Bandcamp's Artist-Friendly Friday Moves $4.3M Worth Of Music, Merch

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Bandcamp’s announcement that it would waive its portion of revenue-share for music purchased on its site on Friday was an apparent hit with hunkered-down music fans, as $4.3 million worth of music and merch was moved during the 24-hour period.

“The numbers tell a remarkable story: on a typical Friday, fans buy about 47,000 items on Bandcamp, but this past Friday, fans bought nearly 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch,” Bandcamp announced. “That’s more than 15 times our normal Friday, and at the peak, fans were buying 11 items per second.”

With the coronavirus decimating the live industry, artists have taken to livestreams, surprise releases and other means to keep fans interested. Some bands, like Dropkick Murphys, have found ways to keep the show going at least to some extent. Meanwhile, some artists have taken to full livestream “tours” of sorts, including Diplo who has been doing daily Instagram DJ livestreams with royalties going to the original artists.

“We don’t yet know the long-term impact of Covid-19, but we know that we all need music—to uplift and inspire us, to heal us, and to give us hope,” Bandcamp’s statement continues. “We’ll continue working to make Bandcamp the best place for fans and artists to come together and sustain each other in the challenging times ahead. Thank you again, and we wish you all good health!”