| This is why I love bandcamp (for example http://ohdaughter.bandcamp.com/). The first couple of downloads (I don't know how many, maybe the first 100) of a track/album are usually free, and after that you pay for the music. So when you suddenly go all Lady Gaga as an Indie artist you get at least something out of it, but when nobody knows you the can have a free listen. If the free downloads are out, you have to buy the music. Some artists have a steady price like 8-10$ per album or 3-4$ for an EP (which I find very reasonable and am totally willing to pay if it goes directly to the artist, and it mostly does!) and some let you choose the amount you want to pay for the music. And if that wasn't enough, if you have paid for the download, you get the audio files in almost every possible format existing. Ah, bandcamp. Music distributing done right. /edit: Some more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandcamp - Pricing model: Set by artists - Available audio formats are MP3, FLAC, AAA (aka .m4a), Vorbis and Apple Lossless and even more - About 4 million songs online, including music from Sufjan Stevens, Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) and Coer de Pirate, and game soundtracks from Minecraft, Machinarium and Plants vs Zombies And last but not least: http://bandcamp.com/faq (yes, they do cover all questions who could possible arise) (And no, I don't work for them. I just love them, as do many others: http://bandcamp.com/testimonials) |
When someone buys an album, the money goes to our Paypal account immediately. Not only is the sales stats updated in real time, you can even play Defender on the graphs. Other digital retailers like iTunes take months just to get a sales report, let alone get paid.
I'd say 90% of our digital revenue comes from Bandcamp, which is surprising.