When Bandcamp announced it had been bought by Epic Games, I saw a theme across social media from artists and many fans. Bandcamp is a fantastic support for many musicians to get their music out there in a world where Spotify doesn’t even pay you a penny. With this acquisition, it feels like a bastion of independence has ended up in the wrong hands. I hope that Bandcamp goes from strength to strength and doesn’t compromise its initial values but I’ve seen this happen too many times before to not be rightly cautious with my optimism.
Researching your basic needs on what an MVP music selling platform would look and feel like
I’ve started a project to look into what is needed to build and maintain an independent music platform for small artists to sell their music.
The first step is to understand what would be needed so the platform works for artists and fans alike. To capture some very basic needs I’ve arranged 3 separate short forms for artists, fans and labels to complete.
Artists – please complete a 5 question form to capture your needs.
Fans – please complete a 4 question form to capture your needs.
Labels – please complete a 4 question form to capture your initial needs. Labels may not be in initial scoping but it is important to understand your needs.
Research transparency
Everything collated is visible on my public Trello board which is currently set up for capturing user needs.
This page will update as and when I make some steps forward with the project.
What stage are you at with research and development?
I am currently collecting responses to the surveys above whilst I investigate the technical aspect of launching a service like this. There is no specific end date in mind for this phase.