Bandcamp has really been impressive with its revenue-share generosity since March. After waiving it three times so that artists get a bit more money during a pandemic, today it’s donating its share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to honor Juneteenth, the day that commemorates the abolition of slavery in the United States.
I’d like to do my part in this. There are plenty of people who haven’t yet purchased the Vehlinggo Presents: 5 Years compilation with exclusive cuts from The Midnight, the Valerie Collective, In Mirrors (produced by Johnny Jewel), Mecha Maiko, Deadly Avenger, and many more, but now’s your chance to send Bandcamp’s 15 percent share on digital sales to a noble and important cause:
Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans. LDF also defends the gains and protections won over the past 75 years of civil rights struggle and works to improve the quality and diversity of judicial and executive appointments.
Artist roster: Anoraak, Betamaxx, Bunny X, Deadly Avenger, Diamond Field and Dana Jean Phoenix, FM Attack, Forgotten Illusions, Highway Superstar, In Mirrors, Johan Agebjörn & Tom Hooker & Wolfram, Le Matos, Maethelvin, Mecha Maiko, Metavari, Parallels, and VHxRR. Buy it here.
About Juneteenth
Juneteenth comes from a specific event on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, according to PBS. Although slavery had already been abolished throughout the Union a couple years earlier, and the Confederacy had surrendered, Texas was slow on the uptake. Finally, on that aforementioned date, General Gordon Granger read a declaration outlawing slavery in Texas:
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
One more thing before I go: Today is not the only Juneteenth on which Bandcamp will be donating its revenue share to the NAACP’s legal fund. They plan to do so every year going forward.
