Tag Archive for: bandcamp

Band Management: Blog 31: Bandcamp

Band Management: Blog 31: Bandcamp

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“Band A” is back from a summer hiatus and has four shows and some recording in the next month. That’s what a band manager should do, right? It was nice to be back with the band. For the first three months of band management there’s been a certain caution (maybe annoyance) from the members toward my management style. But that seems to have receded over the break and now they’re all ready to go again. 
In terms of the wider world, I use this blog to ask questions to anyone I want about the music industry – and I want to explore not just the underground music scene but also the underground music media scene. I suspect there are 100s of podcasts covering the underground music scene, 100s of underground zines, comics, mini-online publications that would love to talk about “Band A.” Who else is supporting the underground music scene? – this will become part of the blog in the coming months.
Still, if you want to talk about the underground music scene you have to talk about Bandcamp. The Moby Dick of the underground music scene. The great white whale. At the start of the Holy Crap Records Podcast we were listening to at least 50 bands a week on Bandcamp to find new music. All the bands we played this past week use Bandcamp as their platform. “Band A” was found on Bandcamp by Kafadan Kontak Recordsand by Divide & Conquer Music magazine.
So this week on our “4 Questions in 5 Minutes” video interview section I get to chat with Joseph Edward Keyes, the editorial director, at Bandcamp.com. (We had some challenges technically, so the sound is a little wonky and you may have to turn it up – but this series is totally lo-fi on purpose?) I always wanted to know how Bandcamp works and what I can do to help “Band A” gain a bigger audience… Also, Joseph Edward Keyes is super nice and a totally legitimate music nerd… Thank you… The combination of the collapse of the music industry, of affordability of good recordings, and Bandcamp make the underground music scene possible… 
(Really, this was recorded using FaceTime and my computer recorded it on a really low volume – so I had to turn it up and the sound is not great…)

Be nicer to Bandcamp!

Be nicer to Bandcamp!

Bandcamp is like the proverbial hometown girlfriend. So easy, and so eager, that often when bands get ‘real’ they stop honoring it with their presence. Bandcamp doesn’t have a playlist feature, and they make you hold the music you buy in weird places (on their site or on your hard drive), and their internal search engine is dreadful. However, the beauty of Bandcamp is its inherent friendliness (much more to artists than to consumers). They make it really, really easy for bands to upload music — the hardest thing you have to figure out is how do an aiff format — and as such, it’s a democratic and a really nice place, for established and especially for unestablished musicians. Bands, don’t forget your roots! One-man-bands, your stuff doesn’t have to stay on Soundcloud! Yes, put your stuff on the big platforms, but don’t forget about who made you, and who taught you to do a 1440×1440 jpg. Bandcamp.