Anti-algorithmic music: How Bandcamp is helping artists beat the odds(residentadvisor.net)
residentadvisor.net
Anti-algorithmic music: How Bandcamp is helping artists beat the odds
https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3703
105 comments
Thanks for a great site - I love how shopping for music on Bandcamp feels quite personal. I particularly like that it is all based around the record label - especially in more niche genres, the labels are absolutely fundamental and there’s a good chance that if you like a record, you’ll find loads more interesting stuff on the same label.
For whatever reason, Spotify etc. seem to demote the existence of the label to a tiny font with no label “home page” or anything. You can search by label but it’s pretty hidden and doesn’t work 100%. I wonder if part of their long term plan is to remove labels from the equation...
Anyway, I was wondering if you had any plans for a public facing API to search your catalogue? I’ve got loads of ideas for content discovery tools but the lack of an API makes them impractical. For example, I built this to find your top Spotify artists on Bandcamp, but without an API all it can do is link off to a search so it’s quite a frustrating UX: https://tomduncalf.github.io/supportify/
For whatever reason, Spotify etc. seem to demote the existence of the label to a tiny font with no label “home page” or anything. You can search by label but it’s pretty hidden and doesn’t work 100%. I wonder if part of their long term plan is to remove labels from the equation...
Anyway, I was wondering if you had any plans for a public facing API to search your catalogue? I’ve got loads of ideas for content discovery tools but the lack of an API makes them impractical. For example, I built this to find your top Spotify artists on Bandcamp, but without an API all it can do is link off to a search so it’s quite a frustrating UX: https://tomduncalf.github.io/supportify/
Yes please, an API!
Also there's a recurring theme/running gag on NTS Radio that it's faster to find releases on Bandcamp through Google than through the internal search. I've witnessed several times that linking to releases is crowdsourced to the NTS chat because the DJs can't find it fast enough.
And they are pushing Bandcamp a lot, with whole shows dedicated solely to music available on Bandcamp. Mostly on the "no-fee fridays".
So an improved search or an API to enable external discovery tools would be great!
Also there's a recurring theme/running gag on NTS Radio that it's faster to find releases on Bandcamp through Google than through the internal search. I've witnessed several times that linking to releases is crowdsourced to the NTS chat because the DJs can't find it fast enough.
And they are pushing Bandcamp a lot, with whole shows dedicated solely to music available on Bandcamp. Mostly on the "no-fee fridays".
So an improved search or an API to enable external discovery tools would be great!
An API would be amazing, I'd much rather be pulling new releases than getting newsletters :)
I can't comment on our plans, but I personally totally agree with you and would love an API (and will continue to advocate for one!). Supportify is super cool :)
Thanks for the reply, fingers crossed :) Keep up the great work!
A lot of listeners chiming in about how great Bandcamp is for listeners, but I also want to sing the praises of the experience as an independent musician publishing music.
Even a nobody like me with no label and no interest in marketing my music can trivially upload my music, manage my own page with my own branding (in theory), and get the stats I care about on how people engage with the music. For free (technically for a revenue share, but I don't sell my music)!
And unlike something like Spotify/iTunes/Soundcloud, the platform is not the dominant brand when someone visits my Bandcamp page.
On top of all this, Bandcamp's been super generous with dropping their revenue share during the outbreak to help artists.
So yeah, I love everything about it. Bandcamp's hands-down my favorite music publishing platform, no contest. Thanks and long may it continue!
Even a nobody like me with no label and no interest in marketing my music can trivially upload my music, manage my own page with my own branding (in theory), and get the stats I care about on how people engage with the music. For free (technically for a revenue share, but I don't sell my music)!
And unlike something like Spotify/iTunes/Soundcloud, the platform is not the dominant brand when someone visits my Bandcamp page.
On top of all this, Bandcamp's been super generous with dropping their revenue share during the outbreak to help artists.
So yeah, I love everything about it. Bandcamp's hands-down my favorite music publishing platform, no contest. Thanks and long may it continue!
All of that is fantastic! And as a relative nobody independent artist myself I totally agree with you, it's why I work there. Thanks for using the site!
Bandcamp had been my favorite music store since it launched, it's simply "how things should be done" ! It's the first place since the mp3 boom where I actually spend money and feel really good about it. Big up!
Just wanted to say thank you for what you helped build. I buy almost all my albums on BC nowadays (the exception are those few who aren’t on there). And I love being able to listen through a whole album before deciding.
You are very welcome, and that's great to hear :) Thank you for supporting independent artists (and us)!
You guys really seem to be one of the very few companies in this space that manage to put the artist and the listener first, without some kind of adversarial relationship.
We hope to release our first EP at the end of the summer. Looking forward to putting it on Bandcamp!
We hope to release our first EP at the end of the summer. Looking forward to putting it on Bandcamp!
