METALBANDCAMP.COM: YOUR NEW FAVORITE WEBSITE

If you’re a metal record label and you haven’t got a major presence on Bandcamp… seriously, what are you doing?

Bandcamp is without a doubt the best music sales platform in existence. Bandcamp allows both independent bands and record labels to set any price they like for a single song or full album download in a variety of different qualities and file formats, sell bundles with physical items and digital downloads, stream select songs, create embeddable widgets, integrate them with Facebook pages, and best of all, do everything in a completely bullshit-free, incredibly simple interface.

Someone please explain to me why every single label hasn’t dropped their outdated digital distro deals with middlemen who take a cut in favor of doing it all themselves on Bandcamp. Anyone?

Thankfully, a whole bunch of metal labels are already on board and there’s a neat site called Metal Bandcamp that keeps constant track of all of them.

Profound Lore and Seventh Rule were among the first metal labels to see the benefits of using Bandcamp as their primary online distribution hub. Relapse is by far the biggest metal label with a significant Bandcamp presence; they’ve got over 140 albums posted. Basick, Candlelight and Willowtip are also in the game, as are several smaller independents.

For those who don’t care to sort by record label, Metal Bandcamp also keeps a comprehensive list of bands using the service — both signed and unsigned — searchable by band name, album name or even sub-genre. It’s an invaluable service for metalheads, and one that helps direct listeners towards legal, pay-per-download options over piracy, too, putting money in bands’ and labels’ coffers.

Thanks to Islander at No Clean Singing for reminding me it’s about time MetalSucks published something about Metal Bandcamp.

-VN