music · Songtradr
You’re creating on Bandcamp, which means…
You keep your record and you set your price. What the contract leaves off the page is the size of Bandcamp’s cut — and which of its two licences your music is actually under.
What they own
Nothing. The section that licenses your music opens by saying so — “Company will not have any ownership rights in any elements of an Artist’s Music” — and a later section headed Transfer of Title says it again: “Bandcamp never becomes the owner of the Merchandise or Digital Content, nor is there any transfer of title to Bandcamp.” The friendlier version of the same promise sits in the paragraph the document itself labels non-legally-binding.
What you own
The recording, the artwork, and the price. The licence is non-exclusive, so the same record can sit on any other platform at the same time, and you “will set the prices for your products and services that are charged through Transactions”. You also carry every clearance yourself: you have to warrant that “you own or otherwise control all rights to your Music and Artworks”.
What you don’t
A way out, and a number. No sentence in this document lets an Artist end the licence to their Music — and the Termination section points the other way, keeping alive “provisions of these Terms of Use which by their nature should survive termination… including, without limitation, ownership provisions”. The split is what to watch: your Music is licensed on terms that are neither perpetual nor irrevocable, while anything Bandcamp treats as a “User Submission” — a definition that expressly includes “audio clips (including Music)” — is licensed “perpetual, irrevocable” and “sublicensable and transferable”. The rate is not in the contract either: it is set “in accordance with the rate schedule set forth at bandcamp.com/pricing”, a page Bandcamp writes.
What they can do with it
Reproduce it, distribute it, publicly perform it, and “transcode, copy and store” it on their servers, then “stream, distribute, and playback” it “using any technologies or methodologies now known or hereafter developed”. They can “create derivate works of” it, royalty-free — song lyrics, musical notations, album cover artwork, photographs and descriptive text pulled in on the same terms — and the licence runs to “its authorized sublicensees and distributors”. They can also “reproduce, use, and publish, and to permit others to reproduce, use and publish, the name(s), trademarks, likenesses, and personal and biographical materials of the Artist”. What they promise not to do is use your music to “train models to generate sound recordings” without your express permission.
The clauses
The licence in your record, and the promise beside it
Bandcamp Terms of Use — Intellectual Property Rights – Artists. Effective May 07, 2026. ↗
Company will not have any ownership rights in any elements of an Artist’s Music, however, Company needs the following license to perform the Service. Each Artist uploading Music to the Service grants Company and its authorized sublicensees and distributors, if any, the worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, right and license to: (i) reproduce, distribute, publicly perform (including on a through-to-the-audience basis and by means of a digital audio transmission), publicly display, create derivate works of, communicate to the public, synchronize and otherwise exploit (collectively, “Exploit”) (1) the Artist’s Music and perform the Service on the Artist’s behalf (e.g., reproduce, transcode, copy and store the Artist’s Music on computer servers owned and/or operated by or on behalf of Company or its authorized sublicensees and distributors, and publicly perform, transmit, synchronize, stream, distribute, and playback the Artist’s Music) using any technologies or methodologies now known or hereafter developed, and (2) Exploit all associated copyrightable works or metadata, including, without limitation, song lyrics and musical notations, album cover artwork, photographs, graphics, and descriptive text (“Artworks”) in connection with the Service); … (iii) reproduce, use, and publish, and to permit others to reproduce, use and publish, the name(s), trademarks, likenesses, and personal and biographical materials of the Artist, in connection with the provision of the Service. … Notwithstanding the foregoing, Bandcamp will not use, and will not permit others to use, any Artist’s Music to train models to generate sound recordings, videos synchronized with sound recordings or other audiovisual works, or musical works embodied within sound recordings and music videos, without that Artist’s express permission. … By uploading any Music or Artworks to the Site: you represent and warrant, and can demonstrate to Company’s full satisfaction upon request, that (i) you own or otherwise control all rights to your Music and Artworks
What the grant actually does
The parenthetical is where the work happens: reproduce, transcode, copy and store your music on Bandcamp’s servers, then stream, distribute and play it back — “using any technologies or methodologies now known or hereafter developed”. All of it royalty-free, and all of it also available to “its authorized sublicensees and distributors, if any” — whom the document does not identify.
It is not only the recording
Song lyrics, musical notations, album cover artwork, photographs, graphics and descriptive text are pulled in as “Artworks”, on the same royalty-free terms as the audio.
Your name and face, item (iii)
The third limb is a separate grant covering you rather than your record: name, trademarks, likeness, and personal and biographical materials — and the right to permit others to publish them. It is bounded by “in connection with the provision of the Service.”
The AI carve-out
The default is no, and Bandcamp binds itself not to let anyone else do it either — “will not permit others to use” reaches the sublicensees and distributors named in the grant above. The word “train” appears twice in this document: here, and in the change log entry that added it, dated November 11, 2024. Music uploaded before that date was uploaded under terms that did not contain this sentence.
The words that are not here
This grant is neither perpetual nor irrevocable. Both words are in the User Submissions licence further down the page, attached to a definition that expressly includes Music — not to this one.
