Hearing the new owner laid off half of Bandcamp's staff, absolutely tragic. IDK if that's targeting the people who were trying to unionize or what. That site is the most important thing to the independent music industry and it doesn't deserve this falloff.
Reminder to still support musicians on the platform and that no one has called for a boycott, if you think about doing that in response to bad news you'd just be hurting artists.
cannot stress this enough. the news sucks but we literally do not have another home, and as of right now, the site is still functional and the policies have not changed, only the workforce. and while that is deeply tragic and unfortunate that so many people got laid off, and despite the cloudy skies approaching, it is imperative that we continue to support our home and the people within it. because like it or not, bandcamp IS our home, and we need it right now.
while it is important to be able to establish alternative spaces in preparation for further bad news to come, we cannot simply just abandon home without anywhere else. we must continue to support independent artists by any means necessary.
the reality of the situation is that boycotting and removing your content from bandcamp, with nowhere else to go or no other avenues to support, while the site is still functional, will just completely kill the independent music scene that's already been struggling for decades.
and whatever "new site" we want everyone to move to will not suddenly become our new home overnight. building up bandcamp to be what it is today took years of sustained effort from creators and supporters alike. there are not many other places with such a strong foundation.
(this is not to disparage or shame artists who may feel uncomfortable by the songtradr acquisition and following layoffs and have willingly chosen to remove their work from bandcamp; but when we have no other place to go, simply just leaving is a massive risk that many of us in the independent music scene simply cannot afford to take. maybe you're one of those people, too.)
I get pretty much all of my music from Bandcamp - it's one of the last places on the internet that offers high quality downloads while supporting the artists! I would be sad if it stopped being that :(
I can't calculate the amount of money I've spent on bandcamp in the last decade-plus. Music is my number one luxury expense when I do have disposable income, and few things make me feel better than supporting artists I love for the work they do, and bandcamp is still the best way to ensure they get paid for their art. I am furious with the management and disgusted by the enshittification that's infected BC and every other platform, but yesterday on Bandcamp Friday I was able to send a few dollars directly to some musicians in return for their music and that's still an excellent thing to be able to do.
