Skip to main content

Bandcamp is opening a physical record store and live music space

It launches in downtown Oakland in February...

Bandcamp will open its first physical record store next month.

Set to open in downtown Oakland on February 1st, the 5000-square-foot complex and venue will feature a rolling stock of 99 vinyl records, as well as listening stations and screens that display the 5 million titles that the American online music company currently sell online.

“We’re thrilled to join the thriving Oakland arts community that includes artists and labels like The Seshen, Jay Stone, n5MD, and Slumberland Records“, Bandcamp said. “We’re also partnering with amazing local organizations like Oakland School for the Arts, Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, and Transgender Law Center to throw music-focused community events.”

Bandcamp Chief Operating Officer Josh Kim said, "We view ourselves as an online record store, not a streaming service. We're a place for people to support artists directly. Bandcamp is almost half physical sales at this point. We're really as much an Etsy, if not more, as we are a Pandora."

Revisit our recent feature that found that Discogs scalpers are hugely inflating the cost of rare records.

Back in November, three record stores opened in London in one week.