There’s a really cool open source alternative to Bandcamp that just came out. With some questions raised about Bandcamp’s future, some musicians in the Fediverse are leaning into the new platform as a different approach to selling their music.
Faircamp is just a static site, and doesn’t federate itself, but its adoption within the Fediverse suggests that people are at least thinking about alternative solutions.
I’d probably suggest having a dedicated machine. You don’t need anything fancy, I’d imagine any old laptop should do.
It’s essentially software to convert your machine into a basic web server, so if the laptop disconnects now nobody can download your stuff. And I assume you don’t keep your laptop on 24/7
I don’t trust myself to do any of that, I have to say. I wonder if there could be a musician that is computer savvy as well, that could host an instance for everyone.
That’s kind of the crux of a lot of these things. The instructions make it look really simple to install, but if you’ve never done this before then I could understand it being confusing. There was this teeny tiny line in the middle of some pictures that says someone will help you set them up I think.
It looks like you just ask them for help and send them some of your songs and they’ll handle the setup.
https://faircamp.radiofreefedi.net/
That’s super kind of them:
They seem great but that font, yikes to read.
Thanks for the feedback, I added a big quote from Radio Free Fedi to call more attention to that effort.