Subvert opened today: a short tour of the platforms emerging in the wake of Bandcamp's sale
Subvert opened to the public this morning, the most ambitious Bandcamp alternative to launch in years. Cooperatively owned by its 20,000+ members on a one-member-one-vote basis, with a 0% platform fee replaced by an optional tip at checkout.
For context: Bandcamp was sold to Epic Games in 2022, then to Songtradr in 2023, with around half the staff (including the entire union) let go in the aftermath. The site still works. But several of the people who made it feel like a music institution rather than a store no longer work there. A few platforms have been quietly building since.
I put together a short tour of where things stand: Bandcamp, Subvert, Mirlo (worker-coop, open source), Faircamp (self-hosted software, not a platform), plus Ampwall, Resonate, Funkwhale and Jam.coop.
https://thegroovelibrary.net/journal/subvert-and-the-wider-map-of-independent-music/
(Disclosure: I'm the author, and a Founding Member of Subvert.)
Genuinely curious what people here are doing. Has anyone moved off Bandcamp entirely? Running parallel platforms? Are there others I should have mentioned?