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> Another thing that has annoyed me for years is if artists release through labels: If I click on an artist, I want to see their music, not all music from the s

> Another thing that has annoyed me for years is if artists release through labels: If I click on an artist, I want to see their music, not all music from the same label so that I have to painfully look through the whole catalogue to find more music from the same artist. Also, if I want to be notified for new music from that artist, I can only follow the label, so I get notified for everything they release. What kind of insanity is this? With very few exceptions, I don't care about labels (sorry label owners, but that's just how it is). What you describe only happens if a label uses an artist account. Bandcamp introduced label accounts years ago, encourages using them and to my knowledge offers a way to turn artist accounts into label accounts. With a label account both entities, labels and artists, are separated. The label catalogue merely links to the artist's release page while the artist's account can feature releases on several different labels. Of course the release/album page still offers a way back to the label page. It all works as one would expect. Here's an example for a release by Matthew Halsall on Gondwana Records using a proper label account: https://matthewhalsall.bandcamp.com/album/an-ever-changing-view https://matthewhalsall.bandcamp.com/album/an-ever-changing-v... - notice the link to Gondwana Records in the upper left corner.

vintermann 3y ago
Label accounts are very important for verifying authenticity on Bandcamp. It's very easy to pick up some small but niche artist that is not on Bandcamp, and upload their music pretending to be them. (It's of course very illegal, but I personally know artists this has happened to). It's harder to fake an entire label. Before you buy anything on Bandcamp, check that their label links to them, otherwise you could well be supporting a scammer.
- thirdsun 3y ago
  Unfortunately some labels deliberately use artist accounts. I can only guess they do so because it keeps their visitors within their catalogue more easily. With a label account users clicking on the artist on a release page will go to the actual artist page which might contain releases from all kinds of labels.
- deng 3y ago
  > It's very easy to pick up some small but niche artist that is not on Bandcamp, and upload their music pretending to be them. Yes, quality control is something else where Bandcamp could drastically improve. New releases are riddled with questionable stuff. Blatantly copying an existing artist is one thing, but often it's popular stuff just slightly modified, usually pitched up/down with some new drum loop and then called a day. I know there's a whole artform in remixing/mashups/etc., but there's a line somewhere where it just becomes a lazy rip-off.
  - hatsix 3y ago
    This is, unfortunately, the most expensive thing that Bandcamp could spend their time on.
deng 3y ago
Yes, I have also seen these label accounts, but somehow, I mostly end up with labels using artists accounts. I guess they don't really want to migrate because in the end, it makes the label less visible when doing so... I think it would be in Bandcamp's best interest if they would pressure labels to take this step, but maybe it has other consequences for labels I'm not aware of.

vintermann 3y ago

Label accounts are very important for verifying authenticity on Bandcamp. It's very easy to pick up some small but niche artist that is not on Bandcamp, and upload their music pretending to be them. (It's of course very illegal, but I personally know artists this has happened to). It's harder to fake an entire label. Before you buy anything on Bandcamp, check that their label links to them, otherwise you could well be supporting a scammer.

thirdsun 3y ago
Unfortunately some labels deliberately use artist accounts. I can only guess they do so because it keeps their visitors within their catalogue more easily. With a label account users clicking on the artist on a release page will go to the actual artist page which might contain releases from all kinds of labels.
deng 3y ago
> It's very easy to pick up some small but niche artist that is not on Bandcamp, and upload their music pretending to be them. Yes, quality control is something else where Bandcamp could drastically improve. New releases are riddled with questionable stuff. Blatantly copying an existing artist is one thing, but often it's popular stuff just slightly modified, usually pitched up/down with some new drum loop and then called a day. I know there's a whole artform in remixing/mashups/etc., but there's a line somewhere where it just becomes a lazy rip-off.
- hatsix 3y ago
  This is, unfortunately, the most expensive thing that Bandcamp could spend their time on.

deng 3y ago

Yes, I have also seen these label accounts, but somehow, I mostly end up with labels using artists accounts. I guess they don't really want to migrate because in the end, it makes the label less visible when doing so... I think it would be in Bandcamp's best interest if they would pressure labels to take this step, but maybe it has other consequences for labels I'm not aware of.