Bandcamp has announced the return of its Bandcamp Fridays initiative for 2022. The monthly digital event saw the streaming platform wave its revenue on all purchases for the first Friday of the month. Bandcamp Fridays are scheduled for February 4th, March 4th, April 1st, and May 6th. The promotion runs from midnight to midnight Pacific Time.
“On the first Friday of the month since March of 2020, we’ve waived our revenue share to help support the many artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic,” Bandcamp wrote. “Over the course of 17 days, fans paid artists and labels more than $70 million dollars, helping cover rents, mortgages, groceries, medications, and much more. If you’re among the nearly 800,000 fans who participated, thank you.”
The tradition began back in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic when touring ground to a halt. Even as large-scale concerts began to re-emerge in 2021, Bandcamp continued to forgo its revenue on the first Friday of every month. The platform surmised that “It will likely be several months before live performance revenue returns in full,” and is thus extending the program. Bandcamp also made sure to highlight how much fans have contributed to artists on every other day of the month.
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“If you’ve started to feel guilty about buying music on any day other than Bandcamp Friday, here’s something to keep in mind: on Bandcamp Fridays, an average of 93% of your money reaches the artist/label (after payment processor fees),” Bandcamp wrote. “When you make a purchase on any other day of the month (as 2.5 million of you have since March, buying an additional $190 million worth of music and merch) an average of 82% reaches the artist/label. Every day is a good day to directly support artists on Bandcamp!”
Click here for more information on Bandcamp Fridays and take part in the first one of 2022 on February 4th.