Bandcamp upgrades app for artists, adds tools for real-time stats, direct messaging
Bandcamp has launched a new, easy-to-use app which the online music store promises will help artists and their labels get on with business.
The retooled app is a data rich hub which provides users with real-time stats to their handset and lets you talk “directly message your fans,” according to a blog post shared earlier this week.
Once connected, it’ll help manage and fulfil merch orders and manage what products are available, and take you deep into the numbers behind the music. You can draw down on how many listens a track has had (or how many times it’s been skipped) and the app, we’re told, upgrades the communication channels, even targeting those messages by fan location and level of support.All of which is pretty handy in a digital environment where fans are just a click away from buying stuff.
Ethan Diamond, Bandcamp’s co-founder and CEO, walked us through the improvements in a video tutorial. Diamond made clear that these communiqués will be sent to users both inside the Bandcamp fan app and through conventional email. “Now, fans can of course opt out of that and just get your messages in the app if they prefer, but the default here is that if you send a message, we’re going to do our best to make sure your fans actually get it.” The handy new app also enables users to directly message fans.
The Bandcamp App for Artists and Labels is available for Android and iOS. And it’s free.
Musicians love Bandcamp, and it’s a growing endeavour. According to a statement shared earlier this year, fans have paid artists nearly $200 million using Bandcamp, and and they buy a record every three seconds, The platform, founded in 2008, boasts what it describes as a transparent, artist-friendly model where it takes a 15 percent cut on digital items and 10 percent on physical goods. Digital album sales grew 20% last year, with physical sales – led by vinyl – up by 48%, according to Bandcamp.
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.