Sat. Night Duets are one band giving away their music on Bandcamp. Photo by Caroline Tan.
How quickly things have changed.
Up until a couple years ago, independent bands played shows with the (at least partial) intent of making enough money to pay someone to record them, then play more concerts to help cover the costs of recording. Though that practice still occurs today, most music fans now download music without a second thought, and the advent of improved and affordable home recording equipment has changed the way things are done.
Bands are gladly giving their music away now, and many Milwaukee bands are using Bandcamp to do it. The site gives artists an Internet platform on which to stream songs, list upcoming shows and sell digital or physical albums. Better yet, many bands have albums available at for a pay-what-you-want price for immediate download – including free.
When interviewing Milwaukee favorite Sat. Nite Duets for a profile in the August issue of Milwaukee Magazine, keyboard player Andrew Jambura spoke about the band’s logic behind making payment option for each of its releases. “I guess the biggest moral statement I can make is that I don’t really pay for much music myself,” Jambura says. “I don’t really see how I can make somebody pay for something that I probably might not pay for.”
Still, some do opt to pay for their downloads or purchase vinyl. And the accessible music provides increased and risk-free exposure to bands, which makes going to a show all the more likely. At this point, almost every local act has jumped on the Bandcamp bandwagon. A broad search for “Milwaukee” on Bandcamp.com yields hundreds of albums. Some of the prime pay-what-you-want downloads include:
Sat. Nite Duets – Summer Of Punishment
The Fatty Acids – Leftover Monsterface
Surgeons In Heat – Surgeons In Heat LP
Elusive Parallelograms – SPACES
Canopies – s/t EP
Moon Curse – Moon Curse
Faux Fir – Faux Fir
Get Rad – I Can Always Live
Animals I Human Attire – Animals In Human Attire
Crooked Keys – Coat Tails
AUTOMatic – Transistor
Canyons of Static – Challenger ep
The Championship – Midnight Golden
That’s just scraping the surface of the Milwaukee music available. So take a listen, download some stuff and, if you feel so inclined, throw a few bucks a local band’s way. You have nothing to lose.
