Bandcamp to donate all profits on ‘Juneteenth’ in stand for racial justice

As the music industry presses pause for “Blackout Tuesday,” a sweeping show of solidarity following the death of another unarmed African-American in an act of police brutality, Bandcamp is doing its bit to support the progressive movement.

The online music marketplace announced it’s donating all of its share of sales on June 19 — Juneteenth — to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a national organisation that with a reputation for enacting racial justice and change through litigation, advocacy, and public education.

The initiative will be an annual one, held every Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day commemorates the date enslaved African-Americans were informed of their liberation from the slavery in the former Confederacy, in 1865.

More than a century later, the fight for freedom continues.

Bandcamp

This week, Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond called on everyone in its community to rally for “racial justice, equality, and change.”

“The recent killings of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the ongoing state-sanctioned violence against black people in the US and around the world are horrific tragedies,” Diamond writes.

“We stand with those rightfully demanding justice, equality, and change, and people of colour everywhere who live with racism every single day, including many of our fellow employees and artists and fans in the Bandcamp community.”

Additionally, Bandcamp is allocating $30,000 each year to organisations fighting for racial justice and creating opportunities for people of colour.

Adds Diamond, “We’ll continue to promote diversity and opportunity through our mission to support artists, the products we build to empower them, who we promote through the Bandcamp Daily, our relationships with local artists and organizations through our Oakland space, how we operate as a team, and who and how we hire.”

This coming Juneteenth (June 19, from midnight to midnight PDT) and every Juneteenth hereafter, we will donate 100% of our share of sales to the @NAACP_LDF https://t.co/FVgnE0FuDC

— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) June 1, 2020

Bandcamp’s initiative hit the right note as a slew of its artists and partners piled in with words of thanks and support.

“Thank you for being real and doing something,” tweeted L.A.-based label Dome of Doom. Jagjaguwar chimed in with a heart emoji. “Spot on,” tweeted stoner-prog band Crippled Black Phoenix. “Finally a company with some integrity and balls!”

Founded in 2007, the U.S.-based platform boasts what it describes as a transparent, artist-friendly model where it takes a 10-15 per cent cut on digital items and 10 percent on physical goods.

Today, the company boasts hundreds of thousands of artists and more than 3,000 labels in its network. Fans have paid artists more than half a billion dollars using the service.

Meanwhile, the music industry today (June 2) will observe a day-long blackout in response to George Floyd’s death.

All three major music companies and many independents and media outlets have shared a message on social media calling for a “a day to disconnect from work and reconnect with our community.”

Employees across the industry have been given the day off and are being encouraged to use the time to “provoke accountability and change”.

Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, was pinned down by a white police officer in Minneapolis, footage of which was captured and viewed millions of times around the world.

As urban protests and riots rip the U.S., a local medical examiner’s report confirms that Floyd’s death was homicide.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.