Aside from streaming your music on various sites like Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, etc., there are many fans that still want to download your music and have a digital copy of your album.
If you combine your Bandcamp Artist page to earn revenue, and your YouTube artist channel to attract the best fans, you might have the ultimate online music service for your fans!
In this article, I will share all the details you need to know about Bandcamp.
You need a Bandcamp account as a musician. It works great for your fans, as they have a good place to interact with you and buy your music and merch.
You can gather a great group of listeners and turn them into fans.
BandCamp is also a great place to earn some extra money as an artist, as the payout is more than on your regular streaming platform!
Once you have started your own Bandcamp page, you can simply add it to your YouTube description to direct more fans to your Bandcamp Store!
Btw, Bandcamp is free for artists and fans! So, no excuse there 🙂
Below are 7 of the best Bandcamp features to help you make money from your music and build a strong fan base.
First, the top 7 features on Bandcamp.
- Real and digital sales!
You can sell your album as a digital format on Bandcamp.
Your fans can choose if they only want to buy/download one song, or the full album.
A cool feature on Bandcamp is to preview every song before you buy it.
And by preview, I mean, listen to it in full!
So, no short 30 second clips, but full song and album streams!
But for the true fans, you want to include that extra bit of service.
Aside from your digital download, you can add the option to order a CD or even real vinyl!
Remember that time you listened to your first record? That smell, feel and cover art experience?
You can share that same experience with your best fans, and offer them the option to order a vinyl release of your best album!
Which brings us to: - Merchandise Sales
Aside from your album sales in various formats, you can also offer merch. What would your best fans like from you? A mug, t-shirt, cassette, sheet music, posters, buttons, even USB drives and more!
Merch is a great extra source of income, and it builds a strong connection with your fans if you do it correctly. - Free page with design options
Having a great page that represents you as the awesome artist that you are, is key to attract more fans to your music.
And, while you could use a separate website as a home-base for your music, Bandcamp could be a good second option to start with.
While not a full-fledged website where you can shift things around the way you want, it is still a good home-base for your fans and includes all the basics you want to have in a website.
And, if you already have a website… - Full integration with many websites
By using their plugins or just the custom code, you can embed your Bandcamp player on pretty much any website builder.
Whether you are using WordPress, Squarespace, Bandzoogle, or any other online web builder/hosting, you can always add the player to your website in various sizes and styles.
And, it is not a simple link, it is a full music player! So, people can directly listen to the songs or albums you want to promote, directly from your website! How cool is that! - Having direct communication with your best fans
On Bandcamp, people can choose to follow you. If they do, they also get the option to be signed up on your mailing list.
And, after people sign up for your mailing list, you will also have the most direct way of staying in touch with them.
Send out the occasional email newsletter to update your fans on upcoming albums or the current progress of your new album.
Another cool feature to build your fan base online! - Custom pricing and discount codes
You are free to value your own album! What do you think it is worth?
Setting a good and fair price for your album might be beneficial for both you and your fans. Especially when it is your first album online, you could try to make it a low-priced album to attract the first true fans.
The benefit of pricing it yourself can be to discount some albums from yesteryears, or to even offer free downloads! - If you want to spoil your fans more (and you should!) you can start using discount codes for a variety of reasons.
Share them with your long-time fans, early pre-orders, or create a small challenge in return for a discount.
You decide what type of discount it can be. - Pre-order campaign
If your album is almost done, you could start setting up a pre-order campaign.
A pre-order campaign can be a great way to build momentum and increase your sales. Try it out before your album goes live, instead of directly releasing it to your fans!
Hype your album in social media campaigns and send out the occasional email to your email list to make everyone aware.
The results can be great! - Bonus feature!
More control over everything regarding your music!
Okay, not a real feature in itself, but can you imagine having full control over all the music you share and sell, having full interaction with your fans, getting direct payouts for every album and merch sale?
Combine it with a strong YouTube Music Promotion strategy, and you will have a great fan-service that also generates a cool amount of income!
Just let that sink in for a bit 🙂 - In my opinion, Bandcamp is pretty much the equivalent of a music store of the old days.
The only thing missing is that smell of cardboard and vinyl….
Maybe buy some scented candles with vinyl smell? Do they exist? That would be the ultimate experience!!
(Btw, yes, they exist! A quick Google Search gave me Vinyl Store Rue des Dames Scented Candle, and a Vinyl Records Candle… Not sure what to expect, but I might buy one just for the heck of it!)
Keep making awesome music and share it with the world.
Maurice from Music-Mindset.com
