My feathers still feel pretty ruffled from the recent Bandcamp transition. I don't even work there but letting so many staffers go, impacting so many people of color disproportionately and basically shuttering the Union does not leave a good taste in the mouth. Despite that, I am trying to be optimistic that the future of Bandcamp is much the same as it ever was - a destination for purchasing music that has some community features and a reliable editorial arm.

However, that doesn't mean I'm not also looking at alternatives. At VHX we always told filmmakers that ubiquity was the key to success - be everywhere. I still believe that. So, here's a few platforms I've had my eyes on recently that maybe you'll find interesting. The TLDR of it all is that nothing is anywhere close to Bandcamp in terms of feature maturity but features aren't important if your platform is headed six feet under. Anyway, here we go.

• AmpWall - very early stages platform being built by Chris Grigg and John McKinney; two self-described metalheads out of New York that is established as a Public Benefit Company. They've got a working profile page and that's about all I know. This only started in September 2023, so there's actually quite a bit of growth for such a short period. I recommend joining their mailing list as they've sent out a number of surveys to help inform where they are headed.
• Sone / Tone - this is a platform / protocol being led by Kevin Duquette; whom you may know from Top Shelf Records and calling out Bandcamp for trying to union bust. I'm in their Discord and find that there are plenty of smart people in there discussing interesting problems. To be transparent, I can't figure out why there are two names - are they the same service? Different pieces of the same service? I've no idea. Additionally, there's a foundational usage of blockchain at the core of this endeavor and that gives me pause. It's not NFTs or similar grifts as far as I can tell but it's still a curious aspect to keep in mind.
• nina - out of all the options I've seen so far, this is the most mature. It's got album pages, flexible "hubs" to host labels & blogs, bonus material, allows for following and very easy uploading. I even made a yk Records Hub and tossed two records on the service to see how it worked. It was all quite smooth! I believe this platform also uses the blockchain - both to note ownership of a given release and to store the actual audio. Solana is at it's core, which is a "proof-of-stake" blockchain, so the environmental impact is nill. I'm hesitant about anything involving blockchain but they also allow for regular ole credit card transactions, so it's seems somewhat flexible.
• Ampled - I'd like to also note this "co-op for musicians" endeavor that looks very promising but has announced they are closing in 2023. Bummer!

So far, that's about the extend of my research. I know there are more. Hit me up via email (yewknee at gmail dot com) if you have anymore you think I should check out.