In response to the transfer of Bandcamp to a new owner and mass layoffs, a developer has already built a simple alternative for musicians.

There’s a really cool open source alternative to Bandcamp that just came out. With some questions raised about Bandcamp’s future, some musicians in the Fediverse are leaning into the new platform as a different approach to selling their music.

Faircamp is just a static site, and doesn’t federate itself, but its adoption within the Fediverse suggests that people are at least thinking about alternative solutions.

  • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    I’d probably suggest having a dedicated machine. You don’t need anything fancy, I’d imagine any old laptop should do.

    It’s essentially software to convert your machine into a basic web server, so if the laptop disconnects now nobody can download your stuff. And I assume you don’t keep your laptop on 24/7

    • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I don’t trust myself to do any of that, I have to say. I wonder if there could be a musician that is computer savvy as well, that could host an instance for everyone.

      • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        1 year ago

        That’s kind of the crux of a lot of these things. The instructions make it look really simple to install, but if you’ve never done this before then I could understand it being confusing. There was this teeny tiny line in the middle of some pictures that says someone will help you set them up I think.

        More notably, Radio Free Fedi has been incredibly proactive, offering a free service to help Fedi musicians host their own Faircamp sites on RadioFreeFedi’s infrastructure.

        It looks like you just ask them for help and send them some of your songs and they’ll handle the setup.

        https://faircamp.radiofreefedi.net/

        • Sean Tilley@lemmy.mlOPMEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Thanks for the feedback, I added a big quote from Radio Free Fedi to call more attention to that effort.

        • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          That’s super kind of them:

          . It is quite not painful. We have some funds donated by lovely members of the RFF community specifically for artists who may need help with a solution like this and may be in no position to help with setup or a small monthly contribution toward upkeep. So please reach out!

          They seem great but that font, yikes to read.