Hello there 👋
I am following the path of decreasing dependency on US products myself, and I was wondering if there is any real alternative for bandcamp? Meaning, the one that would be a proper marketplace for niche music creators, that would allow DRM-free downloads and streaming at the same time.
Bottom line: I do want to pay for music I like to support musicians, though I want to do it in a way that would allow me to listen to their work in a way I like the most.
Hello,
I see people are suggesting a conventional streaming platform. I’m sure you know but this is NOT a replacement for Bandcamp.
Catalogues of streaming platforms are, in vast majority, owned by one of the three major labels which are all US companies. While I do think Qobuz is a vastly better choice than Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, etc, most of your subscription money will probably end up lining the pockets of those three US conglomerates (Sony Music, Warner Corp., Universal), even if you only listen to independent artists.
While with Bandcamp, most of the money you spend on the platform goes directly to the artists (Bandcamp takes 10% IIRC).
Bandcamp is indeed a US company, owned by another US company Epic Games (Unreal Engine, Fortnite…) of which the largest shareholder and CEO is yet another US billionaire (Tim Sweeney). They are definitely worthy of boycott however it is worth mentioning that Sweeney has called out other tech billionaires courting Trump and has put rather serious money towards the conservation of nature reserves. I do not think we should consider him our friend in any way, but he seems about as decent as billionaires can get.
Anyways, I think the best would be to reach out directly to the artists to ask them if they can sell their music to you directly or if they have an alternative non US platform where you can actually buy their music for meaningful money (rather than stream it on Qobuz where you will end up paying them fractions of cents.)
I wouldn’t fret over it too much if you continue paying artists through Bandcamp. If you are buying music from European artists on that platform, I’m nearly 100% certain than more of your money will stay in Europe than if you pay for a conventional European streaming service like Qobuz or Spotify instead.
Slight correction epic sold bandcamp in 2023 to Songtradr. Which isn’t great as they’re a huge music licencing org that I suspect will ruin bandcamp eventually.
Also worth noting bandcamp has something called “bandcamp Fridays” which they waive their share of revenue and pass it to the artists. Here is a post with the dates of 2025. If you do still want to buy from bandcamp and can wait for albums then set a reminder.
fyi you can also purchase music from the qobuz website, and they let you stream/download purchased music from their app without a subscription. So if you only want to support certain artists, that could be a way? I think they don’t have as much niche content as bandcamp, though; the way they populate their content is much more akin to the other mainstream streaming services, so it’s not quite as easy/direct for artists to add content.
Thanks for a very considerate and informed answer! This one is really helpful and actually addresses my thoughts ;)