Spotify is great but have you tried Bandcamp? This music-streaming platform has been around for almost as long as Spotify but caters for the more eclectic and adventurous end of the market. If you're tired of hearing nothing but Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran it offers a refreshing alternative – and one where artists are paid fairly for their work.
Users can browse around and stream songs to find what they like but once a song or album is downloaded the artist is paid 85 per cent of the price, with the remaining going to Bandcamp. What is nice about this platform is that you can pay one price for combined streaming, high-quality digital audio and a physical copy, which is usually vinyl or cassette because sometimes audiophiles need to hear the whirring of a tape head or scratch of a record. It’s part of the experience, don’t judge.
Trippy
I really like the idea of Bandcamp’s fair trade music policy and have thoroughly enjoyed stumbling across everything from Hindustani classical music played on Hawaiian guitar to Hotel Pools’ Constant, an eighties-tinged synthwave treat that sounds like something out of Black Mirror episode San Junipero. And if you’re looking for something a little trippy, the cosmos-inspired ambient strains of Cold Womb Descent sounds like it coming from an abandoned space station in the distant future.
