Ampwall

Pros: Nice that they stated support for independent artists. I liked the layout of the site and ease of finding new artists.

Cons: Dogmatic and Captured. They "cancelled" music artist Louise Distras because she supports women's rights elsewhere. This is a red flag for all artists.

Overall: It's a negative one.Just support artists, don't become political censors. Music would become very bland if we all have to conform. Doubt I will continue using it if I'm honest.

Pros: Great place for great music run by cool people. Music e-commerce is a field low in innovation, but Ampwall takes pleasure in continuing to refine their product based on user (both consumer and creator) feedback, which is something that services like Bandcamp do not do.

Cons: Currently Ampwall isn't as well-known as other platforms. That just means it doesn't have all the music... yet!

Overall: Discovery is easy. Payment is easy. Music lasts a lifetime. What more could a fan of the gnarled and unholy hope for?

Pros: * easier to deal with multiple music projects (everyone is a "label", in a sense)
* incredibly responsive devs
* user-driven features
* artist discord is already building a nice vibrant community of indie musicians
* web UI works equally well on mobile or desktop (and is consistent between the two)

Cons: * still behind Bandcamp on some features, but catching up fast
* less well known than BC

Overall: "Good enough" to replace much of Bandcamp, and rapidly adding features while Bandcamp languishes.

Features are being prioritized as a combination of things that are good for parity or equivalence with BC, and also they are taking a *ton* of direct input from users and responding to it quickly.

Pros: Ampwall is doing an impeccable job positioning itself not only as an alternative to Bandcamp, but also a community and tool that far exceeds Bandcamp in a number of ways. From a UI experience, it's a streamlined, intuitive experience both from the consumer / fan perspective and the seller / artist perspective. The community it's fostered is a tremendous feature that sets it far apart from all other music distribution platforms on the market.

Cons: There are still some features missing, like display of followers / supporters and a mobile app.

But the development team is so passionate, responsive and transparent about the goals and eventual plans, that it seems that every qualm I could possibly have with Ampwall is being actively addressed and already planned for before I could even express a concern or criticism.

Overall: Delightful experience. It's become one of my favorite "places" on the internet and a huge part of my experience as a musician / artist in 2024.