Is Bandcamp the Holy Grail of Online Record Stores?
Strengths:<p>Bandcamp is a great model for mid-tier bands that believe recorded material is a viable source of revenue outside of selling hard-copies at a merch table at shows. Bandcamp is great for 1-2% of the music purchasing public. Bandcamp is a fair, equitable platform for artists.<p>Weaknesses:<p>Other than 1-2% of the music purchasing public, Bandcamp is not a go-to source for music. Bandcamp&#x27;s espoused value is that recorded music has value, which, other than integrity of Copyright, is a highly subjective perspective, because very rarely do album sales - long term - provide a living wage revenue stream. To my knowledge, releasing through Bandcamp does not provide free access to other distribution platforms like Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, Amazon, or YouTube, which means, if I&#x27;m right, it is a walled garden.<p>Editorializing:<p>A long time ago I made the decision to go with DistroKid instead of spend my time on Bandcamp. I don&#x27;t regret that maneuver. I appreciate Copyright protections as an artist, and understand the compromise I&#x27;ve signed up for. Bandcamp is a much more above-the-board platform than signing a deal with a record label, and that isn&#x27;t to be ignored. I just have sincere gut-based reservations that they have significant market penetration to put it in a high enough time investment tier.<p>I only claim to speak from my own experience. It offers value to others. I simply chose a different on-ramp to the information superhighway.