Bandcamp Finally Switching from Free to Paid Service :(
Today is a sad day in DIY history, but inevitable I guess. Last night, I received multiple e-mails from Bandcamp informing me that their services will no longer be free. Starting in two weeks, Bandcamp will begin taking 15% of every sale, in addition to the existing Paypal fees that artists had to cover while the service was free. If you are able to sell more than $5000 worth of stuff, the share drops to only 10%.
The good news is that Bandcamp’s revenue share will be based on your Bandcamp store’s existing sales, so if you have already sold over $5000 worth of product, or are nearing that milestone, your revenue sharing will be 10% instead of 15%.
Also, the basic service will remain free. Bandcamp only makes money when you make money, so at least you won’t have to pay any subscription fees to keep your store up and running. It’s only based on your total sales.
Hey, dudes have to make a buck somehow! I’m honestly surprised that they were able to keep the service free for so long. In addition to revenues from their “unlabel,” BCWax, they must have had a nice sum of OPM (other people’s money) to keep them alive this long. Their services are so stellar, though, so if I were an artist using the service for a long time, I’d be gladly willing to finally give back.
Any readers out there use Bandcamp? Zoe Keating has been seeing some pretty awesome results from her Bandcamp store.
