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> Even a hardcore pirate like me tried to do the right thing when it comes to music - I got Spotify. This is not the right thing to do. Spotify is peanuts to a

> Even a hardcore pirate like me tried to do the right thing when it comes to music - I got Spotify. This is not the right thing to do. Spotify is peanuts to artists. If you want to do the right thing, buy music at Bandcamp: you get files you can keep forever and artists get a fair share of your money.

yellow_lead 4y ago
The artists I listen to don't all sell on bandcamp (most don't).
- JodieBenitez 4y ago
  You're the lucky one, because there's a whole universe for you to discover ;-)
verisimi 4y ago
Yes you're taking peanuts from the artists and sacks of peanuts from the music corporations, that provide.. er, promotion, a contract, and own the rights to the music the artist created. Although it is true artists do get something, the lion's share goes to the music corporation.
- piva00 4y ago
  That's the part about passion industries people don't understand: the distribution side doesn't have much power to structure the payment to artists, it's all in control of the publishers (labels/movie studios/game publishers) who control a large catalogue of works and have immense leverage to negotiate all this bullshit on geo-locked content, royalties' payments to the creators, etc. Ranting about Spotify's, Apple Music's, Tidal's payments to the artists or region-locking IP is a smoke-and-mirrors move from major labels, they are the ones forcing these practices unto the distributors/streaming services.
comprev 4y ago
Bandcampers forget the platform is for underground artists and those not tied by contract to the heavyweight labels. You'll never see mainstream pop artists on there. I love to promote Bandcamp where possible but have to remember what it can offer to "Average Joe"
- JodieBenitez 4y ago
  True... but I would argue the average Joe was never inclined to "do the right thing" anyway, he would just do what's more convenient for him (back in the days it was listnening to the radio, these days it's spoteezer). That's what made me react in the first place... conflating a spoteezer subscription with "do the right thing" is just... bizarre to me. You can only do so when you ignore the truth of the revenue share behind these platforms
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
unity1001 4y ago
> This is not the right thing to do. Spotify is peanuts to artists. If you want to do the right thing, buy music at Bandcamp The right thing to do is to directly subscribe to their Patreon. It not only gets you access to exclusives, behind the scenes and even events, it also crowdfunds the future projects of the artist.
- survirtual 4y ago
  I think subscriptions are part of the problem. I personally compensate artists with a one time payment on Bandcamp, download permanent files to my NAS, and replicate them in devices I use for music. I don’t want recurring payments.
- Closi 4y ago
  The right thing to do is to identify where the artist lives, then withdraw unmarked and untraceable cash which you post through their mailbox as a 'gift'. This means that you can guarantee all the money goes directly to the artist.
  - unity1001 4y ago
    Patreon takes something like ~8%. Its chump change for the service given - they also handle sales tax, EUVAT and equivalents, chargebacks, fraud etc.
  - cassianoleal 4y ago
    If you mean that as opposed to part of it being converted to taxes, I'd argue that's not quite "the right thing". Or does the artist not benefit from public goods and services, like roads, public lighting, police, firefighting, etc etc etc?
    - zirgs 4y ago
      It's the artist's responsibility to pay their own taxes. And yes - anonymous gifts like that are taxable income too.
zirgs 4y ago
Spotify is peanuts to artists, but without Spotify I would not even discover most of the artists that I listen to.
- fsflover 4y ago
  You can benefit from Bandcamp in the same way.
  - usui 4y ago
    Is it agreeable that Bandcamp's discovery system is equally as good as Spotify's? I've never tried it.
    - fsflover 4y ago
      It's probably not as good, but works fine for me. Also, I heard they have a human-managed discovery instead of the automatic one. Podcasts with the overviews are also amazing.

yellow_lead 4y ago

The artists I listen to don't all sell on bandcamp (most don't).

JodieBenitez 4y ago
You're the lucky one, because there's a whole universe for you to discover ;-)

verisimi 4y ago

Yes you're taking peanuts from the artists and sacks of peanuts from the music corporations, that provide.. er, promotion, a contract, and own the rights to the music the artist created. Although it is true artists do get something, the lion's share goes to the music corporation.

piva00 4y ago
That's the part about passion industries people don't understand: the distribution side doesn't have much power to structure the payment to artists, it's all in control of the publishers (labels/movie studios/game publishers) who control a large catalogue of works and have immense leverage to negotiate all this bullshit on geo-locked content, royalties' payments to the creators, etc. Ranting about Spotify's, Apple Music's, Tidal's payments to the artists or region-locking IP is a smoke-and-mirrors move from major labels, they are the ones forcing these practices unto the distributors/streaming services.

comprev 4y ago

Bandcampers forget the platform is for underground artists and those not tied by contract to the heavyweight labels. You'll never see mainstream pop artists on there. I love to promote Bandcamp where possible but have to remember what it can offer to "Average Joe"

JodieBenitez 4y ago
True... but I would argue the average Joe was never inclined to "do the right thing" anyway, he would just do what's more convenient for him (back in the days it was listnening to the radio, these days it's spoteezer). That's what made me react in the first place... conflating a spoteezer subscription with "do the right thing" is just... bizarre to me. You can only do so when you ignore the truth of the revenue share behind these platforms
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

unity1001 4y ago

> This is not the right thing to do. Spotify is peanuts to artists. If you want to do the right thing, buy music at Bandcamp The right thing to do is to directly subscribe to their Patreon. It not only gets you access to exclusives, behind the scenes and even events, it also crowdfunds the future projects of the artist.

survirtual 4y ago
I think subscriptions are part of the problem. I personally compensate artists with a one time payment on Bandcamp, download permanent files to my NAS, and replicate them in devices I use for music. I don’t want recurring payments.
Closi 4y ago
The right thing to do is to identify where the artist lives, then withdraw unmarked and untraceable cash which you post through their mailbox as a 'gift'. This means that you can guarantee all the money goes directly to the artist.
- unity1001 4y ago
  Patreon takes something like ~8%. Its chump change for the service given - they also handle sales tax, EUVAT and equivalents, chargebacks, fraud etc.
- cassianoleal 4y ago
  If you mean that as opposed to part of it being converted to taxes, I'd argue that's not quite "the right thing". Or does the artist not benefit from public goods and services, like roads, public lighting, police, firefighting, etc etc etc?
  - zirgs 4y ago
    It's the artist's responsibility to pay their own taxes. And yes - anonymous gifts like that are taxable income too.

zirgs 4y ago

Spotify is peanuts to artists, but without Spotify I would not even discover most of the artists that I listen to.

fsflover 4y ago
You can benefit from Bandcamp in the same way.
- usui 4y ago
  Is it agreeable that Bandcamp's discovery system is equally as good as Spotify's? I've never tried it.
  - fsflover 4y ago
    It's probably not as good, but works fine for me. Also, I heard they have a human-managed discovery instead of the automatic one. Podcasts with the overviews are also amazing.