Bandcamp has defended a change in its payment process that means fans’ money is no longer flowing directly to artists.
Instead, they are going through the company, which has sparked some concern and criticism from artists using its platform to sell their music.
Bandcamp says the move was unavoidable in order to introduce new features, including support for credit cards and shopping baskets containing music from multiple artists at once.
“This change will streamline the way fans pay artists on Bandcamp, and will give fans more ways to pay artists on Bandcamp. Getting paid instantly was great, but getting paid more money, at a ‘cost’ of only a 24-48 hour delay in payment (when the industry standard is 30 days), is better,” CEO Ethan Diamond told Billboard.
He also provided a new milestone: $126m of payouts to artists and labels since Bandcamp’s launch in 2008. That means $26m since reaching $100m in March 2015.
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