Bandcamp







What can I say about Bandcamp? First of all, I can't praise this service enough since discovering it last year via Peter Prog's radio show on progrock.com (more on Pete another time,) it truly is a fantastic website! It gives music artists a chance to reach out to people without a record label or any other middle man thus directly supporting them and there are many to discover.

One of the first bands I discovered through Bandcamp (thanks to the previously mentioned radio programme) was Red Bazar. After having heard them on the show and following the link taking me to this site, I was able to listen to not only the tracks played on the radio but the entire album! A great way to try before you buy, not that I needed much convincing with this record and bought it shortly after. Unfortunately at the time, I thought albums on the site could only be purchased digitally but have since found that you can not only buy a CD on Bandcamp but in some cases even Vinyl! In doing so, you are directly supporting the artist too! Since having bought Red Bazar's 'Tales From the Bookcase' album, I have bought a few using Bandcamp and that album later became my favourite of last year.

Another thing that crops up from time to time on there is 'Name Your Price' whereby the album or EP is offered at no charge and you can give a donation to the artist for said record. This came to my attention when a band who were featured as Album of the Week on Peter's Check it out show on progrock.com were offering, not only the featured album but their entire back catalogue under this 'Name You Price' banner. A great idea for new artists especially to get their music out there and encourage more people to pick their albums up.

Bandcamp certainly seems to be going from strength to strength as it has even been given attention on BBC Radio 2 from none other than Jamie Cullum on his Jazz show, hopefully this continues and with other radio stations be it commercial or internet.

I cannot recommend Bandcamp highly enough and in this very busy world we live in, it's a fine way to search for new music if the commercial chart music isn't pushing your buttons at the moment. You will find the link for Bandcamp at the bottom of this post!

You never know who you may discover, your next favourite band maybe?

Happy listening readers!

https://bandcamp.com/

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