Musicians get the bulk of ticket sales with Bandcamp’s new livestreaming feature.
Bandcamp is on a mission to keep musicians afloat financially and music lovers happy spiritually. While in-person concerts are still on hold, the show must go on(line). Enter Bandcamp Live, described in the platform’s announcement as “a new ticketed live streaming service that makes it easy for artists to perform for and connect with their fans, and for fans to directly support the artists they love.”
For most artists, the majority of revenue comes from live performances. During the global lockdown period, musicians have had to rely heavily on streaming revenue, which oftentimes only pulls in fractions of a cent. Bandcamp Live is looking to change that.
By integrating the service with the rest of the platform, Bandcamp live allows fans to be automatically notified when their favorite artists are hosting a stream. They will then be directed to purchase a ticket for the stream, just like in real life. Artists will also be able to showcase their music and merchandise alongside the stream via a virtual merch table. To top it off, there will also be an optional chat available, which will show purchases from the merch table, driving more sales and fan engagement.
If that wasn’t enough, Bandcamp is nobly waiving their share of revenue until March 31st, 2021. Now, you might be thinking the platform will be taking a large chunk of the profits made on each stream. However, they are instead only charging a 10% fee, which equates to a huge win for struggling musicians. The pricing is described as “completely transparent” and Bandcamp insists that it doesn’t “pretend our ticketing service is free and then surprise your fans with a ‘convenience fee’ when they check out. You set your ticket price to whatever you want, and that’s what your fans are charged.”
Bandcamp has been a leading figure in the fight for artist revenue through their “Bandcamp Friday” series. Since March, the company has waived its revenue share on all sales on the first Friday of every month to give musicians more money from each purchase. “[So] far those have raised $35 million in just 8 days (that’s in addition to the $126 million fans have paid artists via Bandcamp since the pandemic began),” Bandcamp’s announcement reads.
If you are interested in streaming live on Bandcamp, click here.
