Bandcamp’s daylong inducement to music-shopping sprees, rebooted yet again last month, returns for its latest iteration on September 3. On the first Friday of the month for the rest of the year, the online music store will pass along its usual cut of sales to independent musicians and labels—a practice it began almost a year and a half ago, when the pandemic suddenly eliminated gig revenue. Bandcamp Fridays took a hiatus in June and July of this year but started up again in August, just as the Delta-variant surge put musicians back in a bind. With so many U.S. states forgoing public-health measures that could mitigate the risk of infection, touring has become a minefield. Last month COVID-19 claimed the life of local doom-metal pioneer Eric Wagner, who was unvaccinated and caught the virus while on the road with his band the Skull.
As I’ve generally done for Bandcamp Fridays, I’ve gathered links to recent Reader coverage of music you can buy through the site. My post for August has links to all 14 previous Bandcamp Friday roundups, in case you’re looking for even more Reader recommendations. I hope you use this as a guide, but don’t stop here—there’s a wealth of amazing stuff on Bandcamp, and I browse it at least a few times a week to find music new to me. Because Bandcamp Friday is explicitly intended to benefit musicians struggling with economic precarity, I’d also recommend supporting artists and labels dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida; the New Orleans tag is a good place to begin.