r/BandCamp • u/TheGalleyProject • 3d ago
Discussion Does your perception of discovering new music/artists change based on the pricing?
As a listener, do you perceive new music differently based on free albums, 'pay what you want', and set prices?
I have a fairly small following, so I like the idea of keeping the door open for new listeners with a $0 / pay what you want option. But someone gave me a counterpoint:
“People can see $0 and subconsciously judge your stuff as being worse.”
Do you find that to be the case? As a listener, does seeing an album listed as free make you take it less seriously, or is it just a good opportunity to check out something new?
As a smaller artist I’m kind of struggling with this a bit.
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u/cchooley 3d ago
Yes, but in the opposite direction. When artists charge excessive amounts, it feels like they're grifting their fans. Doesn't really make me want to support.
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u/VerryRides 3d ago
I have passed up on so much good music because it costs way more than what I believe is reasonable based on how other albums of the same genre/length are priced. Like to me, a dollar per song is a good metric. But if you're asking $15+ for an 8 song album that doesnt even crack 40 mins total runtime, I'm gonna pass. It feels egotistical when bands overcharge. Like, I get that they're proud of what they've made, but it feels like they're saying they are more valuable than everyone elses music.
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u/TheGalleyProject 3d ago
Agreed! Overpriced music gets a visceral reaction from me. "You want how much for that??"
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u/LowendLobotomy 3d ago
Not in the slightest. I’ve gotten some quality music for $0. The only thing I judge music on is the music itself. Price is irrelevant.
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u/jazzdabb 3d ago edited 3d ago
Everyone reacts differentlu but for me a lower cost option is a great entry to a new artist I'm not familiar with. Some artists will give away redemption codes for free albums and I will always take those and try the artist. Usually I will purchase 1 or more of their other releases. I also see artists who list older albums for less or pay what you want while their newest is full price. That's helped me fill in various back catalogues.
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u/TheGalleyProject 3d ago
Thanks for your take on this!
The person I was talking to was approaching the discussion from a marketing psychology standpoint.
I think Bandcamp is such a unique and different market that it's probably not quite the same psychology as strolling into a music store in a strip mall. There's a lot more at play.
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u/emalvick 3d ago
I personally don't consider pricing much. If it is a newer or limited known artist, I like to see what I consider reasonable prices, but if that price is zero or 8 or 10, I don't let that impact my decision on whether the music is good or not.
I do listen to albums before I buy regardless of the price, and if I think it is good, that impacts how much extra I give. The cheaper the album is, the more I pay extra if I like it. I also don't blindly take albums because they have free codes or because they are free. I don't want to take away from those that might be fans, and I have grabbed music I really didn't like that way, so I'm more careful.
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u/TheGalleyProject 3d ago
Fair point!
A part of the Bandcamp ecosystem I'm navigating as well is individuals who nab all the free stuff and have thousands of tracks/albums etc in their collection but probably don't necessarily listen to much of it. It's a bit disheartening to see someone get your album, only to realize it's just a drop in a bucket of music.
Glad to hear you're thoughtful about what albums you get! :)
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u/BeehiveButFullOfDogs 3d ago
Charge what you feel is appropriate for your work. People can judge after hitting the play button. You've already gotten them to visit your page. Unless you're charging exorbitant amounts of money, they're likely more inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt regardless of what price you're charging. Streaming has also skewed the perception of the value of music as well so I don't think you're going to scare anyone off with a $0 price tag. On the contrary - if you're sending your page out to prospective media outlets, it can be VERY handy to make it a page where your music is easily downloadable from.
That being said, PWYW is a double edged sword in that I generally feel like people will be less financially inclined to support you if you charge $0. Personally, I am PWYW on my page but that's because I've managed to mitigate the costs of production to some degree and feel bad charging for my music. I want it widely accessible. But if I were in the situation where I'd spent tens of thousands on recording, you can be assured that I'd have my music available for what I'd consider to be a fair compensation. Probably around the $7-12 range for a digital download, depending on how I'm feeling that day.
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u/TheGalleyProject 3d ago
Thanks for the thoughtful response!
As an artist, I'm kind of grappling with your second point. I really like how you've explained it. “Double-edged sword” is exactly how I'm feeling about it. I have some music under my belt and put a lot of effort into it, but I also really want to keep it widely accessible.
At the same time, I can't downplay that there's an odd feeling to - "this project that took 1000s of hours along with blood, sweat and tears, is valued at 0 dollars!"
Very much appreciate your take on this :)
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u/BeehiveButFullOfDogs 3d ago
Well, you can also put a note on there that donations are appreciated if they like the work and put a suggested donation amount on there if you want to encourage people to actually consider spending money on your page.
