Bandcamp Friday Supported By Roland

It’s Bandcamp Friday today. You know this, I know this. Everyone knows about Bandcamp Friday (BCF). Started in 2020 as a way to help artists struggling with having their livelihoods upended by the not-as-novel-these-days coronavirus, Bandcamp gives up their revenue sharing for a day. Everyone gets some extra money, it’s a good look for ol' BC, everyone wins. They’ve continued doing them semi-regularly and I hope they keep doing them into the future. But… uh, maybe not like… I dunno, there’s just something about this recent email I got announcing the date for today’s BCF that’s a little different from how they used to talk about it.

_{(wow! for some reason i have the overwhelming urge to purchase a roland jupiter-x!)}

Hmmm. Oh! Yeah, it’s the emphasis of a new corporate sponsorship over the intended goal and entire point of BCF: supporting artists. That is quite different and slightly troubling!

I want it to mean nothing. At least it’s Roland and not like, SpaceX or some shit. It makes some amount of sense. But I don’t like being reminded of the new folks in charge of the one platform I’ve been able to make anything resembling a living. And beyond the money, it’s been huge for discoverablity too. Bandcamp is so painfully important to independent music in so many ways. I don’t want this to be the bad sign of things to come that it feels like.

It was one thing when Epic Games was in charge. The one thing they ever did with the platform was... I don’t even know. Doesn’t matter probably. Last year, when they realized it’d be hard to put Bandcamp inside of Fortnite or whatever, they sold it to [googles the name for the 4th time while writing this] Songtradr. It’s such a stupid name my brain can’t hold onto it. Their Wikipedia page calls them “…an American B2B music platform that claims to facilitate brands, content creators, and digital platforms in their use of music for licensing purposes”. If there’s anything artists love, it’s the facilitation of brands in their use of our content! A month after purchasing the platform, they fired half of the staff, including every member of Bandcamp union bargaining team. Fuck all the way off, Songtradr! But since then, they’ve been kind of quiet. Or at least, I haven’t noticed anything massive. They made the purchase button bigger on release pages, I think. This e-mail is the first time I thought about Songtradr in months. Should’ve been paying more attention, I suppose.

_{(a lot of acquisitions, huh? looks sustainable to me! number go up forever, am i right?!)}

I’m just sick to death of being treated like a captive audience for advertisers. That was not the point of Bandcamp Friday. That’s not why any of us make music and try to share it with as many people as possible. I’m trying not to overreact because nothing much has even happened here. It just doesn’t feel good.

This isn’t a call to boycott or anything (please don’t boycott me specifically, buy my 10th Annual Summer Single, I love you). Just keep an eye on Songtradr. Always keep your eyes peeled for bullshit.

Artists—maybe look into alternatives as a back-up, like my internet pal Curious Quail is looking into. Don’t trust any corporation as far as you can throw them.

Art lovers—keep supporting artists. Don’t trust any corporation as far as you can throw them.

Anyone else—you’re not as important to art as you think. Art can, and will, survive without you.

Nicky Flowers - 10/04/24 - I have a feeling the economic system we all live under has some fundamental flaws. Just a thought... (send any comments/questions to hello at nickyflowers dot com)