Thoughts regarding Bandcamp

Heliogabalus · Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 1027 Location: 22 Acacia Ave.

What are some opinions regarding the "name your price" option? I download demos that are specified as free, but what some opinions on what you should pay, do you pay nothing, do you pay and if you dig it, buy the physical copy etc.? Does it suck all together? Discuss...

Dalen · Joined: 13 Jul 2010 Posts: 1592

I pay nothing. I'll always prefer to pay something extra for a physical format. CDs are much cheaper these days after all, so it's not like I would have to pay a lot more for them.
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Heliogabalus · Joined: 06 Nov 2008 Posts: 1027 Location: 22 Acacia Ave.

Fallen_Empire · Joined: 04 Jun 2011 Posts: 1865

As someone who runs a Bandcamp, here are my thoughts and observations:

- Overall, great tool
- 95% (maybe more) of people do $0.00 when you list something as 'Name your price'
- The average payment when someone sends money is $2.xx, forget the exact #
- The people who pay WANT to pay. There are some people who send some dollars for digital downloads, but don't ever buy vinyl or cassette

Originally I had everything set to 'Free download', but I kept running out of credits so I just changed it to 'Name your price' as a way of hopefully lowering the # of downloads. Eventually it became obvious that I would have to spend some money and buy download credits so that people can keep downloading for free without problems, so I spent $20 on them. Still have a lot left and this was months ago.
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Dalen · Joined: 13 Jul 2010 Posts: 1592

Problem with vinyl is the overall distribution thing. I usually place big orders overseas, because thanks to the currency it doesn't get that expensive grabbing a few goodies from the US. But placing separate orders for single lps, ok, it gets just a bit too much. Bandcamp is not the best choice for me when it comes to that issue.
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rthdx · Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 827 Location: Korolev, Russia

Rather cool place to put your stuff streaming. Why? They allow to disable the social networks buttons, like if you'd "like" and so... Would never use this service for sellings as would never pay a single cent for the download myself... Shortly, useful way to represent your music. If you upload original trax in wav, their coding is very much representing what you're trying to deliver. Wink

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Evil Fifi · Joined: 25 Jan 2008 Posts: 367

nonwave · Joined: 22 Jun 2009 Posts: 1163 Location: Brookyn, NY

i like it a lot. i usually put a cheap price, like, 3 bucks and have the option that people can pay more. some people pay more and i appreciate that.

http://weaselwalter.bandcamp.com/

i don't like the front page layout - it's pretty inflexible - but that's really my only minor quibble with bandcamp
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robotdie · Joined: 24 Jul 2012 Posts: 197 Location: Boston

I usually don't pay, and as someone who has a bandcamp I put up the 'pay what you want' option not really expecting anything from it. Downloads/streams are good exposure, buying physical copies are for fans.

Also the stats part of bandcamp is a really cool feature. I'm sure the bigger you/your bandcamp gets this becomes really huge.
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K_S Imprecator · Joined: 19 Apr 2011 Posts: 51

I think its great.Easy to manage and far superior to the likes of reverbnation.I usually put stuff i'm not really expecting to be on physical format,so its kinda like an archive.Hence everything being free/ name your price.Always a good surprise when some $ comes through though.
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nomapple · Joined: 26 Dec 2011 Posts: 89

As a user I like being able to stream part of, or all of a release before I make a purchase. Also paying for a download can be a convenient way of supporting the artist if getting physical media shipped from their location is expensive.

ADB · Joined: 20 Jan 2009 Posts: 2297 Location: Melbourne

I think Bandcamp is great, I'm putting all my stuff on there that isn't part of some other band / project there at the moment. The "name your price thing" is cool too, I don't mind if people are going to download my stuff for free but if they feel like flinging me a few bucks that doesn't bother me either!

Slightly on topic, I just uploaded a new track that some of you might be into (if you like your drone and / or neo-classical stuff).

Voidchrist Bandcamp
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Carlzilla · Joined: 07 Aug 2009 Posts: 2107 Location: New Mexico

I will almost NEVER pay for mp3s. It has happened once or twice, but it's super rare.

I just feel shafted paying for something that can be infinitely replicated for no cost, and offers no physical product.
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Tyrone Slothrop · Joined: 09 May 2010 Posts: 659

Barghest · Joined: 18 Jul 2010 Posts: 601 Location: UK