Direct-to-fan platform Bandcamp has published its annual review of its business, including the stat that its all-time payments to artists are now past the $270m mark.
That compares to nearly $200m at the end of 2016, meaning that the $70m+ paid to Bandcamp artists in 2017 represents a quarter of all payouts since the platform launched in 2008.
More stats? “Digital album sales were up 16%, tracks 33%, and merch 36%. Growth in physical sales was led by vinyl (up 54%), CDs (up 18%), and cassettes (up 41%),” explained Bandcamp.
“Revenue from the 3,500 independent labels on Bandcamp grew 73%, and more than 600,000 artists have now sold something through the site.”
The blog post also saw Bandcamp take a shot at the big-tech players in the music-streaming world.
“The majority of music consumption will eventually take place within the subscription rental services of two or three enormous corporations, who can afford to lose money on music because it attracts customers to the parts of their businesses that are profitable,” claimed the post.
“Allowing the distribution of an entire art form to be controlled by so few has troubling implications, and those continued to play out in 2017. The streaming giants exert tremendous influence over what music gets heard, and must primarily serve their most important supplier, the major labels…”
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