Bandcamp vs Spotify comes down to this: one $10 album sale on Bandcamp pays you about the same as 2,800 Spotify streams. Spotify gets you heard; Bandcamp gets you paid by the people who already love your music. Work out what your streams earn with the Spotify royalty calculator, then compare.
How much Bandcamp takes
Bandcamp keeps 15% of digital sales and 10% of merch, as NME reported in 2020. Payment processing fees come off on top.
So on a $10 album download, you keep $8.50 before payment fees. You set the price, and fans can choose to pay more.
How many Spotify streams equal one sale
Spotify paid about $3.00 per 1,000 streams in recording money in 2024, according to Duetti’s study. That goes to whoever owns the recording, before any distributor or label cut.
At that rate:
| You get (before other fees) | |
|---|---|
| One $10 album sale on Bandcamp | $8.50 |
| 2,833 Spotify streams | $8.50 |
| 10,000 Spotify streams | $30 |
And under Spotify’s 1,000-stream rule, a track earns nothing until it’s had 1,000 streams in a year. A Bandcamp sale pays from the first one.
What each one is good for
Spotify is where people listen. It’s how strangers find you through playlists, radio and recommendations. The pay per listener is tiny, but the reach is huge.
Bandcamp is where fans pay. Most buyers will already know you: they found you at a gig, on social media or on a streaming service. The pay per fan is far higher, but it won’t find you new listeners on its own.
So it isn’t really one or the other. Most independent artists use Spotify to be found and Bandcamp, or their own shop, to sell.
The catch with Bandcamp
Bandcamp has changed hands. In 2023 it was sold by Epic Games to the music licensing company Songtradr, and about half of its staff were laid off weeks later, NME reported.
Any platform can change its fees or its rules. Keep your fans’ contact details somewhere you control, like a mailing list, so you can take them with you if you ever need to.
How to use both
- Put everything on streaming so people can find you.
- Sell on Bandcamp too: downloads, vinyl, shirts, bundles.
- Tell fans where their money goes furthest. Most people don’t know one purchase equals thousands of plays.
- Add a pay-what-you-want option or a few extras for people who want to support you.
If fans want to back you every month rather than buy once, look at alternatives to Patreon.
Next step
Put your streams into the Spotify royalty calculator to see how many sales they’re worth. Then see every other option in how musicians make money, or browse our music royalties and pay guides.
Where these figures come from
- NME: Bandcamp’s revenue share (28 Apr 2020)
- NME: half of Bandcamp’s staff laid off after the Songtradr sale (17 Oct 2023)
- Digital Music News: Duetti’s 2024 per-stream rates (24 Jan 2025)
- Music Business Worldwide: the 1,000-streams policy is live (2 Apr 2024)
