5 ms·

I'm really glad Bandcamp exists as a place where I can buy high-quality, DRM-free music, with a reasonable revenue share and no-bullshit experience. This makes

I'm really glad Bandcamp exists as a place where I can buy high-quality, DRM-free music, with a reasonable revenue share and no-bullshit experience. This makes me like them even more! If something isn't on Bandcamp these days, I often don't even bother messing around with the alternatives and just pirate it.

layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
This. I hope Bandcamp stays like this forever.
slouch 6y ago
Let's pump the brakes on "no bullshit experience." It's a music service without a volume control, playlists, and the ability to share music with other users. Clicking "buy album" even stops the music for a page load. I could go on.
- layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
  It's not a music service. It's a service for artists to sell their stuff. Period. If you want playlists, social networking, or whatever crap, you have to look elsewhere.
  - macleginn 6y ago
    > It's not a music service. It's a service for artists to sell their stuff. Period. Well, not really. As per their About Us section, “Bandcamp’s mission is to create the best possible service for artists and labels to share and earn money from their music, and for fans to discover and enjoy it.” Discovering works nicely, but as for enjoying, they really have issues with volume control and even the basic loudness level. Also their mobile app does not let you download music to listen to later offline (or without taxing your mobile connection), which is a shame.
    - AegirLeet 6y ago
      The discover part takes place on Bandcamp, but Bandcamp's involvement ends after you've bought and downloaded the music. The enjoyment part that comes afterwards happens on your device, using whatever music player you prefer to play the files you just downloaded. It's enjoyable because you get a bunch of zipped, DRM-free .flac files you can play on any device, instead of being bound to some specific app or in-browser player. At least that's what I think the intended use case for Bandcamp is. That's how I've always used it.
      - samirsd 6y ago
        >> whatever music player you prefer i prefer to not have to use one... it's 2020 after all
        sincerely 6y ago
        What does this mean? You just listen to music in your head?
        Sargos 6y ago
        He wants a player to be given to him as part of the package. Which is nice. I think the most efficient market would incentivize a holistic package where you pay for someone to make the hard decisions for you while letting the experts take the core content and use it however they like.
        egypturnash 6y ago
        There’s a Bandcamp app that does that, if you find it an insurmountably terrible burden to drag some files onto the iTunes icon in your dock.
        thirdsun 6y ago
        And Bandcamp's target audience prefers to own their music and knowing that it will be on their device of choice tomorrow or in 30 years without the fear of losing it due ending licensing deals. Not to mention all the obscure and rare music that never made it to streaming services in the first place. Your preference is well served with Spotify & Co. No need for Bandcamp to use the same streaming approach.
  - Mr_Sweater 6y ago
    > playlists https://buymusic.club/ https://buymusic.club/ sources bandcamp for user generated playlists. Also, youre able to follow fans and labels do actively message and talk to fans. Its very minor but I think its a sufficient level of interaction.
  - slouch 6y ago
    > Period. No, actually. Why do these "preview" pages have songs that unlock after I buy if they're just previews? Why does the collection page (heart icon) open a player when I play an album directly from there?
- ZoomZoomZoom 6y ago
  What's wrong with sending the link? Why would you want to keep previewing the music while you're buying it?
  - slouch 6y ago
    What's wrong with leaving the app to talk to my friend who is on the app about some content on the app?
    - ZoomZoomZoom 6y ago
      Nothing? Do you imply that every app that you can talk about with your friends should implement messaging? From my point of view this is absurd. By the way, I was not aware you're talking about the app in particular. I don't see much point in having an app for every store I use. What features are implemented in the Bandcamp app which their site doesn't have (and can't have)?
      - slouch 6y ago
        I'm commenting about the website. Not messaging. Sharing. Even though I'm commenting on the website, the Bandcamp Android app sometimes auto plays songs I've never heard before on load.
2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
There is also HD Tracks https://www.hdtracks.com/ https://www.hdtracks.com/
- Mr_Sweater 6y ago
  And Bleep https://bleep.com/ https://bleep.com/
  - LeoPanthera 6y ago
    Seconding Bleep - who also continue to sell music on physical formats. A marvellous store.
  - pacomerh 6y ago
    +1, Bleep is a shop created by Warp Records. Home of many artists I love
  - deng 6y ago
    Bleep still does this thing where they skip to the next track after a minute of preview. This was and still is the real great thing about Bandcamp: They treat you like an adult and let you preview in OK quality for as long and often as you like. And if people only listen to previews and never buy - fine, those people would never buy anyway, whether the preview is skipped after a minute or not.
- choward 6y ago
  I don't mind paying for my music but $18 to download one album is absurd. As much as I dislike Amazon I can download DRM free music for a lot cheaper.
  - techsupporter 6y ago
    I wish HDTracks hadn't gone entirely over to their "music downloader application." Bandcamp is far preferable to me in that they spit out a FLAC link at the conclusion of the transaction.
  - 6y ago
thirdsun 6y ago
I'd add https://boomkat.com/ https://boomkat.com/ to your list of options.

