What's your Protocol on 'Name Your Price' Releases on Bandcamp?

[thedisavowed]

Is there any etiquette here? I find myself wanting to support Bandcamp artists more. If you're an artist on Bandcamp, what do you typically anticipate/experience/hope for?

[Dragon]

pay 0.00 and assure them that you support them by listening to their music on your free Spotify account

[EdamAnchorman]

If it's a smaller, less-known artist then I generally try to pay $10-15 for a full album and $5-7 for an EP.

[Plarkreluke Banloboh]

The Bandcamp mobile app only adds those releases to your purchases if you pay at least a dollar so I usually pay a few dollars so I can stream them.

[dcom]

If it's really PWYW and not a free download, I always pay at least the minimum amount (1 USD/0.5 GBP/0.5 EUR) to get it in my collection. There are plenty of exceptions, though, where I usually pay the minimum per track; they're usually from artists who self-release, and to whom I prefer to show appreciation via voluntary payments.

[Satans Little Helper]

Depends. If I’m forced to buy the whole album, but I’m only interested in one or two tracks, I’ll pay for an EP. If the whole album is quality I pay for the whole thing. Usually I go with $2 per track as a minimum and see where I end up. And combine that with how much the music means to me. So there’s a potential bonus. (The minimum is stupid, thinking about it. As life is getting more expensive so basically I’m supporting artists less and less as inflation kicks in)

I do want to mention that I prefer artists naming a price though. The name your price thing shouts “ i think it’s worthless, but you can pay all you want”. As if it’s OK to think its worthless as well. Dont like it.

[auxien]

17 hours ago, thedisavowed said:

If you're an artist on Bandcamp, what do you typically anticipate/experience/hope for?

i've had my music up for pay and for free, and am now keeping it all free for the foreseeable future. at least released on my own....if i'm working with a label they go with what works for them. 

this isn't because i don't feel my music has value (re: SLH's comment above) but because in the past, some people who are fans couldn't easily purchase anything for reasons outside of their control. that possibility, if rare, plus a variety of persons just choosing not to 'value' music with their actual money, made me decide to keep it all free so everyone can just have it if they like it, no questions asked.

does this 'devalue' the perception to some people who might visit my page? sure, for some, definitely. that's something i notice when checking out others' Bandcamp pages, so i can't say i'm perfect. but if the music is good, the music is good and the rest doesn't matter. i don't care if it's 'perceived' (by others/friends/etc. in relation to the buyer, mind you....that devaluation only comes into play because of the social expectations of value in a capitalist world) or presented as subpar because there's not a price tag associated with it.

without blabbering on too much more, i honestly experience a greater joy seeing that others have fully played tracks/albums or downloaded them or shared a quick email to me, shared the music with someone else...the expression of appreciation via paying for it is wonderful and certainly helps with Bandcamp algorithms and with perception of value by other visitors (oh, this album is free but 5 or 10 or whatever other people actually paid something for it anyway?) but truly, just seeing others listening to/downloading/enjoying the music i make means more than a few dollars.

Edited October 30, 2022 by auxien

[Alcofribas]

yeah Imo just pay what you want and don’t worry about the etiquette. I think artists putting out their music with that option really just want people to hear their shit. 
 

also, the idea that the pay what you want model makes it appear that the music is without value is very lame to me. extremely boomer shit. 

[Satans Little Helper]

boom! R

[TubularCorporation]

I usually put my stuff up for free and get a few dollars a month from people paying. It's almost always $1 or $5 per album when people pay.

 

I don't really ask for or want money unless it's for physical media or it's going to be used in a commercial project.

 

Sometimes I'll make the album free but chage for individual tracks if I want people to treat the whole album as a single piece.

Edited October 30, 2022 by TubularCorporation