While many companies and corporations are arguing it out over streaming revenues, one site has flown relatively under the radar so far. Bandcamp has been around for quite some time, and now boasts over 1 million registered fans and an impressive number of transactions through it’s music store service. However, the site has been generating revenue for its artists for over 8 years and the statistics are pretty surprising.
The company was founded in 2007 and launched its iconic music store/promotion service in 2008, earning its artists over $150 million since its inception. Unlike other sites like Soundcloud, Bandcamp offers users full customization on the aesthetics and aspects of their pages, even offering integrated selling of physical goods such as vinyl, shirts, or CDs which help generate additional income for the artist and the site. And the site is quite transparent on their payouts, breaking it down as such:
Bandcamp’s revenue share is 15% on digital items (drops to 10% after $5k in annual sales), and 10% on physical goods. Bandcamp’s revenue-share based business model means it only makes money when the artists make a lot more money, so its interests align with the community it serves.
What comes as an even bigger surprise is the fact that the site has generated $4.3 million of the $150 million in the last 30 days, right in the middle of the ‘streaming wars’. It seems more people are turning to this platform to buy/sell their music, meaning other companies should seriously take notes. And with a growing number of major and independent labels jumping aboard the wagon, it seems that Bandcamp may really be the answer to many, if not all, of our problems.
H/T: HypeTrak