layoutIfNeeded 6y ago

This. I hope Bandcamp stays like this forever.

slouch 6y ago

Let's pump the brakes on "no bullshit experience." It's a music service without a volume control, playlists, and the ability to share music with other users. Clicking "buy album" even stops the music for a page load. I could go on.

layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
It's not a music service. It's a service for artists to sell their stuff. Period. If you want playlists, social networking, or whatever crap, you have to look elsewhere.
- macleginn 6y ago
  > It's not a music service. It's a service for artists to sell their stuff. Period. Well, not really. As per their About Us section, “Bandcamp’s mission is to create the best possible service for artists and labels to share and earn money from their music, and for fans to discover and enjoy it.” Discovering works nicely, but as for enjoying, they really have issues with volume control and even the basic loudness level. Also their mobile app does not let you download music to listen to later offline (or without taxing your mobile connection), which is a shame.
  - AegirLeet 6y ago
    The discover part takes place on Bandcamp, but Bandcamp's involvement ends after you've bought and downloaded the music. The enjoyment part that comes afterwards happens on your device, using whatever music player you prefer to play the files you just downloaded. It's enjoyable because you get a bunch of zipped, DRM-free .flac files you can play on any device, instead of being bound to some specific app or in-browser player. At least that's what I think the intended use case for Bandcamp is. That's how I've always used it.
    - samirsd 6y ago
      >> whatever music player you prefer i prefer to not have to use one... it's 2020 after all
      - sincerely 6y ago
        What does this mean? You just listen to music in your head?
        Sargos 6y ago
        He wants a player to be given to him as part of the package. Which is nice. I think the most efficient market would incentivize a holistic package where you pay for someone to make the hard decisions for you while letting the experts take the core content and use it however they like.
      - egypturnash 6y ago
        There’s a Bandcamp app that does that, if you find it an insurmountably terrible burden to drag some files onto the iTunes icon in your dock.
      - thirdsun 6y ago
        And Bandcamp's target audience prefers to own their music and knowing that it will be on their device of choice tomorrow or in 30 years without the fear of losing it due ending licensing deals. Not to mention all the obscure and rare music that never made it to streaming services in the first place. Your preference is well served with Spotify & Co. No need for Bandcamp to use the same streaming approach.
- Mr_Sweater 6y ago
  > playlists https://buymusic.club/ https://buymusic.club/ sources bandcamp for user generated playlists. Also, youre able to follow fans and labels do actively message and talk to fans. Its very minor but I think its a sufficient level of interaction.
- slouch 6y ago
  > Period. No, actually. Why do these "preview" pages have songs that unlock after I buy if they're just previews? Why does the collection page (heart icon) open a player when I play an album directly from there?
ZoomZoomZoom 6y ago
What's wrong with sending the link? Why would you want to keep previewing the music while you're buying it?
- slouch 6y ago
  What's wrong with leaving the app to talk to my friend who is on the app about some content on the app?
  - ZoomZoomZoom 6y ago
    Nothing? Do you imply that every app that you can talk about with your friends should implement messaging? From my point of view this is absurd. By the way, I was not aware you're talking about the app in particular. I don't see much point in having an app for every store I use. What features are implemented in the Bandcamp app which their site doesn't have (and can't have)?
    - slouch 6y ago
      I'm commenting about the website. Not messaging. Sharing. Even though I'm commenting on the website, the Bandcamp Android app sometimes auto plays songs I've never heard before on load.

2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago

There is also HD Tracks https://www.hdtracks.com/ https://www.hdtracks.com/

Mr_Sweater 6y ago
And Bleep https://bleep.com/ https://bleep.com/
- LeoPanthera 6y ago
  Seconding Bleep - who also continue to sell music on physical formats. A marvellous store.
- pacomerh 6y ago
  +1, Bleep is a shop created by Warp Records. Home of many artists I love
- deng 6y ago
  Bleep still does this thing where they skip to the next track after a minute of preview. This was and still is the real great thing about Bandcamp: They treat you like an adult and let you preview in OK quality for as long and often as you like. And if people only listen to previews and never buy - fine, those people would never buy anyway, whether the preview is skipped after a minute or not.
choward 6y ago
I don't mind paying for my music but $18 to download one album is absurd. As much as I dislike Amazon I can download DRM free music for a lot cheaper.
- techsupporter 6y ago
  I wish HDTracks hadn't gone entirely over to their "music downloader application." Bandcamp is far preferable to me in that they spit out a FLAC link at the conclusion of the transaction.
- 6y ago

thirdsun 6y ago

I'd add https://boomkat.com/ https://boomkat.com/ to your list of options.