Have you ever sold anything on Bandcamp?

[forestandgarden]

I've always wanted to pull a poll.

Now my time has come. The poll will run forever, but it is likely to fall into oblivion eventually, unless the topic is resurrected.

YOU --> <-- can make this poll a SUCCESS!

If you have nothing better to do

[GMaq]

Hi,

I'm not on Bandcamp personally but I have bought a few albums by friends/acquaintances in the Linux Audio community off of Bandcamp... which is a backward answer to your question in that people do actually buy music on Bandcamp.

That said I've only bought albums (not individual songs) and the albums I've bought have been produced to a pretty high standard (IMHO) and I only buy if I like the material and would consider buying it elsewhere online..

[sysrqer]

I sold one album to an ex girlfriend who was impressed. Haha that's it.

[ufug]

I was surprised that people bought my music on Bandcamp. I posted three "albums" (batches of demos really) last year and a little over 50 people bought full albums. I did pay-what-you want but the average donation was between USD7 and 8. Not going to quit my day job but it was a nice bonus I wasn't expecting.

I imagine if you devoted time and effort to promotion *and* have something people want to listen to, you could do way better.

I like Bandcamp a lot in general. It fills in a perfect spot between streaming services and things like Soundcloud (my mortal enemy). It's the closest thing there is online to a real record store. No BS, lots of treasures to find, a low-key social networking feature, plenty of flexibility in how you present your wares. I also like that they use an "album" concept, probably because I'm an old fart who thinks in albums.

I like all the format options as well. I usually download FLAC but they offer ogg. Ogg! That's unique as far as I know.

[bhilmers]

I don't have my own content on bandcamp but I buy stuff there regularly. Probably given them hundreds of dollars this year alone. Love that site,

[sysrqer]

You can sell your music and give it away simultaneously on bandcamp.

[GMaq]

No experience myself as i give away my music for free. But experience with other busines.

On another forum i've read the story of a guy who sold nice amounts (10s of thousends songs) but earned about $100 or so (share minus setup costs and contribution or something?).
From another guy who sold nice but earned below the yearly pay-out limits so earned nithing (i'm not sure if it was bandcamp).

It seems like it's mostly the sites getting rich.
If i wanted to sell to get rich i would look for a more serious party or sell myself. I guess that if my music is that popular that i sell 10.000 songs there for $0,02 (?) share, it must be possible to sell at least a 1.000 myself for $0,30 and have 1,5x more profit already.
I wil never talk bad about bandcamp itself as it is a nice site. Earn serious money with it as a musician seems to be a challange though.

The ratio you are talking about sounds like Spotify, where indeed you receive about a penny a play...

To be fair iTunes and Google Play store are pretty fair to artists (and labels), using US dollars for easy figuring out of $0.99/song the artist (or their label) receives about $0.90. Obviously the usual math applies... if you're on a label you probably get bigger exposure but make far less per song once the label takes their share, independent artists keep most of the money per song sold but have to get pretty popular on their own steam to sell enough songs to do well.

Anyway streaming (a la Spotify, Google Play Music, iTunes Radio, etc. etc.) is the new reality so now it's pennies a play so you gotsta pimp them plays to make some money...

Anyway the big players aren't necessarily all evil, but Bandcamp is absolutely a great platform for independent artists..

[ufug]

i totally agree. This is what i was talking from.

But... this thread/poll is about BANDCAMP.

They take much less than making a CD costs, they pay you instantly, and they host your music for free, and they way you do it is totally flexible. They are pretty awesome.

[folderol]

I've only ever sold my music to one person. He was a friend who absolutely insisted on paying for a cassette tape of my work in the middle 1990s.

[sysrqer]

42low what you're saying has nothing to do with bandcamp. Have you ever actually used it? You don't get nothing from selling there, I don't know where you're getting these figures from but they might as well be made up in the context of the thread.

[braintree12]

I have sold cassettes and digital downloads on Bandcamp. The experience has been good. Their cut: "We make money through our revenue share on sales, which is 15% for digital, 10% for merch." ( https://bandcamp.com/pricing ) They are prompt about paying (after deduction of their cut) and they keep good, downloadable records.

[lucidbeaming]

I released two albums this year. The first went through Distrokid to get distributed through Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc. The second went through Bandcamp first and then Distrokid a few weeks later.

Bandcamp is a more interesting experience and has a community of people who make experimental music. It also has a merch option that I use to sell custom USB drives with music. There is a lot more to releasing music than just picking a platform. Keeping in touch with people who dig your music is important. Bandcamp has way more new and independent music. Spotify has become more of a encyclopedia or library for me. Sharing the link to my Spotify artist page was pointless. Very few clicks. But I think when people see the Bandcamp URL, they are willing to check it out more.

Also, Spotify emphasizes songs and playlists for discovery. The stuff I do is more long form. Thematic albums. Didn't get much traction. Also, the royalty payment was $15.72 for a year. I bought a deluxe burrito, extra guac, with it.

Bandcamp makes it easy for people to check out the whole album, before buying it. Good embeds and clean design. They get 3 listens and then a request to purchase. People also like the FLAC downloads.

https://lucidbeaming.bandcamp.com/

[sysrqer]

Wow, seems a bit over the top and childish but suit yourself.

[sysrqer]

haha ok whatever mate. I only see one person making personal attacks here.

Well seeing as I'm not on your ignore list after all, the figures about itunes and spotify etc don't really have much relevance in the context of bandcamp. I don't think their commission is unreasonable, if you independently produced a CD and sold it in a local independent shop I think they would be taking a similar amount, if not more. As with any commodity you have to pay for exposure and services that enable you to get your product out to people.

[Luc]

But... this thread/poll is about BANDCAMP.
They take much less than making a CD costs, they pay you instantly, and they host your music for free, and they way you do it is totally flexible. They are pretty awesome.

While the conditions on Bandcamp sound really good, I'm afraid Bandcamp is just not popular enough.

I even believe it has some problem of public image. I believe (i.e. I'm speculating) that the general public tend to see Apple, Google, Spotify, Tide etc. as bona fide enterprises with catalogues that matter while Bandcamp tends to be seen as a hangout for "alternative" deadbeats that don't matter in the big scheme of things.

(...) Bandcamp is a more interesting experience and has a community of people who make experimental music.

Ouch. "A community of people who make experimental music" is bad news!

To most people, the "experimental music" label has as bad a scareaway factor as "subtitled Eastern European artsy-fartsy movie" does to American moviegoers. At least 90% of the audience want to see the blockbusters and listen to the big time musicians. A lot of people in fact won't even listen to anything until they know that lots of other people are listening to it. Too many people in the world need to be told what to like. And nobody really expects the next big thing to come out of Bandcamp. Everyone is sure that if you're any good and really matter, some company that knows what matters will pick you up and you will be properly made available in one of the stores that matter. I believe (i.e. still speculating) Bandcamp is often regarded as some kind of strainer that keeps the losers safely away until they prove they're worthy of being rescued and are accepted in some kind of mainstream. If you love Bandcamp but you're a... Linux user, well, that's bad. Really bad. By choosing Linux, you've already proven that you are very different from the masses.

I've been an "alternative" listener all my life. We are like a small club. We don't matter. The world doesn't care. You can make friends and listen to some really great music in that small universe, but you can't really make money off it unless a whole new wave of something like "college radio" happens again. Even in that case, it's still an uphill battle through a very narrow door.