> Thank you for supporting independent artists
While many are independent, you also have a lot of labels on BC (at least for metal) ;)
While many are independent, you also have a lot of labels on BC (at least for metal) ;)
If you're affiliated with bandcamp, I have a question: is there something like bandcamp radio coming out sometime? I don't know about others but I have trouble actually discovering stuff on bandcamp. Every artists page seems to be cut off from other artists and I haven't found a way to just let random or similar artists be played.
Jamendo has radios, "best of" and "trending" lists per genre, artist, tag and across their whole music selection which makes discovery really easy. For bandcamp, knowledge of who's who seems to be necessary and I don't have the time to be that into music. That's why jamendo has been getting my money lately.
Jamendo has radios, "best of" and "trending" lists per genre, artist, tag and across their whole music selection which makes discovery really easy. For bandcamp, knowledge of who's who seems to be necessary and I don't have the time to be that into music. That's why jamendo has been getting my money lately.
I plugged elsewhere here, but I put together https://bandhiking.isandrew.com/ because I had the same problem. It's basically a Bandcamp radio thing. (I've found a few dozen things over the last month or so using to it!)
Niiiice! Thanks a lot! That's very much more what I was looking for. And opensource too!
Good job :)
Good job :)
Discover on the Bandcamp homepage is good for this, and we have pretty good genre-specific tag pages now that have a combination of algorithmic and curated picks, and you can dig in real deep with your own filters if you want. Example: https://bandcamp.com/tag/electronic
I work on the discovery team, so this is great feedback to have, thank you :)
(also proper radio is a great idea)
I work on the discovery team, so this is great feedback to have, thank you :)
(also proper radio is a great idea)
I'll copy my response to a comment made earlier:
Hmm, I had a look at it and though I like the top layout, what's missing is automatically playing the next item. I can't just hit play, resume doing something else and when the occasional good song pops up add it to my favorites, a playlist or just open it in a new tab and play the whole album.
Maybe my way of discovering music isn't normal, but I think Soundcloud and Jamendo did it pretty well. I could have music playing for ages and keep adding to my favorites and playlists without actively having to know any artist.
---------------
The /tag/ page worked only for the highlights, but "all electronic releases" would only play one song and I couldn't play the next song (Firefox 77). In theory though, that's more of what I'm looking for, so thumbs up.
Not sure how long the discovery part has been up, but to me it seems new.
Also, Soundcloud's feature of playing similar songs from the track's page was very nice. That would also help a lot with music discovery.
Hmm, I had a look at it and though I like the top layout, what's missing is automatically playing the next item. I can't just hit play, resume doing something else and when the occasional good song pops up add it to my favorites, a playlist or just open it in a new tab and play the whole album.
Maybe my way of discovering music isn't normal, but I think Soundcloud and Jamendo did it pretty well. I could have music playing for ages and keep adding to my favorites and playlists without actively having to know any artist.
---------------
The /tag/ page worked only for the highlights, but "all electronic releases" would only play one song and I couldn't play the next song (Firefox 77). In theory though, that's more of what I'm looking for, so thumbs up.
Not sure how long the discovery part has been up, but to me it seems new.
Also, Soundcloud's feature of playing similar songs from the track's page was very nice. That would also help a lot with music discovery.
The Discover section on the front page is good for this: https://bandcamp.com/#discover
You can sort by genre and a few other variables, but I leave it on the default settings and listen to anything that seems interesting, one page at a time. The Discover section is available on the android app, but it doesn't give me the same feeling that I'm rummaging through a record store.
You can sort by genre and a few other variables, but I leave it on the default settings and listen to anything that seems interesting, one page at a time. The Discover section is available on the android app, but it doesn't give me the same feeling that I'm rummaging through a record store.
Hmm, I had a look at it and though I like the top layout, what's missing is automatically playing the next item. I can't just hit play, resume doing something else and when the occasional good song pops up add it to my favorites, a playlist or just open it in a new tab and play the whole album.
Maybe my way of discovering music isn't normal, but I think Soundcloud and Jamendo did it pretty well. I could have music playing for ages and keep adding to my favorites and playlists without actively having to know any artist.
Thanks for the link nonetheless.
Maybe my way of discovering music isn't normal, but I think Soundcloud and Jamendo did it pretty well. I could have music playing for ages and keep adding to my favorites and playlists without actively having to know any artist.
Thanks for the link nonetheless.
Use the feed. Follow artists/labels you like and fans whose tastes you enjoy (Bandcamp will automatically suggest some every so often inline with other feed entries). Visit the homepage and Discover every now and then to get a broader perspective and find more leads to plug into your feed. And don't be afraid to prune things that no longer spark joy from your following list.
Y'all are awesome!
Any chance that the app will get Chromecast support?
Any chance that the app will get Chromecast support?
Hey, thanks!
I can't really comment, but it is a common request... I'm curious, are you using Chromecast via TV or Chromecast Audio (or something else)?
