Ethan Diamond is the CEO of Bandcamp - a community platform and tool for independent music online. To raise awareness of the problems facing artists economically affected by the global pandemic, and to try and contribute in some way, Bandcamp waived its fee for 24 hours back in March. It was so successful that today they are doing it again - and will do so on the first Fridays of June and July as well.
Ethan is not known for public appearances and self promotion, and this episode is a rare insight into the history, ethos and mission of the company the New York Times called “one of the greatest underground-culture bazaars of our time”.
Read more about Bandcamp’s Covid-19 Fundraiser
Dubber Hi, I’m Andrew Dubber. I’m the director of Music Tech Fest, and this is the MTF Podcast.
I first came across the name Ethan Diamond on the 8th of September, 2008. I’d been blogging about music online for about four years, and I’d just published a book for independent artists about the technologies and the opportunities of the internet, and also how to think about the relationship between artist and fan in that context. And I got this email, which, of course, I’ve kept.
It says: “Hi there, Andrew. My name’s Ethan Diamond. I’m a long time reader of your blog and a big fan of ‘The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online’. In fact, after reading it several months back, I formed a start-up to address many of the issues you raise in the book. My new company, Bandcamp, is essentially a publishing platform for musicians. If at all possible, I’d like to demo it for you sometime Friday. We’re tentatively scheduled to launch next Monday, the 15th. I’m in San Francisco, but it’s easy enough to demo over the phone, provided you’re in front of a computer with an internet connection. Thanks very much for your time, hope to speak with you soon. Ethan Diamond.”.
Now, since getting that email and being blown away by the service itself, and then agreeing to come on board as an advisory board member, I’ve been a close follower and advocate of Bandcamp. I really think it’s a fantastic thing for artists. And today, if you’re listening the day this podcast comes out, Friday, May 1st, 2020, Bandcamp’s doing something more than usual to help artists in the light of the COVID pandemic. That small percentage they take off the top of each sale, that’s going directly on to the artist. Now, last time they did this back in March, over four million dollars went directly to the artists using the site. So today and the next few first Fridays of the month are going to be great days to support independent music.
Now, I haven’t spoken to Ethan for a while. He’s been busy growing the platform and the team. But I thought that this would be a really good occasion for a long-overdue chat. So, from a small room in a house in San Francisco, here’s Bandcamp CEO, Ethan Diamond. Enjoy.
Dubber Ethan Diamond, thanks so much for joining us for the MTF Podcast today.
Ethan Thanks for having me.
Dubber We have a bit of a history, so we should probably start at the beginning. When did you first encounter what I was doing?
Ethan Well, let’s see. I want to say it was 2007, right when you came out with… It was New Music Strategies, and your ‘20 Things You Must Know About Music Online’. Did I get that…?
Dubber Wow, you can remember that title better than most people, including myself.
Ethan I think that was it. One of the 20 in there really stuck with me, and that was “Hear / Like / Buy”. That music is unique compared to books or film in that the order has to be you hear it, you hear it a few times, you decide you like it, and then you buy it. And this was in 2007, right when everything was 30 second snippets online, and that just never made any sense to me. So one of the things that, from the very beginning, we wanted to do was make a service that really embodied that particular point of yours.
Dubber Right, wow. Okay. So nobody buys music anymore, have you been told?
Ethan Okay. We are up to, in an average day, people buy 78,000 records through Bandcamp. Per day.
Dubber That number again?
Ethan 78,000.