Comments on: personal computing challenging the recording business

personal computing challenging the recording business

Potomac Avenue — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:39:35 -0800

"Dingus is dedicated to the search [for new music on Bandcamp]. It's here, on this humble blog that we shed light on bedroom artists in their most defining moments. If you want what's popular today, Dingus is not the blog for you. But, if you want what's fringe, pure and passionate then you've somehow landed on the right URL."

The Snake is a related Netlabel which releases hard copies of the DIY digital releases of certain bands. Other Curated Bandcamp Sites: Meme Movement, Secret Decoder, the Sour Mash, and of course Bandcamp Hunter.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:40:45 -0800

I wonder if they use Yahoo Pipes on the backend. I've been getting a ton of hits on my Bandcamp from scripts on there.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:42:59 -0800

Aah, it's not a Bandcamp search tool but actually something curated. This is cool- there's so much stuff out there (largely junk) that it's nice when people share the gems they've found. Back to sequencing my radio show, largely gleaned from Soundcloud!

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:43:23 -0800

Can we talk about bandcamp a little? I love it, I just wish there was a little more to do on it as a listener. But then, they might do the wrong stuff, and it could end up like Reverb Nation (ugh).

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:44:10 -0800

Or soundcloud, which doesn't let you sell stuff as well as give it away and stream it, plus it looks gross.

By: tapesonthefloor

tapesonthefloor — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:45:41 -0800

This appeared at just the right time for me. Thanks, PA! What I'm hearing is exactly what my Saturday afternoon needed.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:48:50 -0800

I really like Soundcloud, but there's aspects of its design that lead to spamming. I curate a group for shoegaze and dream pop and I spend a large amount of time clicking "Don't Accept" on dubstep/hip hop tracks that have been submitted by those of the "Spam everywhere possible" school. Bandcamp's cool too, but I think their search tools are a bit lacking. I'd really like it if it allowed listeners to tag music- a lot of the time artists aren't totally honest about what they sound like and it chokes up the search results.

By: Algebra

Algebra — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:58:53 -0800

Dingus Well, I definitely thought this was going to be a Dr. Steve Brule themed post. I guess I'm only a little dissapointed.

By: motty

motty — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:21:27 -0800

Another good curated Bandcamp site is andrewdubber.com/music. Some great stuff there.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:51:10 -0800

Hey this is neat thanks*. Also I like the word dingus, it's funnily mean, but gentle to call someone dingus. What up, dingus? I call my sister dingus, also I call her Mork, I mean her name is Máire, so that's more or less a no-brainer. *I like the French-Canadian folksingy ladies especially.

By: komara

komara — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:07:01 -0800

Potomac Avenue: I think single absolute best thing about Bandcamp is that there is nothing to do there other than listen to and buy music. That's what I want out of it. That's what it's for. Please don't encourage them to ruin it by adding anything else.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:28:07 -0800

That's a pretty good point, and it seems like they're sticking with it.

By: dubold

dubold — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 03:09:15 -0800

From a purely technical standpoint, artists don't NEED a label to create music. The average phone is capable of doing things that were limited to "professional" studios 30 years ago. If your computer can run Reaper, there's no technological barrier keeping you from making a record. The only limitations are your creativity and drive. But one of the side effects of the decline of the recording industry is that the content-delivery system is so diffuse - soundcloud, bandcamp, youtube, fb, the band's website... the band or artist posts their music, but then what? I remember when I figured out that if I liked one band, I might like other acts on that label. For smaller labels, anyway, you could count on 4AD or Factory Records or Dischord or Victory to have a certain similarity between the artists. Technological developments in recording and digital distribution have made labels an unnecessary appendage for the creative process, but there's a major void to be filled in terms of how music is recommended and discovered.

By: Theta States

Theta States — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 05:56:19 -0800

My one fatal flaw with bandcamp: Allow for direct-linking the MP3s. Let a band designate at least a track or two for quick mp3 download. The last thing I ever want to do is listen to music in my web browser. For years, people hosted MP3s on annoying filesharing services like MegaUpload and Rapidshare. Then people realized that hosting was cheap, and everyone then linked to local copies of MP3s, and that was the ultimate convenience for me. Now everyone hosts their stuff via bandcamp and soundcloud, and it's like someone said "hey, remember how much fun it was to listen to stuff on MySpace? Let's bring THAT back!"

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:44:57 -0800

It's pretty easy to download a track from Bandcamp and Soundcloud if you enable it as such though Theta. You just can't hotlink the mp3, which may be good way for the for the consumer to access it, but bad for the musician--even if you give something away for free you should be able to see who is getting it and collect info on them. I'm the opposite though, I'd much rather stream something than download it.

By: komara

komara — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:43:07 -0800

Theta States: I'm not sure what you're talking about exactly. See this album and how track 1 says (free) beside it? Just hover over it and there's a download link. Bands can totally set a track or two to be free downloads. Is there some other way you were wishing it were done?

By: Theta States

Theta States — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:42:07 -0800

OK, most I saw didn't have track links. Or maybe I had missed them.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:05:00 -0800

It's variable...some people use Bandcamp to sell/stream their shit, others to only let people DL albums, and still more give everything away individually. It's pretty great how much freedom you have as a user. Note: I do not work for Bandcamp.

By: komara

komara — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:16:07 -0800

I do not work for Bandcamp either but I wish I did. I think they're the best thing going in the music business at the moment. I especially love their non-exclusivity. They basically tell artists, "Let your label put you on CD Baby and Amazon and iTunes. We don't care where you sell your music. On your site, in your letters to your fans, link to us if you want. Set whatever price you want even if it undercuts the rest." They just want to be an easy-to-use high-quality multi-format download source with an artist payment system that's straightforward, no tricks.