I can't really comment, but it is a common request... I'm curious, are you using Chromecast via TV or Chromecast Audio (or something else)?
I have both devices but in this case it would be Chromecast Audio. I currently get by with casting my screen but native Chromecast support in Bandcamp would be much better - music would go directly from bandcamp.com to Chromecast Audio as opposed to bandcamp.com to my phone to Chromecast. Would save a lot of phone battery and the extra decode + reencode on phone that happens in casting the screen.
This is something I'd really like too, I have the speakers in my apartment set up with a pair of Chromecast audios, and would use the bandcamp app a lot more if it could work with them. At the moment I just try to find the bands on Google music instead, because that does work.
I'm using both Chromecast widgets.
Thank you for all of your hard work! I consistently hold up Bandcamp as a shining pillar of how to do media distribution right. Keep being excellent!
Thank you!
Your platform changed the way I consumed and discovered music. Now I complemented that with a steaming service but still fall back to BC for some material.
Really digged the job puzzles you had too... even when I wasn't actively looking was fun to solve. Just a shame you're not hiring at the moment.
Really digged the job puzzles you had too... even when I wasn't actively looking was fun to solve. Just a shame you're not hiring at the moment.
Ah yes, I remember the "check headers" task as the first step
Thank you for the last decade or so of amazing music. Love Bandcamp.
I can't say enough good stuff about Bandcamp. All of the underground IDM is on there, the app is great (it caches stuff locally) and they let you download the music you buy in high quality. Setting up and customizing a store is also very easy. I even got a sale on there once, which is more than I can say for any other music selling/streaming platform.
seconded, bandcamp has been my primary source of music for quite a while. I admire the company very much, use the site daily, and annoy people with my frequent pitches.
that said, I have to disagree with you about the app. in particular, the cache seems to be the source of my woes. it's difficult (impossible? I don't even know) to deal with any payment or cart related features through the app.
my main problem is that songs regularly get stuck in a bad state, only starting the songs at random points instead of 0:00, and the only way I've discovered to fix this once and for all is to delete all data. sometimes songs just won't play, and I retreat to youtube to listen to something that I've already purchased.
that said, I have to disagree with you about the app. in particular, the cache seems to be the source of my woes. it's difficult (impossible? I don't even know) to deal with any payment or cart related features through the app.
my main problem is that songs regularly get stuck in a bad state, only starting the songs at random points instead of 0:00, and the only way I've discovered to fix this once and for all is to delete all data. sometimes songs just won't play, and I retreat to youtube to listen to something that I've already purchased.
Any underground IDM recommendations?
Trackermatte. I'd check out the album Ná. He also has an album on his Bandcamp page called "Growth" by "The Florists" that has a gorgeous closing track.
Not sure he's underground (and more acid than IDM), but Ceephax Acid Crew is always excellent. I especially recommend the releases Acid Quakers 1000, Exidy Tours, World Dissolver, and Cro Magnox (but really, look up any of his music videos on YouTube. They're insanely fun)
For more downtempo or glitchy type stuff, check out:
Lanark Artefax - Whities 011 (Touch Absence is a track that shouldn't be missed. The music video is good too)
Proem - Socially Inept
Lusine - Condensed (the track Rushhour is superb)
Grischa Lichtenberger - Graviton - cx (rigid transmission)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete
Albums not on Bandcamp worth checking out:
Access to Arasaka - void();
Richard Devine - Asect:Dsect
You probably know these, bit worth mentioning:
Venetian Snares - "Hospitality" and "Rossz Csillag Alatt Született"
Autechre - Oversteps
Alva Noto - "Xerrox" series
Not sure he's underground (and more acid than IDM), but Ceephax Acid Crew is always excellent. I especially recommend the releases Acid Quakers 1000, Exidy Tours, World Dissolver, and Cro Magnox (but really, look up any of his music videos on YouTube. They're insanely fun)
For more downtempo or glitchy type stuff, check out:
Lanark Artefax - Whities 011 (Touch Absence is a track that shouldn't be missed. The music video is good too)
Proem - Socially Inept
Lusine - Condensed (the track Rushhour is superb)
Grischa Lichtenberger - Graviton - cx (rigid transmission)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete
Albums not on Bandcamp worth checking out:
Access to Arasaka - void();
Richard Devine - Asect:Dsect
You probably know these, bit worth mentioning:
Venetian Snares - "Hospitality" and "Rossz Csillag Alatt Született"
Autechre - Oversteps
Alva Noto - "Xerrox" series
> Touch Absence
One of my favourite tracks of the last few years, such great production
I know a few of the others (used to love that Proem album, big Alva Noto fan), will check the rest. Thanks!
One of my favourite tracks of the last few years, such great production
I know a few of the others (used to love that Proem album, big Alva Noto fan), will check the rest. Thanks!
Just listening to it for the first time, I feel the song is unconsciously inspired by Radiohead's "Idioteque". Lots of interesting recommendations there though!
