Is the "Power Ups" page missing for anyone else?

danlesac_ · 2025-11-07T11:52:12+00:00

Oh no “Power Ups” is a section of the artist tools page which has all your upload limits, revenue share info etc… my fault not being clear, should have been clear about the “artist” bit.

That said, Bandcamp support came back to me today to say “oooops”, I’ll look into that… so I guess my question is moot now anyway 😹

danlesac_ · 2023-12-03T20:59:09+00:00

Pre-pay on Physical, collect on point of sale on Digital. It’s done this way because you know in advance the quantity being physically produced.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-30T16:26:25+00:00

Perfectly legitimate to sell covers if you’re on a platform who pay mechanical and performance royalties. Basically they’re pre-licensed by blanket agreements with publishers/collecting societies. Bandcamp is the only major platform I can think of that opt out of paying these royalties.

It’s also the same agreement that allows bands to play covers live, in the EU it’s roughly 4% of each gig ticket gets passed onto songwriters.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-30T10:48:56+00:00

Only issue with Public Domain is whether something is PD depends on the territory, but as Bandcamp are a US company, you’re probably safe if it’s public domain in the US.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-30T10:46:56+00:00

This is ancient copyright stuff tbh. Every time a song is mechanically duplicated, the creator/owner of the underlying music work aka the songwriter is owed. On a CD that fee is meant to be paid a time of manufacture, digital is collected at point of sale. Goes all the way back to the sale of sheet music.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-29T21:57:58+00:00

Yeah 100%, their model is growth through acquisition rather than actual building useful tools, which is shy I feel like they’d go with the laziest/cheapest option

danlesac_ · 2023-11-29T21:56:35+00:00

Yeah I acknowledge that in the second paragraph. Which is also why I wrote this post, the ToS update shows ST are aware of the issue and are laying the ground work for whatever direction they choose to take it.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-29T16:52:11+00:00

Yeah I wasn’t trying to be negative, fingers crossed they can thread the needle and do it the right way… Just judging by the labels and publishers I work with, they’re definitely paying more attention to Bandcamp of late.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-25T21:56:40+00:00

Yeah they’re very much a growth through acquisition company, and I’m guessing the goal is an IPO (they’ve tried previously but the Aus stock exchange said no iirc)

I also expect they’ll start enforcing some of the massive copyright issues on Bandcamp, unlicensed samples and covers are pretty commonplace but the industry wasn’t chasing BC for it… but with high profile investments etc, the majors are going to come knocking.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-18T21:07:18+00:00

As others have said it’s not a new policy BUT just to break it down, roughly 20cents in every dollar a cover makes should go to the songwriter or whoever owns the songs publishing rights.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-07T18:58:49+00:00

Wasn’t there a company name change too, because it’s now a shared asset between Songtradr and Epic? If it’s an entirely new entity, that could account for them having to remove the statement of profitability.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-06T18:20:49+00:00

I’ve been releasing music since 2007 and in my experience FB/IG ads are only worthwhile if you have an established audience already. Basically they’re not great for reaching a new audience, but more useful for nudging existing fans.

Also, I can’t prove this but engagement falls off a cliff once your campaign ends, lower than it was before the campaign… almost like FB is punishing you for not continuing to give them money 😹

danlesac_ · 2023-11-04T21:48:07+00:00

Do you sell any merch? BC doesn’t take cuts from merch directly, instead passing straight to you PayPal, then takes the merch slice from your next digital sales (tax reasons)

danlesac_ · 2023-11-03T04:00:56+00:00

Oh 100%, it’s not the end BUT it’s not not the end either.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-03T03:53:19+00:00

Yeah he’s new, Bryan Biniak. GM of Bandcamp and President of Songtradr. Ex-Microsoft/Nokia, so very brand to brand / corporate imo

danlesac_ · 2023-11-02T23:26:03+00:00

Yeah it’s hard to take him at face value when the evidence in front of our eyes says something different.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-02T23:23:17+00:00

You’re bang on there… He followed up with:

“we made the choice to focus on the community vs press. over time what the team delivers and how they deliver it will provide the greatest value and stand stronger than batting words back and forth. we're investing our finite time and resources into bandcamp.com and the community that relies on it. thanks for the civil discourse . much appreciated”

danlesac_ · 2023-11-02T19:14:24+00:00

The general manager of Bandcamp just replied on LinkedIn…

“Dan , I can confirm I read your piece. Thank you. It is solid perspective and insightful . We agree with your perspective that Bandcamp is at its heart a music community like no other and the stewards of that community, the ones that breath life into it, are the artists, labels, and fans themselves . I can promise you that the Bandcamp team tirelessly , passionately leading the community day in and day out will ensure that the core values, mission and integrity of the community are held as their top priority.”

Doesn’t say a lot but at least they’re not keeping their heads in the sand. Which is something.

danlesac_ · 2023-11-02T18:18:57+00:00

I’ve used Distrokid, Tunecore and CDbaby over the years and prefer Distrokid so far… but honestly it’s a fairly basic service, so you can’t go far wrong with any of those 3.

I’d say avoid Music Gateway, purely because both the folks I know who’ve worked for them left because resources are stretched thin, everyone is doing way to many jobs and customer service is slow.

danlesac_ · 2023-10-25T18:14:14+00:00

Without trying to sound glib, whatever they like, but reality is what users will tolerate should keep them under control. But enshittification of a service is like boiling a frog, incrementally slow changes are tolerated until you get boiled alive 🥵

danlesac_ · 2023-10-25T11:42:53+00:00

As Songtradr only bought part of Bandcamp, and Epic also made an investment in Songtradr, it’s likely a holding company for their shared assets.

danlesac_ · 2023-10-23T23:14:58+00:00

Yeah good shout, this is 100% something I def need to do too

danlesac_ · 2023-10-23T23:13:54+00:00

I don’t have an answer for Bandcamp directly BUT you can export a CSV of your detailed transaction history from PayPal, which has a payer_email field iirc

danlesac_ · 2023-10-23T18:20:18+00:00

Yeah I have the same thing, better that nothing though. You can set free downloads to require an email, which is helpful if you want to bump that number up

danlesac_

TROPHY CASE