he nor Richard sought my consent to use my recorded performances; Mr. Carlberg made matters worse by stating falsely on a social media site that I had given my consent with no supporting evidence, and he never checked with me to confirm his erroneous statement. I'm not seeking a share of revenue or any kind of payment, I just want to maintain artistic control over the use of my performances."

I did wonder when this site appeared whether all this stuff being uploaded had been approved by all the artistes/estates of those no longer with us...
Sounds like the answer is no.