Ah yeah, interesting reference, I can hear that for sure!
Trackermatte has “22 active listeners” on spotify. Looks like I need to branch out.
> Lanark Artefax - Whities 011
Just copped this the other week! Good record.
Just copped this the other week! Good record.
Some of these labels veer towards electro sometimes but there's some decent IDM mixed in at the least.
* Analogical force
https://analogicalforce.bandcamp.com
* Further electronix
https://furthurelectronix.bandcamp.com/
* Touched - quite varied output, some IDM
https://touched.bandcamp.com/
* CPU records
https://shop.cpurecords.net/
Here are some more labels from the chilled out side:
* City centre offices
* Morr music
* ~scape
* Kit records
https://kitrecs.bandcamp.com/
Artists:
* BRAINWALTZERA (big tip!)
* James Shinra
* Cristoph de Babylon
* Doghn
* Bochum Welt
* The Remote Viewer (especially the "black" album, can't remember the name)
* Jan Jelinek (dub IDM sort of)
* Global communication
* Analogical force
https://analogicalforce.bandcamp.com
* Further electronix
https://furthurelectronix.bandcamp.com/
* Touched - quite varied output, some IDM
https://touched.bandcamp.com/
* CPU records
https://shop.cpurecords.net/
Here are some more labels from the chilled out side:
* City centre offices
* Morr music
* ~scape
* Kit records
https://kitrecs.bandcamp.com/
Artists:
* BRAINWALTZERA (big tip!)
* James Shinra
* Cristoph de Babylon
* Doghn
* Bochum Welt
* The Remote Viewer (especially the "black" album, can't remember the name)
* Jan Jelinek (dub IDM sort of)
* Global communication
> Any underground IDM recommendations?
If you're a fan of the 90s-2000 stuff from SF's SomaFM [1] their playlist is always pretty good, I actually ripped their entire station (back in the early 2000s there was only Groove Salad and maybe 2-3 others) for 6 months and bought pieces here and there as I went along. My favorite was a rare Lloop album, and a remix album of The Irresistible Force's track Nepalese Bliss. I always wanted a vinyl copy of Stryke - Introspection, I already have the CD version, but couldn't find it anywhere, even on Discogs after all these years. I got a bunch of Higher Intelligence Agency stuff, too somewhere in a box.
It's hard to know exactly when IDM turns into Ambient, and where Ambient can cross over to Triphop on that station, but I found a ton of amazing stuff from really niche artists like Global Communication, Mark Pritchard, who eventually got into the same Dubstep sound I was into later on and got his stuff released on one of the most venerates labels at the Time (DeepMedi). He even came from Australia and played at the Dub War nights in NY with Joe Nice.
I actually met Gel-Sol randomly in a chatroom, and he gave me a cut of his album with no strings attached [2] when I recognized his name back when I was an incoming freshman living in the dorms to listen and review while we spoke. I never saw him again after we spent all night talking about EDM/IDM artists we liked and the album ahead of its release. My GF at the time just rolled her eyes and told me I could have just told her I didn't want to hang out instead of making up some elaborate lie to stay in my room all night on the computer.
I just played Few and Far Between while updating this with links and it still puts a smile on my face remembering that night.
Those were crazy fun days that I'm still fond of, especially given where my musical tastes have gone throughout the years spanning/DJ'ng dark deep UK halfstep 140/170BPM and now into Darksynth and Dark Elctro as it doesn't make any sense as I originally come from the chiller, cerebral, calmer IDM ambient side of EDM, too.
Here is another playlist with featured Groove salad tracks to check out [3].
Glad to see the Bandcamp guys checking in, thanks for what you do, guys!
1: https://somafm.com/
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOCSzUMn4MA
3: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC92F5746C6D6A454
If you're a fan of the 90s-2000 stuff from SF's SomaFM [1] their playlist is always pretty good, I actually ripped their entire station (back in the early 2000s there was only Groove Salad and maybe 2-3 others) for 6 months and bought pieces here and there as I went along. My favorite was a rare Lloop album, and a remix album of The Irresistible Force's track Nepalese Bliss. I always wanted a vinyl copy of Stryke - Introspection, I already have the CD version, but couldn't find it anywhere, even on Discogs after all these years. I got a bunch of Higher Intelligence Agency stuff, too somewhere in a box.
It's hard to know exactly when IDM turns into Ambient, and where Ambient can cross over to Triphop on that station, but I found a ton of amazing stuff from really niche artists like Global Communication, Mark Pritchard, who eventually got into the same Dubstep sound I was into later on and got his stuff released on one of the most venerates labels at the Time (DeepMedi). He even came from Australia and played at the Dub War nights in NY with Joe Nice.
