I have the tendancy to become over obsessed and positive towards music or food I love at first experience. I recently discovered Bandcamp and quickly became all about it. I went so far as to claim it’s the best platform for getting in touch and supporting independent artists.

I am a musician, but I am not an artist. I don’t make original music that I then sell. I don’t work with a ton of artists who do. I know quite a bit about marketing and advertising; but I don’t know it well in the Indie music sense. What right have I to claim that Bandcamp is the best platform?

I argue none. My marketing knowledge, my experience as a musician, and my experience of the platform gave me a false sense of confidence before my claim. Someone with more indie music marketing experience might claim differently. Perhaps, on net, Apple Music or Spotify are better?

If someone were to call me out on my overclaim, I think I would acknowledge my lack of competence and commit to doing things differently. I would:

1. Acknowledge the initial reaction: “Oh my gosh, BandCamp is the BEST platform for independent musicians, I love it here.” This is a reaction that feels aligned with my experience, I’m acknowledging my perception.
2. Baseline myself. I have no prior experience in music platforms for independent musicains to market themselves, but Bandcamp seems like a top-tier candidate.
3. Give some alternatives. Spotify or Apple Music might be stronger contenders. Also, Patreon or Substack-style membership could be better alternatives.
4. Define my probability based on a range tied to a definition. Let’s say I define as “best for musicians to monetize their music directly to audiences”, under that definition, perhaps Bandcamp has a 30-50% chance of being the best.
5. Specify what would make me change my mind. Maybe anecdotes from other musicians I respect, perhaps a report I read in a trade magazine, something else.
6. Decide how to act. Let’s say I learn that most musicians think Bandcamp is “meh” and data shows its “meh”, maybe I’l ldecide that I’ll update my views to “Bandcamp is meh”.

Reader, it’s possible that you read this and say “David is just over excitable, got it.” It’s also possible that you stop and think about all the different ways you become excited/reactionary throughout the day. You won’t have to think far to think of some examples. Perhaps, stopping and slowing down your process for deciding how things are might payoff in contentment and personal peace. You could always give it a try and update your beliefs once you learn more.

Last modified on 2026-02-23