besides haggling for merch from artists at a show, one of the best ways to support musicians is through bandcamp.com. we’ve already posted about ways you could support artists through the covid-19 quarantines (HERE and HERE), but today — and today only! — bandcamp is waiving its 10-15% revenue cut from music purchases. yes, that goes for both digital and physical media. so if you have been thirsty for those mp3’s, now is your time. if you’ve been craving that crag mask vinyl, now is your time. i don’t care if you’ve already pre-ordered Animal Crossing: New Horizons — tell Tom Nook to take a hike, and just spend a few minutes browsing for music to buy!
and maybe you’ve been good, and you’ve streamed a fuckton of music the past few days. that’s great! but keep in mind that for every dollar you spend on bandcamp, that’ll be worth about 320 spotify streams. in other words: every dollar goes a long, long way towards helping keep artists afloat. you’ll notice that many musicians (especially covered here) have a “pay what you want” model. don’t feel embarrassed to just pay a dollar! that’s like giving that band 300+ streams on spotify! and hey, if you buy something for $10, that’s like giving that band over 3,000 streams!
if you’re not familiar with bandcamp as a platform, it is super convenient! it is easy to register for, and all of your purchases are tracked, so you won’t “lose” your digital copy of anything. if you computer shits the bed, you can just log into your bandcamp account and download the album again at no extra cost. and if you don’t like downloads, you can just stream that music from an app on your phone, anyways! and if you don’t like the idea of paying for mp3’s, then there are so many options to be CDs, cassettes, or vinyl from bands directly. this is like so easy, and today is the very best day to do it.
need a place to start? i compiled a massive list of local bands, linked directly to their bandcamp pages. take a look, visit their pages, and consider throwing in a buck or ten!
