Last Friday, March 20, in an effort to help artists impacted by coronavirus-related concert cancelations, music discovery and streaming platform Bandcamp waived its revenue shares for 24 hours, with a number of independent record labels following suit.
Now, according to a statement from Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond, the streaming platform has reportedly had its biggest sales day ever, with nearly 800,000 items sold.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Last Friday, fans spent $4.3 million—15x a normal day of sales—in support of artists on Bandcamp <a href="https://t.co/ElpCIN3s4f">https://t.co/ElpCIN3s4f</a></p>— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bandcamp/status/1242128168254922753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"The numbers tell a remarkable story," Diamond wrote today (Monday, March 23). "On a typical Friday, fans buy about 47,000 items on Bandcamp, but this past Friday, fans bought nearly 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch. That’s more than 15 times our normal Friday, and at the peak, fans were buying 11 items per second.
"We don’t yet know the long-term impact of Covid-19, but we know that we all need music—to uplift and inspire us, to heal us, and to give us hope,” the message continues. “We’ll continue working to make Bandcamp the best place for fans and artists to come together and sustain each other in the challenging times ahead. Thank you again, and we wish you all good health!”
In support of keeping the music community alive and thriving, you can also donate to the MusiCares COVID-19 relief fund here.
MORE RESOURCES FOR MUSIC CREATORS & PROFESSIONALS:
Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: West Region
Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: East Region
Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: South Region
