Musicians made over $4 million from Bandcamp sales on Friday

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Musicians made over $4 million on Bandcamp on Friday (March 20), the website has revealed.

The music platform donated 100% of revenue from sales to the artists for one day only last week.

“We want to thank everyone who joined us last Friday in supporting artists and raising awareness about the impact of Covid-19 on the music community,” Bandcamp’s statement began.

“The numbers tell a remarkable story: on a typical Friday, fans buy about 47,000 items on Bandcamp, but this past Friday, fans bought nearly 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch. That’s more than 15 times our normal Friday, and at the peak, fans were buying 11 items per second.”

Last Friday, fans spent $4.3 million—15x a normal day of sales—in support of artists on Bandcamp https://t.co/ElpCIN3s4f

— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) March 23, 2020

“We don’t yet know the long-term impact of Covid-19, but we know that we all need music—to uplift and inspire us, to heal us, and to give us hope,” the message concludes. “We’ll continue working to make Bandcamp the best place for fans and artists to come together and sustain each other in the challenging times ahead. Thank you again, and we wish you all good health!”

The announcement came in response to the coronavirus’ unprecedented financial toll on musicians worldwide. Countless gigs, tours, and music festivals across the globe have recently been postponed or cancelled.

Bandcamp’s initiative was one of many regarding financial support for musicians. Relief funds, GoFundMe pages, and government grants have been set up for artists and service staff impacted financially by the pandemic.

More is being demanded of the UK government to support self-employed creatives in the ongoing crisis, though. The UK Music organisation last week said in a statement that “the Government’s proposals fall far short of the lifeline needed by the self-employed in the music industry and creative sector”.

It’s been revealed today that UK musicians have already lost £13.9m because of coronavirus, and a new hardship fund has been launched to help.

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