Bandcamp for artists: the revenue share, Bandcamp Fridays, subscriptions and the AI rule, from Bandcamp's own pages

Bandcamp is the rare music platform where the money question has a short answer: a fan pays a price you set, and you keep most of it. But "most" hides a few moving parts, and the platform's rules on AI changed in January 2026. This guide walks through the four things an artist needs to understand, using only what Bandcamp itself publishes in its help centre and on its blog, as we read those pages on 24 Oct 2026. Bandcamp updates its help pages often, so check the date on each one before you plan around it.

1. What Bandcamp takes from a sale

Bandcamp calls its cut the revenue share. According to its help page, What are Bandcamp's fees?:

• Digital items: 15%. This drops to 10% once you reach $5,000 USD in sales, and stays there provided you have made at least $5,000 in the past 12 months.
• Physical items: 10%. Shipping and tax are not included when the fee is calculated.
• Big-ticket items: the revenue share applies to the first $100 of an item only (or the total when more than one of that item is bought). Bandcamp gives deluxe packages, beat licences and generous name-your-price payments as the reason.
• Tips: if a fan pays more than the price, Bandcamp treats the extra as a tip, but still collects revenue share on the first $100.
• Collection societies: if your work is covered by one, a separate "Collection Society Share" appears, a percentage of the sale price set by the fan's location, which Bandcamp passes on as publishing royalties.

On top of that sit payment processor fees, which Bandcamp says typically range between 4 and 6%. Its digital processor fees page breaks them down: for transactions of $8.07 or more, 1.9% + $0.30 via PayPal, 2.2% + $0.30 by credit card and 2.9% + $0.30 by gift card. Under $8.07 it switches to 5% + $0.05. When Bandcamp sends a bulk PayPal payout, PayPal takes 1% of the payout, capped at $1. Fees can vary by location and payment method.

Bandcamp's own summary, on its Bandcamp for Artists page, is that "an average of 82%" of what a fan pays goes to the artist. Artist accounts are free; Bandcamp Pro, the premium tier with features such as private streaming and custom domains, is listed at $10 a month.

A worked example (our arithmetic, from the rates above). A fan buys a $10 digital album by card from an artist under the $5,000 threshold. Bandcamp's 15% is $1.50. The card fee is 2.2% of $10 plus $0.30, or $0.52. You keep about $7.98, before any collection society share or payout fee. That is close to Bandcamp's 82% average.

2. Bandcamp Fridays

On a Bandcamp Friday, Bandcamp waives its revenue share. Its Bandcamp Friday help page lists eight dates for 2026: 6 February, 6 March, 1 May, 7 August, 4 September, 2 October, 6 November and 4 December. As of this guide, two are left.

The details that catch artists out:

• The window is Pacific Time. The waiver covers sales between 12:00am and 11:59pm Pacific Time. Bandcamp's Payments Summary page and Cha-Ching notifications are in UTC, which the page describes as "PT +7". That offset holds only while Pacific Time is on daylight saving; for the November and December dates, work out your local window yourself. Our Bandcamp Fridays 2026 planning post does that conversion.
• Processor fees still apply. Bandcamp says it cannot waive them.
• No retroactive credit. Sales outside the window cannot be counted afterwards.
• Expect load. Bandcamp warns of slow pages and downloads on the day.

Run the same $10 card sale through a Bandcamp Friday and, by our arithmetic, you keep about $9.48 instead of $7.98. For an artist who has not crossed $5,000, that is the biggest single lever on the platform.

3. Artist subscriptions

An artist subscription lets fans pay you on a recurring basis. Setup, per Bandcamp's subscription setup page, runs from the "subscription" option in your user menu; you can save a draft, but you must connect a Stripe account before you can publish. Bandcamp recommends setting Stripe payouts to "automatic every week" so funds are available for refunds. For now, subscriptions use a separate setup from your main payout account, with no timeline for merging them.

How the money moves:

• Billing and payouts. Fans are charged when they subscribe, then monthly or annually depending on the term you choose, and you are paid on the same schedule.
• Fees. Bandcamp's subscription fees page gives Stripe's standard transaction fee as 2.9% + $0.30, varying by location. That page does not mention a Bandcamp revenue share on subscriptions, and we could not find one stated elsewhere in the help centre, so check your own subscription editor before you set a price.
• Price changes. Existing subscribers keep their original rate and term; a new price applies to new subscribers only.
• Cancellations. A fan can cancel at any time and keeps access to the end of the paid period, with no partial refunds. Items added to their collection while subscribed are not removed. Bandcamp openly acknowledges the "Evil Fan" who subscribes once and cancels, and says it is not considering content that disappears after a subscription ends.

That last point shapes strategy. If your subscription unlocks your back catalogue, one period's fee buys all of it, permanently. Price the first period with that in mind, or make the value ongoing: new releases, listening parties, notes from the studio.

4. The AI policy

On 13 January 2026 Bandcamp published Keeping Bandcamp Human. The rules, in its words:

• Music and audio "generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp."
• Using AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles is "strictly prohibited", under its existing impersonation and intellectual property policies.
• Fans who find music that appears to be made "entirely or with heavy reliance on generative AI" are asked to use the reporting tools to flag it for review.
• Bandcamp reserves "the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI-generated."

What the post does not do is define "substantial part". It says nothing specific about AI-assisted mixing or mastering, stem separation, AI-written lyrics or artwork, and it describes no notice or appeal process. A commenter under the post asked exactly that question in January. Bandcamp said it would communicate updates as the space develops. For how this has played out in practice, see our report on Bandcamp's AI ban nine months in.

Practical steps for artists who use any AI tools: keep project files, stems and session notes that show your process, so you can show how a track was made if it is reported. Know which tools in your chain are generative and which are processing. And read the policy as written, "on suspicion", rather than assuming a review will go your way.

What we think

Bandcamp's core deal is still the most artist-friendly one in recorded music. The rate is published, the threshold is reachable, the $100 cap protects high-priced items, and Bandcamp Fridays put real money back in artists' pockets eight times a year. Few platforms explain their fees this plainly, and that clarity is worth something.

Two things fall short of that standard. First, subscriptions: the help centre explains Stripe's fee and billing clearly, but an artist should not have to wonder whether a platform share applies. Bandcamp should state it on the same page.

Second, the AI rule. We think Bandcamp is right to keep fully generated music off a store built on direct human connection, and artists-first platforms should be allowed to choose that. But a removal standard of "suspicion", with no definition of "substantial" and no published appeal, puts the risk on the honest artist, the one who mentions an AI mastering chain or a separated stem. A rule that protects human artists should also protect them from mistaken reports. A short list of what counts as assistance, and a clear appeal route, would cost Bandcamp little and make the policy stronger.

Until then: plan releases around the remaining Fridays, price subscriptions knowing a single payment unlocks everything, and keep your session files.

This guide reflects Bandcamp's pages as we read them on 24 Oct 2026. It is not legal or financial advice.