11 Tips To Make Bandcamp Work Better For Indie Artists

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It seems like my Bandcamp Coaching idea has resonated with a lot of Bandcamp artists. Thank you for subscribing! I will try and do my best to make this section valuable to you. Again, I don't promise miracles, and maybe none the tips below are new to you. Maybe you've already tried them all and they didn't work. But there's nothing worse than giving up just because something doesn't work for you. Maybe you just need a different approach. And maybe this section of Substack will spark something that will make you think outside the box and help you come up with new ideas. Maybe we can work something out together.

So, this is the first post where I will be a little more specific. In my last post I said that there are a lot of tutorials out there that tell you how great Bandcamp is and show you how to set it up, but they don't tell you how to actually make it work. Luckily there is an exception called Other Record Labels. I am not affiliated with them either, but they do a fantastic job of giving actual Bandcamp tips. Other Record Labels have both a YouTube channel and a podcast that I highly recommend. They mainly share tips on how to run an indie record label, but also have insightful advice for DIY artists.

I would like to share two of their videos with you in particular, in which you will meet Scott, the owner of Other Record Labels, who covers more or less the same aspects in both videos, only one video is a bit more recent than the other. In each of the videos he talks about 5 Bandcamp tips and I want to break them down a bit below. Some of the tips overlap, so I've picked 7 tips from both videos and added 4 of my own that aren't covered in the videos.

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The tips are

1. Submit To Editorial

2. Fill out all the details of your release

3. Nice product images

4. Download Codes

5. Make your site pretty

6. Early Window

7. Message Your Fans

8. Listening Parties

9. Bandcamp Friday

10. Share your Bandcamp page wherever you can

11. Be patient

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Video 1 from 2020:

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Video 2 from 2022:

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Let me break the tips down one by one.

Tip 1: Submit to Editorial

Scott from Other Record Labels says not to miss out on submitting your albums to Bandcamp Daily about 4 - 6 weeks before release. It's worth noting that Bandcamp only reviews albums, not singles or EPs. In the first video from 2020 he mentions an email address, but it's no longer valid. Instead, the Bandcamp Artist Guide asks you to use THIS FORM.

In the second video, Scott gives the same tip, but that video is from 2022. In that one he says you should submit 2 - 3 months before the release date since they get lots of submissions.

The Bandcamp Artist Guide suggests eight weeks before the release date:

“Contact us as early as possible to let us know about your upcoming release. Eight weeks before your release date is ideal, but we do understand that some albums have a much shorter turnaround time than that. Send us the link to your music on Bandcamp, saved as a draft or private release. Don’t send us links to your music on other platforms. […] Accept that we just can’t cover everything. There’s a lot of great music on Bandcamp and we receive around 1,000 pitches a week. We do our best, but we’re at peace with the fact that we’re constantly missing amazing music.”

I submitted my album Cats & Coffee Cups (released June 2024) to Bandcamp Daily about eight weeks before the release date and never heard back. Maybe it got lost in the shuffle or maybe you need to submit even earlier. I could imagine that if the suggested period was 2-3 months before the release date in 2022 (as suggested in the second video), it might be 6 months in 2024, even though Bandcamp Daily suggests otherwise. As I'm not affiliated with Bandcamp, I can't tell you what the best time to submit is, but I would say eight weeks before the release date is probably the minimum.

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Tip 2: Fill out all the details of your release

Scott points out that the consumers who come to Bandcamp are people who are actually interested in your music. So they want to know a little bit more about you. Many of them also grew up with physical media and remember flipping through the liner notes of CD booklets or studying vinyl record sleeves. That's why it's so important to fill in the details of your release. The details you fill in here are the liner notes in the digital world. And it makes sense if you think of Bandcamp as a record store compared to streaming, which is more like radio. So it seems plausible that consumers would want to know the details.

I know it's not for everyone, and ultimately it's up to you how much you want to share and what you're comfortable with. Some people prefer to stay a little mysterious. But according to Scott, this attitude will not help you. Instead of thinking that your mysterious aura might make people curious, it can be a bit of a turn-off. Usually Bandcamp users want to know who you are, how this album came about, who produced it, where it was recorded, etc. This is what they were looking for in the liner notes. Some of you might remember how disappointed you were when a CD booklet was sloppy, maybe not even containing the lyrics. I know I was! People will be just as disappointed when they see a blank release page with no details.

