Wow!
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Wow! I'm making #Bandwagon -- an open source, community-focused alternative to #Bandcamp that anyone can self-host.
As of this morning, there are 99 #Musicians and #Bands who have set up #Fediverse profiles on https://bandwagon.fm -- and half of those already indexable on search engines.
So I'm humbled by the number of people who are giving it a go. There's obviously lots of people out there looking for something new.
I promise to do my best to give y'all the tools you deserve.
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Kayls with Tails 💜🐾 - Demonatron Now Live!replied to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 last edited by
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@benpate this looks interesting. One question though - the homepage mentions the project is 100% open source, but I can't find any links to the source code.
There's links to Emissary but, it's not immediately clear to me if I wanted to run my own Bandwagon instance, if that's just an issue of deploying Emissary? Or is Emissary a framework used by Bandwagon?
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@jprjr Yeah, sorry for the confusion. Bandwagon is something like an app, or even a “skin” that runs on the Emissary server. Here’s a link to Bandwagon itself - it’s really tiny.
GitHub - EmissarySocial/bandwagon: An open community for bands and musicians
An open community for bands and musicians. Contribute to EmissarySocial/bandwagon development by creating an account on GitHub.
GitHub (github.com)
I’ll try to get that link on the site and be more clear about how to get it running.
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@jprjr Oh, and I should add one more thing..
Bandwagon is running really well right now, and I’m very pleased with the stability and performance.
But it is still new, and changing a lot right now. So I’m encouraging people to use the bandwagon.fm server for now, until things calm down.
When we aren’t making as many changes, anyone who wants their own instance will get my help and support to migrate.
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Ben Pate 🤘🏻replied to Kayls with Tails 💜🐾 - Demonatron Now Live! last edited by
Awesome! And thanks! You should definitely give it a go.
I’d love to hear your insights on what works (what doesn’t) and what artists like you need out of the Fediverse.
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@benpate Looking forward to trying this out. Been looking for a place to publish my music for ages. Got even more reason to start producing/recording again now. Yay. Thanks.
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@benpate Awesome idea, I'm going to sign up!
Tangentially, I built https://rainfall.dev to help artists create artist sites using Faircamp. But this looks much more comprehensive for community engagement.
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Hey Travis - Rainfall looks really cool. Way to go!
Faircamp and Bandwagon are close, but still have two different purposes. I *love* static site generators (and used Hugo on my last project) but the Fediverse is a different game (with follows, likes, & boosts)
The important thing is that artists have an *easy* way to get their stuff out there that doesn't require a label. And Faircamp *needs* an onramp like Rainfall.
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We are still testing and refining Bandwagon, and will be hosting all accounts on bandwagon.fm for be free through the end of this year. Our current plan is to begin charging a small hosting fee beginning in 2025 to pay for server space and bandwidth.
So you're planning on charging artists starting next year. Do you have any mechanisms in place for paying out artists? The main draw of Bandcamp for artists is not just exposure, but payout (regardless of how meager it is). The way you have it set up right now, you're guaranteed to make money off of artists while they have to individually figure out monetization totally removed from number of plays.
Where and what is your privacy policy? If it's not accessible from the front page, I don't want to browse your site, let alone recommend it to others. -
@[email protected] this presumes a lot of value in being part of the fediverse that I really don't see a lot of musicians getting behind. And then if you're not monetizing from payment fees and instead charging artists upfront costs, I think you're DoA.
The fediverse is only going to be appealing when appealing stuff happens on it, this just seems to treat the fediverse like the blockchain. -
:iiko_boy: chatBBT AI assistant ▌▖▘▘▌▌▌▘▌replied to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 last edited by
@[email protected] see a lot of NFT icon people on there :hakaselaughing:
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@benpate I have been looking for a simple but comprehensive self-hosted alternative to Bandcamp, and I have to say this is very nice so far.
I also love the Emissary default template, everything so far works great with screen reading software and it's lightweight to run on a Raspberry Pi. Thank you
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@benpate Does Bandwagon support artists selling MP3s of their music on the platform?
One of the main reasons I visit Bandcamp is to support local artists I like by buying their music. Does Bandwagon allow this?
If not, will it be rolled out in a future update?
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@benpate Please start with a account validation system that does NOT rely on a GUI browser to complete.
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@benpate What makes this different from #Funkwhale?
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Erlend Sogge Heggenreplied to Ben Pate 🤘🏻 last edited by
@benpate I hope you can find a way to collaborate with these people: https://subvert.fm/blog/a-collectively-owned-bandcamp-successor/
Both of your projects look awesome, and would work even better together!
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@light Great question. There are lots of superficial similarities, but big fundamental differences
#Funkwhale is aimed at listeners, and Bandwagon at creators
#Bandwagon is a unique profile page that showcases each musician’s branding, with artist info, colors, and graphics. They can post show dates and band news, too
In the near future, music discovery and digital sales will also set them apart
So maybe think of it as a better #Bandcamp or #MySpace on the #Fediverse
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Ben Pate 🤘🏻replied to Erlend Sogge Heggen last edited by
Yeah, thanks for this! I just learned about them yesterday. Don’t know much about this project, yet, so I’m still catching up.
From their web page, it seems more like a plan (possibly a really good one) than a technology stack. So there’s lots of potential room to work together.
