With tours coming to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, bands are losing the expected profits they would have made off concerts and merch. Once again, Bandcamp is stepping in to help. The streaming and music hosting website has announced that it will waive its cut of sales on the first Friday of the next three months.
Bandcamp announced this new COVID-19 relief effort today. On the first Friday of each month — May 1st, June 5th, and July 3rd — Bandcamp will forgo taking their share of revenue from online sales so that the total proceeds go directly to the artists. It will last from midnight to midnight PT each day.
“With such a major revenue stream drying up almost entirely, finding ways to continue supporting artists in the coming months is an urgent priority for anyone who cares about music and the artists who create it,” Bandcamp CEO and co-founder Ethan Diamond said in a statement. “It may sound simple, but the best way to help artists is with your direct financial support, and we hope you’ll join us through the coming months as we work to support artists in this challenging time.”
This is a generous move from Bandcamp, especially when you look at how successful their initial donation day and the follow-up campaign were. The first initiative saw users spend a mind-blowing $4.3 million dollars — 15 times the normal amount spent on any given Friday!
In-person concerts may be canceled for the foreseeable future, but that hasn’t stopped artists from performing live through the internet for an online audience. Check out our updated list of livestream concerts here and see our picks for whose performance to watch tonight here.
To keep supporting musicians during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are waiving our revenue share on all sales this Friday, May 1, from midnight to midnight PDT. Let’s come together as a community to put money directly into artists' pockets: https://t.co/hPhgm7WBR4 pic.twitter.com/DG6KYI2IN5
— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) April 27, 2020
