I don’t mean to dismiss ur question entirely but seriously… the ether? Sounds like you don’t understand how the internet works. Of course Bandcamp has many advantages. If you’re an artist that also happens to be a web wiz, with good SEO skills and have a decent advertising budget then sure, you can drive decent traffic and sales, but it’s a job and most people just don’t have the time and/or skills. Bandcamp solves all that and lots more.
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what i mean by that is there is something unquantifiable about whatever it is that makes one act blow up, and not another. i guess SEO can get you fans, but music that hits to the heart and speaks to peoples inner souls for whatever reason probably cuts deeper than internet jazz. that might even just be radio local play, a text message from a mate, being in a place and hearing a song/track, seeing a live show. i’ve never personally checked out all that front page media on the bandcamp site and found new stuff i liked and then purchased, but obviously there are people out there that do this. so if you’re lucky enough to be spotlighted on those pages by bandcamp maybe you’ll get some more fans, but my point is, i don’t think it’s bandcamp that makes artists. its just a place where stuff is
Fair enough, but now you’re talking about what makes an artist. Your original question was about selling music via own website vs selling music via Bandcamp.
im just responding to your comment about me not understanding the internet
anyway, i just think bandcamp isn’t really all that cool (in an objective way). most people don’t know about it at all, so i don’t see any difference between putting your stuff on your own website and giving people a link, or putting it on bandcamp and giving people that link
Cool, all good but I’m not going to try and explain it further. I’ll let someone else get back on topic 
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ez
A masterclass in politician-speak 
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My initial thought was also that I don’t like this at all but we’ll have to see how it turns out. Discogs has also changed a few things since they have a partnership with PayPal even though it has been working successfully for many years. Can’t tell if it’s for the better or for worse since I was only selling occasionally but since they introduced their new payment system my inventory is unlisted because I didn’t jump in.
I get the idea behind that and I can see great opportunities. Normaly you have a contract with a publisher that could sell your music to tv or games or adds. this is normaly what a sync deal does.
but to be clear, I would not sell an album with regular price of 10 EUR to a game developer for commercial use. Ofcourse he/she can listen to album for 10 EUR while developing the game and feel inspired by the music. But not for commercial use aka make the album the soundtrack of that game.
So there are some points to think about. Musican and game developer still have to make an agreement. Not every musician wants to have the music as a game soundtrack. Most musicians make musik to make music. So there have to be a request first. And it has to be a fair licence fee.
If someone has the knowhow to setup a fair system for that, ofcourse bandcamp its one of them.
But also not everything is cool with bandcamp, speaking as a label. It took 3 months to solve the new EU VAT regulations for digital sales. There is still no official post adress giving on the website … and overall, we did not get fully tax declaration ready invoice but just an excel sheet. Comon bandcamp, you can do that better for sure!
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Sorry what???
Facebook bought WhatsApp saying “we’ll keep the platforms separate” then within three years (two?) they merged the whole back end meaning that every WhatsApp account became a facebook account, and every interaction on WhatsApp became subject to FB’s surveillance machinery.
They did the same with Insta, they just didn’t lie about it.
(Note: I left insta as soon as FB bought it. I left FB a year or so after, and WhatsApp last year. I’m overly prickly about FB/Meta as a business, and prone to hyperbole when they come up)
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I did a little reading on HackerNews about this. The sentiment there is that Epic (and Tencent who own 40% of Epic) tend to leave their acquisitions alone to do mostly what they want. So that’s a signal that things could remain fairly decent at BC.
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I think it is good news. And I also think if it kills bandcamp as your indie hold darling, now is the time to start a new bandcamp for indie hold outs and none sell outs.
I don’t think this is the aspect that bothers people. It’s not that bandcamp is somehow better for sales volume (although I’m sure it beats band-owned shops for most people. Even Radiohead are on BC, the band that smashed the doors open for band-owned global stores).
I think what bothers people is that until this buy-out, BC seemed to be a music shop for music fans run by music fans. They linked artists and fans, took a cut which everyone felt was reasonable, didn’t hoard licenses, let any musician leave… it just felt “right”. Now that modest fee is shared with and DRM-hoarding investment giant that thinks selling addictive game mechanics is a good idea (I love games, but there’s a lot of talk about their intentional addictiveness now…) It all leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
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Apart from it’s probably a temporary sweetner to stop members freaking out initially and abandoning the platform. At least until the stock options kick in.
Just being a place where stuff is, is what is best about BC. They’re JUST a decent place where music is. (IMO)
They are the closest thing online to a good local indie record shop that makes use of the web well. Bleep, Picadilly, Boomkat get very close, but BC nailed it.
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I absolutely get that
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100%. Considering this is the internet, I am sure alternatives will be developed ( 
) in its place. BC proved that this option is certainly viable. Unfortunately, however, it seems the owners have other plans. I am optimistic that at least one of their heirs will hold out strong against the temptation of phat pay days and sick stonks.
As for “wait and see”: I don’t know of anything that got better, if not worse, when it “joined” a conglomerate.
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Yeah, agreed. That’s what it is. It would be sweet if it was a bit more awesome though. It’s the internet after all, and bc has been a small square with a list of play buttons for basically ever. The internet is an amazing digital canvas and yet bc still lives like it’s a cd. My only hope, it fervently retains the indie ethos but leverages Epic to make it the true creative platform it can be
Ableton has actually managed to avoid being bought.
I’m in general negative towards hoarding of businesses and assets like Epic is doing here
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I wonder if that’s because its founders are artists and hands-on sonic explorers.
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