Sunday afternoon Bandcamp Friday thoughts
Edit: I just realized it would probably be a good idea to explain what Bandcamp Friday is, for those unfamiliar! bandcamp.com is a platform where you can buy music (mostly digital, although a lot of artists offer physical albums and merch as well!). One Friday per month they'll waive their revenue share so artists get a bigger cut of profits from their sales than usual. It's a very cool thing!
Every time Bandcamp Friday rolls around, I feel insecure about posting links to my Bandcamp on social media. Two days ago was no exception.
The last time I released something was almost a year ago. Anyone who wanted to buy any of my releases would have bought them by now, right?
As it turns out, no! Most people who follow me on social media know I do music, I assume. But they might not know that I do album/EP/soundtrack releases, or that I have a Bandcamp. Or maybe they know, but amongst all the other musicians who also have Bandcamps, they haven't thought to look through mine yet.
There are some Bandcamp Fridays where I make zero sales despite posting about it. But there are others where I'll post a link thinking it'll do nothing. Then maybe someone I've been mutuals with for a bit, but don't know very well, will comment that they're listening to an EP of mine and really like it. A lot of the time they'll buy it. Maybe someone who doesn't follow me will see someone reposting my post, decide to check it out, and end up buying something. Sometimes a very kind soul, presumably with much more money than me, will decide to spring for the whole discography.
That's the thing about self-promotion and social media. No matter how obnoxious we think we're being by posting about the same things multiple times, there will usually be someone who's seeing it for the very first time. It feels like such a grind, but really the only way to do the thing is to keep doing the thing.
I will say, I find that self-promotion posts tend to do much better when I'm authentic with them, rather than sounding like a generic self-promotion thing. Instead of a boilerplate, "it's Bandcamp Friday, buy my music!" type post, this time I decided to go with something along the lines of, "I've been out of work for a bit, and that's been really hard. One way you can help me out is by buying something today for Bandcamp Friday!" It could be a coincidence, but this was one of the best Bandcamp Fridays I've had in several months sales-wise.
I've found this to be true with posts about looking for composing work as well. I tend to get a lot of good interaction by straightforwardly asking people to let me know of opportunities because I'm struggling with finding work (or, weirdly, making shitposts about it). Not so much with the generic, "I'm available for work, here's my portfolio!" type posts. I think people are generally just very kind and want to help out when they can. Plus I just prefer being authentic online anyway, it leads to more real human connections.
Anyway, back to Bandcamp Fridays. I don't make a ton of money selling music on Bandcamp, but it's also not nothing. It's enough to make a tangible difference in my life. And it's certainly more than I make on Spotify and other streaming services, by a lot! But really the main thing is knowing that people want to support me. Whether they buy music, listen to it and tell me they like it, or share my posts, it truly means so much in a world that can be pretty cruel to artists. It's heartening, knowing that people are rooting for me!
So I guess if I had to boil this post down to two points, it'd be these:
Artists, if you're self-conscious about self-promoting, try to push past that. Of course, there's a limit. Don't spam. But generally, there will always be people who haven't seen your work before and who will be excited to have discovered it.
People who like art, music, games, movies, podcasts, etc. (so, you know, most people), try to show the artists whose work you enjoy some support. Tell them that you enjoy their work, share it, and/or maybe buy something of theirs if you can afford it. We appreciate it more than you know!