How To Save Music

tl;dr :: the Streamers (Spotify, Tidal, etc) do bizdev with Bandcamp to link up tracks in their streaming catalog with artists' Bandcamp catalogs. Streamers become a sales funnel to Bandcamp for these artists. Normal affiliate sales money relationship rules apply.

These artists are not getting any more than money for a latte from the Streamers each month.

So let's acknowledge the Streamers as the evolved radio stations they are, but give them the power of affiliate links. Apple got this right with their hybrid streaming/purchase model.

I'm not saying that people can't make playlists and listen to whatever they want, yes of course all of these things! But if there is a path right there to directly support the artist and own their music, then that benefits all -- listeners, musicians, streamers, and Bandcamp.

PHASE I

For participating artists, prominently link to their Bandcamp home from their artist page.

Link directly to albums or tracks in Bandcamp from Album pages...

...and in flyout menus for each album/track ("Buy on Bandcamp"). These are verifiable/auditable leads.

NOTE: Utilizing this navigation must be a seamless one in terms of the listening / audio continuity experience. A perfect handoff is mandatory. No gaps or pops, navigate directly to that track at that mm:ss moment in Bandcamp's app, playing.

The artist benefits from being in the Streamer ecosystem of discovery and potential to be in someone's daily playlist or queue.

The artist benefits quite a bit from the additional Bandcamp exposure this would create. Think about the amount of effort it takes today to think of looking up an artist on Bandcamp, navigating to Bandcamp, searching for the artist, then scrolling through what can be a very unfamiliar catalog. Only the 0.1% kind of fans are doing this.

But if this was a known brand/relationship/interaction and it is recognized as wholesome, then listeners would interact with it in their Streamer UI as a place to dig deeper into the artist and support them directly. Listeners know all too much that Streamers pay a pittance and people love music and musicians.

Hypothesis: This reduction in friction from discovery -> direct support will be very significant on the order of 10x-100x the current funnel to Bandcamp, and thus, to artists in a more direct and significant way.

Artists could limit the tracks exposed to Streamers, utilizing Bandcamp as a "premium tier" experience for their more engaged listeners. Given the affiliate nature of the relationship between Streamers and Bandcamp, and the accuracy in identifying link clicks, the Streamers can benefit directly from this via revshare.

PHASE II

Phase II would be an integration of a listener's Bandcamp library to the streaming service's content for that listener. This would give a seamless listening experience, and it would provide value in the business relationship in terms of maintaining awareness of listening trends across platforms (listening analytics).

By eliminating the decision of "do I listen to Bandcamp or Spotify right now?" listeners can focus on listening to their favorite music, discovering new music, and directly supporting the artists they love.

PHASE III

Phase III introduces integrated marketing. Perhaps a Bandcamp-only song could be mixed into a Streamer's algorithmic playlist for a set period of time. Calls to action to transition to Bandcamp to explore / transact would receive special prominence.

Artists could participate in this promotional ecosystem directly, micro-funding Streamer algorithmic playlist placement from their Bandcamp accounts.