Bandcamp has announced it will be extending its monthly fee-waive days for the rest of 2020. The online platform started the initiative on Friday, March 20, when it waived its usual 15% cut of download sales and 10% cut of physical and merch sales in order to help artists struggling due to the COVID-19 crisis. Bandcamp Fridays will continue to take place on the first Friday of each month, with the next one scheduled for August 7.
In addition, the platform revealed that the last four Bandcamp Fridays have led to more than $20 million going directly to artists. Since the pandemic hit, fans have paid a total of $75 million worth of music and merch directly from musicians and labels.
“We started Bandcamp Fridays back in March to support artists impacted by the pandemic, and in the past few months the music community has come together in a huge way,” Bandcamp said in a press release. “Because the pandemic is far from over, we’ll continue to hold Bandcamp Fridays on the first Friday of every month until the end of the year.”
On Juneteenth, the platform also donated 100% of its share of proceeds to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others.
On the last four Bandcamp Fridays, fans put more than $20 million directly into the pockets of artists and labels. We’re going to keep doing them for the rest of 2020, more details here: https://t.co/UJU3FMLNTc pic.twitter.com/fizXtRfZH7
— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) July 23, 2020
