There is a band in Austin that my wife and I enjoy. They have come out with a new album and we would like to purchase it. It is available in all the usual places – Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, etc. It is also available as a physical CD and, I think, on vinyl.
Our choices are to download from a digital provider or to purchase the CD directly from the band (at a live performance). It seems to us that purchasing the CD is the best way to get the most money into the hands of the actual band themselves. Is this the best way, or does a digital download get them more money? Is it possible to know, generally, without knowing the specifics of their recording and publishing contracts?
This is just a guess, rather than being based on any actual knowledge (hey, if you wanted actual knowledge, you could ask the band themselves):
Buying directly from the band—whether that means picking up a CD at the merch table, or buying a digital download from the band’s own website—is best.
If you’re buying from a third party, some retailers may give more to the artist than others. (Bandcamp, for example, seems to be pretty good, and once in a while they have days when they give all the proceeds to the artist.)
Once you’ve bought their music, it still helps the artist at least a little if you can stream their music on a streaming service that you have a subscription to (instead of or in addition to listening to the copy you purchased).
Assuming you like the album, it helps if you leave a positive review of it on the site(s) where it’s available for sale, especially if very few other people have done so.
This. Buy all their merch, wear their t-shirt, and give them to friends who will wear them. Word of mouth is a good way to get other people interested in checking them out.
Agreeing that buying anything possible directly from the band (CDs, vinyl, digital downloads, t-shirts, stickers, tips, etc.) is the best way to get some money directly into a band’s pockets.
Attending their concerts probably helps at least a little (depending on their contract with the venue, they may get a cut of the total “gate” for their shows), but my understanding is that the residuals from digital streaming “listens” are tiny, and for a small local band, likely amount to next to nothing. For example, Spotify apparently pays artists a fraction of a cent (something in the range of $0.004) each time a song by the artist is streamed. So, if Local Band X has their song streamed a thousand times, they make $4.
If you think they are really good (and assuming that they actually are really good), tell people about them. Bring your friends to their shows. Help them build their following. In the long run, these things can help the band even more than buying their music.
I was going to say the same. If they’re on Bandcamp, then the most profitable “legitimate” sale they could make would be to buy their album on a Bandcamp Friday (next one is in August) when they give 100% of the sale to the artist. That’s all the profit for them without any associated costs from a t-shirt or album. Sadly, we just missed one on May 2nd.
True, although playing their streaming music helps place them in other people’s feeds and hopefully get the word out about their music. I’ve definitely learned about a new artists from Spotify and then went on to attend their shows and/or buy their physical merch. I suppose the best case would be if you bought their album and then just streamed it regularly anyway.
Yep to what others said as to buying their merch directly.
Other possibilities - see if they have a url=https://www.patreon.com]Patreon[/url] account. Or - stepping things up a bit - consider hosting a house concert or hiring them for a private gig.
We support a lot of small local bands - the best thing you can do is go to their shows, buy their merch, wear their t-shirts, follow them on social media, share as much stuff as you can on there. Streaming platforms pay an absolute pittance, literally fractions of a penny for each stream, it’s barely worth a band’s bother.
Also, if you have local radio stations with request shows, make that request, get the band’s name known. And tell your friends!
Also, I’ve purcahsed music on Bandcamp and it lets you pay more than the posted price, if you want. This is especially good for the artist on those Fridays. But yeah, getting the word out about them and buying merch is the best way for an individual to help the band.
Yep, if you want to make sure they get all of the money, buying merch directly from them is the best way to do that. All of the mentioned methods of promoting them are really useful, too.
Streaming services are weird, my bands have gotten a few checks from Spotify that all amounted to less than a dollar. The majority of our streams seem to come from Europe, where we’ve never played.
As others have said, buying direct from the band and spreading the word is the best way. If you have to go the digital route, Bandcamp is more friendly towards artists than the other providers, in my experience. They take less of a cut.
Thank y’all for the kind responses. I chose GQ initially because I figured there was a straight-forward, factual answer to the question (which really boiled down to “Which source pays the band the most royalties?”)
The band in question is Madam Radar. They are based in Austin, but they play all over the country. Look them up if they are in your neighborhood. Here is their discography on Amazon.
For our part, we attended their album-release party (Motel) on Saturday. While there, we bought a CD and two shirts from the merch table. We also paid for tickets to the show and had several drinks, but I have no idea how much the band gets from gate and bar.
We will continue to attend their shows in the future and buy albums as they come out. We also enjoy visiting with the band after their shows. I just learned that the drummer is educated as a school band director – just like me! He just didn’t actually go into that field (as I did) since rock superstardom was calling.
To conclude, here is Madam Radar’s YouTube page. Hands is their signature show-stopper song.
