Bandcamp supporting NAACP Legal Defense Fund with sales this Friday
Bandcamp continues to act in a progressive, socially-conscious and responsible way.
Earlier this year, the distribution and musician supporting site announced it would be foregoing its usual cut of sales on the first Friday of a few months to allow musicians to take home every penny from sales of their music and merchandise, as a way to help make things a little easier without concerts.
But that’s not enough.
“The recent killings of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the ongoing state-sanctioned violence against Black people in the U.S. and around the world are horrific tragedies,” Bandcamp says. “We stand with those rightfully demanding justice, equality, and change, and people of color everywhere who live with racism every single day, including many of our fellow employees and artists and fans in the Bandcamp community.”
This Friday, June 19, is Juneteenth, marking the anniversary of when freed slaves learned they’d been released from their bonds through the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation (which was signed in April; June 19th is the day the news reached the final outpost in Texas).
In commemoration of that milestone and in support of Black artists, Bandcamp will be donating 100% of the organization’s share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
To take it a step further, Bandcamp will make this same donation on June 19 from here on out, in addition to making an additional $30,000 annual allocation “to partner with organizations that fight for racial justice and create opportunities for people of color.”
Some artists have independently announced they, too, will be making donations from sales that day, or from certain releases, to either the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or another organization that supports efforts to end police brutality or other social justice purposes.
“The current moment is part of a long-standing, widespread, and entrenched system of structural oppression of people of color, and real progress requires a sustained and sincere commitment to political, social and economic and racial justice and change,” Bandcamp says. “We’ll continue to promote diversity and opportunity through our mission to support artists, the products we build to empower them, who we promote through the Bandcamp Daily, our relationship with local artists and organizations through our Oakland space, how we operate as a team, and who and how we hire.”
A full list of participating artists and labels who will be making independent donations can be found here.
