BANDCAMP MAKES INDEPENDENT VINYL RELEASES EASIER
Bandcamp has announced a new service that allows artists to press vinyl with no financial risk.
The vinyl revival is showing no signs of slowing. With new turntables being announced almost weekly and last week's Record Store Day appears to have been a success, the next logical step is for bands to have easier access to pressing their art to the rejuvenated medium.
Rejoice then, as Bandcamp is getting into the vinyl pressing business and has launched a new crowdfunding service aimed at making it easier for artists to release their music on wax.
The service will operate a similar model to crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, allowing artists to launch a campaign to raise money to release their music on vinyl once a minimum goal has been reached. Moreover, Bandcamp’s service will also handle pressing and shipping.
A Bandcamp representative told StereoNET:
The new service eliminates risk since fans’ orders finance the pressing, rather than the artist or label. It eliminates hassle, since we press the records, print the packaging, and ship to fans (and fulfil digital too).
Bandcamp says that the service will allow “complete control” over design and pricing, with the company taking “no ownership” over the record. Additionally, they say that they are using a manufacturing partner with “over 60 years experience” in the vinyl pressing business.
We applaud this option as plenty of independent musicians already use Bandcamp to sell digital and physical music and so makes this option handy for the content creators. Furthermore, the new service puts Bandcamp in an excellent position to become the market leader for vinyl crowdfunding.
Bandcamp’s vinyl crowdfunding service will be open to all artists and labels later this year, but has already soft launched with pilot campaigns, including a vinyl version of Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery composer Jim Guthrie’s latest video game soundtrack Below, Juliette Jade’s Constellation, and Mesarthim’s Ghost Condensate.
The new service is part of a broader move from Bandcamp into the physical space. Earlier this year it opened a brick and mortar store in Oakland selling a selection of the vinyl already sold through the site.
As a creator or consumer, let us know your thoughts about Bandcamp's new service.
Jay Garrett
StereoNET’s resident rock star, bass player, and gadget junkie. Jay heads up StereoNET as Editor for the United Kingdom and Europe regions. His passion for gadgets and Hi-Fi is second only to being a touring musician.
Posted in: Music
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