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Tip 3: Nice product images

If you have merch, like CDs, cassette tapes or vinyl, make sure you have nice product images and not just the cover as a jpeg image. Scott suggests to make a photo shoot but that is a question of budget for most indie artists. Just make sure the photos enhance your products. If you have a booklet, make an extra photo of that, if your CD looks like a vinyl record, make sure to point that out.

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Tip 4: Download Codes

Scott says it's important to give out download codes because of Bandcamp’s community spirit. What does that mean? Well, in general, you can see which artists other people have supported by browsing through their collections. And yes - I've found some fantastic music that way! Theoretically, if you give codes to friends, influencers or fans at shows, people who follow them will see what's in their collections - and if they see your release there, they might buy it.

You will also receive an email about which releases your followers have supported. And if you give some of your followers a code, their followers will see that they have supported your album or EP, and might buy it too. Personally, I turned this feature off because it got overwhelming. However, I have received a few emails in the past when Bandcamp has notified me that someone has found an album through my collection or through this email. It felt pretty cool. But in my opinion, if Bandcamp really wanted to foster a sense of community, they would need a forum. I know forums seem outdated, but it would be the perfect place for people to talk about who they supported and recommend Bandcamp artists. Maybe there is such a forum somewhere, but I haven't found it. I only know of the Reddit community, which is a lovely place, but not the same as a forum.

Personally, I think download codes are a double-edged sword and I will devote a whole post to how I feel about them. There's also a service called Get Music that makes it easier for people to redeem download codes. More on this and why I think Get Music is a bit of a mixed blessing will be covered in my next post here, so keep an eye out for my next Bandcamp Coaching post on the subject.

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Tip 5: Make your site pretty

One of the other tips was to add personality to your page and make it pretty. Add colours, photos or write notes. Yes, although the music is the main thing, being an artist often goes beyond the music. In the past, elaborate CD booklets with lyrics and session photos were definitely a reason to buy the CD. Some artists even created beautiful artwork themselves. So Bandcamp gives you the opportunity to enhance your site. And while this can help as eye candy, it’s not everything. I have seen pretty blank sites that just had great music. So the music should still be the most important thing.

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Tip 6: Early Window

An early window is when you release your album, EP or single on Bandcamp earlier than on streaming platforms. I've been doing this since 2019, long before I saw these videos, and it's personally helped me the most. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it - if you release everything on all streaming platforms at once - why on earth would people bother with Bandcamp when they can just stream your music anyway? Sometimes it can be helpful to release something on Bandcamp a little bit earlier, like a day or two, and sometimes it can be months.

Scott points out that the worldwide release day is Friday, so why not release it on Bandcamp on Wednesday or Thursday? That way people have a reason to listen to your release on Bandcamp because they want to hear your single a bit earlier. At the same time, it makes your loyal Bandcamp followers feel special. Sometimes it can be helpful to wait a few months, especially with albums. So far the Cats & Coffee Cups album is not available on streaming platforms, but it has a lot of supporters on Bandcamp. When the album comes out on streaming services next year and some people find it and hopefully want to check it out on Bandcamp, they will see that a lot of people have supported this album. Again, this is something that has really helped my sales in the past, so this is excellent advice.

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Tip 7: Message Your Fans

I cannot emphasize the messaging feature enough and it is often underestimated. This is what I personally love most about Bandcamp – it adds to the community spirit but more importantly, it allows you to have a closer relationship with your fans. It allows you to talk to them, tell them a little bit about your release or listening party (see tip 8), or just tell them where you are in your creative process.

Personally, I like to write a message a couple of days before I release something, just to get my fans a little excited. I don't want to just throw a release at them - I want to tell them a little bit about it. It's a bit like filling out your page details (see tip 2), only more personal. If you're releasing a single you can tell them the story behind the song, if it's an album you can tell them how the album came about, where it was recorded, who produced it etc.

But you don't have to attach it to a release. You can just write a message to your fans letting them know what you're working on.

Another tip from me personally - it helps if you don't treat Bandcamp messages like social media. Sometimes I see messages with just one line: "Now out on Spotify!“ I mean, I'm not telling you how to write your messages, and maybe those short messages are exactly what your audience needs. But since my goal is to build a closer relationship with my audience, I prefer to write short letters and show them that I take care of them. I want to tell them how grateful I am for their support. However, some people feel overwhelmed by these messages and have unfollowed me. I think that's perfectly fine. I just let them go. I also know that the majority of my audience loves my messages, so I'll just keep writing them.

