Bandcamp - the best place to buy music

Bandcamp - the best place to buy music

I love Bandcamp. They do almost exactly what I want from a music store. (I just think their search is a bit sucky - I often can't find what I'm looking for.) You can see my faves in the picture above. I would have never known about most of them, were it not for Bandcamp.

Some things to love about it:

  • They let you actually listen to the music, first. Every album is available in its entirety. You can listen to it a few times and then decide whether you want to buy it.
  • NO DRM. For me, DRM is a deal-breaker. If I buy music, I want to have copies of it on my devices, without being hassled like some thief. I would rather not buy music than have it plagued by DRM.
  • As many downloads as I want. I buy an album, I select which format and quality I want it in, and I download it. That's all. If I ever lose my local backups, I can just download them again.
  • Reasonable prices. They support the pay-what-you-want model, so music often comes with prices like "$X or more". Many even start at zero. (Though I do always try to support the artist. And I'm more eager to give more money to people who ask for less. I find such approach very appealing.)
  • And last but not least, a satisfactory selection of music. Though I often struggle to find what I am looking for with the search functionality (and I have no idea whether it's because that genre just isn't on Bandcamp, or I'm just using the search incorrectly), I still find things I like fairly regularly. I tend to buy a few albums and listen to them a lot, and I don't really follow pop music trends, so even if Taylor Swift isn't there, I don't miss her.

I wish our local (SK & CZ) musicians and distributors were this good. Or just closed up shop and moved to Bandcamp. 😛

PS: PF 2018.