Bandcamp vs Soundcloud for Artists: Which Service Is Better

Distribution and promotion. These factors are crucial for musicians who are looking for a good music service. Nobody wants to upload their tracks on the first available platform, so independent artists always search for a better place. They literally want to sell music, make streams monetized, and grow on a professional level. So, when you want to become a professional, you need a professional platform to realize your ambitions.

Still, if you are not ready for giants like Spotify or Apple Music, you can start with something else. Your choice could be between SoundCloud and Bandcamp - multi-functional, user-friendly music streaming services. What are they capable of? How do they work? And what should be expected from them? Keep reading because we are going to compare Bandcamp and SoundCloud to help you make the right choice.

Bandcamp - A Community for Passionate Musicians

Bandcamp is not just a service for publishing and listening to music. It's a giant community that gathers passionate people who want to discover something new and support their favorite musicians. People can listen to their favorite singles, purchase tracks or albums, and check the latest releases before everyone else does. You are free to listen to daily mixes, check various radio stations, or select the best available albums.

Bandcamp provides both paid and free services. For example, you can listen to the tracks on the platform for free, but if you want to download them for offline listening or make a gift, you have to buy them. This is a good option because artists monetize their music this way. When users buy something (CDs, songs, albums, or T-shirts), most of the price (around 82%) goes directly to the creator, while the remaining sum covers fees and Bandcamp's shares. It takes up to 48 hours to complete the transaction, so you don't need to wait till the end of the month to get your money.

Shopping on Bandcamp is simple because you access the catalogue right from the main page. All the available items are sorted by category, and you can improve the search by selecting the music genre and activating filters (artists' location, best sellers, new arrivals, or surprising goods). 

Fans have paid artists $1.31 billion using Bandcamp and $194 million in the last year.

Advantageous Choice for Artists

On Bandcamp, users can build their own store. It’s literally a website inside a website. You don't limit yourself only to online music distribution. Sell CDs and merch, allowing clients to get exclusive valuables. On other platforms like Spotify, people share links to their online stores on other platforms, and it may be uncomfortable for individuals to jump from one page to another. With Bandcamp, you have everything in one place. Moreover, you sell your properties directly without third-party apps. Users confirm transactions and download original music on their devices in seconds. Moreover, the platform has a small comission (only 10% for merch and 15% for music), so once you have regular sales, you can get a solid income.

The only significant disadvantage of the Bandcamp is limited customization. Your profile page will have the same design as the platform's main page. Moreover, you won't be able to make any major changes to your albums' pages. So, even if you want to create a unique, eye-catching brand with exceptional design, it won't look as cool as you wanted.

The compartment of key features of SoundCloud and Bandcamp by Artist Push

SoundCloud - A Great Place for a Career Start

SoundCloud has always been Spotify's main opponent, especially because of the approaches taken on these platforms. Spotify is a huge hub with a huge audience, solid engagement, and a good monetization program. It's a good choice for those who've already made a name in the music industry and want to grow their audience by entering other platforms.

SoundCloud, on the opposite, is considered as good starting point for your career. Even with the free account, you have plenty of options for music publishing and promotion. Once you decide to get a premium version for artists (SoundCloud Next Pro), your capabilities rise significantly. You receive plenty of advantageous points that help you improve your artist’s experience.

• Unlimited uploads
• Advanced stats
• Automated distribution of recent releases
• Connection with YouTube ID. When your music is released on the platform, you get paid for plays
• Fan-powered royalties monetization system
• Royalty split between distributors and collaborators

This is only a small part of all the features that become available in a full version of SoundCloud for Artists. It may be strange to pay to unlock monetization, but that's the main idea. After getting an advanced creator tool pack, you can focus on editing, publishing, analyzing, and improving your music promotion capabilities. 

The first thing revealed in comparison is a profile customization. In SoundCloud, musicians can create unique styles for their profiles, so they can be authentic while distributing their music. When creating an account for an artist, you can select a profile image and a background image. Also, you can compose a description. The column "Popular tracks" features songs with the highest listen count. Also, you can customize your albums and playlists.

Another advantage of SoundCloud is its anti-copyright system. The platform spots tracks posted with copyright violations and turns off monetization for them. So, music lovers who do everything according to the platform rules should not worry.

Is Soundcloud Better Than Bandcamp?

Bandcamp is a better place to support musicians by buying their tracks and merch. Instead, SoundCloud is better for a career start due to its simplicity. Bandcamp allows artists to sell music-related products like clothing, accessories, CDs, and so on while SoundCloud focuses on monetizing music streaming.

SoundCloud has more tools for creators, helping authors stand out. Moreover, with SoundCloud paid organic promotion, your engagement can go absolutely bananas, and your songs will destroy all the charts. So, if you hesitate about choosing the right platform for music promotion, you should go for SoundCloud. Still, if you consider your content as a real product along with merch and CDs, you should go for Bandcamp.