Why We Need Bandcamp ~ A Lost in the Music Editorial.

I love Bandcamp, I really do.

Through its service, I have come across bands such as The One Ups, The Megas and DJ Cutman. Bandcamp is great because it gets exposure to indie artists as well as exposes listeners to new music and bands that they may not have heard of.

Why do I enjoy Bandcamp more then other services such like iTunes? It is because Bandcamp does not lock out potential customers to buying the product. An example is that when I was looking to buy a digital copy of The World Ends With You, I went to iTunes and searched for it but could not find it. However my friend Justin who lives in the US was able to find it easily. On Bandcamp that doesn't happen^*. You can live anywhere in the world and as long as you have a Paypal account, you can buy the album.

Another small bonus to Bandcamp is the social media aspect. Now I am not comparing it to Google+ or Facebook where you post obnoxious status updates or duckface photo's, but instead you see what your friends have bought music wise or what artist you follow have released. I can think of a few times I have found a new album because my friends over at Alphaand Omega Radio have found it through their friends.

Why don't other media companies use Bandcamp or other services. I am aware that several soundtracks such as Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings and Mass Effect are on the iTunes Market, but those are but a few. Why hasn't Nintendo, Monolith Soft or other companies released released music digitally? Usually when Nintendo releases an album, it is usually an actual CD, which brings up an entire list of problems such as damaged album's and outrageous prices. Before I got the Xenoblade Chronicles album, I was checking out various sites and the album was around 90.00 before shipping. I enjoy the music but not where I would pay 90.00 for the album.

Another mark against physical copies is that they can get lost. Last Christmas I had that issue with DirectSong. I had ordered myself one of the albums off their service and didn't receive it. No matter what I tried I wouldn't get a response. Luckily a friend of mine came through for me and gave me his CD, but I was still out the 30 dollars.

Bandcamp may be one of the most important music distribution companies on the internet right now. Through Bandcamp, countless of independent artist's have found a stage to show off their music and get exposure. Bandcamp gives artists their audience they want. As much as I appreciate that, I do believe Bandcamp has room to improve if it wants to compete with iTunes. However, Bandcamp alone cannot do that. They need to start getting other more big time artists to start putting their music onto the site.

Digital distribution is one of the things that changing the music industry. Not only does it cut out the middle man and have music reach more people, it also gives the indie, unsigned bands their own chance to gain an audience.

We need Bandcamp to survive so the indie acts and VG Music bands can get their voices heard.

This is DaimoMac and I am lost in the music.

* As of this writing it seems iTunes may have lifted that embargo.