Blog: Bandcamp

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Fandom reciprocity: Why sustaining a community requires give and take

Laura Fisher

9 Apr 2025

Fandom

Instagram

Music

The Outlander Magazine recently took to Instagram to issue a pointed challenge to artists and brands: you can only call your audience a "community" if you actively contribute to it. This sentiment underscores...

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A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

Spotify

YouTube

The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue...

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The unflattening of music

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2025

Cultural trends

Spotify

TikTok

[This post builds on two other recent MIDiA posts: Background music and What got you here ] At the half way point of the decade it is a good time to reflect on how the business of music is reshaping the...

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Two future paths for the vinyl revival

Tatiana Cirisano

31 Oct 2024

Music fandom

Superfans

monetising fandom

The vinyl resurgence is among the top music industry narratives of the past few years, especially given the recent focus on monetising fandom. The elephant in the room is the question of how long this...

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Big Machine (Inadvertently) Just Did a Promo Ad for Label Services Deals

Mark Mulligan

1 Jul 2019

Amuse

awakl

Bandcamp

The sales of Taylor Swift’s former label Big Machine Records to Scooter Braun has resulted in an ugly spat that has been played out very publicly. First Braun enthused about acquiring a ‘brilliant’...

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PledgeMusic and Not-So-Glorious Failure

Mark Mulligan

10 May 2019

Artists direct

Bandcamp

blackberry

Pioneering fan funding platform PledgeMusic is now officially over, having entered administration (i.e. Chapter 11) in the UK reportedly owing its artists around $1 million and with little expectation...

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How Soundcloud Could Transform Deezer’s Market Narrative

Mark Mulligan

4 Jul 2017

Access Industries

Apple Music

Artist discovery

News has emerged of Deezer being a potential buyer of troubled Soundcloud. This follows on from Spotify’s prolonged but ultimately abortive courting last year . Soundcloud was once a streaming powerhouse,...

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Welcome To The Post-DIY Era

Mark Mulligan

20 Mar 2017

ADA

Bandcamp

BandLab

I recently took part in the True Music Forum in Madrid, an event organized by Boiler Room. I was on a panel that explored whether DIY is now coming of age with a host of high profile artists, most of them...

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