A New Reason to Love Bandcamp
The music platform is now pressing records directly for artists
Imagine you’re in a band that has a loyal following but not signed to a record label. Or you are signed, but your small indie label has no way of producing physical media to distribute your work. How are you supposed to cash in on the resurgence of physical media in music?
Bandcamp is trying to answer the question with their announcement this last week that they will be offering direct vinyl pressing services for artists on the platform. This could be a massive step in cutting the cost and red tape and allow bands to sell records directly to fans.
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.” Their business model is built on making sure that the artist makes most of the money, with at least 80% of the purchase going directly to them.
The pay rates were already a huge deal in the music streaming age because these streaming services don’t pay. In 2019, streaming services accounted for $7.1 billion, or 63.6% of all recorded music revenue. The number one streaming service, Spotify, pays an artist $0.00348 or $3,480 per million streams. That’s a lot of money going to the fat cats and not the artists who produced the work.
Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek is now worth $4.5 billion and has no interest in changing its model. In a recent interview, Ek stated it was not enough for an artist to release an album every 3 to 4 years and:
“the artists today that are making it realize that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans. It is about putting the work in, about the storytelling around the album, and about keeping a continuous dialogue with your fans.”
Ek is shouting “dance, monkey, dance!” while hanging out on his yacht.
On the contrary, the Bandcamp model has allowed fans to pay artists $662 million and $15.3 million in the past 30 days alone.
It’s well known that vinyl has made quite the comeback over the last five years. Last year, over 27 million records were sold in the United States, up 46% from 2019. Bandcamp sold 2 million records on their site alone. (Cassettes are also making noise with double the units sold last year from 2019.)
From an artist and label perspective, there are many barriers to vinyl production in the 21st century.
If you’ve ordered a new release on vinyl in the last few years, you may have come across a lengthy delay. The delay usually isn’t due to artist or label delay; it’s a fact pressing plants can’t physically keep up with the demand. In the United States, there are only around 20 plants still in operation, and some of the legendary and largest plants are closing, like Rainbo Records in Los Angeles, who couldn’t negotiate a new deal with their landlord. A lot of these plants are six to eight months behind in production. Some new plants are opening, though, with Jack White’s Third Man Records and Furnace Record Pressing in Virginia being the most notable.
The process is also complicated because there aren’t many lacquer plants that provide the materials to press the record. Just a year ago, Apollo Masters Plant in Banning, California, burnt down. This was no small loss as Apollo was estimated to be providing 80% of the industry’s vinyl material. Manufacturers were already having a hard time keeping up with the color vinyl craze, often having to press a record in multiple colors.
So how is Bandcamp approaching vinyl to work around these issues?
In 2019, they began a pilot program to press records on behalf of artists, which resulted in shipping 13,000 records to 65 countries off 50 different pilot artists. With that success, Bandcamp has now invited 10,000 artists to partake in their services, and the process couldn’t be simpler for the artist.
The artist or band starts by selecting which of their releases, already uploaded to Bandcamp, they would like to offer on vinyl format. They also choose all of the album artwork while picking record colors and jacket styles.
From there, they set a goal of how many records they would produce, with 250 being the minimum. The number is a huge deal as most pressing vinyl methods require a much higher floor, and Bandcamp will only start pressing once that goal is met. There is also no out of pocket costs to the artist covered under Bandcamp’s previously set fees.
While the band is busy promoting the release to their fans, Bandcamp manages everything on the backend, from working with the pressing plants to getting it shipped to the fans. Cutting out all this work that a label would do is a dream come true for artists, especially right now when they’re coming up with other ways to be paid while they can’t tour.
This process does raise a few quality issues for me, though. According to Bandcamp, their pressing contract is through GZ Media in the Czech Republic. The quality of the record depends so much on the pressing plant, and while I don’t have any experience with Czech pressings, former eastern bloc countries do not have an excellent track record. Records full of pops and hisses (even after cleaning) are becoming so common that even if I love an album, I’ll skip the vinyl if I know I’ve had bad experiences on previous releases by their record label.
The other issue is sound quality. Play a record from the mid-90s or before and notice how it sounds like you’re sitting in studio. It can be amazing. Now, play a record from a release from the last few years. Does it sound flat and lifeless?
The sound difference is due to two factors. When all of the “classic” albums from the 60s onward were recorded, they used analog equipment in the studio. Now, almost every artist records digitally. While digital production is overall a good thing, it typically doesn’t translate well to the vinyl format. I even avoid represses of older albums and try to find an original copy. If you can’t find it in the crates of your local store, Discogs is the best place to go.
The other factor is in the mastering, which vinyl requires an entirely different master to sound “right” compared to what you listen to on a streaming service. Bandcamp is very clear that they prefer a vinyl master, and it’s up to the artist to provide that, but many cannot afford this process, so how will these records sound? Will they live up to your expectations when you crank it up for the first time?
It’s no secret that I’m a Bandcamp fan, and am always encouraging my readers to buy through the site. On top of the high artist pay rates, it’s an all in one stop for band merch, and by following artists on the platform, Bandcamp sends emails letting you know that they’ve released a new album or have a new shirt.
The addition of direct vinyl pressing, however, could elevate Bandcamp to something much more. For all of the strange things that have come out of the internet, a direct connection between bands and their fans has been one of its benefits. In the last decade, artists have been able to bypass labels and release music directly. But the idea of pressing a record without having a label or reaching deep into your pocket is new territory.
What music streaming services do you use? I’m working on another perk for Check This Out! so let me know in the comments!