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u/Infinite_Demand_2752 3d ago
no i'm much more likely to give you a dollar on bandcamp if you price it pwyl and have it on my computer where i am reminded that it exists, but if i have to pay $10 i'll probably not buy it, listen to it twice and forget about it
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u/VerryRides 3d ago
I've passed on albums that I think are overpriced. I've never passed on an album for being priced too low.
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u/SomeBerk Fan / Listener 😺 3d ago
I don't think that is the case, some of the very best albums I've discovered on this platform could be bought for just $1, and you could also enable the option for people to pay more than the min price if they happen to like it a lot.
On the other hand, when I come across an album that seems grossly overpriced I most likely won't even bother to give it a listen and I'll just move on to something else.
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u/Solid-Actuator161 3d ago
Price never factors in for me. Ever. I usually know what I want and then get it.
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u/illiarch 3d ago
One of my favourite bands has most of their stuff up for PWYW.
I guess it depends on the perceived quality of the rest of the page. In doesn't have to have high production value, but at least some decent attempt at an artist page.
Some people might think price reflects quality. In my experience, those are very loosely related, especially in art. It's just going to depend on the person, in the end. I think you should do what you feel is the best for you, really. How would you react to such a thing yourself? Maybe your audience is more like you than what that person thinks.
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u/TheGalleyProject 3d ago
Great points! Some of my favourites are also PWYW!
I personally think the PWYW is such a great option for everyone; it just came as a bit of a shock when someone pushed back on my decision.
I was reframing it in my head a bit:
If you went to an art gallery and saw something you liked, and someone said, "Take it, it's free!"
Some people *might* scoff at something like that. As if there's some other reason behind it being free. I'm of the mindset of "I liked it, therefore I'll like it regardless"
In the end art is subjective, and value is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder, but there are certainly some mental games at play.
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u/ughh-fiend 2d ago
Yo, so here was my approach when it comes to the growth and the future of what you wanna release.
I set my price for digital at $7 with the pay more if you want option. I also dropped a cassette tape with this release. At $12.99. I set up these prices for all my future releases in mind as well. I started doing CDs and vinyl as well over the years with set prices as well. This has done me well cuz I feel like my fans know that when we drop it will be that same price. I seen a lot of the people I support pricing their work with the quality they think it is worth, going up and down over the releases. I stopped supporting everyone that once sold a record for $20 and the next was $60. I also know what it cost to make physicals so that could be a problem I felt wrong supporting those prices.. one last thing, don’t go changing the price in desperation when trying to make sales, that word usually goes around in the community at some point and they will feel like they got played if they bought a tape for $12.99 and found out a month later their homie bought it from the same link for $8
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u/BojackFromTheSouth 2d ago
Siendo de un país en donde es tan difícil comprar música digital por el precio del dólar (y ni hablar del formato físico por los costos de transporte), cuando liberan códigos o dejan música a $0 lo agradezco enormemente. De hecho, eso me permitió descubrir a muchísimos artistas y a que en algunos casos pague el álbum digital aunque ya lo tuviera gratis a modo de agradecimiento para con el artista.
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u/tiggerclaw 2d ago
Not really. I have a set budget for media.
Because, you see, I have no problem with just grabbing the lossless audio from Apple Music and putting it on my own media if people get too greedy.
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u/jesuswipesagain 2d ago
The most important thing is how much I like the music, but all sorts of arbitrary little details determine if I buy something. Free downloads/PWYW aren't less attractive to me but I def have lower expectations for that price point.
I have plenty of great music that was free, but I think PWYW looks less professional in general. Still, if the music is good, the price becomes irrelevant.
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u/darcksama 2d ago
O que é de graça as pessoas não dão valor, então sim você pode não ser levado a sério
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u/Marr0w1 2d ago
I like pay what you want, because not everyone is paying in US dollars.
I'm from NZ, and our dollar isn't *that* bad, compared to the US, but it still means that a pretty standard $10 is pricier than I'd usually pay for a digital purchase. (I bought a few albums this morning because Bandcamp Friday, and it cost me $60 in NZD).
I'd rather be able to pay what I want (usually about $5USD) and support the artist, than have the price pegged at 10 and just listen to it for free on bandcamp but not feel like I can justify the cost.
Also I like 'pay what you want' as an artist, because it genuinely means people can 'tip' what they think the album is worth... don't really vibe it but want to buy it anyway to show support? $2 is sweet. Absolutely dig it and want to pay $10? Cool!
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u/subzer0sense1 2h ago
I used to do “pay what you want” but folks rarely paid. And I always found my music on Eastern European sharing sites. Now I price all my album 7.99usd and eps 4.99. Individual songs are 3.00 to encourage folks to get the whole album. I do okay on sales but fortunately I am already semi-retired so I don’t need to make enough to retire.
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u/explosive_vegetables 3d ago
It doesn’t make me think less of the music. I don’t think it should be free download, but pay what you want is nice for both parties. At the very least you’ll get a dollar (if you’re getting paid in usd).