Do You Even Bandcamp?

Your crash course on features that are for you, the band, and you the music fan.

Recently, on threads, a band named Fragile Creatures asked how you grow an audience on Bandcamp?

I have been a Bandcamp cheerleader and a purchaser of music for over a decade with my #NoPantsRecordStoreShopping tweet sessions. Music found on Bandcamp has also been featured on my podcast over the years. I would make sure that my playlists for episodes were available via Mixcloud /website (with the nifty hyperlinks, so all you had to do was click the link).

Many people would still prefer to buy physical copies rather than digital copies. Psst, guess what, readers? Some bands also put out physical copies for you to purchase on Bandcamp! I am not here to trash on those that buy physical copies, so please don’t trash on me for buying digital. I prefer digital as it takes up no physical space. For about 7 years, I lived overseas, the shipping costs for records were more than the actual record itself. When I think of bandcamp, I think of it as a platform that can reach music fans on a global level rather than a local record store. So many countries do not have record stores that you might be accustomed to. It would be silly to make the assumption that countries like Sri Lanka or Kenya would have the same selections that you find in your local record store. I’ve digressed, but perhaps this might be a topic I revisit, another time.

Did we, as music fans, forget that pressing vinyl or getting a CD or cassette costs money? More often than not, the bands putting out music on Bandcamp are doing the DIY road instead of getting an indie record label to promote and distribute it, while mixing tracks can be done at home, bands still need to rent studio time to rehearse; you don't think people are recording in garages anymore.

(An aside, I do not work for Bandcamp. I do not have friends that work at Bandcamp)

Let me break down some Bandcamp features for you, the band, and you, the fan.

The first important thing to remember is to stop thinking Bandcamp is the same as Spotify or YouTube. It has a completely different purpose, and it's driven by the music fans that purchase from Bandcamp. It's similar to the times that you walk into a record store and flip through the new release section to see what has come out and then go into the different genre sections to see what you need to add to your music collection.

Many Bandcamp music fans don't know why it's good to follow fan accounts or how to find or follow them. I am always fascinated when I see a fan account who doesn’t follow other fan accounts, because you are truly missing out on a great feature of this platform. I swear to you, it is super simple to follow music fans on Bandcamp. All those tiny little pictures are actual fans who own that album. All you have to do is click one, and tada! You get to see that fans' collection. If they bought this album you like, they will have music in your musical wheelhouse. Click the follow button, and it's once every two weeks (I think… I need to pay more attention).

Most music fans I follow on the Bandcamp platform are not people I know in real life. Some are from Twitter connections, but most are through the Bandcamp platform. If I have more than 3 albums in common; I typically follow them.

You'll be sent purchase summaries of the fan accounts you follow. Don't confuse fan following with bullshit social media clout. You follow people, or they follow you to be informed about what you purchase on Bandcamp, plain and simple. Do you remember when you would buy something and then have to tell your friends about your purchases? Guess what? Bandcamp literally will do that for you cause they know you are lazy. I often listen to what people I've followed purchased, and if I like it, I put it on my wish list. So, if you are not following any music fans, how are you, the music fan, expanding YOUR library?

Now, I do have a bone to pick about the optics of fans in the purchase section. Tons of bands/PR places give out download codes. Social media platforms such as Threads, Blue Sky, and Mastodon are the best places to find these download codes if you want to know where to get them. Music fans get the album for free, which is excellent for them. Still, I worry that it gives the impression that the album is doing well because more fan accounts are displayed as having ‘purchased’ it. That’s my opinion as a music purchaser and not an opinion of a person that makes music.

Bandcamp also has a playlist feature for the music fans but it is only available for albums purchased by the fan, however, this is only available on the app! (we need to petition to sort that out so playlists are public!) This would be a fantastic way for fans to support the bands that they love and when fans have big collections, they could curate some serious cool playlists.

The other thing you can do is connect with an indie record label that is on bandcamp, because any fan that follows a record label gets emails on new releases. My inbox is flooded regularly with new releases, but it does get overwhelming as they put out blasts for new releases more than once.I know of several bands that still have their own bandcamp WHILE being promoted on an indie label bandcamp page. I’m not sure how it works. But I’ve seen bands do it.

One of my favourite parts of Bandcamp is that you can buy Bandcamp gift cards! That’s right, you can purchase a gift card, print it out or send a digital link to the person you want to send it to. You can also purchase albums and send those albums as gifts to others. I have done that a few times as well and I have also received albums as gifts.

Now…. for the part that all you indie artists that had to read all that other crap to get to how to grow your audience..

Growing an audience through bandcamp is very hard to do, since your audience is based on who has purchased your album. In reality, Bandcamp is an online record store, plain and simple. Now that I have shattered the musicians’ dreams of making it big through bandcamp, don’t knee jerk with pulling all your stuff off that platform. Sure Bandcamp is like a record Bandcamp does have staff that do music shows, so perhaps it’s possible to submit to them? And yeah, it’s a digital record store… but a place that has GLOBAL reach.

Bandcamp has some really cool features for musicians such as live streaming where the band can play for an audience…

You as a musician, might not see these benefits I mentioned above about the platform and a music fan, really needs to utilize bandcamp more often especially now that Spotify has changes their payout for streams. You could easily skip your fancy coffee or IPA and buy a record from an indie artist on Bandcamp and in truth the make more money from that than they would see from Spotify (typically… don’t come for me).

The biggest take away from this is, I think, is that bands need to remember Bandcamp is like a record store but on the internet. While it being on the bandcamp platform does make you more accessible to SO many people, all over the world: it’s still, just a record store.

I was originally going to write a piece that discussed both sides of Bandcamp: the fan and the musician but I am not a musician… so I am out of my depth in talking about it from that perspective. If you are a musician I would love for you to fill out this form so that I can write a piece based on your knowledge/experiences with Bandcamp.

Musician's Experiences on Bandcamp