Simon Little

Whether you’re a music fan or an artist, the brand new fan pages from Bandcamp are really rather exciting.

Now anyone that has bought music via Bandcamp can sign up for a free fan page where they can showcase their music collection and browse the collections of other like-minded music lovers to discover new records. Yet again Bandcamp has come up with a clean, simple and effective system where iTunes has failed. The ill-fated iTunes Ping service lasted all of five minutes with it’s fussy interface and attempt at creating a social network, and now Bandcamp has managed to achieve a fully integrated music recommendation system without detracting from its core values or functionality. Here’s what my fan page looks like today (you can click on the link if you want to follow me!):

As you can see, you get a really straightforward page showcasing the music you’ve bought on Bandcamp. You can show or hide whatever you like on your page, add reviews/comments to albums and select your favourite track for the player. You can follow both artists (which automatically signs you up to their mailing lists and lets you know when they release new records) as well as your friends and other fans so you get notified when they buy new music. And once you’re signed up as a fan, a little thumbnail of your profile picture will appear beneath any album you’ve recently bought on the artist’s page in the ‘supported by‘ section, as will any comments you’ve added as a recommendation.

This new feature has benefits for both fans and artists…

Fans now have access to a great music recommendation and discovery system for all the excellent independent music available via Bandcamp. Since they introduced the Discover feature last June, Bandcamp has steadily improved the way in which new music can be discovered in it’s vast library. Artists have been able to add up to three albums in their recommended section, which now features on their band page:

Fans can now be notified immediately when their favourite artists release new music or their friends buy a new record. And now you can show off your impeccable taste in your own personal corner of Bandcamp, and publicly show your support for your favourite artists. You can see who else has bought a particular record and explore the rest of their collection. There is also now a wishlist which enables you to save albums you’ve found that you might like to come back to and purchase at a later date. All of these functions are presented in the most straightforward way with an excellent UI. Marvellous…

Artists can now engage more with their fans and other artists alike. Fans are incentivised to pay for your music so they feature on your page as supporters and showcase your music in their collection (free downloads don’t offer these possibilities). Your music can now be found via genre and tag searches, artist recommendations and fan pages. You can expand your mailing list as people start following you and automatically gain access to your fanbase when you really need to; when you release new music.

Bandcamp describes the fan accounts as “a social music discovery system based on the high-friction concept of ownership“. The idea being to involve fans at a level greater than simply pressing a ‘Like’ button or scrobbling plays on last.fm, and thus engage more with a sense of community and support for the artists they love.

So in a nutshell, You Need This!!! If you’ve ever bought music via Bandcamp (and hopefully most of you reading this will have bought one of my records at least!) you should sign up for a fan page immediately. It’s dead easy and it gives you instant access to a whole world of music discovery. I’ve already found a few little gems purely through browsing my friend’s collections and the recommended pages of my favourite artists. The worst thing that could happen is that you end up blowing loads of money on some great new music…

If you have yet to use Bandcamp to purchase music, I shall of course suggest checking out my latest solo release [un]plugged and our new trio recording Foreground Music, Vol. I with Jez Carr and Mike Haughton. Of course. What better way to start your collection and connect with other music lovers? Enjoy…

Ladies and gentlemen…. Our new trio record Foreground Music, Vol. I is out today!!

Featuring Jez Carr on piano, Mike Haughton on soprano and tenor saxophones and myself on upright bass this is the culmination of our work together so far as a trio. The eight track album is available right now via Bandcamp in all it’s 24-bit glory in whatever format you prefer.

We are all very excited for you to hear the album. We’re looking to put on some live shows sometime in the new year with a view to recording more material.

Here’s a handy little player from Bandcamp so you can stream the album:

We really hope you like it. If you do, please help spread the word. With no record company or promoters we are relying on you, dear listeners, to help let the world know about our music. You can click the Like button on the Bandcamp page and post the player to your Facebook profiles. You can click the Tweet button and tell all your Twitter followers about us. You can even share the Bandcamp player on your websites and blogs so that others can hear our music.

Any music bloggers or websites that are interested in featuring or reviewing the album, please get in touch either via the comments below or the Contact form.

We’ll keep you informed of any news regarding the album here and via Twitter and Facebook. We’ve already had a few enquiries from radio so hopefully you’ll be hearing us on the airwaves rather soon.

Until then.

Hello folks,

Yesterday I got together with Jez Carr and Mike Haughton to work out what we’re going to do with the trio project.

We’re going to release an album very soon. It’s going to be called Foreground Music, Vol. I. As soon as it’s mastered by Jez we’re essentially good to go so watch this space for the release announcement. We’re going to put it out on Bandcamp. As it stands the album runs at about 72 minutes of freely improvised music over eight tracks. We’re all so pleased with the way it came out.

So, what does this music sound like? I hear you ask. Well, as a special treat for you all here and on Facebook and Twitter, here is a little preview track from the album. It’s mixed but not mastered. This will be the closing track from the record and is a lovely piano/saxophone feature. Not much bass on this particular track boys and girls but fear not; there’s all kinds of bottom end action to come.

Also, you’ll be glad to know that Jez has recently rejoined the world of Twitter and is now fully tweetable (!). You can find him at Jez Carr. He has also added his wonderful duo album with bassist Steve Lawson Conversations to his Bandcamp page. You should all check this out while you wait for our trio record. Here’s the handy player so you can have a listen…

So watch this space and Twitter for the release announcement. It could be as early as this weekend if it all goes to plan. Exciting times. Hope you like the preview folks!

Until then…