A portion of any purchase made on Bandcamp today will go towards the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, following the music platform’s latest announcement. We’ve updated our previous Bandcamp Day article to showcase Notts artists who will also be donating profits towards other anti-racism causes.
To mark Juneteenth, an unofficial (official in Texas) annual American holiday on 19 June marking the federal emancipation of slavery in Texas in 1865, music platform Bandcamp has announced that today, and every Juneteenth hereafter, all of its share of the sales will be donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. It has also pledged to allocate an additional $30,000 per year to partner with organisations that fight for racial justice.
This follows on from its move where on the first friday of every month, Bandcamp now waives its fees in an effort to give more money back to the artists that produce the music shared on the platform. On 5 June, following the growing, global movement to support racial justice and equality, many of these artists chose to donate profits from that month directly back to related funds and initiatives.
You can read our original round up of Notts artists who did that here. Since then we’ve found more who are still using their music to raise money for their chosen initiatives - view the article to see an updated list.
So, any purchase you make today via Bandcamp means that some of your money will go towards the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. And if you like the sound of any from our local list above, you will also be donating to a number of other initiatives too.
Additionally, at the start of June a growing, global Google doc was created to showcase black bands, artists, musicians and labels to support directly on the platform. That Google doc has now been turned into an interactive webpage - view it at blackbandcamp.info. It’s a crowdfunded resource, so users are invited to submit any other artists to add to the list - you can do so here.
A similar global Google doc showcasing black femme-identifying electronic DJs and artists has also been curated - view it here.
This and related articles are live, working documents - if you or someone you know in Nottingham is using their music to raise money for similar initiatives, please get in touch at music@leftlion.co.uk and we will add them to this list of resources.
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