7 ms·

Bandcamp is definitely my favourite platform for buying music. No DRM, flac format available if that's your thing. Artists can put up both digital and physical

by mwest 8y ago

Bandcamp is definitely my favourite platform for buying music. No DRM, flac format available if that's your thing. Artists can put up both digital and physical merch. Wish they had a more fully-featured experience for streaming music on PC. Downloading to play in foobar is a bit of a faff sometimes!

MarsAscendant 8y ago
In case you don't do this already: You can use Bandcamp Downloader [https://github.com/Otiel/BandcampDownloader https://github.com/Otiel/BandcampDownloader] to download the artist's music – including any or all albums and any of the songs – just by entering the addresses of the pages. Might make getting the audio easier, considering you've already paid.
- rchaud 8y ago
  BC lets users stream every track at least a couple of times before asking you to pay. This 'free plays limit' resets after a few days, so theoretically, you wouldn't have to pay to hear it ever. I like the reminder because I'm more willing to support independent artists, and if I get the prompt for a song I like, why not pay $5-8 or whatever to have it in my collection?
  - dTal 8y ago
    There's a limit? I stream a good bit off Bandcamp and I've never once hit it.
    - elcrawfodor 8y ago
      I believe it's only on mobile
  - reciprocity 8y ago
    Just wanted to mention that any limitation in listening to a track is set by the artist, not Bandcamp. With an artist profile, you can set the number of times people can listen/stream your music before being prompted to buy (I have such a profile).
- mwest 8y ago
  I've seen that before, thanks. Wish I could find a similar tool to download (or stream) my bought and paid for collection, at the quality I set!
- dTal 8y ago
  That app doesn't even do anything special. The link to the mp3 is right in the page source code, which Bandcamp intentionally doesn't obfuscate. They justify this by asserting that if somebody really wants to pirate, they'll do so with or without Bandcamp; ergo, it's better to keep them on-platform. I also like that this fits in with their general marketing of lossless files - sure, you can download the 128kbps mp3s. Go ahead. They're inferior - just previews. https://get.bandcamp.help/hc/en-us/articles/360007902173-I-heard-you-can-steal-music-on-Bandcamp-What-are-you-doing-about-this- https://get.bandcamp.help/hc/en-us/articles/360007902173-I-h...
rchaud 8y ago
The selling point of BC for me is the sense of community. You can see reviews of releases from other fans, and you cannot post a review unless you've paid up, which eliminates 99% of trolls/shit-stirrers. It definitely helps that BC is focused on independent artists and doesn't seem interested in pushing grand visions of a global musical monoculture in the way Spotify does (those pretentious Year in Music retrospectives, Drake, "chill beats playlist", Lana del Rey etc).
- mwest 8y ago
  Must agree with you here (even though I do like me some Lana del Rey). Majority of Bandcamp music in my collection is retro/synth/new wave, and some "drone" which is nice to have on as white noise while working.
  - rchaud 8y ago
    Nothing wrong w/ LDR at all, I was taking issue with Spotify's nudging behaviour like "Hey, millions are listening to these artists, why aren't you?", when my listening history would clearly indicate that I'm not interested in those artists. Old-school sites like last.fm used user-submitted tags to link my listening history to new artists I'd probably enjoy. You don't need any fancy machine learning for this kind of basic pattern recognition. Spotify could obviously do this, but like Netflix, Amazon etc, they choose to push artists that make them the most money.
  - majewsky 8y ago
    Any suggestions? I'm always looking for new background music for work, and I agree that BandCamp is a very nice shopping experience.
    - mwest 8y ago
      For drone, I have a lot of stuff from Cryochamber: https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/ https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/ Looking at my current most-played list, I'd suggest: https://starcadian.bandcamp.com/album/saturdaze https://starcadian.bandcamp.com/album/saturdaze https://future80s.bandcamp.com/album/trans-am https://future80s.bandcamp.com/album/trans-am https://nightvision2.bandcamp.com/album/runaway https://nightvision2.bandcamp.com/album/runaway !! https://neondroid.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-sunset-2017-ep https://neondroid.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-sunset-2017-ep
sourcesmith 8y ago
Yep buying a lot of my music via Bandcamp. 7digital is good for more mainstream stuff and world music.