I actually met Gel-Sol randomly in a chatroom, and he gave me a cut of his album with no strings attached [2] when I recognized his name back when I was an incoming freshman living in the dorms to listen and review while we spoke. I never saw him again after we spent all night talking about EDM/IDM artists we liked and the album ahead of its release. My GF at the time just rolled her eyes and told me I could have just told her I didn't want to hang out instead of making up some elaborate lie to stay in my room all night on the computer.
I just played Few and Far Between while updating this with links and it still puts a smile on my face remembering that night.
Those were crazy fun days that I'm still fond of, especially given where my musical tastes have gone throughout the years spanning/DJ'ng dark deep UK halfstep 140/170BPM and now into Darksynth and Dark Elctro as it doesn't make any sense as I originally come from the chiller, cerebral, calmer IDM ambient side of EDM, too.
Here is another playlist with featured Groove salad tracks to check out [3].
Glad to see the Bandcamp guys checking in, thanks for what you do, guys!
1: https://somafm.com/
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOCSzUMn4MA
3: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC92F5746C6D6A454
Wow SomaFM is awesome, I never heard of it before, but I listened for like 30 min and already found 3 songs I love that I never heard off. Including a new one by a band that I thought broke up!
Nice, I'm going to end up spending all day listening to Future Sound of London and Beaumont Hannant now :)
I personally don’t have any recommendations but I’ve found awesome stuff by following other users with similar tastes. I get an email letting me know when they bought something new, and presumably if they like it enough to pay for it and share my taste then it will probably be really good.
West Mineral, Experiences Ltd.
Keeping track of new releases on these labels has become a complete obsession. That Ulla record sold out sharpish!!
IDM? Industrial death metal?
MASTER BOOT RECORD might scratch that itch.
I just bought two MBR albums. In the simplest terms, I would describe the project as baroque synth metal. It's really in a category of its own though. I don't know how to describe "industrial" really, but the music definitely lacks the brutality associated with most "death metal".
However, MBR earns some major geek cred by probably being the only music project running its own IRC, BBS, gopher, etc.. HTTP is totally worth a visit if just for the pretty CSS: http://mbrserver.com
However, MBR earns some major geek cred by probably being the only music project running its own IRC, BBS, gopher, etc.. HTTP is totally worth a visit if just for the pretty CSS: http://mbrserver.com
Oh yes, MBR is “raw” but oh so very good. It is difficult to describe, Bach meets Chiptunes meets Metal? “CONFIG.SYS” [1] from “ C : \ >CHKDSK /F” is probably my favourite from his early work.
[1]: https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/track/config-sys
Do dig up his “WAREZ” too, his album of remixes, that are not on Bandcamp – the Doom remix is to die for.
[1]: https://masterbootrecord.bandcamp.com/track/config-sys
Do dig up his “WAREZ” too, his album of remixes, that are not on Bandcamp – the Doom remix is to die for.
Alas, no. “intelligent dance music”
May I recommend Igorrr, which is both Intelligent Dance Music and Industrial Death Metal.
https://igorrr.bandcamp.com/
https://igorrr.bandcamp.com/
Something like The Algorithm might also be in the same ballpark. https://thealgorithm.bandcamp.com/
I appreciate the irony, on a post titled "anti-algorithmic music"
Bandcamp is proof that you don't have to be a predator to your clients or your users to run an online business. I love your service and I hope you all keep it up!
Bandcamp is the best. Reasonable prices on drm-free, lossless downloads plus an app that lets you easily stream your purchases on the go. I happily spend my money there on a weekly basis.
On a related note, if there were a similar site for drm-free movie purchases, I’d be all over it.
On a related note, if there were a similar site for drm-free movie purchases, I’d be all over it.
> On a related note, if there were a similar site for drm-free movie purchases, I’d be all over it.
No joke. Call me old fashioned, but I love self-hosting my music collection and BandCamp is a key in facilitating that. I would do the same with movies if it were an option.
No joke. Call me old fashioned, but I love self-hosting my music collection and BandCamp is a key in facilitating that. I would do the same with movies if it were an option.
I love that Bandcamp provides FLAC downloads. I have racks of CDs and I'm not keen on buying more physical items which I just rip and listen to digitally. A FLAC download completely replaces a CD for me.
And for my convenience they also provide Ogg Vorbis downloads which I prefer for putting on mobile devices due to reduced storage requirements.
With most any other site you can only get MP3s.
When I first discovered Bandcamp ~5 years ago it was pretty hard to find (metal) bands of interest. By now the site has really caught on and tons of established bands that I have been listening to for years are releasing their music there.
It's still also really good for obscure stuff too. There was a band from my city (in the USA) whose album could only be bought in Germany. Only after they made a Bandcamp release was I finally able to obtain it!
And for my convenience they also provide Ogg Vorbis downloads which I prefer for putting on mobile devices due to reduced storage requirements.
With most any other site you can only get MP3s.
When I first discovered Bandcamp ~5 years ago it was pretty hard to find (metal) bands of interest. By now the site has really caught on and tons of established bands that I have been listening to for years are releasing their music there.