You warrant the clearances
The rights you are granting have to be yours to grant, and Bandcamp can ask you to prove it “upon request”. Break that warranty and the Indemnification section makes you defend Bandcamp and pay its costs — “including reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs” — for anything arising from “breach of any of your representations and warranties in these Terms of Use.”
The second licence, and what falls into it
Bandcamp Terms of Use — Intellectual Property Rights - Fans ↗
The Service provides users with the ability to add, create, upload, submit, distribute or post (“Submitting” or “Submission”) content, videos (including Music Videos), audio clips (including Music), written forum comments, data, text, photographs, software, scripts, graphics, or other information to the Site (collectively, the “User Submissions”). … by Submitting any User Submissions through the Site or the Service, you hereby grant Company a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid, sublicensable and transferable license to use, edit, modify, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform (including on a through-to-the-audience basis and by means of a digital audio transmission), communicate to the public, synchronize and otherwise fully exploit the User Submissions in connection with the Site, the Service and Company’s (and its successors and assigns’) business … For clarity, the foregoing license grant to Company does not affect your other ownership or license rights in your User Submission(s), including the right to grant additional licenses to the material in your User Submission(s), unless otherwise agreed in writing;
Two grants, one page apart
This clause sits under a heading that says “Fans,” but its own definition of User Submissions expressly includes Music and Music Videos — the same categories the Artist licence above governs on gentler terms. The document does not say which grant controls when both descriptions fit.
Perpetual and irrevocable
No end date, and no mechanism in the document for taking it back. Neither word attaches to any other licence in this file; the only other appearance of either root is “perpetually”, in a sentence about how long a fan’s purchase stays available.
Sublicensable and transferable
Bandcamp can pass these rights on, or hand the whole licence to another company. The clause reaches “Company’s (and its successors and assigns’) business”, so it survives a change of owner by its own wording.
The reassurance at the end
The last sentence is real and worth reading: this grant is non-exclusive and does not touch your right to license the same material to anyone else. What it does not do is give you any way to end Bandcamp’s copy of it.
Your logo is on harsher terms than your record
Bandcamp Terms of Use — Intellectual Property Rights – Artists ↗
To enable Company to Exploit your Music pursuant to the above provisions, you hereby grant to Company the worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable right to use, distribute, reproduce, copy, and display your trademarks, service marks, slogans, logos or similar proprietary rights (collectively, the “Trademarks”) solely in connection with the Service or in the marketing, promotion or advertising of the service, including in all forms of marketing, promotion, and advertising materials now known or hereafter created.
Two words the music licence doesn’t carry
“Sublicensable” and “transferable” are attached here and not to the grant in your Music. “Transferable” appears four times in this document: here and in the User Submissions licence it grants something, and in the other two it takes something away — the licence to users is “non-sublicensable and non-transferable”, and these Terms “are not assignable, transferable or sublicensable by you except with Company’s prior written consent”.
Marketing, not just hosting
The use is not limited to running the store. Your band name, logo and marks can appear in Bandcamp’s own advertising, in formats “now known or hereafter created”, without a further ask.
Read the direction
This is “you hereby grant to Company”. The licence running the other way — “Company grants each user of the Site and/or Service a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable and non-transferable license” — is the mirror image, and it is the one that is limited.
The payout is defined. The rate is not.
Bandcamp Terms of Use — Fees and Payments – Terms for Artists ↗
Company shall be entitled to a share of the revenue received from Transactions (the “Revenue Share”), which shall be calculated on your gross revenue from Transactions, not including any Transactions for which you or we provide a refund, in accordance with the rate schedule set forth at bandcamp.com/pricing. You shall be solely responsible and liable for, and Company shall have no responsibility or liability for, any Stripe fees … PayPal fees … credit card transaction fees (together, “Fees”), bad debts (such as credit card returns or fraud), disputed payments, and refunds … Except as otherwise expressly set forth in these Terms of Use, you shall be solely responsible and liable for, and Company shall have no responsibility or liability for all royalties, fees, amounts due under collective bargaining agreements, and other monies that are or may become payable to the authors, composers, artists, producers, publishers, administrators and other holders of rights related to Transactions or the use of any Content hereunder. … For Digital Content, users will pay the purchase price and any applicable fees and taxes. You will receive the proceeds from these sales: minus the applicable Revenue Share, the applicable Publishing Share, VAT and Sales tax (which Bandcamp will be paying directly to the applicable authorities) and any applicable Fees … What you will receive after any of the deductions listed above is called the “Artist Payout.”
The rate lives outside the contract
The Revenue Share is set “in accordance with the rate schedule set forth at bandcamp.com/pricing”, and the Publishing Share “in accordance with the rate set forth at bandcamp.com/pricing”. That page is not part of this agreement and Bandcamp can rewrite it. The binding text names each deduction; it does not name the size of any of them.
What is written down
The formula itself is here. Purchase price, minus Revenue Share, minus Publishing Share, minus VAT and sales tax, minus Fees — and the document names the result. “What you will receive after any of the deductions listed above” is the Artist Payout. What is missing is the rate, not the payout.
