Why I Need You to Buy My Music on Bandcamp (Not Just Stream It)

Streaming feels easy and free, but for independent artists, it’s a financial dead-end.

Here’s the real math using Spotify’s current average payout of ≈ $0.0030 per stream: Professional mixing + mastering for one song: ≈ $150
Revenue needed to cover that: $150 ÷ $0.0030 = 50,000 streams

That’s 50,000 plays just so I can break even on finishing a single track.
50,000 streams = 200,000 minutes of listening = more than 3,300 hours straight (one person listening 24/7 for 138 days).

For a full 10-song album that climbs to half a million streams before I’ve even paid for mixing and mastering—never mind recording, artwork, promotion, or rent.

At that rate, releasing music on streaming alone is not sustainable for most indie artists.

More Math 😃

One BandCamp purchase, however, changes everything:If you grab my album for just $3.99, I instantly pocket ≈ $3.40 after Bandcamp’s cut.

To “earn” that same $3.40 from Spotify at $0.0030 per stream, I would need ≈ 1,133 streams. That’s over 1,100 full plays of the album… just to match what one tiny $3.99 purchase gives me immediately.

Your $3.99 album buy = 1,133 Spotify streams.

That’s the real difference.

Thank you for considering the option that actually keeps me making music.