AC55ID is the new music marketplace, inspired by Bandcamp Fridays, that lets artists sell music and merch with no fees
“We’ve taken this idea a step further by guaranteeing artists and labels an unprecedented 100 per cent of their earnings consistently.”
Credit: AC55ID
In 2020, Bandcamp were lauded for their Bandcamp Fridays initiative, where the platform waived its fee for all purchases made on one Friday of the month. Now, there’s a new platform inspired by that initiative, AC55ID, where every day is like Bandcamp Friday – it allows artists to sell music, merchandise and more without losing a cut of their revenue to the platform.
AC55ID works via subscription and artists who sign up only have to pay a fee of $10 a month to list their digital music, physical editions and merch on the site. Meanwhile, fans can create an account for free and pay for products at a price set by the artist. Labels can also pay $29 per month to release music by an unlimited number of artists.
Meanwhile, the platform also has its own fulfilment service, meaning it can press, cut, master and ship vinyl records for artists. On top of that, it uses a petroleum-free alternative to traditional vinyl production called Bio Vinyl, making it more sustainable to produce smaller runs of records.
In addition, it is offering a tool to develop fan-powered campaigns “[to] customise various elements such as vinyl colour, weight, jacket style, and more, all without any financial risk or upfront investment”. Once a reserve threshold is hit, AC55ID will start the vinyl production run.
Furthermore, it utilises blockchain technology to “guarantee that all transactions on the platform are transparent, secure, and immutable”.
Speaking about the launch, AC55ID’s CEO James says: “We were inspired by the success of Bandcamp Fridays, where the first Friday of each month saw Bandcamp waiving its revenue share. We’ve taken this idea a step further by guaranteeing artists and labels an unprecedented 100 per cent of their earnings consistently. Our pledge covers all digital and physical sales through its marketplace, aiming to foster a fairer ecosystem for independent creators.”
The news follows the launch of another separate initiative, Support The Sound, which was created with the aim of putting more money into artists’ pockets. A collective of clubs, promoters and festivals from around the world have partnered with the DVS1-founded platform Aslice for the initiative in an effort to to close the gap between producers’ and DJs’ earnings in a time of rising DJ fees.
Aslice was originally founded two years ago to address producers losing out on payments made by PROs to producers through missing metadata, lack of reporting, and other fraudulent submissions. In 2019, it was estimated that producers miss out on up to £100 million in royalties they are entitled to due to them being either lost or incorrectly allocated.
For more information, head to AC55ID.
