Bandcamp Conundrum

Just heard from Bandcamp that they’re dropping 128k MP3 downloads. 320k MP3s will be the minimum quality they deal with, starting sometime next week.

While I applaud higher quality formats (YAY!), this particular move leaves me in a bit of a bind (ouch). Up until now, Bandcamp has structured downloads as a two-tiered system:

  1. “Normal Quality” (128k mp3)
  2. “Best Quality” (320k mp3 and higher, including lossless formats)

My approach was to offer Tier 1 as free downloads to anyone, in exchange for just their email address. Only if you wanted the higher quality formats of Tier 2 did you need to pay - and what you paid was up to you, with a certain minimum amount per album.

Now, without the 128k MP3s, there will be no more Tier 1… and thus, of course, no more two-tiered system either! If I want to continue to offer freebie downloads, then I have to offer them at all quality levels.

So the choice for me now is either, A) no more free downloads, or B) setting an album’s minimum amount to zero. You’d get complete choice in what to pay for an album - could be $0, or $0.01, or $19.95.

I’ll be ruminating on this for a bit, so I’d love to hear your take on it.