There are are enough web-based digital music distribution services out there to keep ones head spinning like a top for infinity. For independent musicians who manage most of their own promotion and distribution efforts, it can be a daunting prospect to decide which distribution services to use. Over the years, I’ve tried several online methods for selling tracks or albums and by far, the best for making a profit has been selling directly from the official website and taking payments via Paypal. That said, there are some challenges that come with this method. It is usually too time consuming to try to accommodate all the different file resolutions and formats that might be preferred by the listener, especially if you have an international audience. Standards are different all over the world. Europe and particularly Scandinavia tend to be more into OGG files than MP3. AAC has also gained some legs in the past year or so.
This is one area where Bandcamp shines. Bands upload a high resolution file (at least 16bit/44.1khz) and when the listener elects to download a file, he or she is given a choice between a myriad of formats and resolutions.
Another challenge to the home-grown sales route is maintaining the web page to present the songs or albums in a meaningful way, with a means of previewing them and seeing release notes and lyrics. This is another area where Bandcamp shines. The interface for the listener is clean and simple (as is the artist interface) but customizable enough to either present your band in a way that is true to your brand or showcase graphics relevant to your most recent release.
Having said all that, Bandcamp is obviously not the only service that does things similar to this. It is however in my eyes the most artist-friendly, artist-centric service for independent bands. For quite some time, the service was completely free and the guys who run it were pretty up-front that it probably wouldn’t stay that way. Lo and behold, they did ultimately institute a commission on sales but it is one of the best of the field, only 10 - 15% of each sale. Consider iTunes takes about 35%.
What Bandcamp won’t really do for you is promote your work. There is a library of artists on Bandcamp and they are drawing more casual listeners but it is the typical story of what is hot or popular right now being up front while lesser-known acts take the back seat in the index. No, Bandcamp is not a primary way for listeners to discover music they weren’t already aware of but there are a lot of avenues for that sort of exposure. Pandora for instance has opened my eyes to at least 3 great indie acts I had never heard of before. Online radio and podcasts are I think still a couple of the best ways to discover stuff you haven’t heard and if you want, do it in common with your genre preferences. If you’re into electro, new wave, or synthpop, you could check out Robo Cast Radio, a station out of the UK that has featured LowHero.DLL on at least two occasions. Venues like Robo Cast can get you listens but when someone wants to buy, they’ll have to go on a hunt. Luckily Bandcamp has a fairly strong Google ranking, with 800K indexed pages.
Bandcamp is - at least for now - simply a great storefront that facilitates the preview and sale of your tracks. It is like the Etsy of the indie music world. It does its job in a simple, customer friendly way that is very easy to integrate into your official site. They even handle merchandise sales like T-shirts and posters. I can’t think of much more an artist would need in a storefront.
And did I mention that they are very artist-centric? Yes, I think I did but it bears repeating. They aren’t the only game in town but they are are the coolest and most respectful.
Feel free to respond with your feelings on Bandcamp or share your favorite similar services.
