I try to be careful and wary of anything online, especially when it comes to ID and money. However, a lot of the music that I like is only available on Bandcamp. Is Bandcamp legit, that is can I safely give them credit card info and will I get what I purchased?
I don’t use it a lot, but I’ve not ever had any issues with it. I’ve bought a few digital albums from the site.
I’ve been signed up for a while (as a customer), have made purchases, and nothing untoward has ever happened. If you’re seeing music there you’re interested in, I don’t see any reason not to go for it.
@kenobi_65 and @dirtball, I assumed that it’s legit but you gave me some external validation. Thank you very much
I use it occasionally as well. No issues here with using them.
I usually wait until Bandcamp Fridays, where purchases result in all money going to the artist (next one coming up on May 2).
My understanding is that, unlike other music services (e.g., Spotify, Apple Music), Bandcamp nets the artists more on each sale, and also lets them set up online stores, to sell physical media (vinyl albums), merch, etc.
The musicians from whom I’ve bought stuff on Bandcamp tend to be indie artists, who don’t have deals with major record labels (though some of them did in the past).
I’m not affiliated with it myself, but a musician friend and collaborator uses it.
He seems to be a pretty savvy fellow, so I would generally trust his judgement.
Agree. I think everyday purchases do get the artist more money than other services, but on those selected Fridays that is amplified. Either way I think it’s good for the artist.
Let me add my unnecessary amplification of what everyone has said. It’s not only legitimate, it’s my preferred venue for buying music.
Bandcamp is legit. Some of my musician buddies use it for distribution and funds collection but also to find new music & shows.
Edit: What they said:
I am taking everybody’s advice and I’ve successfully ordered three different downloads from them.
So long as the OP isn’t downloading flute solos, it should be fine. 
- King Buffalo: “Live at Freak Valley”;
- Tuber: “Desert Overcrowded”; and
- Villagers of Ioannina City: “Through Space and Time (Alive in Athens 2020)”
I should have specified: flute solos by Alyson Hannigan.
(Reference to a naughty line from the movie American Pie, in case it went over anyone’s head.)
Just to add a bit of nuance, it is indeed legit, but has gone through some rocky times recently.
A few years ago, they were bought by Epic Games (the company behind the Fortnite and Unreal video games), which is itself part of the Chinese mega-conglomerate Tencent.
Then a couple years later, Bandcamp was again resold to another music conglomerate, Songtradr, who then laid off half its staff and all the employees who were involved an unionization effort.
So as a business, it isn’t very stable. It used to be a beloved indie darling a decade ago, but has seen some troubles recently. Not sure what its future looks like.
Make sure you download them to your device, pronto. I forgot once and it was a round-about way to find my purchase later and download it. You can listen to your tunes on Bandcamp, but I prefer to download to my device (also, re: what @Reply mentions it’s always safer to have all your purchases on your device rather than leave everything on their platform).
Now I get it😁
I hid a clue in my first response. The period at the end is a link.
I thought that’s what this thread was about! I was a flute player who went to band camp and was going to chime in.
Sadly, no American Pie-type stories but band camp itself existed.