Independent music platform Bandcamp has pledged to continue providing music downloads as long as music fans are interested in owning them. In a recent email to customers, it promised to continue its current business model in the wake of rumors that Apple will terminate music download purchases from the iTunes store within the next two years.
Tech Times recently brought you the news that according to some reports, Apple is planning to end the ability for customers to purchase downloads from its iTunes store.
The move was ostensibly planned in order to force a shift to streaming, specifically to the company's burgeoning Apple Music service. Although Apple has denied the rumors, many still believe that the company will in fact phase out download sales, which are a shrinking source of revenue for the company.
In the wake of these reports, Bandcamp, the popular music hub that allows independent artists to share and profit from their music, has issued an email to all of its customers reiterating its commitment to offering downloads as part of its service. Artists who use Bandcamp are able to control the price of their music, as well as give it away for free or in exchange for an email signup if they so desire.
Consumers can also choose to donate what they want to the artist, or even pay more than the amount requested. In exchange, Bandcamp takes a 15 percent cut of all sales, in addition to payment processing fees, a number which drops to 10 percent when an artist's sales hit $5,000.
When a customer purchases a track on Bandcamp, they receive the ability to stream the song indefinitely, along with an optional download of the track that they can retain.
"As long as there are fans who want to own, not rent, their music, that is a service we will continue to provide, and that is a model whose benefits we will continue to champion," the service reassured customers.
"Subscription-based music streaming ... has yet to prove itself to be a viable model, even after hundreds of millions of investment dollars raised and spent. For our part, we are committed to offering an alternative that we know works," says Bandcamp, which also takes some digs at competing music delivery services like Spotify and Apple Music.
The company also pointed out that unlike its rivals, it has been profitable since 2012 and that sales of digital albums and individual tracks on Bandcamp both increased by double digits in 2015 despite an overall industry-wide decline in such sales.