It's still also really good for obscure stuff too. There was a band from my city (in the USA) whose album could only be bought in Germany. Only after they made a Bandcamp release was I finally able to obtain it!
I've been waiting Caladan Brood to put their music on streaming services for ages, but they've been on BandCamp forever! You're not from Salt Lake City, are you?!
I am, in fact! Good guess! I was actually referring to the related project Gallowbraid. Caladan Brood is great too. Ironically, I heard about both of these bands from a friend in Germany.
https://gallowbraid-northernsilence.bandcamp.com
https://gallowbraid-northernsilence.bandcamp.com
Waited for your confirmation, although there aren't many bands from US on Northern Silence IIRC.
Brood's album was on Spotify for a brief time until it was retracted (by label or guys no one knows). Since there was some movement on GB's site there might be some hope, as that request is literally under each video with songs from either project.
Cheers from Urals!
Brood's album was on Spotify for a brief time until it was retracted (by label or guys no one knows). Since there was some movement on GB's site there might be some hope, as that request is literally under each video with songs from either project.
Cheers from Urals!
You could also just reencode the flac files to opus/ogg yourself, it's not like that takes any resources to speak of
Worth noting. Tomorrow (3 July), Bandcamp is waiving their revenue share on all sales. More info here: https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-covid-19-fundra...
Exactly. I was just about to post that, I'm going to be buying a few discographies tomm. Specifically, Carpenter Brut's stuff who released a really crazy film based [1] on its music video for Turbo Killer [2]. It's worth checking out if you're into rock-sounding synthwave with 80's themed psychedelic visuals.
I'm also buying like 3 more to support artists.
ABout 7 years go now, Soundcloud enabled Bitcoin donations, and about a team of 5 guys includin me went on a tipping frenzy and tried to get adoption going that way. It was funny, because reddit allowed for direct Bitcoin donations there via a bot and you could name it whatever you wanted. So we did the same on Soundcloud, it's funny because I log into my old soundcloud account at the History of them is still there.
Anyhow, I tipped like 20-30 guys on SC and even got some runway from an early adopter ($100?) to take it further and met a few EDM guys coming into Hollywood/LA area for a few sets and tried to explain it to them as none of them picked up there funds. Apparently, Soundcould didn't do a good job of notifying them that they had money waiting for them so ultimately it failed.
I ended up giving the Bits I had left into people who set up full nodes on the network. But I always thought, especially as a DJ myself, that supporting artists with micropayments would be a good solution. Youtube now allows for tipping in their chatbox as I saw a few in house performances/sets be tipped by followers and fans, but it was always over $1+, which is awesome, but entirely impractical if you want people to send what little they may have on hand to listen a song/remix/dj set/podcast for most people unless you have a very dedicated and quite frankly affluent followers. I'd rather have a 100k-million fans tip 10-50 cents then the four or five die-hards give $10 so I can continue to make content. Paetreon, Gofundme, Kickstarter and such are just needless middlemen at this point and hosting content is super cheap with even multimedia with a $5/month vimeo account.
Anyhow, happy hunting tomorrow, I'm all digital now so I can buy and support a lot more music/artists I otherwise had to ignore because of format.
1: http://bloodmachines.com/
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er416Ad3R1g
I'm also buying like 3 more to support artists.
ABout 7 years go now, Soundcloud enabled Bitcoin donations, and about a team of 5 guys includin me went on a tipping frenzy and tried to get adoption going that way. It was funny, because reddit allowed for direct Bitcoin donations there via a bot and you could name it whatever you wanted. So we did the same on Soundcloud, it's funny because I log into my old soundcloud account at the History of them is still there.
Anyhow, I tipped like 20-30 guys on SC and even got some runway from an early adopter ($100?) to take it further and met a few EDM guys coming into Hollywood/LA area for a few sets and tried to explain it to them as none of them picked up there funds. Apparently, Soundcould didn't do a good job of notifying them that they had money waiting for them so ultimately it failed.
I ended up giving the Bits I had left into people who set up full nodes on the network. But I always thought, especially as a DJ myself, that supporting artists with micropayments would be a good solution. Youtube now allows for tipping in their chatbox as I saw a few in house performances/sets be tipped by followers and fans, but it was always over $1+, which is awesome, but entirely impractical if you want people to send what little they may have on hand to listen a song/remix/dj set/podcast for most people unless you have a very dedicated and quite frankly affluent followers. I'd rather have a 100k-million fans tip 10-50 cents then the four or five die-hards give $10 so I can continue to make content. Paetreon, Gofundme, Kickstarter and such are just needless middlemen at this point and hosting content is super cheap with even multimedia with a $5/month vimeo account.
Anyhow, happy hunting tomorrow, I'm all digital now so I can buy and support a lot more music/artists I otherwise had to ignore because of format.
