Hi Arthur (best King ever, by the way).
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Originally Posted by
Arthur Stone
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I respect your opinion
I too respect your opinion and how you encourage many members here and on Soundcloud
(insert smiley of humbly-nodding japanese head here).
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Originally Posted by
Arthur Stone
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1/ I have albums on Soundcloud - they are called 'sets' - artwork and details can be included along with a load of release options.
Yes, I saw them but they're not very user-friendly or aesthetic when compared to how Bandcamp portray albums. But this is no doubt just my subjective impression.
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Originally Posted by
Arthur Stone
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2/ Personally I find the wave graphic useful for many reasons..also it looks distinctive when embedding.
I agree, except I am often sorely tempted to skip the file...something I don't do nearly as much on Bandcamp files. The world is big enough for both types, tho' - skipping the audio with the help of a wave-graphic is very useful, especially in those times I upload 20 minute demo-files
But I do also enjoy the Bandcamp way, as it somehow brings me back to a simpler time when we listened to music on tapes and CD's when we discovered songs differently. I also get the impression that people who upload to Bandcamp are uploading their labour of love, whereas on Soundcloud it's often a lot of demos, clips and temporary stuff.
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Originally Posted by
Arthur Stone
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3/ If the audio quality is superior then please post links to two audio files which demonstrate this (Gearslutz after all); no-one has taken this challenge yet.
By your command:
(although my own files probably aren't very suitable to the task as I don't post-process them, nor are they anything related to finished EDM productions, and nor do I have many audio examples where both files are on my Soundcloud and Bandcamp simultaneously - so we'll just have to make do with these 2 examples for now)
RS7000 earthy drone piece:
Bandcamp - Nathrak
To my ears the Bandcamp sounds more rounded, warmer, deeper...with a fuller low-end and more dynamic range. The file I used to upload to both platforms is exactly the same 320kbps MP3 file (having lost the original WAV some time ago, I had to convert the MP3 to WAV so Bandcamp would accept it)
And for the 2nd example I uploaded the original WAV to both platforms, but the same difference in quality is evident (especially from 1:50 where the lower end kicks in, and from 4:45 where the dynamic range is more audible):
Roland D-50 single-partial, single-tone drone:
Bandcamp - d50ne
What do you think? Are my ears being subjective or do you hear it too?
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Originally Posted by
Arthur Stone
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4/ I think it's possible to find plenty of interesting unsigned artists on both Soundcloud and Bandcamp...and other sites too.
Agree 100%.
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Originally Posted by
Arthur Stone
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5/ I think Soundcloud is a trusted brand and it's player is synonymous with a standard of quality. Personally I like my music to be associated with it.
And that is fine and dandy by me too

But the OP was basically asking which free upload sites let him have unlimited downloads, hence the Bandcamp discussion. Only if an artist wants to sell their files do Bandcamp start asking for money, and that's a very fair commission-system based only on completed sales.
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Originally Posted by
Arthur Stone
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Apologies for any contention.
No apology necessary, Arthur. The only issue I had in this thread was the silly use of
"99%" and
"second-rate" being bandied about, which wasn't really helping anyone.
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Originally Posted by
drumdrum
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1 - There are more people as musicians than ever before, hence a higher music output rate.
2 - piracy has reduced the "risk taking" factor associated with the labels of old. As a result, if you dont fit the "current" selling sound, you dont get signed. Talent rarely had anything to do with it.
Good points. But with 2) I would suggest this is only limited to mainstream EDM scenes. Fortunately music is much larger than any one scene.
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Originally Posted by
munnin
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Bandcamp would be attractive to me if I had tracks worth selling. As it is I'm just starting out and don't feel like flooding the scene with more chaff ;-)
But it's
your chaff
All my Bandcamp audio is free to download. It's not attractive enough to be worth anyone's money, but I think it's worth a little listen to now and again, maybe yours is too.
Plus I generally don't like to charge for music I do for fun, even if it might turn out great. I do charge for planned project work, but that's different.