Herr Irrtum! 🔊herr_irrtum@s.basspistol.org
5/12/2026I dunno, somehow this doesn't make me happy.
There is another alternative to corporate owned Bandcamp now. Not that Bandcamp is bad or something, but yes, corporate owned. Musicians releasing on Bandcamp depend on decisions by the owner. Rules could be changed by tomorrow.
So that's why we have now at least @mirlo@musician.social and bandwagon.fm . Both born and operating from a free open source community spirit.
Good.
Now there comes - new!…
subvert.fm
They are a CoOp - means community drive by definition. Not bad, sure.
But I'm not too happy anymore. Because WHY?
As a musician I have to make through 4 different complex release processes now:
1. Bandcamp (of course - this is, where people are discovered. Important thing for most musicians)
2. Mirlo
3. Bandwagon
4. subvert
2-4 forcing me through a ridiculous user unfriendly Paypal alternative: Stripe.
Personally I have no idea at least for Mirlo how to setup Stripe in a way, people could pay per Album or per Title. In Bandwagon I didn't even try.
Now Subvert even advertises Stripe as a good feature, as it's not Paypal. But Stripe is US based as well. They have no problem to cut your money flow just for rumors of you being anti fascist (the most human and democratic stance) or someone claims you take money for doing naughty things (also human behavior in the history of mankind).
This happened already.
Good luck contacting their hotline in such a case.
While saying all this I'm well aware: Anything not Paypal should be preferred. But there aren't much alternatives, and the one (one! besides Crypto) we've got isn't necessarily and objectively better.
But the main problem I see:
We devide attention to musicians this way!
Every new service takes away users and supporters from the others.
And music is cluttered all over the place even more. Good luck finding that particular piece of music that could really change your life when it's on Mirlo only.
Even more sad, when someone releases on his:her:their Faircamp only. How to find that when you don't know about the artist in the first place.
Personally I've given up here as a "semi professional consument". I need around 40h to prepare my radio show of 1 hour. I can't check #Mirlo, #Bandwagon, #Subvert, and the #Faircamp scene extra - on top of checking #Bandcamp. A lot of bands, let alone consumers don't even know about Bandcamp! And that is by far the most agreed upon service for indie and underground artists. Then there is also Soundcloud (which I hate) - lots of trap/hip-hop stuff is exclusively there.
If I read here in the Fediverse (my only social network) about new releases, best already embedded in your post - I'll listen.
Don't get me wrong. I really wish for a community driven Bandcamp alternative. But I hate the clutter resulting from so many upcoming players in the field.
Which all can't be avoided - I see that too. Is this whole post worthless then? Maybe. Maybe not. I have no solution. I'm just thinking loud.
There is another alternative to corporate owned Bandcamp now. Not that Bandcamp is bad or something, but yes, corporate owned. Musicians releasing on Bandcamp depend on decisions by the owner. Rules could be changed by tomorrow.
So that's why we have now at least @mirlo@musician.social and bandwagon.fm . Both born and operating from a free open source community spirit.
Good.
Now there comes - new!…
subvert.fm
They are a CoOp - means community drive by definition. Not bad, sure.
But I'm not too happy anymore. Because WHY?
As a musician I have to make through 4 different complex release processes now:
1. Bandcamp (of course - this is, where people are discovered. Important thing for most musicians)
2. Mirlo
3. Bandwagon
4. subvert
2-4 forcing me through a ridiculous user unfriendly Paypal alternative: Stripe.
Personally I have no idea at least for Mirlo how to setup Stripe in a way, people could pay per Album or per Title. In Bandwagon I didn't even try.
Now Subvert even advertises Stripe as a good feature, as it's not Paypal. But Stripe is US based as well. They have no problem to cut your money flow just for rumors of you being anti fascist (the most human and democratic stance) or someone claims you take money for doing naughty things (also human behavior in the history of mankind).
This happened already.
Good luck contacting their hotline in such a case.
While saying all this I'm well aware: Anything not Paypal should be preferred. But there aren't much alternatives, and the one (one! besides Crypto) we've got isn't necessarily and objectively better.
But the main problem I see:
We devide attention to musicians this way!
Every new service takes away users and supporters from the others.
And music is cluttered all over the place even more. Good luck finding that particular piece of music that could really change your life when it's on Mirlo only.
Even more sad, when someone releases on his:her:their Faircamp only. How to find that when you don't know about the artist in the first place.
Personally I've given up here as a "semi professional consument". I need around 40h to prepare my radio show of 1 hour. I can't check #Mirlo, #Bandwagon, #Subvert, and the #Faircamp scene extra - on top of checking #Bandcamp. A lot of bands, let alone consumers don't even know about Bandcamp! And that is by far the most agreed upon service for indie and underground artists. Then there is also Soundcloud (which I hate) - lots of trap/hip-hop stuff is exclusively there.
If I read here in the Fediverse (my only social network) about new releases, best already embedded in your post - I'll listen.
Don't get me wrong. I really wish for a community driven Bandcamp alternative. But I hate the clutter resulting from so many upcoming players in the field.
Which all can't be avoided - I see that too. Is this whole post worthless then? Maybe. Maybe not. I have no solution. I'm just thinking loud.
