Thanks,
Someone who've spent thousands of dollars on Bandcamp
Allow us to assure you that you will enjoy our latest AI music generation suite as well as an cutting-edge state-of-the-art next-generation AI album cover generator. In tandem with these remarkable enhancements, we will be sprucing our algorithms allowing you to expand your ears to the emerging artists at the forefront of the industry.
Furthermore, we are introducing a suite of premium subscription options, enriched with the ability to curate offline playlists, meticulously optimized at a pristine bit-rate of 32kbps.
Drawing inspiration from the insights garnered from record labels these enhancements epitomize our pioneering advancements, we eagerly anticipate your enthusiastic feedback of these remarkable transformations.
Sincerely ~ out of touch CEO
I think at this point I try to just not care anymore. Software and businesses that are currently great will go to shit and there's nothing I can do about it. Try to enjoy it whilst it lasts and don't get too attached or involved.
Sincerely,
someone who has been bitten too many times.
Coudn't agree less. Listen: I love Bandcamp and buy a lot of music there. However, it could be so much better. It is far from perfect.
For starters: the collection view. It's as barebones as possible, just a simple grid of stuff you bought. No way of separating albums and tracks (which is why I don't buy single tracks anymore because it just clutters my collection). No way of sorting according to different criteria. No possibility for more compact views (list view, anyone?). I get that lots of people just download stuff and use their own music management software/app, but in that case: why is there no way to download stuff in bulk? Sorry, but it's simply bad. Another thing that has annoyed me for years is if artists release through labels: If I click on an artist, I want to see their music, not all music from the same label so that I have to painfully look through the whole catalogue to find more music from the same artist. Also, if I want to be notified for new music from that artist, I can only follow the label, so I get notified for everything they release. What kind of insanity is this? With very few exceptions, I don't care about labels (sorry label owners, but that's just how it is).
Another point is discovery: Through Bandcamp, I have discovered way more new music than through any other service just by browsing through new releases and the daily picks. However, there's so much more potential here. There already are fans you can follow and artist recommendations, but it's just all extremely clunky and discovering people with similar taste in music is basically impossible. Bandcamp has so much information about my musical taste and which artists I like, it should be able to do much more with this.
What you describe only happens if a label uses an artist account. Bandcamp introduced label accounts years ago, encourages using them and to my knowledge offers a way to turn artist accounts into label accounts. With a label account both entities, labels and artists, are separated. The label catalogue merely links to the artist's release page while the artist's account can feature releases on several different labels. Of course the release/album page still offers a way back to the label page. It all works as one would expect.
Here's an example for a release by Matthew Halsall on Gondwana Records using a proper label account: https://matthewhalsall.bandcamp.com/album/an-ever-changing-v... - notice the link to Gondwana Records in the upper left corner.
It's very easy to pick up some small but niche artist that is not on Bandcamp, and upload their music pretending to be them. (It's of course very illegal, but I personally know artists this has happened to).
It's harder to fake an entire label. Before you buy anything on Bandcamp, check that their label links to them, otherwise you could well be supporting a scammer.
With a label account users clicking on the artist on a release page will go to the actual artist page which might contain releases from all kinds of labels.
Yes, quality control is something else where Bandcamp could drastically improve. New releases are riddled with questionable stuff. Blatantly copying an existing artist is one thing, but often it's popular stuff just slightly modified, usually pitched up/down with some new drum loop and then called a day. I know there's a whole artform in remixing/mashups/etc., but there's a line somewhere where it just becomes a lazy rip-off.
for how much music there is, the discovery tools are kinda lacking. you can't really browse the full catalog. especially for stuff that's previously released, but not "popular enough" to be surfaced in 'best selling' sorts. stuff that doesn't make it into 'new' - which can literally be like 'oh, this released a week ago? it's not new already', and doesn't make it into 'best selling' that really only makes already popular stuff more popular, which isn't doing much for actual discovery of others. there's a lot of music that's out there and just yet to be discovered, and it's being held back by platforms that don't really do anything with it. held back by a catalog that lacks browsing tools and doesn't get more things brought to surface. i'd rather see platforms move on from 'making popular stuff more popular' and 'only ever showing stuff that's new new new', and make an actual effort to make all things discoverable.
* after adding a browser player volume slider
Hell to the no!
I primarily use bandcamp for my music, but it's most definitively not perfect. I think I use about 3 browser addons for simple quality of life improvements.
Sometimes the player is on the top left, sometimes it's bound to the bottom, sometimes it's inlined and you can only press play without fast forward.
I think by default there are no or only a few shortcuts?
Playlist only from your collection and mobile only, not on desktop?
I lowkey had high hopes for bandcamp when epic bought it. I though the cash would make them rework the UI into a more consistent experience.