You all know that Bandcamp is owned by Songtradr, who gutted it a lot. But don't fret, we have a new and better alternative now. It launched yesterday:
It is a #CoOp, so it is not in the hands of big money but in the hands of us, the consumers and creators.
✊️
Since this goes viral:
Trans rights are human rights.
No human is illegal.
🌈
@bitboxer I didn't know it had been gutted. What did they do? If there's reason to avoid it I'd like to know. I went to Bandcamp recently because an artist I follow was there, and it was a way to support them.
Thanks in advance for sharing the details of what changed and how it impacts artists there.
@bitboxer I like Subvert's antislop policy:
https://www.subvert.fm/pages/ai-policy
Bandcamp is similar, out of fairness:
https://blog.bandcamp.com/2026/01/13/keeping-bandcamp-human/
One problem is, also with Mirlo… most non-musician people I know don't even know Bandcamp. I am serious.
So putting my music on a bunch of even lesser-known platforms in the end will result in exactly… nothing. Except for me having more work. I made below 5€ so far this year from Bandcamp.
I'm not trying to say that I don't like the idea of a co-op alternative to Bandcamp. But it doesn't make things easier in everyday life.
Also, Bandcamp and all its larger alternatives are US-based and rely on US-based payment providers. Which might turn out as a problem for the rest of the world.
Curious to know your thoughts on bandwagon. I've been using niche sites like this to find new artists to avoid AI slop
@nielso yes, it is always hard to know where to spent your limited time/energy. I personally would say it all differs depending on your use case.
I would post my music at the bigger platforms AND on my private site/Instagram linktree I would have this as no 1 spot with a "buy my music, fairly paid, no money to big corps" message. But I can totally understand why you would choose a different path.
At the end it's a hen-and-egg situation. There is no change without us all advertising for it.
@bitboxer there's also the excellent bandwagon.fm - which is part of the #fediverse FWIW
Exciting to see new options for independent musicians!
yes but I don't think coops in the middle solve this either. they become more useful as they get bigger but that gives them more power and they can always eventually abuse that power. or maybe even just do something that only a quarter of the musicians hate. it can't sustain.
instead imo we need less work on competing systems, more work on protocols/APIs, apps and servers. and then a fuckton of advocacy for decentralized fiat.
@bitboxer
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