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Tip 8: Listening Parties

I think listening parties are too new to be covered in the videos, as they were only introduced in 2023. But this is also something I highly recommend! A listening party is when several people listen to your album together. You can even do this with a pre-order! Or you can do it to celebrate an older release. You will see this option when editing your album page. At a set time, Bandcamp will automatically play your album and provide a chat window for you to chat with the listeners. I have attended a few and it has been a wonderful experience to discover an album! I have also hosted two of my own listening parties and both were a great success. Some people bought the album and others tipped me. As a marketing tip, it can be a good idea to say that you are putting your album on "Name Your Price" during the listening party, or offer a special discount code. This will give people an incentive to attend. Also – don't be shy! Tell everyone about it. Shout it out in Bandcamp messages, newsletters, and on social media!

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Tip 9: Bandcamp Friday

It's not mentioned in any of the videos, but I think it's important to talk about Bandcamp Friday. In case you don’t know, it's the day Bandcamp waive their revenue share to help indie artists make more money, and it happens every first Friday of the month. Bandcamp started this during the pandemic when artists were struggling and it became so popular that they keep doing it.

Well, Bandcamp Friday is a bit of an ambivalent thing. On the one hand, it's a great opportunity to promote your Bandcamp and connect with other Bandcamp lovers and artists. On the other hand, it's become a bit of a frenzy because every Bandcamp artist has their own special offer, and it often gets lost in the many messages that artists send out. Although it's a clever marketing idea, it often doesn't lead to more sales unless you already have a fan base that appreciates such offers. Some people are so annoyed by the amount of emails they get on that day that they wish Bandcamp would stop doing Bandcamp Fridays. Also, some fans may feel pressured to buy music on Bandcamp Friday when they might not otherwise.

Another personal tip is: Don't release music on Bandcamp Fridays! You might think it's a good idea, but the truth is that many Bandcamp fans fill up their wishlists before Bandcamp Friday, and as soon as it starts, they start adding items from their wishlists to their shopping carts. Chances are that your new release will be overlooked. As a fan, there is nothing more frustrating than to have already spent your budget and then see an email announcing a new release just for Bandcamp Friday. Fans may see the email and add your new release to their wishlist, but they may not buy it unless they are really, really excited about it.

But be sure to be on social media on Bandcamp Friday, especially on Threads, BlueSky or Twitter (if you're still there). As I said, it’s a fantastic opportunity to promote your Bandcamp! On that day, there are usually many, many Bandcamp posts inviting people to share their Bandcamp page or their latest release. Even if only one or two people click on it and listen, it's still a success!

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Tip 10: Share your Bandcamp page wherever you can

This goes hand in hand with the last tip. It should be obvious, but share your Bandcamp page as much as possible. Don't be shy! You might not get many likes, but someone might see it, listen to it and follow you. In any case, it's much better to tell people about your Bandcamp page than to keep quiet about it. How are people supposed to know that you have a Bandcamp site where they can listen to your music if you don't tell them? Nothing can come from nothing. So even if it's not Bandcamp Friday, keep an eye out for Bandcamp posts on social media and share your link. You could also start your own thread asking other artists to share their Bandcamp pages. This is not to engage in follow-for-follow (that never works!), but to give artists a chance to talk about their Bandcamp page.

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Tip 11: Be patient

This is probably the hardest, but growing your Bandcamp takes time. Sometimes you get 3 followers in a row and then nothing happens for a month or two. This is normal, so don't get too frustrated if you don't get 10 followers every day. If you think about it, it makes sense because Bandcamp attracts music lovers who actually come to listen to your music and spend money on your releases. It's a slower place than streaming services, where people just drop in and add your music to a playlist with a click. So don't worry. As long as you keep sharing those links and promote your Bandcamp, it will grow slowly but surely.

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These were my 11 general tips on how to make Bandcamp work better for you as an indie artist. Thanks for reading and I hope you find them useful. Don't expect them to work miracles, but they might help you navigate the site a little better. If you have any tips of your own, please mention them in the comments below and I will address them here. As I said, I am open to discussing new ideas and maybe we can come up with something together. Also, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me, I'll try to answer them if I can.