KVR Audio

BITWORD · Post by **BITWORD** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:01 pm

Just wondering what peoples opinion about BandCamp and other similar services - do you guys / gals use any of them? - and what are other options? CDBaby seems to be complicated and BandCamp looks simple.

I'm not looking to be a rockstar / edm-star or anything, just want to get some music out there, and am sort of turned off by the soundcloud experience.

Just wondering, and am open to some advice / comments on such things.

Thanks in advance!

sbj · Post by **sbj** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:33 pm

I think BandCamp is great. I have had my own stuff there for a couple of years now, and I have
also bought several albums from others.
All with zero problems.

Instead of SoundCloud you could try this: https://hearthis.at.

Seems like a good alternative.

Cheers

BITWORD · Post by **BITWORD** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 9:44 pm

Thanks!

I've been listening to your album We I R D - I love it! Great stuff you got there!

Cheers

burkek · Post by **burkek** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 10:09 pm

Bandcamp is great because you can provide material in a lossless format as well as MP3. CDbaby isn't difficult and will get your material on iTunes, Amazon and streaming services, if you want, with a one-time low fee. I have no complaints about either service.

KEv

sbj · Post by **sbj** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 10:11 pm

BITWORD wrote:Thanks!

I've been listening to your album We I R D - I love it! Great stuff you got there!

Cheers

Thanks

Googly Smythe · Post by **Googly Smythe** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 10:25 pm

burkek wrote:Bandcamp is great because you can provide material in a lossless format as well as MP3.
KEv

But it only streams in mp3 format, just like all the others. And Soundcloud allows uploading of wav files too.
My problem with Soundcloud is that if you allow downloads (and I'm egotistic enough to think that people want to download my stuff!) it seems to appear on dozens of other download sites, most of them dodgy-looking. Do't know if this happens with BandCamp, though.
Have you tried BandPage?

BITWORD · Post by **BITWORD** » Tue Aug 02, 2016 11:59 pm

Great info guys! Thank you very much - I think since I don't plan to make any money (but it would be nice), I will just avoid spending any - BandCamp looks like the place - also, the more I search it, there are a lot of bands/artists I recognize.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:07 am

Ayorinde wrote: My problem with Soundcloud is that if you allow downloads (and I'm egotistic enough to think that people want to download my stuff!) it seems to appear on dozens of other download sites, most of them dodgy-looking.

Even if you disable downloads at SoundCloud, your tracks can be downloadable from other sites. It is fairly trivial to rip an audio stream, or so I've heard.

BITWORD · Post by **BITWORD** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:20 am

seismic1 wrote:
Ayorinde wrote: My problem with Soundcloud is that if you allow downloads (and I'm egotistic enough to think that people want to download my stuff!) it seems to appear on dozens of other download sites, most of them dodgy-looking.
Even if you disable downloads at SoundCloud, your tracks can be downloadable from other sites. It is fairly trivial to rip an audio stream, or so I've heard.

It's actually easier than it should be...

BITWORD · Post by **BITWORD** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:21 am

BITWORD wrote:
seismic1 wrote:
Ayorinde wrote: My problem with Soundcloud is that if you allow downloads (and I'm egotistic enough to think that people want to download my stuff!) it seems to appear on dozens of other download sites, most of them dodgy-looking.
Even if you disable downloads at SoundCloud, your tracks can be downloadable from other sites. It is fairly trivial to rip an audio stream, or so I've heard.
It's actually easier than it should be...

-Oh, and what I find quite amusing is that some demo tracks for sample libs I made ended up on music sites - LOL

I think bots do it, but I could be wrong...

(oops... double-ish post)

an-electric-heart · Post by **an-electric-heart** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 1:14 am

I use both, CD baby and bandcamp. You need to be on the popular things that people know how to use like itunes and spotify, but I always promote bandcamp a bit more because it pays better.

Something happened with CD baby that I didn't like, a minor niggle really. I'd opted out of being a youtube partner when choosing the the services I'd like to be on... yet they still uploaded my songs to youtube with ad's splattered all over them, so I guess all I'd done when opting out of being paid, I guess they were collecting that ad money?

Aleatoriac · Post by **Aleatoriac** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 1:56 am

PLEASE BUY MY ALBUM I'M DESPERATE AND ALONE! MY PEN IS MALL!

That's what I think of all the online distribution stuff.
Not jaded or anything.

Music is worth less than toilet paper these days. Even the packaged and "big name" artists stuff.
So I make it anyway. 'Cuz I can, and nothing in ZE VORLD CAN SCHTAP ME NAAAAOOOWW!!

BITWORD · Post by **BITWORD** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 2:00 am

Codestation wrote: Music is worth less than toilet paper these days.

We will always have a demand for toilet paper - that's the business to be in

AsPeeXXXVIII · Post by **AsPeeXXXVIII** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 9:27 am

I like Bandcamp. Used it for close to four years now and had no issues whatsoever. If only my own music made me even the smallest amount of money...

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Wed Aug 03, 2016 12:13 pm

Bandcamp is ok but most interesting stuff needs the pro account which is expensive (Afaik $10/month). It's not a social media platform, so you cannot get in touch with fans. Private streaming etc. is only supported in the pro account. IMO Bandcamp is only interesting for independent artists not signed with a label with an already large fanbase to sell their own music.

I've tested some of the other services (the last was Fanburst). But to be honest, most of them are full of bugs or there are missing features. I wrote bug reports to Fanburst (without getting an answer) because their mobile version is not working. I was in touch with the hearthis developers (very responsible) because there are bugs with the player. There are missing features with Soundcloud (mobile version has no comment/download option like in the desktop version, they removed Opengraph support for embedding the player on Facebook, they announced to remove groups).

So I use some of this services in combination. If I need to embed a track on my Facebook fanpage I use hearthis. For selling, Bandcamp is only an additional option besides iTunes, Beatport etc. Soundcloud is still interesting because of the largest user base and for sharing.

BandCamp and other services