Bandcamp CEO on The Best Way To Support Artists, Bootstrapping A Profitable Startup
Six years ago, Ethan Diamond co-founded Bandcamp to offer musicians an affordable way to stream and sell their music directly to fans. By starting small and determined to stay independent, Bandcamp has built something uniquely pure and useful for both artists and fans. Already a profitable company, Bandcamp pays out $3 million monthly to artists and small labels – over $80 million since launch.
Recorded in September 2014 at XOXO, a Portland,Oregan arts and technology festival, Diamond shares the startups early history along with his views on the current state of the music industry and how Bandcamp is taking a decidely different approach.
Bandcamp is the best. A good metric:
Money we’ve received per unique user —
Bandcamp: $7.66
Spotify: $.86
Jack,
That’s an amazing figure. Can you elaborate on how you calculated it so we can see if it’s a common figure for other bands?
#Jack: that doesnt say much if you had 3 paying Bandcamp users and 100.0000 on Spotify. A number pr unit is not relevant. Its the total sum.