Bandcamp vs Spike

Bandcamp vs Spike is a music aisle versus a producer door. Bandcamp still does a job almost nobody else does well: people browse, they pay artists, they own files, the culture around the till is the point. Spike will not give you that aisle. It will let an artist hear a tag, pay, and unlock untagged stems without a Drive that stays open.

Musicians already split this in practice. The release lives where fans are. The lease lives in the DMs. This page names that split so you stop stuffing a session into an album because Bandcamp was the only checkout you trusted.

What Bandcamp is for

• Public releases fans can find and support.
• A culture of paying for files, not only streaming.
• Merch and the Friday ritual, if that is your room.
• Discovery that Spike does not pretend to be.

What should not be an album

A tagged MP3 in the unpaid view. Untagged WAV, stems, and a licence behind checkout. How to sell beats online and how musicians sell beats and deliver stems are the jobs. Bandcamp can still sell the instrumental as a release. The exclusive pack is a folder.

Spike takes 5% on Free, 1% on Pro, 0% on Business, from the payout. Stripe's card fee still applies. That is not a reason to leave Bandcamp. It is a reason not to put a $20 exclusive in a public discography because you needed a card form.

Let Bandcamp keep the fans. Let the folder keep the stems.

1. 01

   Keep the release where fans browse

   Bandcamp for the record, the name-your-price, the Friday. That aisle is still rare.

2. 02

   Put the lease in a folder

   Tagged unpaid listen. Untagged stems and the licence behind checkout.

3. 03

   Say which URL is which

   DMs get Spike. The public bio can still get Bandcamp. Do not mix exclusive files into an album.

Bandcamp aisle

Fans

Spike latch for stems

Artists

Spike plan fee plus Stripe

5% / 1% / 0%

Patreon vs Spike if the other costume was a pledge tier. Sell sample packs online if the Bandcamp album was actually a kit.

Bandcamp Friday is not a delivery model for a label that asked for stems tonight. The artist in your DMs is not a fan browsing. Give them a tagged listen on the unpaid view and a pack that unlocks. Keep the public instrumental on Bandcamp if you want that aisle. Two rooms. Two audiences. One library for the private room so you are not rebuilding a Dropbox for every lease. The Friday ritual can stay. The exclusive cannot live there. A lease is a door, not a discography entry. Keep the fan aisle loud. Keep the stem latch quiet.