Bandcamp
Bandcamp announces remaining Bandcamp Fridays for 2024
The music platform will waive its share of profits today (September 6th), October 4th, and December 6th. Bandcamp Announces Remaining Bandcamp Fridays for 2024 Eddie Fu
‘Good Music to Ensure Safe Abortion Access to All’ Benefit Album Makes Chart-Topping Debut
The all-star charity album Good Music to Ensure Safe Abortion Access to All debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Compilation Albums chart and also bows at No. 9 on Top Album Sales. The 49-track set sold nearly 8,500 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 13 according to Luminate – the largest sales week for a non-soundtrack compilation album in two years. The benefit album boasts music from Death Cab for Cutie, Fleet Foxes and Pearl Jam, among others, and was exclusively available via Bandcamp’s webstore for one day only, on Oct. 7, as a digital download. According to a press release, the album’s net proceeds will benefit non-profit organizations working to provide abortion care access to all: Brigid Alliance and NOISE FOR NOW (who are working with Abortion Care Network)....
Bandcamp Fridays to Return in September
Bandcamp Fridays are making a return. The popular monthly promotion, during which the platform waives its usual revenue share and gives all proceeds straight to artists and labels, is making a comeback on September 2 after a several-month hiatus following the company’s acquisition by Epic Games in March. Historically, Bandcamp Fridays have taken place on the first Friday of every month, and, according to a blog post from Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond, the promotion will resume this fall. In addition to the September date, Bandcamp Fridays are scheduled for October 7, November 4 and December 2. Since launching Bandcamp Fridays, the company claims the promotion has ceded more than $78 million from over 800,000 fans to artists and their teams over a total of 21 days. On promotion ...
Fortnite Creator Epic Games Acquires Bandcamp
Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, is reportedly acquiring popular music platform Bandcamp. The acquisition is the latest move in the gaming juggernaut’s foray into the music creator economy. This afternoon, Bandcamp shared a blog post penned by Ethan Diamond, its co-founder and CEO, announcing that the company is joining the Epic Games family. Neither Epic Games nor Bandcamp have disclosed financial details, but key infrastructure moves have come to light. Diamond will continue to serve as Bandcamp’s CEO and his team will “keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community.” In his announcement, Diamond reassured users that the platform they know and love will remain intact after the acquisition while lauding Epic...
Bandcamp Bought By Fortnite Maker Epic Games
Bandcamp announced on Wednesday that it has been acquired by Epic Games, the company best known as the makers of Fortnite, for an undisclosed sum. While Fortnite may be Epic’s most well-known property, the company has long been a titan of the gaming and software industry thanks to their Unreal Engine, one of the most popular game engines in history. In a statement published on Bandcamp’s website, CEO Ethan Diamond explained the company’s decision. You can see that full statement below: I’m excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet. Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and I will continue to lead our team. The products and serv...
Kaytranada Drops Over 100 Unearthed Songs Under Old Alias
Following the success of his sophomore album BUBBA and his massive haul at the 2021 Grammy Awards, Kaytranada has shared an astounding amount of never-before-heard music with fans. Over 100 tracks dating back to 2009 have arrived by way of Bandcamp under his old alias, KAYTRADAMUS. All of the music is packaged neatly into 7 unique bundles. The tunes range from remixes of “Bad Girls” by M.I.A. and “Blue Magic” by Jay-Z to entire collections of originals. With such a high count of songs comes a great deal of variety. The Canadian super-producer provides funky, energetic beats while also introducing grimy, bass-heavy offerings. KAYTRANADA cites uncleared samples as the reason why these songs had never been released prior. Releases like th...
Bandcamp Has Been Blocked in China
A new story from Resident Advisor has revealed that the popular music platform Bandcamp is now blocked in China. RA reports that numerous Chinese artists and labels sent proof of the block and confirmed the story. They would go on to share a number of social media posts—including one from a popular Chinese censorship tracking account—that confirmed the ban occurred on February 16th, 2021 and has been ongoing with the exception of February 18th, 2021, when it appears to have been temporarily lifted. Statements from numerous artists note that since website censorship is common, many residents have grown used to using VPNs to bypass the blocking system. A local artist named SVBKVLT spoke to RA about the new restrictions and emphasized the fact that many are ...
Apple’s App Store hosting multi-million dollar scams – developer
Mobile app developer Kosta Eleftheriou has a new calling that goes beyond software development: taking on what he sees as a rampant scam problem ruining the integrity of Apple’s App Store. Eleftheriou, who created the successful Apple Watch keyboard app FlickType, has for the last two weeks been publicly criticizing Apple for lax enforcement of its App Store rules that have allowed scam apps, as well as apps that clone popular software from other developers, to run rampant. These apps enjoy top billing in the iPhone marketplace, all thanks to glowing reviews and sterling five-star ratings that are largely fabricated, he says. Up to now, I’ve been in the “Apple *wants* to do the right thing” camp. My viewpoint is starting to change. How to spot a $5M/year scam on the @AppS...
Bandcamp Expands Its Vinyl Pressing Service to Accommodate 10,000 Indie Artists
Bandcamp made a lot of indie artists happy last year by raising $40 million for musicians during their monthly Bandcamp Fridays campaign. The music platform is keeping that momentum going in 2021 with the announcement of a new initiative that’s possibly even more appealing: they’re going to press vinyl runs for 10,000 different artists on their platform. Back in 2019, the company quietly rolled out the pilot program for an in-house vinyl pressing service. According to an announcement on their website, Bandcamp pressed and shipped 13,000 vinyl units for 50 different artists. In 2021, the Oakland-based music marketplace is ambitiously inviting 200x the amount of musicians to participate in the program. Given that only a small handful of vinyl pressing plants are tasked with manufac...
Bandcamp Fridays Raised $40 Million (!) for Musicians in 2020
Earlier this year, as the pandemic strangled the live events economy, the artist-oriented platform Bandcamp decided to waive its own cut on sales of music and merch on Friday, March 20th. The one-off sale was such a success that the website soon extended it to the first Friday of every month in 2020. With the year almost over, the results are in: artists earned more than $40 million on Bandcamp Fridays in 2020. And since the vaccine isn’t widely available yet, and live music unlikely to return for several months, the platform has announced four more Bandcamp Fridays extending into 2021. While competitors like YouTube and Spotify have long been criticized for their miniscule streaming payout rates, Bandcamp has helped normalize consumers paying for music again. On those special Fridays, the...
‘Bandcamp Fridays’ Raised $40 Million for Artists, Will Continue in 2021
In response to the pandemic earlier this year, Bandcamp waived its own revenue share on the first Friday of every month since March giving artists all proceeds from their sales. Today, the site revealed that artists earned $40 million from those dates and pledged to continue Bandcamp Fridays in 2021. The dates will be Feb. 5, March 5, April 2, and May 7, according to the site. While artists including Bjork and Peter Gabriel have music on Bandcamp, thousands of new and small bands across all genres use the platform to share music, and the Bandcamp website offered thanks to the nearly 800,000 fans who helped creators whose livelihoods were disrupted by the pandemic. In a letter, CEO Ethan Diamond explained that on Bandcamp Fridays, an average of 93 percent of money paid r...
Bandcamp Live: The New Ticketed Streaming Service for Artists
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 se...
