BIG NEWS from the musical freedom-fighters at Bandcamp this morning: in response to the “current U.S. administration and its recent capricious declaration that transgender troops will no longer be able to serve in the military,” the online independent music distribution platform has declared that this Friday (August 4), it will be donating “100% of our share of every sale to the Transgender Law Center, a nonprofit organization that works tirelessly to change law, policy, and culture for the more equitable” (fans may recall that a similar ACLU fundraiser was held by the site back in February).
In a statement posted this morning, the company’s staff declared in no uncertain terms that “Bandcamp is a platform for artistic expression, and all manner of variance in experience and identity, including gender and sexuality, is welcome here. We support our LGBT+ users and staff, and we stand against any person or group that would see them further marginalized.”
To participate as a fan, all you have to do is purchase ANY music by ANY artist (yup, probably even some teen-aged, vaporware-making, distant cousins of Donald Trump) via Bandcamp on Friday from midnight to midnight (PST), and the company will donate 100% of its share of that sale to TLC. If you’re an artist or record label, you can help out simply by encouraging your fanbase to purchase your music, and/or by signing up to send some or all of your share of Friday’s sales directly to TLC through their DONATIONS PAGE.
For more details, more info about the TLC, and a small list of the many, many gender non-conforming artists and musicians currently making use of the Bandcamp platform, see the complete post on Bandcamp’s site. And between now and Friday, do what you can to get involved and help spread the word! C’mon now: you KNOW you at least know someone who sells music on Bandcamp. (Hell, I even just searched “Donald Trump” on there, and like 60 results came up!) LET’S DO THIS, TMT-ERS.
(Oh yeah: and just in case you’re some sort of futuristic, super-intelligent, gender-less “Being of Pure Cosmic Enlightenment” who just flew in from beyond Alpha Centauri, click on this primitive little video below little more CONTEXT.)
