Bandcamp recently published a blog about the current success of their music platform. Considering quite a few surf artists and labels use Bandcamp as an online outlet, I thought it would be an interesting article to post & discuss.

https://blog.bandcamp.com/2016/05/19/bandcamp-downloads-streaming-and-the-inescapably-bright-future/

Bandcamp, Downloads, Streaming, and the Inescapably Bright Future

In light of a recent report that Apple will soon abandon music downloads (later denied, but undoubtedly containing a certain amount of inevitability), we thought we’d take a moment to update you on the state of Bandcamp’s business and our plans for the future.

Bandcamp grew by 35% last year. Fans pay artists $4.3 million dollars every month using the site, and they buy about 25,000 records a day, which works out to about one every 4 seconds (you can see a real-time feed of those purchases on our desktop home page). Nearly 6 million fans have bought music through Bandcamp (half of whom are younger than 30), and hundreds of thousands of artists have sold music on Bandcamp. Digital album sales on Bandcamp grew 14% in 2015 while dropping 3% industry-wide, track sales grew 11% while dropping 13% industry-wide, vinyl was up 40%, cassettes 49%… even CD sales grew 10% (down 11% industry-wide). Most importantly of all, Bandcamp has been profitable (in the now-quaint revenues-exceed-expenses sense) since 2012.

Subscription-based music streaming,* on the other hand, has yet to prove itself to be a viable model, even after hundreds of millions of investment dollars raised and spent. For our part, we are committed to offering an alternative that we know works. As long as there are fans who care about the welfare of their favorite artists and want to help them keep making music, we will continue to provide that direct connection. And as long as there are fans who want to own, not rent, their music, that is a service we will continue to provide, and that is a model whose benefits we will continue to champion. We have been here since 2008 and we mean to be here in 2028. Thank you!

Bandcamp is not a download store, and we very much embrace the convenience of streaming. When you buy music on Bandcamp, whether that’s in digital or physical form (30% of sales on Bandcamp are for vinyl and other merchandise), you not only get the pleasure of knowing you’re supporting the artist in a direct and transparent way, you also get instant, unlimited streaming of that music via our free apps for Android and iOS, as well as an optional, high-quality download. Your purchase is about direct support, ownership and access, whether that access takes the form of a stream, download, or both. So please consider joining us in never using “streaming” as shorthand for “subscription-based music.” The former is an inevitable technological shift, the latter is an unproven business model.

I personally use Bandcamp whenever I possible can for online/download music. Plus, its a good way to get Vinyl or CD with high quality digital download as well. Plus the artists get a bigger cut than they would from iTunes (at least that's what I hear. Any artists here have a different spin on that?), so it seems to be a better method of artist support than other sites. Of course, nothing beats buying from the artist at shows or buying direct from labels like Double Crown and Green Cookie. But I think the future of music is online, and I like how Bandcamp is doing business.

What are your thoughts? Anyone else a Bandcamp fan? Anyone hate it?

Last edited: May 23, 2016 13:43:27

Compared to a lot of the other band-related sites I've used over the years (MySpace, Soundcloud, X-Ray Music etc), Bandcamp does in theory make a lot of sense and I can't think why I've never thought to use it. Is there much of a surf presence on there?

I spotted this earlier today. I'm kind of shocked by the statement about Apple abandoning downloads. The truth is that iTunes isn't a particularly great place to sell music - it just makes it easier to sell to some people. Bandcamp however allows a variety of high definition formats and streaming from the cloud for a fair price, taking only a minimal cut.

I really feel that intellectual property lawyers have had too much of Tim Cook's ear and this story heralds that music as a service has taken over completely from music as a product. But I just can't see subscription services as a viable business model for artists.

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Hmmm, might have to look into bandcamp...

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Jeff

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MT, you've really got to get hip to all the new music that's coming out these days! Don't you listen to any Surf radio?

Josh's statement needs to be taken in the context of the current state of the music business and how differently things are done these days. Brick and mortar retailers are practically dead, and the relationship between artist, label and/or distributor are night and day. Especially for our niche genre, which only sees a small number of units pressed, it is even more important to buy directly from the band to ensure that they receive as much financial gain as possible. Why buy from a third party when you know the band is only receiving wholesale cost vs. directly from them or their label, in which case they receive 100%?

The days of buying music in 1980 and 2016 are apples and oranges.

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Last edited: May 24, 2016 17:13:02

While some things seemingly get better, and that's wonderful that things are different in your neck o' the woods, Mom n' Pop record stores all over are still having to shut their doors. And I really don't consider it an exaggeration in the context of the discussion. Compared to the amount of chain stores around in 1980, they are definitely now almost dead.

Insect Surfers
The Tikiyaki Orchestra
The Scimitars
Lords Of Atlantis
Fiberglass Jungle - Surf Radio

Man, that's wild, Jake. I was in Seattle in maybe 2012 or 2013 and I didn't even have to look for them, I would just stumble across record stores while I was walking. Good ones too!

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio

JONPAUL wrote:

Josh's statement needs to be taken in the context of the current state of the music business and how differently things are done these days. Brick and mortar retailers are practically dead, and the relationship between artist, label and/or distributor are night and day. Especially for our niche genre, which only sees a small number of units pressed, it is even more important to buy directly from the band to ensure that they receive as much financial gain as possible. Why buy from a third party when you know the band is only receiving wholesale cost vs. directly from them or their label, in which case they receive 100%?

The days of buying music in 1980 and 2016 are apples and oranges.

Where music is sold is certainly different. I was just thinking the advantage to the third party sale is still exposure. There exists a large market of music lovers that don't belong to SG101 or tune into dedicated surf radio. They may hear a surf recording on Little Steven's Garage - for example - and might more naturally look for the artist on Amazon. I was just curious - if it's not the reality it is interesting to hear. -MT

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Last edited: May 25, 2016 02:52:03

Mike75 wrote:

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/05/24/spotify-losses-2008-present-667-2-million/

For those of you interested in the viability of subscription models - check out the stats on Spotify.

I guess this is one of those rare situations where everybody gets screwed except the consumer... Obviously Spotify is aimed towards growth, which is why they'll sustain huge losses like that yearly (Amazon not making money for years yadda yadda) but it's hard to see how they can pull out of that with no sign of changing royalty structures. People have already gotten VERY used to getting their music for free and Spotify has been picking up the tab, hard to imagine how you can tweak that model back into the black in any reasonable amount of time.

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