Graphic courtesy of Bandcamp. — *Graphic courtesy of* *Bandcamp.*

With live performances being nonviable since the COVID-19 pandemic, many musicians have lost a major portion of their income. Starting in March 2020, so many concerts and entire tours were cancelled that Live for Live Music launched a COVID-19 Concert Cancellation Tracker that is still being updated as recently as February 3rd, 2021 at 12:00 pm EST. With the vaccination process in the United States being inconsistent and the discoveries of new variants of COVID-19, the return of in-person concerts is really up in the air.

Seeking to support musicians during this time, Bandcamp — a platform where musicians can create their own online store to sell digital and physical music as well as merchandise — created Bandcamp Fridays. Launched on March 20th, 2020, Bandcamp Fridays were created to ensure more money from the site’s sales goes directly to artists: an average of 93%. For 24 hours, patrons can know that nearly all of their money will go directly to the musicians they want to support.

“On the first Friday of every month since March, we’ve waived our revenue share to help support the many artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic. Over the course of these nine days, fans paid artists and labels $40 million dollars, helping cover rents, mortgages, groceries, medications, and much more. If you’re among the nearly 800,000 fans who participated, thank you.”

While there was no Bandcamp Friday in January 2021, Bandcamp has committed to extending the event through 2021, starting today! So far, Bandcamp has committed to continuing Bandcamp Fridays on February 5th, March 5th, April 2nd, and May 7th of 2021. As long as Bandcamp Fridays exist, we will make a playlist of music we suggest you purchase on this day.

As the first Bandcamp Friday of 2021 falls in Black History Month, our first playlist of suggestions include all Black artists: all of whom are either based in the Twin Cities or started out here. Check out these songs and consider the impact that buying them will have as opposed to streaming them.

Black American music knows no bounds. This mix is reflective of the variety of genres that Black musicians in and of the Twin Cities are helping to expand.

Direct Bandcamp links to each song can be found below. Let us know what you think!

“Another Life” by Astralblak; “Love It Baby” by booboo (explicit); “Lifestyle” by Dizzy Fae; “cat scratch” by Dua Saleh (explicit); “Sun Baby” by Kashimana; “Great Things” by The Lioness (explicit); “Waves” by Velvet Negroni.

Check out our newsletter from this week where we talked about the history behind Black History Month, as well as the significance of The Cedar honoring it.