> There's nothing quite so rewarding as listening to a great album, then mailing the artist and paying them directly, and getting a response from them personall

> There's nothing quite so rewarding as listening to a great album, then mailing the artist and paying them directly, and getting a response from them personally. Bandcamp seems to be doing about the right thing, actually. It allows to keep the interaction between artist and listener reasonably personal, while at the same time offering options to make the process easier and more streamlined from artist’s perspective. It also is very transparent about their fees—you know your money will go directly to the artist (though I’m not totally sure how it works with labels, for them Bandcamp seems to offer a separate kind of account).