"Fans are more interested in a song by an artist than the artist themselves in most cases." Would you really call those people, "fans," though? They sound more like casual music listeners, maybe, but not what I would consider fans. Bandcamp's Subscription service, Patreon, etc. are not directed at casual listeners, but at the minority of serious fans who care about the music and about the musicians that create the music (they do exist, and it's the musician's job to find them and create amazing music for them). This is not, of course, a complete strategy, but it's one piece of the puzzle (and for people like Amanda Palmer, it's a ~$37k/song piece of the puzzle...and it took less than 10k fans to generate that patronage). ~ Andrew ( http://independentiq.com/ )

So glad to see Bandcamp moving this direction. Nate's right, it is working, though it might seem counter intuitive at first. The main thing to remember is that social capital is super valuable, but we don't usually appreciate its value. In the case of Bandcamp, though, I do wonder if it can be competitive when it takes a 10% larger cut than Patreon? ~ Andrew (http://www.independentiq.com)