Bandcamp Will Waive Revenue Sharing On First Friday of May, June & July to Support Artists
Bandcamp is once again offering to waive its share of revenue generated for music sales on its site on three days in the coming months, the company announced in a blog post.
Bandcamp is once again offering to waive its share of revenue generated for music sales on its site on three days in the coming months, the company announced in a blog post. The first Friday’s of May, June and July — May 1 (this Friday), June 5 and July 3 — the company will not take a cut of sales from midnight to midnight Pacific time, with all money going directly to artists and labels.
Bandcamp has done this a handful of times in the past, most recently on March 20, just as the coronavirus pandemic began shutting down states and events — including all touring and live concerts — across the country. In 24 hours, fans spent $4.3 million on 800,000 items (music and merch), or roughly 15 times the usual amount of sales on the site in a given day.
At the peak of purchasing, the company said it saw 11 items per second flying off its digital shelves. Bandcamp accounts for artists are free, and the company normally takes a 15% cut on digital music sales and a 10% cut on merch items.
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“The Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact all of us, and artists have been hit especially hard as tours and shows are canceled for the foreseeable future,” Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond wrote in the company’s blog post. “With such a major revenue stream drying up almost entirely, finding ways to continue supporting artists in the coming months is an urgent priority for anyone who cares about music and the artists who create it… It may sound simple, but the best way to help artists is with your direct financial support, and we hope you’ll join us through the coming months as we work to support artists in this challenging time.”
In the blog post, Diamond also shared some tips for fans looking to further support their favorite artists, and for artists looking to maximize sales on the platform. See the full post here.
Bandcamp has a strong history of supporting causes that aid the underprivileged, especially but not limited to the artists that use its services, having supported the ACLU, Transgender Law Center and Voting Rights Project in various campaigns in recent years.
“We’re an ‘artists first’ service and the reason we are is because of this belief that music is essential to humanity,” Diamond told Billboard in an interview at the end of March. “My feeling has always been that if you believe that music is essential, then the welfare of the artist is also essential too.”