1: http://bloodmachines.com/
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er416Ad3R1g
Frankly I've stopped using any kind of 'less legal' method of getting MP3s and just buy FLACs from Bandcamp daily now. It's a great site and pretty much everything I've ever wanted is there.
This. Absolutely this.
I used to be terrible for "less legal" downloads until I discovered beatport, Juno and bandcamp.
I'm pretty sure bandcamp is one of the reasons for my vinyl habit now. Complete 180.
I used to be terrible for "less legal" downloads until I discovered beatport, Juno and bandcamp.
I'm pretty sure bandcamp is one of the reasons for my vinyl habit now. Complete 180.
Me too. Though I went spotify -> vinyl -> bandcamp. Spotify is still useful, but much better to own.
Bandcamp has been of the best things to ever happen to DIY music. It’s given a tremendous amount of power to artists, power that used to be held almost exclusively by labels. We’re finally at a point where many bands can make decent money without having to worry about “getting signed” to a label and losing so much control in the process.
While this is true, it should also be noted that distributors have already updated their business model to take a cut of Bandcamp sales. e.g. label X uses distributor Y to manage the process of their tracks in as many online stores and streaming platforms as possible, and to collect revenue. Distributor Y then takes the credentials for Bandcamp and operates that in the same way as it does everywhere else, taking a certain sizable. It's still better than the old model but it doesn't mean all money goes to the artists.
I’m not aware of any digital distribution platforms that automate the Bandcamp process and take a cut of that revenue, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that was happening somewhere. Which distributors are doing this?
It should also be said that plenty of labels are operating Bandcamp pages, where they can take a cut of digital sales and then pay (or not pay...) artists. It can make sense for artists who are trying leverage the resources of a larger organization. IMO it’s something bands should negotiate aggressively since Bandcamp might be their best (possibly their only!) shot at recouping their expenses or selling merch.
It should also be said that plenty of labels are operating Bandcamp pages, where they can take a cut of digital sales and then pay (or not pay...) artists. It can make sense for artists who are trying leverage the resources of a larger organization. IMO it’s something bands should negotiate aggressively since Bandcamp might be their best (possibly their only!) shot at recouping their expenses or selling merch.
I built a tool a few years ago to search for your top Spotify artists on Bandcamp. It’s just a simple front end on a Spotify API query, unfortunately there’s no Bandcamp API so all it can do is link to a search for that artist, but it could still provide a useful jumping off point for discovery: https://tomduncalf.github.io/supportify/
It all happens client side, no tracking or data collection or anything - you can view the source to check :)
It all happens client side, no tracking or data collection or anything - you can view the source to check :)
Excellent! The code looks clean too.
I'm looking for a tool to export Spotify playlists to text/csv and can only find weird commercial solutions; maybe the way to go is to use `spotify-web-api-js` and build it on the client side.
I'm looking for a tool to export Spotify playlists to text/csv and can only find weird commercial solutions; maybe the way to go is to use `spotify-web-api-js` and build it on the client side.
Ah I used to use https://www.playlist-converter.net/ but seems it has recently stopped working :(. Yeah you could do something with the API fairly easily I think, the Spotify API is actually awesome, has some really cool stuff like audio analysis and recommendations for tracks in there.
Self plug because it's super relevant (I think)! I made Bandhiking https://bandhiking.isandrew.com/ to help find new music on Bandcamp.
It's basically a randomized top list player, but it lets you just put some music on in the background and mark the stuff you liked.
It's basically a randomized top list player, but it lets you just put some music on in the background and mark the stuff you liked.
As a DJ I use Bandcamp a lot. There's so much stuff on there that you just cannot find on other platforms such as Beatport. It also feels great to pay the artist or label directly. Often they let you set your own price for an EP or album (with some low minimum, like 5eu for the whole EP).
Truly an amazing platform.
Truly an amazing platform.
Bandcamp should implement support for Media Session API, to be able to use desktop integrated player controls when their playlists are opened in the browser. Youtube supports it and it works pretty well with Firefox and KDE plasma browser integration. But Bandcamp palylists don't.
This is cool.. I was trying to figure out how to get macOS next/prev controls to trigger events in Safari but haven't had any luck. This seems like a cool API for doing that sort of thing (though, sadly, no Safari support)
I love Bandcamp. It is my primary place for exploring and purchasing new music. Their generous policies around previewing, the ability to browse through niche labels to find similar music, and flac support make it hard to beat.
I am also really happy that Paysage d'Hiver got a call out in the article. Such an amazing, one person, lo-fi, atmospheric black metal. It's great to program to as it just drowns out any distractions.
> Someone grabs an LP from Paysage d'Hiver, the Swiss black metal band.
I am also really happy that Paysage d'Hiver got a call out in the article. Such an amazing, one person, lo-fi, atmospheric black metal. It's great to program to as it just drowns out any distractions.
> Someone grabs an LP from Paysage d'Hiver, the Swiss black metal band.