The only percentage in the file
“In general, artists receive 80-85% of every dollar a fan spends” appears once, and it is in the section that opens “Welcome to the non-legally-binding introductory paragraph to our Terms of Use!”. That is the document’s own description of where the number sits.
Chargebacks land on you
Bad debts, disputed payments and refunds are yours. If a payment is reversed later, “you may be liable to Bandcamp or the applicable third-party payment processor for the full Transaction amount, plus any Fees”, and Bandcamp may recover it “by debiting your account”.
Downstream royalties, and three deductions the other way
Session players, producers, engineers, publishers, unions: the contract puts all of them on your side of the ledger. Bandcamp deducts on its own account in at least three places — the Publishing Share it remits to a collecting society when an affiliated songwriter is correctly identified; a share for “the Portuguese artist collecting society and the Spanish artist collecting society” where local law requires it; and the tax it “may withhold” — “any taxes, duties, charges or levies on payments to you as required by law”.
The documents you are also agreeing to
This contract is not the whole contract. It incorporates the Intellectual Property Policy, the Acceptable Use and Content Moderation Policy, and “all other operating rules, policies and procedures that may be published from time to time on the Site by Company” — an open-ended set, each item of which “may be updated by Company from time to time without prior notice to you”. Selling brings in one more: you agree “to be bound by the terms and conditions of such third-party payment processor”. The rate schedule at bandcamp.com/pricing is a fifth thing you are bound by and did not read here.
You set the price. They can still give it away.
Bandcamp Terms of Use — Fees and Payments – Terms for Artists, and Transfer of Title ↗
You will set the prices for your products and services that are charged through Transactions (the “Prices”) through the Site, and you may change the Prices at your sole discretion. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, Bandcamp may redistribute previously purchased copies of your products to users who have, in Bandcamp’s sole determination, received a corrupted copy of your product, an incorrect file format version of your product, an incomplete copy of your product, or suffered a loss of your product through hard drive failure, damage, theft or destruction, on a no-fee basis to the user (i.e., the user is not charged a new fee for the redistribution). Such redistribution may be effectuated by allowing a user to redownload a replacement copy themselves. A user that has a user account (“Fan Account”) will also be permitted to redownload any previously purchased Content from an Artist. In the event of any of the foregoing redistributions, no additional payments shall be made to you for such redistributions. … Bandcamp never becomes the owner of the Merchandise or Digital Content, nor is there any transfer of title to Bandcamp. Bandcamp merely facilitates the transaction between the artist and the customer.
Sole discretion, then sole determination
The price is yours “at your sole discretion” — and the sentence immediately after it hands Bandcamp a free redistribution right on triggers Bandcamp decides, “in Bandcamp’s sole determination”. Corrupted file, wrong format, incomplete copy, or a hard drive that died.
No additional payments
The clause says it outright: “no additional payments shall be made to you for such redistributions”. A Fan Account holder can also redownload anything previously bought from you, with no further sale recorded.
Title never moves
Bandcamp is a facilitator, not an owner — of the merchandise or of the files. Read next to the licence clauses, that is the whole shape of the deal: Bandcamp never takes title to your work, because the licence gives it everything it needs without.
What a buyer can lose, and what you can
Bandcamp Terms of Use — Fees and Payments – Terms for Fans, and Termination ↗
If we are required by law to deny access through the Service to previously purchased Content, including by removing access to Content from a user’s personal collection through any mobile application, then Company will not provide the user who purchased that Content with a refund, except as required by applicable law. Users bear all risk from the denial of access to any Content purchased through the Service. … Company may terminate your access to all or any part of the Service at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately, which may result in the forfeiture and destruction of all information associated with your membership, including, without limitation, any access to any Music you may have purchased through the Service. If you wish to terminate your account, then you may do so by following the instructions on the Site. Any fees paid hereunder are non-refundable, except as provided in this Agreement. All provisions of these Terms of Use which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity and limitations of liability.
A purchase is access, not possession
The document is blunt about it: “Content you purchase in a Transaction cannot be guaranteed to be available to you perpetually.” Its own advice is to download what you buy — “we encourage you to promptly download any Content you purchase through the Site to your own devices”.
With or without cause
Termination needs no reason and no notice, and it can take your collection with it. Fees already paid are non-refundable except as the agreement provides.
Termination is not an exit from the licence
The final sentence of this section is the one to read twice. Termination ends your access; it expressly does not end the provisions that “by their nature should survive termination”, and the first example the contract gives is “ownership provisions”. Losing the account does not unwind anything you granted.
One year to sue, in Los Angeles
“any cause of action arising out of or related to the Service must commence within one (1) year after the cause of action arose; otherwise, such cause of action is permanently barred”. Disputes go to JAMS arbitration in Los Angeles County, California, and direct damages are capped at “one-hundred U.S. dollars ($100.00).”
Due Dilly reads the paperwork and reports what it says. This is not legal advice.