Cool news for the independent music scene with the announcement from Bandcamp that they will be introducing an artist subscription service. Essentially, for a fee (not yet clear if it is yet monthly or annual), as soon as an artist’s page releases new music – and of course, artists pages can include a label’s entire discography – it becomes available to the subscriber, although older releases will still remain archived unless otherwise distributed through the subscription service. It’s a pretty neat thing and a fantastic way to support artists and their music distribution, even if it’s not an original innovation; Stones Throw and Ghostly, among others, use the drip.fm subscription service (which I also use, and it’s amazingly good value). You can read more details here.

With the selling out of Soundcloud to the big labels, Bandcamp remains at the forefront of independent music, and their integirty to the scene should be greatly appreciated in its context!