Nice.. https://paysagedhiver.bandcamp.com
The one (20 minute) track that I listened to had sort of a atmospheric Bathory feel.
The one (20 minute) track that I listened to had sort of a atmospheric Bathory feel.
Love bandcamp.
Being able to buy the whole catalogue from an artist with one click is great. Maybe patreon style subscription for artists you like could also be interesting - reliable subscription revenue would make a world of difference to many artists.
And please add playlists!
Being able to buy the whole catalogue from an artist with one click is great. Maybe patreon style subscription for artists you like could also be interesting - reliable subscription revenue would make a world of difference to many artists.
And please add playlists!
I love bandcamp. Just the other day I read some reviews of the new Jessie Ware album. She's a fairly mainstream, moderately successful pop artist from the UK. I thought ... no way she's on Bandcamp. But ... there it was, her brand new album, available in FLAC, ogg, whatever. Bandcamp is the union of everything that was good about the original mp3.com and cdbaby.
ps. if you like 80s sophisticated disco, that Jessie Ware album "What's Your Pleasure" is totally awesome.
ps. if you like 80s sophisticated disco, that Jessie Ware album "What's Your Pleasure" is totally awesome.
Very nice to see Bandcamp here. As it so reminds me, I have some ambient tracks on Soundcloud that I made during a really crazy trip over here in the pandemics. If any fellow hackers would like to listen, here. Would these be interesting in bandcamp?
https://soundcloud.com/nidnogg
Love to see Bandcamp get some love on hn. I'd like to give a shout out to their Bandcamp weekly podcast, which I think to a great job of showcasing releases and artists:
Current episode:
https://bandcamp.com/?show=378
Current episode:
https://bandcamp.com/?show=378
Love the UI and feel of Bandcamp, it's like a glass of iced water in algorithm driven hell.
I've probably spent thousands of Euros over the years on music via Bandcamp, mostly in the form of vinyl.
Big thank-you to the team behind Bandcamp and their fairer payout model to artists (compared to other outlets)
Big thank-you to the team behind Bandcamp and their fairer payout model to artists (compared to other outlets)
This might the most positive comment thread in the history of Hacker News?
Can we please have playlist functionality?
I have to download then manage via iTunes and upload to my phone, which seems crazy as I have 100s of tracks available on BC itself...
I have to download then manage via iTunes and upload to my phone, which seems crazy as I have 100s of tracks available on BC itself...
I actually find it refreshingly anti-commercial that Bandcamp has a fairly basic app and a low key approach to curation. I think having a very basic player in the app fits well with a kind of anti-DRM "it's your's now, we don't care what you do with it/BYO[everything else]" mentality.
Focusing on an app often seems to lead to a slippery slope of metric driven development, feature creep, engagement analytics, notifications, etc. First it's personal playlists, then it's publishing playlists, then it's liking other people's playlists, then it's artist endorsed playlists, then it's sharing playlists to other social media platforms, then it's being notified that a playlist you like has been updated, etc. etc.
(My one gripe with the app is the slightly childish decision to hide the download links for music you already own.)
Focusing on an app often seems to lead to a slippery slope of metric driven development, feature creep, engagement analytics, notifications, etc. First it's personal playlists, then it's publishing playlists, then it's liking other people's playlists, then it's artist endorsed playlists, then it's sharing playlists to other social media platforms, then it's being notified that a playlist you like has been updated, etc. etc.
(My one gripe with the app is the slightly childish decision to hide the download links for music you already own.)
I can say that Bandcamp made this release possible... it just got released this week! and this is a record that waited years to come out and is a big band featuring some of the best/most interesting jazz musicians in NYC - the compositions are incredible— https://andrew-dangelo.bandcamp.com/
Even-though I have an Spotify subscription, I buy music from Bandcamp to support lesser known bands and artists, such as The Midnight and FM-84.
For discovering artists, I primarily use YouTube. When I want to listen more to said artists, it's usually Bandcamp where I can find the rest of their discography. Probably my preference for the general Vaporwave genre and their prevalence on that platform has a lot to do with this.
Bandcamp experience for an artist is good but the backend could sure do with a spruce, particularly the reporting and the API for merch fulfilment.
That said anything pushing against the chilling affect of Spotify is a win.
That said anything pushing against the chilling affect of Spotify is a win.
Bandcamp is great!
(speaking as an artist & a fan/listener both)
The "Selling Right Now" feature on the homepage shows it's success. Some years ago you could read what was being sold. Today it's scrolling too fast :)
I do find it interesting how you pay your own price(I don't know what to choose). Also RIP Her's, their albums are on there.
I love Bandcamp!
A few records were announced this week that I'm pretty excited for, if you need some inspiration:
http://music.sufjan.com/album/the-ascension
https://videoage.bandcamp.com/album/pleasure-line
https://washedout.bandcamp.com/album/purple-noon