by mwest 8y ago

MarsAscendant 8y ago

In case you don't do this already: You can use Bandcamp Downloader [https://github.com/Otiel/BandcampDownloader https://github.com/Otiel/BandcampDownloader] to download the artist's music – including any or all albums and any of the songs – just by entering the addresses of the pages. Might make getting the audio easier, considering you've already paid.

rchaud 8y ago
BC lets users stream every track at least a couple of times before asking you to pay. This 'free plays limit' resets after a few days, so theoretically, you wouldn't have to pay to hear it ever. I like the reminder because I'm more willing to support independent artists, and if I get the prompt for a song I like, why not pay $5-8 or whatever to have it in my collection?
- dTal 8y ago
  There's a limit? I stream a good bit off Bandcamp and I've never once hit it.
  - elcrawfodor 8y ago
    I believe it's only on mobile
- reciprocity 8y ago
  Just wanted to mention that any limitation in listening to a track is set by the artist, not Bandcamp. With an artist profile, you can set the number of times people can listen/stream your music before being prompted to buy (I have such a profile).
mwest 8y ago
I've seen that before, thanks. Wish I could find a similar tool to download (or stream) my bought and paid for collection, at the quality I set!
dTal 8y ago
That app doesn't even do anything special. The link to the mp3 is right in the page source code, which Bandcamp intentionally doesn't obfuscate. They justify this by asserting that if somebody really wants to pirate, they'll do so with or without Bandcamp; ergo, it's better to keep them on-platform. I also like that this fits in with their general marketing of lossless files - sure, you can download the 128kbps mp3s. Go ahead. They're inferior - just previews. https://get.bandcamp.help/hc/en-us/articles/360007902173-I-heard-you-can-steal-music-on-Bandcamp-What-are-you-doing-about-this- https://get.bandcamp.help/hc/en-us/articles/360007902173-I-h...

rchaud 8y ago

The selling point of BC for me is the sense of community. You can see reviews of releases from other fans, and you cannot post a review unless you've paid up, which eliminates 99% of trolls/shit-stirrers. It definitely helps that BC is focused on independent artists and doesn't seem interested in pushing grand visions of a global musical monoculture in the way Spotify does (those pretentious Year in Music retrospectives, Drake, "chill beats playlist", Lana del Rey etc).

mwest 8y ago
Must agree with you here (even though I do like me some Lana del Rey). Majority of Bandcamp music in my collection is retro/synth/new wave, and some "drone" which is nice to have on as white noise while working.
- rchaud 8y ago
  Nothing wrong w/ LDR at all, I was taking issue with Spotify's nudging behaviour like "Hey, millions are listening to these artists, why aren't you?", when my listening history would clearly indicate that I'm not interested in those artists. Old-school sites like last.fm used user-submitted tags to link my listening history to new artists I'd probably enjoy. You don't need any fancy machine learning for this kind of basic pattern recognition. Spotify could obviously do this, but like Netflix, Amazon etc, they choose to push artists that make them the most money.
- majewsky 8y ago
  Any suggestions? I'm always looking for new background music for work, and I agree that BandCamp is a very nice shopping experience.
  - mwest 8y ago
    For drone, I have a lot of stuff from Cryochamber: https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/ https://cryochamber.bandcamp.com/ Looking at my current most-played list, I'd suggest: https://starcadian.bandcamp.com/album/saturdaze https://starcadian.bandcamp.com/album/saturdaze https://future80s.bandcamp.com/album/trans-am https://future80s.bandcamp.com/album/trans-am https://nightvision2.bandcamp.com/album/runaway https://nightvision2.bandcamp.com/album/runaway !! https://neondroid.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-sunset-2017-ep https://neondroid.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-sunset-2017-ep

sourcesmith 8y ago

Yep buying a lot of my music via Bandcamp. 7digital is good for more mainstream stuff and world music.