Something crazy happened yesterday: People paid for music.
A lot of people, a lot of paying, a lot of music.
It was the result of Bandcamp’s day-long fundraiser for the American Civil Liberties Union, where the music hosting and distribution website offered to donate 100 percent of their proceeds to the non-profit organization and activist group.
Bandcamp reported late last night that it had sold just more than $1 million in music throughout the day, which meant, given their usual 12 percent take, the site was able to raise roughly $120,000 for the ACLU. That number will surely increase given that many labels (Sub Pop, Kill Rock Stars, Merge), as well as artists and bands (too many to list), offered to match the donations by passing along their share.
“Thanks to everyone who stood with immigrants and refugees by joining today’s fundraiser for the ACLU,” writes Bandcamp founder Ethan Diamond. “We’ve been inspired and overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the artists, fans and labels in the Bandcamp community, who rapidly and enthusiastically backed this important cause.”
Bandcamp noted that their Friday activity represented a 550% increase over “a normal Friday,” which is already their biggest sales day of the week.
“Of course we didn’t do this just to raise money,” Ethan Diamond adds, “we also hoped to raise awareness.”
