Bandcamp and its editorial coverage of new artists

Bandcamp have been kind to me, Muttley SV, over the years, so I thought I'd do a little post on what SC forum regular DIB has alerted me to in my Ambient Lovers (search: FTAL) thread...The Best New Ambient Releases article, said to be a new monthly affair by Aurora Mitchell for the time being.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/08/17/best-new-ambient-june-july-2017/
http://www.subvertcentral.com/showthread.php?tid=56159&page=22

Starting to listen through the music, I'm impressed by its auteurship. But Bandcamp has always been "the best new music" for me since it started in 2008, because it represents DIY projects wholesale. Gone are the commercialisations of content, the trimming of untidy strands of hair, like the throwing away of the prog solo, and most of this music is ambience and ambient based, ignorable as it is interesting, so I'm satisfied. And most of it is pay-what-you-want, so the wider public are, too.

An extra good thing with BC now is they (read: most artists) got rid of the cap on plays, which would then bring up a screen reading "now is the time to open thy heart/wallet". Fuck that - I've disabled that function on my BC site. I want people to have the freedom to stream freely, especially when we become older and realise our music on this site is reaching any kid with an internet connection who, even if they have grown up a spoilt millennial, most of the time are riches impoverished because they are not as rich in mind due to life experience. Experience is perennial to being happy with oneself, a feeling we need to generate a bit more.

The easiest way to establish yourself a fan base these days, though I'm naturally biased, is to sign up to a forum like SC, get involved, don't spam the forum with any old crap, just get involved with quality posts, and slowly over time you'll be allowed like the chump writing this to post on the main forum regularly about all your music obsessions. Music talk is free debate on Subvert, but for the sake of content interest, money is removed from the equation. Making money doesn't really exist for artists these days, you get your wage from wherever - said as a true working musician - and you go buy your Maccy D. But it never changes. Only your costs reduce. It took me a while but due to the right mentoring, at under 30, I have now built a sustainable future for my music and as an advertisement from being a featured artist on Bandcamp, over 20 accounts have subscribed.

It was only natural for Bandcamp, as well, to render its content with the Bandcamp Weekly radio station, which I think is still going, and which I've listened to a couple of times. The editors have every angle covered, they keep the site grass roots with the fifteen percent revenue share - which is fuck all if you think of all the free web hosting and nicely boxed and ribboned promotion we all get.