When I finished making my Found My Way album in the autumn of 2019, I released it for distribution through CD Baby. This meant that it was quickly available through Spotify and other streaming services, and initially available to download as quality mp3 files directly from CD Baby.
But CD Baby stopped offering downloads, so I needed to think again. That’s when Bandcamp came into the picture.
During the summer of 2020 I eventually got around to getting the physical CD version sorted, as some people had indicated that they wanted physical copies of the album. I announced the arrival of the CD copies here.
Enter Bandcamp
Some time ago I realised that CD Baby were no longer doing downloads so people who wanted to get hold of the album on mp3 couldn’t do so. I realised I need another solution.
Late last year there seemed to be a flurry of people releasing things via Bandcamp, and I decided to investigate. I had heard of Bandcamp before, and had even bought a couple of albums through it, but had never really thought about using it as an artist.
Well the signup process was pretty easy and before too long I had my own Bandcamp artist account, and the Found My Way album page is here. I’ve also uploaded my Life Line album from a few years ago.
The advantages of Bandcamp
For a singer/songwriter like myself Bandcamp offers the flexibility to release albums or tracks in whatever combination you want. You can just upload the songs in a grouping, and that becomes an album.
You can also supply artwork for the album, some general notes about the album and copyright information for each of the individual tracks.
People who are interested can buy the whole album, or just individual tracks if they prefer. And Bandcamp even allows users to play the tracks a few times without having to buy them.
Obviously Bandcamp doesn’t offer all this for free, and they charge a 10 – 15% commission on every purchase. But that’s not bad really.
What do you think?
It’s easy to think about things as an ‘artist’ (in Bandcamp’s terms), but what about you? Does Bandcamp offer everything that a music lover needs? And is there anything obvious that’s missing?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Keep well, and keep safe.
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