With the death of VibeDeck, I really think BandCamp is one of the best things around for indie musicians just getting started or for more established bands/musicians, but with small budgets. Even if you have money to spend, BC is a great service and and great deal whether it’s your only resource like this or an adjunct to several others that you use.
BandCamp’s core resource is a solid song player that includes the ability to sell the song; give it away for free (with or without an email address for your email list); and basic statistics on the plays you get. The other resources on BC include the ability to sell merchandise including printing the shipping labels for each sale; discount or free download codes; a growing fan (music buyers) base; and a reasonable rate even if you don’t choose their pro plan (currently 15% on digital downloads and 10% on physical merchandise). If you want to learn more about BandCamp’s features including the Pro option, their own help section covers it pretty well.
Pros of BandCamp
- They have a growing fan component. I’ve seen more fan leads from BandCamp’s “direct support” via fans that on any other single lead generator.
- They are all indie.
- Sales components include physical sales. You have to carry and ship the stock yourself, but can print shipping labels from the BC interface.
- Multiple embed options for the sales shop. These range from the whole shop or album to individual tracks. (See my sidebar for an example.)
- Uses Songkick (http://tourbox.songkick.com/) free service to embed your gigs in BC.
- Options for “sales” of songs and albums include free downloads in trade for email addresses for your fan list.
- Add-on options include custom domain (mine is https://muz4now.bandcamp.com/)
Con(s) of BandCamp
- Only does song and merchandise sales. Does not have licensing and other components of CDBaby, ReverbNation, TuneCore, etc.
Tweaking BandCamp
Even if you use other services, I highly recommend that anyone making indie music list your songs and albums on BandCamp. A few add-ons and tweaks that I think are worth the effort:
- Sign up for the free gig-listing service at SongKick and embed your upcoming events in BandCamp (and other services and web sites, too)
- Be sure to add your web links (band/artist site, social media sites, about.me or other link clearinghouse) to your BC listing
- Set your BC site up to look the way you like it; then, add the widgets to your web page(s) – you should see the “Share/Embed” link on every one of your song pages
- Recommend other indie musicians that you like on through the BC interface (they provide multiple ways to do this)
That’s all, really. And that’s the final “pro” of BandCamp: it’s simple … in a good way.
Playful blessings,
Stan
Has anyone ordered things and not receiving them? It seems to have absolute NO contact or Customer service here. I have not received my order for over 2 weeks and it only said to contact the supplier directly. Lost in the air?????
Will someone give me some hope? My orders are Christmas gifts for my son.
Jong,
Each artist provides their own customer service, so you need to contact whoever you bought from directly. (In other words, BandCamp can’t be responsible for each musician’s shipping policy.) Go to the bottom of the page for whoever you purchased the CD’s from (if you ordered downloads, they would have been available immediately) and find the “Contact / Help” section that includes a contact link, shipping policy, etc. Click on the contact link and fill out the form. If the musician does not respond within a couple of days, then you should notify BandCamp about getting no response.
Best wishes and blessings for the holidays,
Stan
Bandcamp is all indie…thanks for letting me know…my problem was Ive been releasing decent music on there
I always go to BC first when I want to find new music. And I always find “decent music” there. In fact, several bands or solo acts that I’m a fan of release there first, so I always know about their new releases.