It goes without saying that in the course of only a couple of weeks, the well-being of America has gone from sugar to sh*t. Everyone reading this has had their lives turned upside down due to COVID-19 pandemic and most of you are probably wondering how you’re going to end up once this virus has done its damage.
So no one needs to tell you how bad it is. But since you are here about the music, you might not be aware that all the shutting down of public gatherings has taken away all the freelance musicians’ primary source of income: gigs. The predicament of this particular talented jazz saxophone player is the predicament of probably about 99% of musicians right now. Even a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is facing the threat of homelessness.
So, in an ironic twist, the way to help these musicians for now is to, like the old days, buy (not stream) their music. Problem is, they usually get only a fraction of the take after the distributor gets his cut. Bandcamp has become popular with artists precisely because they get to keep more of the purchase price. And now, for one day only, they get to KEEP IT ALL.
Yesterday, Bandcamp announced a unique fundraiser, by waiving their cut for 24 hours:
To raise even more awareness around the pandemic’s impact on musicians everywhere, we’re waiving our revenue share on sales this Friday, March 20 (from midnight to midnight Pacific Time), and rallying the Bandcamp community to put much needed money directly into artists’ pockets.
Bandcamp is big — really big — so unless you already have some favorite bands in mind that use the service, it could be daunting to know where to start. If you crave some of the more adventurous, non-mainstream music, I have a few ideas for recent releases:
Curt Sydnor – Deep End Shallow
MFTJ [Mike Keneally + Scott Schorr] – MFTJ
Adam Larson – Listen With Your Eyes
Ken Sharp, “Girl/Forget That Girl”
Paul Bryan – Cri$el Gems
Peter Hum – Ordinary Heroes
Matt Mayhall – Fanatics
Alabaster DePlume – To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1
Emperor Penguin – Soak Up the Gravy
Ross Hammond, with Oliver Lake and Mike Pride – Our Place On the Wheel
Chicago Underground Quartet – Good Days
Mike Pride – Marimba, July’ and ‘Drums, August
Dan Rosenboom – Absurd In the Anthropocene
Not to mention Anthony Braxton, who a few years ago put a sizable chunk of his magnificent discography on BC.
In any case, if you’re going to be holed up at home for a while, might as well empty a box of a 3,000 piece puzzle, grab a Corona Samuel Adams out of the frig and cue up some tunes. You win, the people you don’t infect win…and the musicians who enrich our lives win.
- Rich Halley 4 – ‘Dusk And Dawn’ (2024) - November 13, 2024
- Vazesh [Lloyd Swanton, Jeremy Rose + Hamed Sadeghi] – ‘Tapestry’ (2024) - November 12, 2024
- Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock + Paul Motian – ‘The Old Country’ (1992; 2024 release) - November 7, 2024
You May Also Like:
Jazz Reedist Daniel Bennett on How Musicians Can Thrive In (and After) the Pandemic Age [Part 1 of 2]
Daniel Bennett on Artists Flourishing After COVID-19: ‘This Virus Will Die, but Our Cultural Renaissance is Just Beginning!’ [Part 2 of 2]
Shawn E. Hansen, Mike Pride + Clayton Thomas – ‘DREAMBAND’ (2023)
