Do you need to be on a label to join Bandcamp

  • Thread starter Thread starter Eric V
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Eric V

Eric V

The Undertaker
I can't seem to find out if you need to be on a label to join Bandcamp. Do a lot of people use Bandcamp? My friend and I have over 60 songs we would like to sell, or get paid for downloads. Any thoughts?
 
A label? No, not at all. Anyone and their grandmother can join Band Camp.
 
Do you retain your copyrighted material completely? Is there some catch?
 
Hi Eric. As far as I can see, there is no catch. You retain the copyright to everything you do. So, you don't have to worry about someone else making that $1.35 a year. That's all yours. :D
 
Been meaning to join myself (just actually need to record full songs etc., though some are on the way). Are you aware of any copyright policies, e.g., for covers?
 
I have about 30 covers as well as about 30 originals on my Band Camp page. I didn't get any licensing for them and didn't ask for permission. I'm not worried about it. If anyone has a problem with it, they'll contact me and I'll take the offending song down.
 
Eric V said:
You would need permission from the original artist no doubt.
Click to expand...
Well, a lot of sites that cater to non-star artists (soundclick, soundcloud, etc) allow covers, and some have an official "covers" category. I was wondering because as BandCamp caters to a lot of indie/alternative artists / small-acts-that-tour, many of those small artists don't only do original material.
Anyway, thanks for confirming @Random dude
 
Bandcamp is clear that you are responsible for obtaining the rights to any covers you put up there, but they're not going to go spend time checking that you have. If they get a letter from a lawyer, there's a fair chance they'll just take your account down for breaking their rules. It's unlikely the real copyright holder (a publisher) is going to bother contacting you directly, but if they do, you need to understand that violating a registered copyright carries real financial penalties. I suspect Bandcamp is small enough in the streaming world that they're not getting a lot of looks by something like the automated process that will flag your YouTube upload before it's finished processing.

From their site (scroll down to read about Intellectual Property Rights - Artists - this is only a small excerpt):

By uploading any Music or Artworks to the Site:
  • you represent and warrant, and can demonstrate to Company’s full satisfaction upon request, that (i) you own or otherwise control all rights to your Music and Artworks (or that such Music and Artworks are in the public domain or have otherwise been directly licensed to the Artist in writing with a grant of rights sufficient to permit the Artist to enter into this Agreement and to grant all of the rights with respect to the Artist’s Music or Artworks as set forth in this Agreement (hereinafter “Direct Licensed”); (ii) you have full authority to act on behalf of any and all owners of any right, title or interest in and to any Music you upload to the Service and to the Artworks; (iii) you have permission to use the name and likeness of each identifiable individual person whose name or likeness is contained or used within the Music and/or Artworks, and to use such individual’s identifying or personal information (to the extent such information is used or contained in the Music and/or Artworks) as contemplated by these Terms of Use, and (iv) you are authorized to grant all of the aforementioned rights to the Music and/or Artworks to Company and all users of the Service.
 
Youtube is a little different. I upload my covers there too, and they always get a copyright "Claim", which is different from a copyright "Strike". All that means is that any ad revenue goes to the copyright holder. LOL! They can have it.

I have never had a song taken down from Youtube and I've put up hundreds of covers.
 
Eric V said:
Do you retain your copyrighted material completely? Is there some catch?
Click to expand...
I've been on Bandcamp for a while and it's the only place that makes me any money. More than Spotify anyway. The only catch is that they take 15% of anything you make from digital downloads. I don't do CDs or merch so I can't speak to that. I only upload original music because I don't want to risk losing my account. If I want people to listen to cover songs I either put them on YouTube or my personal website.
 
The covers that I have out there I usually restrict to the streaming services. UK considers this OK, while in the US, the system is different had people like Harry Fox usually need to give permissions. Covers also generate payments, split with the original writer. Even worse, I have noticed that some of the streaming services have my covers, but awkwardly list me as the writer, when I clearly gave the original writers details and most services show mine and their details. Other though seem to mess it up. One that was clearly a cover reappeared with only my name, and now some months generates more money than others - I guess if it suddenly makes me rich, I need to fix it, but until then .........
 
The US has changed with some updates to the digital copyright stuff and that affects the large streamers like Spotify, YouTube, et al. They now have to do the monetizing and paying for covers, without the folks uploading them doing anything extra. Of course, not every single publisher/artist buys in to this, so they can still cause a copyright "strike" to be issued when the uploader has not obtained permission themselves. (And, typically, if they're not buying into YT's payout scheme, e.g., they're not handing out rights to their IP, either.) I don't really know how it works, but I've got nothing but covers, and some get flagged for copyright (not a "strike"), so I assume if the dozen or so folks that might listen to it click on an ad, or however revenue gets counted/generated, some money flows where it should. I don't bother getting a sound-recording copyright (SR) because I'm not registered with a PRO - no way that pays for itself for my experimenting. I just check to make sure whatever I do has already been covered by someone else and appears, and then I know the copyright holder isn't aggressively stopping that sort of thing. (I do have a few covers where I'm the only one ever doing it, but those are songs from local artists I know, so no problems there.)
 
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