On March 20, as the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic was just starting to be understood, indie music retailer Bandcamp made the bold choice of waiving their share of revenue for artists and labels who were cancelling shows and delaying album releases left and right. The result was more music bought by more fans than any day on the site, a record broken on the first Friday of May. Bandcamp Fridays have since taken place in June, July and August - plus the first of an annual occurrence when the
Despite the challenges facing the music business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some bright spots. On March 20, indie music service Bandcamp waived their share of revenue on all sales for 24 hours, allowing artists and labels to support themselves even more robustly. Thanks to impressive results ($4.3 million spent on music and merch, 15 times an average Friday's revenue), Bandcamp repeated the strategy not once, but thrice: the first Fridays of each month (May 1, which raised $7.1
When news came through that Brooklyn label Manufactured Recordings was reissuing Tomorrow's Coming, the sole full-length LP by cult power-pop group The Modulators, we at Second Disc HQ knew we couldn't just do an ordinary news post. It's not just the music--although the music, a sugary-sweet blend of Raspberries-esque dream pop and Marshall Crenshaw-ian jangle-crunch, is thoroughly worth your time. Ultimately, our interest is piqued by the original label that released Tomorrow's Coming: